MEADOW SAXIFRAGE. 63 



the stalk we find their stems getting- shorter and shorter in 

 gradual and progressive diminution, until the uppermost 

 are seen to be entirely stemless. The lobes or fingerings 

 into which they are cut are often very acute. The calyx is 

 covered with the glandular hairs that we have also seen 

 are characteristic of the upper part of the stem, and the 

 fine lobes into which its extremity is cleft spread boldly 

 out. These lobes share the reddish tinge we find in the 

 upper part of the stem, and the whole calyx is somewhat 

 viscid to the touch. The corolla is composed of five white 

 spreading petals, their bases and veining being slightly 

 yellowish. The stamens are ten in number, five shedding 

 their pollen before the alternating five : styles two in 

 number, terminating in two expanding and diverging 

 stigmas. The capsule is of a pale brown colour, oval in 

 shape, terminating in two peaks, and tilled with numerous 

 black and very minute seeds. Bauhin, one of the older 

 botanists, called the meadow saxifrage the Sax if rag a 

 rotundlfolia, from the rounded character of its lower leaves. 

 It will be remembered that a similar name is bestowed for 

 a like reason on the little harebell, a plant we have already 

 figured. The name of Campanula rotundifolia at first 

 glance seams a peculiarly inappropriate one, as all the 

 leaves that ordinarily come under observation are very long 

 and narrow, and it is only as we approach the root we find 

 the rotund form of leaf. As the rotundiform leaves are 

 to the others as about one to half a dozen, the name does not 

 appear in any case a peculiarly happy one, so that the 

 feeling of inappropriateness which we have mentioned as 

 the result of a first glance may possibly continue in some 

 degree after a more lengthy inspection. Clusius, another 

 ancient botanical authority, calls the meadow saxifrage the 



