322 Mr. Babington on the Saxifrages 



like serraturcs ; they are also nearly erect, or at least ascend- 

 ing, not prostrate and placed in a rose-like manner as is the 

 case in the preceding forms ; their foot-stalks also are consi- 

 derably longer. This is the var. punctata of Don, and pro- 

 bably the S. jmnctata of Linnaeus ; it is well represented by 

 tab. 622. and 623. of Reichenbach^s ' Iconographia.^ 



Fig. 6. from Turk Mountain, and fig. 7- from the Gap of 

 Dunloe, are remarkably common in the neighbourhood of 

 Killarney : in them the leaves are always oval, with deep, acute, 

 tooth-like serratures ; they are erect or ascending, and have 

 usually long foot-stalks. This is the var. serratifolia of 

 Mackay, figured by Reichenbach in his tab. 624. 



All the preceding I consider as forms of S. umbrosa, al- 

 though in punctata and serratifolia the cartilaginous margin 

 is scarcely obser^^able. In all of them the leaves taper otFinto 

 the dilated flat foot-stalks, which are remarkable for being 

 quite flat above and scarcely convex even below (fig. a.). 



2. S. elegans. — -We have here a plant which I can scarcely 

 persuade myself to consider as a species ; and yet, if not one, 

 it is very difficult to say to which of the species it should be 

 referred. Mr. Don considered it as a form of S. Geum ; but 

 from that its truly round leaf (fig. 8.) and its foot-stalks, which 

 are flat above and convex below (fig. b.), but not semicylin- 

 drical, appear to separate it. From S. umbrosa it is distin- 

 guished by its leaves not contracting into their foot-stalks and 

 by the convex under-side of the latter. In cultivation and in 

 " exposed situations*' its foot- stalks are about as long as the 

 leaves and spread in a " stellate form," but when growing, as 

 was the case with my specimens obtained from near to the 

 summit of Turk Mountain, in the hollow of a rock, the foot- 

 stalks are often twice as long as the leaves, all of which turn 

 themselves towards the light. Upon the whole, it appears to 

 me to be better to consider this as a species until further ob- 

 servation may have determined the value of its claims to that 

 rank. It is figured in tab. 625. of Reichenbach's ^Icono- 

 graphia.' 



3. iS. hirsuta. — This again is considered as only a variety 

 by many botanists, in which case it is always referred to S. 

 Geum; but it has so very different an aspect when growing, and 

 its oval leaves (fig. 9, 10.), with linear foot-stalks which taper 

 slightly from below, present so manifest a character, that I 

 cannot do otherwise than consider it as a species. Its foot- 

 stalks (fig. c.) are semicylindrical and channelled above and 

 very hairy. I have gathered it in the Gap of Dunloe and on 

 Connor Hill. 



4. S. Geum. — This is a very marked species, characterized 



