AstilbeJ] LII. SAXIFRAGACE.E. (C. B. Clarke.) 389 



TRIBE III. Escallonieae. Trees and shrubs. Stamens equalling the 

 petals in number. Ovary inferior or half- superior. 



Leaves alternate. Seeds numerous 12. ITEA. 



Leaves opposite. Seeds solitary 13. POLYOSMA. 



TRIBE IV. Ribesieee. Shrubs. Leaves alternate, simple. Ovary inferior, 

 1-celled. Seeds immersed in pulp. 



Flowers racemose or subsolitary 14. KIBES. 



1. ASTILBE, Ham. 



Erect herbs with a perennial creeping rootstock. Leaves alternate, twice or 

 thrice ternate ; leaflets doubly serrate with prominent veins; stipules large, 

 adnate to the petiole, sheathing. Flowers (sometimes polygamous) small, in a 

 terminal panicle, spicate-racemose. Calyx slightly adnate to base of ovary with 

 5 (rarely 4) imbricate lobes. Petals 5 or (rarely 4) perigynous. Stamens 10 

 or 5 (rarely 8) perigynous. Carpels 2, united below, narrowed upwards into a 

 short style ; stigmas small capitate ; ovules numerous axile. Ripe carpels dry, 

 acuminate or acute at the top, divaricating, dehiscing ventrally. Seeds small, 

 narrow, oblong, tailed at both ends. DISTRIB. Species 3 or 7 ; from the Hima- 

 laya, Java, Mantchuria, Japan and Virginia. 



1. A. rivul arts, Ham. in Don Prodr. 211; flowers green-yellow, petals 

 0, stamens 5 opposite the sepals, ripe carpels deflexed. DC. Prodr. iv. 61. Spi- 

 raea barbata, Wall. Cat. 705 ; Camb. in Jacq. Toy. Bot. t. 58. 



TEMPERATE HIMALAYA, from KASHMIR to BHOTAN, alt. 5000-9000 ft., abundant. 

 KHASIA MTS., alt. 4000-6000 ft., very common. 



Stem and leaves with long fulvous hairs, especially about base of the petioles. 

 Leaflets 1-4 in., ovate, acuminate, often cordate at the base, generally scabrous on the 

 nerves on both surfaces. Rackis of panicle woolly-pubescent, and brown-villose ; 

 pedicels short with a small bract at the base. Sepals green, subglabrous, oblong, ob- 

 tuse, erect, in. Young carpels but slightly united. Ripe carpels | in. long. Seeds 

 numerous. Spircea triternata, Wall. Cat. 708 is reduced to Astilbe rivularis by H.f. $ 

 T. in Journ. Linn. Soc. ii. 74, but every Wallichian specimen is referable to 

 Spircea Aruncus, L. which in fruit requires to be carefully distinguished from Astilbe 

 by the carpels, suddenly narrowed at top into short divergent beaks, usually 3-4 in 

 number, with few larger and much less tailed seeds. Astilbe speciosa Junghuhn (Miq. 

 Flor. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 393) differs from A. rivularis by the flowers often 4-fid, the 

 stamens 8 or 10, the ripe carpels broader at the base. 



2. A. rubra, H.f. # T. in Bot. Mag. t. 4959 ; petals 5 pale pink linear 

 or linear-spathulate twice or thrice the sepals in length, stamens 10, the 5 oppo- 

 site the petals shorter, ripe carpels suberect. 



KHASIA MTS., alt. 4000-6000 ft., Griffith, &c. 



Stems and leaves with long fulvous hairs, especially about base of the petioles. 

 Leaflets 1-3 in., ovate, acute, sometimes cordate at the base, generally scabrous on the 

 nerves on both surfaces. Rachis of panicle woolly-pubescent and brown-villose ; 

 pedicel short with a small bract at the base. Sepals ^in., green, subglabrous, oblong, 

 obtuse, erect. Young carpels united for a great portion of their length. Ripe carpels 

 in. long. A. japonica, Morr. $ Decne; A. Thunbergii, Maxim.; and A. chinensfe, 

 Maxim., differ by being more slender and less villose. 



EXCLUDED SPECIES. 



A. Stoliczkai, Kurz in Seem. Journ. Bot. v. 240 with simple leaves, from the North 

 West Himalaya probably does not belong to the genus ; may be a Spircea. 



