i 54 FLOWERS OF ROCKS, WALLS, ETC. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



110. Saxifraga granulata^ L. Stem erect, leafy below, roots bear- 

 ing granular bulbs, radical leaves stalked, reniform, crenate, lobed, 

 stem-leaves sessile, lobed, flowers large, white, in a cyme, calyx half- 

 inferior. 



Pennywort (Cotyledon Umbilicus- Veneris, L.) 



Known only from its distribution to-day in the North Temperate 

 Zone, Pennywort is found in Europe from France southwards, W. 

 Asia, the mountains of N. and Tropical Africa. It is found in Great 

 Britain throughout the Peninsula province, and in the Channel pro- 

 vince except in N. Hants, in Kent; in S. Wales except Radnor; N. 

 Wales; in the Trent province only in Leicester and Derby; in S. Lanes, 

 S.W. and N.W. Yorks, the whole of the Lakes; in Scotland in Kirk- 

 cudbright, Ayr, Renfrew, Argyle, Clyde Islands, Cantire, Mid Ebudes, 

 especially on the west coast. It ascends to 1000 ft. in Wales. It is 

 native in Ireland. 



Moist, dripping, flat-surfaced, perpendicular walls, intersected by 

 numerous crannies and fissures, are the special habitat of Navelwort, 

 which is a shade-loving rock plant, found wherever Orpine, Stone 

 Crops, Goldenrod, Wall Lettuce, and many ferns, such as Wall Spleen- 

 wort and others, grow. 



Pennywort has much the same habit as Grass of Parnassus, but the 

 stems are more numerous and prostrate at the base, while the flowers, 

 too, are in a raceme. The stems are succulent, stout, rounded. The 

 leaves are thick, shield-like, the leaf-stalk being central below the leaf, 

 which is hollow (hence the first Greek name and the second Latin 

 name), scalloped at the margin, smooth, fleshy, and shiny. All the 

 leaves are stalked, and chiefly radical. From the round, flat nature 

 of the leaves they are known as pennies, hence the English name. 



The bracts are simple, towering gracefully above the characteristic 

 leaves. The greenish -yellow drooping flowers are arranged in a 

 simple raceme, alternate. The flower-stalks are very short. The 

 corolla is cylindrical. The seeds are contained in follicles. 



Pennywort reaches a height of 6 in. to i ft. or more. The flowers 

 are in bloom in June and July. The plant is a perennial plant, 

 which may be propagated by cuttings. 



The green flowers are not attractive to beetles, and though large 

 and bell-shaped they grow in situations where insects are not likely to 

 reach them readilv, and from the adnate stamens, which are included 



