1 88 SAXIFRAGACEAE. 



Common along streams in woods, often forming dense thickets, the her- 

 bage strongly scented on which account the plant is locally known as " Stink 

 Currant." The berries are scarcely eatable. 



Ribes laxiflorum Pursh. Stems 1-3 m. long, ascending; branchlets copper- 

 colored, smooth; leaves orbicular, deeply cordate, glabrous, shiny above, 

 5-8 cm. broad, 5-7-lobed, the lobes acute, doubly serrate or somewhat incised; 

 racemes erect, pubescent; bracts narrow, shorter than the glandular pedicels; 

 calyx saucer-shaped, the lobes orbicular; petals fan-shaped; fruit globose, 

 glandular-bristly, wine-colored. 



Near the coast, Alaska to the mouth of the Columbia River. 



247. PHILADELPHUS. 



Shrubs; leaves opposite, petioled, entire or toothed, ovate or 

 oblong, without stipules; flowers large, showy, white, solitary or 

 cymose-clustered ; calyx- tube top-shaped, 4- or 5-lobed, adherent 

 to the ovary nearly or quite to its summit; petals 4 or 5, large, 

 obovate or roundish; stamens 20-40, on the disk; styles 3-5, 

 more or less united; ovary 3-5-celled, inferior; ovules numerous; 

 capsuhi3^-valv(glj seeds very numerous. 



JPhiladelphus gordonianus T .indl. Syringa. Shrub 2-4 m. high, much 

 branched above; bark pale, flaky; leaves ovate, acute or acuminate, dentate or 

 nearly entire, pubescent on the under surface, 2-5 cm. long; petioles short; 

 panicle 4-10-flowered, the lower bracts leafy; calyx-lobes triangular-ovate, 

 acute or acuminate, less than twice as long as the tube; petals white, oblong, 

 1.5-2 cm. long; styles united for two-thirds their length; stigmas dilated. 

 Common in moist open places. The odorous flowers are very showy. 



248. PARNASSIA. 



Glabrous perennial herbs with entire leaves; flower solitary, 

 on a long scape-like stem which often bears a single sessile leaf; 

 sepals 5, slightly united, persistent; petals 5, white with greenish 

 or yellowish veins and a gland-bearing scale (really a cluster of 

 sterile stamens or staminodia) at the base of each; stamens 5, 

 alternate with the petals, persistent; stigmas 4, sessile; ovary 

 1 -celled, with 4 parietal placentae; capsule 4-valved, separating 

 between the placentae. 



Parnassia fimbriata Koenig. Leaves cordate to reniform, 3-4 cm. broad, 

 slender petioled; stems 20-40 cm. high, bearing a single cordate sessile leaf 

 above the middle; sepals oblong; petals oblong, unguiculate, fringed near the 

 base, white, 8-12 mm. long; scales fleshy, keeled, each usually bearing 5-9 

 teeth. 



Common in bogs in the mountains. 



249. LEPTARRHENA. 



Perennial herbs with alternate coriaceous leaves; flowers in 

 panicles; sepals 5, erect, slightly adherent to the ovary; petals 5, 

 white, narrow, persistent; stamens 10; carpels 2, united only 

 at the base; follicles erect, slightly spreading at the tips. 



