VIII. THE STEM. 1 63 



the common stonecrop will therefore be ' Stella 

 domestica.' 



The second tribe, (at present saxifraga,) growing 

 for the most part wild on rocks, may, I trust, 

 even in Protestant botany, be named Francesca, 

 after St. Francis of Assisi ; not only for its modesty, 

 and love of mountain ground, and poverty of colour 

 and leaf; but also because the chief element of its 

 decoration, seen close, will be found in its spots, 

 or stigmata. 



In the nomenclature of the third order I make 

 no change. 



24. Now all this group of golden-blossoming 

 plants agree in general character of having a rich 

 cluster of radical leaves, from which they throw up a 

 single stalk bearing clustered blossoms ; for which 

 stalk, when entirely leafless, I intend always to keep 

 the term ' virgula,' the ' little rod ' — not painfully 

 caring about it, but being able thus to define it 

 with precision, if required. And these are connected 

 with the stems of branching shrubs through infinite 

 varieties of structure, in which the first steps of 

 transition are made by carrying the cluster of radical 

 leaves up, and letting them expire gradually from 

 the rising stem : the changes of form in the leaves 

 as they rise higher from the ground being one of 

 quite the most interesting specific studies in every 



