532 



SAX 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL: 



SAX 



" Leaves undivided ; Stem almost naked. 



1 . Saxifraga Cotyledon ; Pyramidal Saxifrage Root- 

 leaves aggregate, tongue-shaped, cartilaginous-toothed ; stem 

 panicled, leafy ; calices glandular, hairy ; petals unspotted. 

 Stem five or six inches high, but two or three feet when cul- 

 tivated, reddish, hairy, bearing several alternate leaves ; its 

 flowering-branches slender, purplish, hairy and viscid, repeat- 

 edly subdivided; petals obovate, three-ribbed, pure white. 

 There are several varieties of this species. When the plants 

 are strong, they produce very large pyramids of flowers, 

 which make a fine appearance, and being kept in the shade, 

 and screened from wind and rain, will continue in beauty a 

 considerable time. They all flower in June, and are natives 

 of the Alps and Pyrenees. This species is easily propagated 

 by offsets, which are put out from the side of the old plants 

 in abundance. Plant them in pots filled with fresh light earth, 

 placing them in the shade during summer, but exposed to the 

 sun in winter. Take off all the offsets, leaving the plants 

 single, which will cause them to produce a much stronger 

 stem for flowering. Plant the offsets in separate halfpenny- 

 pots, to succeed the old plants, which generally perish after 

 flowering. They will produce flowers the second year. 



2. Saxifraga Aizoon ; Marginated Saxifrage. Root-leaves 

 aggregate, tongue-shaped, cartilaginous-toothed; stem sim- 

 ple, racemed, leafy; calices smooth; petals dotted. Native 

 of the Alps. To be treated in the same manner as the pre- 

 ceding species. 



3. Saxifraga Mutata; Saffron-coloured Saxifrage. Root- 

 leaves aggregate, tongue-shaped, with a cartilaginous, some- 

 what notched, fringed border ; stem racemed, leafy ; calices 

 glandular, hairy ; petals lanceolate. The whole of this plant 

 is covered with viscid hairs. The stalk is about a foot high, 

 and much branched ; but its great peculiarity consists in its 

 flowers, the petals being long, narrow, and pointed, of a 

 deeper colour when they first ripen, but gradually changing 

 from saffron to a pale yellow ; and the beauty of the flowers 

 is heightened by a glandular substance in the centre of each, 

 which, when the flower expands, is of a bright purple colour. 

 Native of the mountains of Switzerland. See the first 

 species. It must be sheltered from wet, and severe frost. 



4. Saxifraga Pennsylvania ; Pennsylvanian Saxifrage. 

 Leaves oblong, lanceolate, somewhat hairy, toothletted ; stem 

 naked, one to two feet high ; peduncles alternate ; corymb 

 capitate; root perennial, fibrous. It flowers in May and 

 June. Native of North America. This may be increased by 

 parting the roots, and planting in a moist soil and shady 

 situation: it is never injured by cold. 



5. Saxifraga Hieracifolia. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, 

 smooth, repand-toothed ; stem naked; peduncles one-flow- 

 ered, aggregate. This so much resembles the preceding that 

 it seems at first sight to be the same, but it is distinct in its 

 manner of flowering. Native of the Carpathian mountains. 



6. Saxifraga Androsacea. Leaves lanceolate, blunt, hairy; 

 stem naked, two-flowered. Native of Switzerland, Austria, 

 Dauphiny, Piedmont, and Siberia. 



7. Saxifraga Caesia ; Grey Saxifrage. Leaves linear, per- 

 forate-dotted, aggregate, recurved ; stem many-flowered ; 

 root creeping, long, branched, covered with brown scales. 

 There is a variety from the high mountains of Italy, the stem 

 of which is double the size of the other, hirsute, and viscid. 

 Native of the Alps, Pyrenees, and Austria. 



8. Saxifraga Burseriana. Leaves aggregate, imbricate, 

 three-sided, subulate-even; flowers milk-white, with pale 

 lines. Native of Carinthia. 



9. Saxifraga Sedoides. Leaves aggregate, alternate, and 

 opposite, sublanceolate; flower pcduncled. This varies very 



much in its habit, height, and leaves. Observed in Carin- 

 thia, and in several parts of Switzerland and the Valais. 



10. Saxifraga Tenella. Leaves lanceolate, mucronate, ciliate 

 at the base, imbricate ; stem almost naked, few-flowered ; 

 calices mucronate. Native of the mountains of Carinthia. 



11. Saxifraga Bryoides ; Bryum Saxifrage. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, mucronate, cartilaginous at the edge, and ciliate ; 

 stem almost naked, and few-flowered; calices obtuse. Native 

 of the Alps, Pyrenees, Austria, Dauphiny, Piedmont, &c. 



12. Saxifraga Bronchialis. Leaves imbricate, subulate, 

 ciliate, spiny ; stem almost naked, many-flowered. Native 

 of Siberia. 



13. Saxifraga Stellaris ; Starry or Hairy Saxifrage, or 

 Kidneywort. Leaves serrate ; stem naked, branched ; petals 

 acute; capsule superior; roots perennial, long, fibrous, 

 crowned with flat stellate tufts of cuneiform leaves. Native of 

 the mountains of Spitzbergen, Lapland, Switzerland, Styria, 

 Dauphiny, Piedmont, Siberia, and Britain. In our northern 

 counties, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Lancashire, Yorkshire ; 

 in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; where it is found on the 

 black turfy margins of rills, on the north sides of the moun- 

 tains, towards their summits, flowering in June and July. 



14. Saxifraga Crassifolia; Thick-leaved Saxifrage. Leaves 

 oval, retuse, obscurely serrate, petioled ; stem naked ; pani- 

 cle conglomerate; root superficial, black, scaly with the 

 relics of dead leaves. After the plant has flowered, the stem 

 puts forth branches from the axils of the leaves, which have 

 the panicle of flowers for the next year included in their gems. 

 The flowers are purple, but when they fade, turning blue. 

 The root is white within, and very styptic or astringent when 

 chewed. The stem changes every year into root : that which 

 flowers one year losing its leaves during the winter, turning 

 to the ground, becoming black, and putting forth fibres. 

 Native of the mountains of Siberia : a common hardy peren- 

 nial in our gardens. This is readily increased by parting the 

 roots either in spring or autumn. It flowers early, and if cold 

 winds prevail at that time, should be covered with a hand- 

 glass ; or if in a pot, it may be removed into a green-house. 



15. Saxifraga Nivalis ; Snoivy or Clustered Alpine Saxi- 

 frage, or Scagreen. Leaves obovate, serrate; stem naked; 



flowers heaped ; capsule half inferior ; roots perennial, black, 

 sending down long fibres into the black moist ground. 

 Scarcely any plant is subject to more variations in appearance 

 and size than this species. Sometimes it is exceedingly small, 

 with heart-shaped leaves, flowers collected into a single head, 

 and a strap-shaped leaf at the base. Sometimes it produces 

 | only a single flower on the stalk ; and sometimes two of these 

 ' rise from one root. At other times it bears a number of flow- 

 ers at the top of the stalk, on fruitstalks forming an umbel ; 

 and sometimes it appears twice as large. Native of Britain, 

 Spitzbergen, Lapland, Virginia, and Canada. It flowers in 

 August, and is the most alpine of our British Saxifrages, 

 being found only on the summits of the highest mountains 

 in Scotland and Wales. It requires a shady situation, and 

 a loamy soil. 



16. Saxifraga Bellardi. Stemless: leaves roundish, repand ; 

 flower sessile. Native of the Piedmont Alps, on moist mossy 

 rocks. 



17. Saxifraga Daurica. Leaves cuneiform, rhombed, 

 toothed at the end, smooth, petioled ; stem naked. Native 

 of the highest Alps of Dauria. 



18. Saxifraga Sarmentosa; Chinese Saxifrage. Leaves 

 roundish, toothed, hairy; runners creeping ; two of the petals 

 elongated. Its round variegated leaves, and Strawberry-like 

 runners, with the uncommon magnitude of the two lowe 

 pendent petals, joined to the very conspicuous glandula 



