142 SAXIFRAGACE^:. (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY.) 



- - Stamens twice as many as the lobes of the calyx, namely 8 or 10. 



6. MTTELLA. Calyx partly cohering with the depressed ovary. Petals small, pinnatifld. 



7. TIARELLA. Calyx nearly free from the slender ovary. Petals entire. 



8. CHRYSOSPLENIUM. Calyx-tube coherent with the ovary. Petals none. 



SUBORDER II. ESCALLONIE^. THE ESCALLONIA FAMILY. 



Shrubs, with alternate simple leaves and no stipules. Petals usually 

 valvate in the bud. 



9. ITEA. Calyx free from the 2-celled ovary. Pod many-seeded. Stamens 6. 



SUBORDER III. HYDRANGIE^. THE HYDRANGEA FAMILY. 

 Shrubs, with opposite simple leaves and no stipules. 



10. HYDRANGEA. Calyx 4-5-toothed, the tube adherent to the imperfectly 2-celled ovary. 



Petals valvate in the bud. Stamens 8 or 10. Styles 2, diverging. 



11. PHILADELPHIA. Calyx 4-5-parted ; the tube adhering to the 3 -o-celled ovary. Pet- 



als convolute in the bud. Stamens 20 - 40. Styles united below. 



SUBORDER I. SAXIFRAGACEJE. TRUE SAXIFRAGE FAMILY. 



1. ASTILBE, Don. FALSE GOATSBEARD. 



Flowers dioeciously polygamous. Calyx 4-5-parted, small. Petals 4-5, 

 spatulate, small, withering-persistent. Stamens 8 or 10. Ovary 2-celled, almost 

 free, many ovuled : styles 2, short. Pod 2-celled, separating into 2 follicles, 

 each ripening few seeds. Seed-coat loose and thin, tapering at each end. 

 Perennial herbs, with twice or thrice ternately compound ample leaves, cut-lobed 

 and toothed leaflets, and small white or yellowish flowers in spikes or racemes, 

 which are disposed in a compound panicle. (Name composed of d privative and 

 <rriX{3r)) a bright surface, because the foliage is not shining.) 



1. A. decndra, Don. Somewhat pubescent; leaflets . mostly heart- 

 shaped; petals minute or wanting in the fertile flowers; stamens 10. Rich 

 woods, Alleghanies of S. W. Virginia and southward. July. Plant imitating 

 Spiraea Aruncus, but coarser, 3 -5 high. 



2. SAXIFRAGA, L. SAXIFRAGE. 



Calyx free from, or cohering with, the base of the ovary, 5-cleft or parted 

 Petals 5, entire, commonly deciduous. Stamens 10. Styles 2. Pod 2-beaked, 

 2-celled, opening down or between the beaks ; or sometimes 2 almost separate 

 follicles. Seeds numerous, with a close coat. Chiefly perennial herbs, with 

 the root-leaves clustered, those of the stem mostly alternate. (Name from 

 saxum, a rock, andfrango, to break ; many species rooting in the clefts of rocks.) 

 # Stems prostrate, leafy : leaves opposite : calyx free from the pod. 



1. oppositifolia., L. (MOUNTAIN SAXIFRAGE.) Leaves thick 

 and fleshy, ovate, keeled, ciliate, imbricated on the sterile branches (l"-2" 

 long) ; flowers solitary, large ; petals purple, obovate, much longer than the 

 5-cleft free calyx. Rocks, Willoughby Mountain, Vermont ( II W/), and north- 

 ward. (Eu.j 



