OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN FLOWERS. 



241 



form, it may be confidently recommended as a suitable winter 

 garden subject. This species proves evergreen in our climate, 

 though a native of Spain, from which country it was imported 

 about eighty years ago. It is sometimes called S. cornutum, a 

 name quite applicable, and ifc is frequently confounded with S. 

 pentadactylis (the Five-fmgered-leaved Saxifrage), which it much 

 resembles, from which, however, it is distinct in several respects. 

 Its flowers are small, white, and numerous, produced on 

 slender stalks in summer ; they are of the general type of the 

 flowers of the mossy section, and need not be further described. 

 The foliage forms rigid cushions, dense, rounded, and of a dark 



FIG. 83. SAXIFRAGA CERATOPHTLLA. 

 (Leaf, one-half natural size.) 



green colour in the early season ; later it becomes grey, with an 

 exudation ; the leaves are arranged in rosette form, having stout 

 stalks, channelled or folded on the upper surface; there are 

 three deep divisions, and others less cut; the segments are 

 subulate, bent back and tipped with horny mucrones. whence its 

 specific name; these horn-like points are bent under, which, 

 together with their transparency, renders them all but invisible ; 

 they can, however, be clearly seen if brought near the eye and 

 looked for on the under side of the foliage. The leaves are of 

 good substance, lin. to 2in. long, having broad stipules; the 

 stems are exceedingly slender in the older parts, and somewhat 

 woody, having the appearance of being dried up and dead. 



