White to Green and Brown Flowers 139 



WESTERN BOYKINIA 



Boykinia Occident alls. Saxifrage Family 



Stems: slender, erect or declined from a creeping somewhat woody 

 caudex. Leaves: round-cordate, incisely lobed, on slender petioles with 

 dilated base. Flowers: in elongated paniculate cymes. Fruit: a cap- 

 sule. 



This plant has a creeping woody rootstock, and alternate 

 leaves which are rounded and heart-shaped at the base. 

 The flowers grow in branching flat-topped clusters, have a 

 bell-shaped calyx, and five white early deciduous petals 

 which narrow below to a long claw. 



COMMON SAXIFRAGE 



Saxifraga bronchialis. Saxifrage Family 



Stems: one to six inches high, ascending, slender, producing short 

 branchlets. Leaves: coriaceous, lanceolate, mucronate, sessile, with a 

 broad base finely ciliate. Flowers: few, in an open corymb on slender 

 pedicels; petals oblong, white, marked with red spots. 



Frequently the traveller will find immense rocky slopes 

 literally covered with the pretty little blossoms of this Saxi- 

 frage, which may easily be recognized by the bright red 

 spots that mark its five white petals. It is a low-growing 

 species, the flower-stalks seldom exceeding six inches in 

 height, and being much branched and reddish in colour. 

 The tiny narrow leaves are very stiff, indeed, a noticea- 

 ble characteristic of the whole plant is its rigid nature. 

 The name is derived from saxum, " a rock," and frango, 

 " I break," and the Germans call it Steinbrech, because it 

 grows so thickly in the crevices of the rocks that it is sup- 

 posed to disintegrate them by its growth. All the Saxi- 

 frages are much visited by flies and bees, and 



