Hydrangea.] XXXIII. SAXIFRAGES. 211 



Leaves alternate. 

 Flowers numerous, in long racemes ; fruit a 2 -celled capsule, 



free 4. Itea. 



Flowers axillary, or in short racemes ; fruit a berry, inferior, 



crowned by the remains of calyx 5. Ribes. 



1. HYDRANGEA, Linn. 

 Erect or climbing shrubs or trees. Leaves opposite, petiolate, exstipu- 

 late. Flowers in terminal corymbs with deciduous bracts, the outer 

 flowers often sterile and larger than the fertile inner flowers. Calyx-tube 

 adnate to the ovary, turbinate or hemispherical ; limb truncate or 4-5- 

 dentate. Petals 4-5, valvate. Sterile flowers apetalous, but calyx-limb 

 with 4-5 large petaloid veined segments. Stamens 8-10, inserted at the 

 base of an epigynous disc, filaments filiform, anthers short. Ovary in- 

 ferior, more or less incompletely 2-4-celled ; styles 2-4, free or connate at 

 the base ; ovules very numerous. Fruit a membranous capsule, crowned 

 by the calyx-limb, and the persistent styles, 2-4-celled, dehiscent at the top 

 between the styles, many-seeded. Seeds minute, with a membranous 

 testa ; embryo in fleshy albumen. 



1. H. altissima, Wall. Tent. Fl. Nep. t. 50. 



A large climbing shrub, glabrous, with loose, grey or brown, membran- 

 ous, shining bark, peeling off in long rolls like that of the birch. Leaves 

 ovate, acuminate, dentate, 4-6 in. long ; petiole 1-2 in. ; main lateral 

 nerves 6-8 on either side of midrib. Flowers whitish, calyx-segments of 

 sterile flowers ^-J in. long, obovate. 



Himalaya, 5000-10,000 ft. in shady forests from Sutlej (Nagkanda, Serahn) to 

 Bhutan. Fl. June, July. Very tender in England. Bark used as a substitute 

 for paper (T. Thomson, Him. Journ. 47). 



Two other species are found in Kamaon : H. aspera, Don., with oblong-lanceo- 

 late leaves, sharp serrate, grey tomentose beneath, styles free from the base ; 

 and H. vestita, Wall., pubescent, with broader leaves, and styles connate at the 



H. Hortensia, DC, the common Hydrangea, or Chinese Guelder Hose, from 

 China and Japan, is cultivated as an ornamental shrub in Europe and India on 

 account of the splendid heads of sterile flowers, which are green at first, then 

 rose-coloured or blue. 



2. DEUTZIA, Thunb. 



Shrubs, pubescent or scabrous, hairs generally stellate. Leaves and 

 branches opposite. Leaves serrate, exstipulate. Flowers white, corym- 

 bose or axillary. Calyx-tube campanulate, adnate to the ovary ; limb 5- 

 toothed. Petals 5, induplicate-valvate or imbricate in bud. Stamens 10, 

 inserted under the edge of the epigynous disc, the alternate stamens 

 longer; filaments flat, often winged, terminating in two teeth at the 

 top ; anthers didymous, nearly globose. Ovary inferior, 3-5-celled ; 

 styles 3-5 ; ovules numerous, imbricate on fleshy placentae. Capsule 

 globose, 3-5-celled, separating septicidally into 3-5 distinct cocci, or de- 

 hiscing at the apex between the styles. Seeds numerous ; testa mem- 

 branous ; albumen fleshy. 



