142 SAXIFRAGACK.i:. (SAXIFKAGK FAMILY.) 



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

 8. M1TELLA. Calyx partly cohering with the depressed ovary. Petals small, pim^atifid. 



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



8. CIlKYSOisPLKXIUM. Calyx-tube coherent with the ovary. Petal* none. 



SUDORDKR II. ESCALLONIE^E. 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 5 



SUBORDER III. HYDRANGIE^E. THE HYDRANGEA FAMILY. 



Shrubs, with opposite simple leaves and no stipules. 



1C 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 - 5-celled ovary. Pet- 

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



SUBORDER I. SAXIFRAGACE^E. TRUE SAXIFRAGE FAMILY. 



1. AST If, BE, Don. FALSE GOATSREARD. 



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

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

 free, many ovttled : 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 tcmately compound ample leaves, cut-lohed 

 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 

 OT&firji a briyht surface, because the foliage is not shining.) 



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

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

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

 Spiraea Aruncus, but coarser, 3 -5 high. 



2. S AX 1 FRAG A, L. SAXIFRAGE. 



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

 IVtuls 5, entire, commonly deciduous. Stamens 10. Styles 2. l'.>d 2-h:-;.ked. 

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

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

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

 vaxiiiH,' a rock, and fratign, to break ; many species rooting in the clefts of rocks.) 

 # Stems jjrostrate, leafy* haves opposite : calyx free from the pod. 



1. S. oppositifolia, L. (MOUNTAIN SAXIFKAGK.) Leaves thick 

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

 long); flowers solitary, large; petals purple, obovate, much lonjjor than tho 

 5-cleft free calyx. Rocks, Willoughby Mountain, Vermont ( Wood), and north- 

 ward. (Eu.) 



