Chapter XI. 



THE SAXIFRAGE FAMILY. 



Flowers of this family are not common in most parts 

 of Tasmania, but our forms are too interesting to allow 

 us to neglect hem. The family is a large one, and found 

 almost throughout the world, but though it abounds in 

 temperate as well as tropical climates, it is not largely 

 represented in Tasmania. 



Though a natural group, there is no mark by which it can 

 certainly be known. As in so many families, it is only by 

 general likeness that we can recognise its members. It 

 passes without break into its neighbouring families, and 

 even with experienced botanists it is often a matter of 

 doubt whether some particular plant should be placed just 

 here or in a related group. Eucryphia might with equal 

 justice be placed in this, with the Roses, or with the 

 Hypericums. Were we acquainted with no Saxifrages 

 except those of Tasmania there would be no sufficient rea- 

 son why they should be placed in a separate family from 

 Roses; it is upon the common habit of forms in other 

 countries that the family is established.. 



We have five species, and each belongs to a separate 

 genus- Of these, four should claim our attention. They 

 are Native Laurel, Horizontal, Eucryphia, and Bauera. 



Laurel is about, if not quite, our prettiest wild flower. 

 It grows in woodlands on our hillsides, and attains the 

 size of a large shrub in favourable places, but it has too 

 branched and spreading a habit to grow tall. The leaves 

 are clustered towards the ends of the branches and are 

 placed alternately. They are large, flat, and marked along 

 the border by short, blunt serrations. There are many 

 flowers in loose bunches which grow from the ends of the 

 branches; each is nearly an inch in diameter when fully 

 out, and is white or tinged with pink. The thalamus is 

 expanded into a short tube, which is blended with the base 

 of the pistil. The calyx appears as a continuation of it, 

 so that it is impossible to say where the tube ends and 

 the calyx begins. There are generally six sepals, but the 

 number is variable; they are green, and not conspicuous. 

 The petals are the same number as the sepals; they are 

 broad and spreading. There are also as many stamens as 



