266 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



2 carpels, more rarely of 3 or 4 or 5, more or less united into a 

 2- or more-celled ovary, usually half or wholly inferior ; pla- 

 centas axile ; styles as many as the cells of the ovary ; more or 

 less coherent. Fruit usually capsular, dehiscent : seeds mostly 

 numerous, small, with fleshy perisperm. 



This extensive group of plants is divisible into four Suborders, 

 which are by some authors regarded as distinct orders : 



1. SAXTFRAGEJE. Herbs: stipules absent or adnate; petals im- 

 bricated, or rarely convolute in the bud ; calyx free, or partly 

 adherent, ovary 1-3-celled. 2. ESCALLONIETE. Shrubs with al- 

 ternate simple glandular leaves and no stipules ; calyx imbricated 

 in the bud. 3. PHILADELPHE^E or HYDRANGEA. Shrubs with op- 

 posite simple leaves and no stipules ; calyx valvate ; stamens epi- 

 gynous. 4. CUNONIEJE. Trees or shrubs with opposite or whorled, 

 simple or compound leaves, and large interpetiolar stipules ; petals 

 never valvate. 



ILLUSTRATIVE GENERA. 



Suborder 1. SAXIFRAGES. 



Saxifraga, L. 

 Astilbe. 



Suborder 3. PHILADELPHEJE. 

 Philadelphia, L. 

 Deutzia, T/iunb. 

 Hydrangea, L. 



Suborder 2. ESCALLONIE*. Suborder 4. CUNONIKB, 



Escallonia, Mutis. Cunonia, L. 



Affinities, &c. The typical floral formula is | S~5 P 5 A 5+5 G~J The 

 relations of this Order are somewhat complicated, in consequence of the 

 variety of conditions existing among the genera. The herbaceous Saxi- 

 frages are related to the Crassulaceae in several respects, but difler in habit 

 and in the absence of hypogynous glands and also to the Rosaceae, through 

 Spircea, Astilbe, &c. ; from these, Deutzia leads to the shrubby forms, where 

 Philadelphus manifestly approaches the Myrtacete, while the inflorescence 

 of Hydrangea is like that of some Caprifoliaceae. The Cunonies are 

 scarcely distinguished, except by habit, from the Saxifrages ; the Escal- 

 loniece, passing off from the Pliiladelphes, are related" to Ribesiaceae, and 

 more distantly to those Ericaceae with an inferior ovary. Bruniaceae difler 

 in their dicoccous fruit ; Saxifragaceae are closely allied to LythraceaB, but 

 in the latter the embryo is aperispermic. Parnassia is referred here by 

 Hooker, but seems more closely to resemble Hypericaceae orSauvagesiaceae. 

 The Australian Pitcher-plant (Cephalotus foUicularis) , the leaves of which 

 are tubular, with a lid closing the tube, belongs to a genus closely allied 

 to Saxifrages, especially to the apetalous ones. From Rosaceae it differs 

 in the presence of perisperm in the seed. By Bentham and Hooker the 

 following tribes are included in this Order : Saxifrageee, Fraucoeae, Hy- 

 drangeas, Escallonieae, Cunonieae, and Ri besiege. 



Distribution. A large group ; the Saxifrages are northern and alpine 

 plants ; the JKscallonies are chiefly mountain plants of South America ; 

 the Philadelphece belong to South* Europe and the temperate regions of 



