ORDER SAXIFRAGES, OR SAXIFRAGE TRIBE. 447 



have been obtained. The latter grows wild in Russia, where the 

 juice of its berries is made into wine ; and in Siberia the leaves 

 are used as tea.* Various species of this order are found in 

 North America; and some are particularly abundant on the 

 mountains of Northern India, giving quite a European character 

 to that region. 



615. The succeeding order, SAXIFRAGES, or Saxifrage tribe, 

 chiefly deserves notice on account of the number of species it 

 contains, which present themselves in cold and mountainous 

 countries, occupying the sides and even the summits of lofty 

 hills, the tops of walls, the depths of wooded dingles, the sides 

 of trickling streams, and even the recesses of the most dreary 

 bogs. Their flowers are remarkable for their exquisite neat- 

 ness, and for the purity of their colours. One of the best known 

 species is the London Pride, which, although a native of the 

 Yorkshire and Irish mountains, endures without injury the 

 smoke and impure air of the metropolis ; from which circum- 

 stance it derives its name. It is met with in cottage gardens, 

 almost as frequently as are daisies and primroses. The 

 Hydrangea is another species cultivated in gardens ; and this is 

 remarkable for the cir- 

 cumstance of the showy 

 part of the flower con- 

 sisting really of bracts. 

 The calyx, in the Saxi- 

 frage tribe, usually con- 

 sists of five, rarely four, 



Sepals, more Or less ad- FIG. 165. DIAGRAM OP FLOWER OF SAXIFRAGES. 



herent to each other and 



to the ovarium. The number of the petals, which are seldom 

 wanting, is ordinarily equal to that of the lobes of the calyx ; 

 and that of the stamens is either the same or double. The ova- 

 rium usually consists of two carpels diverging at their apex ; 

 the partition between these is sometimes complete, forming a 

 two-celled ovarium; but occasionally absent when it is one- 



The Gooseberry as well as the Red and Black Currant, are indigtfiu>UB to 

 this country. 



