164 SAXIFRAGACE^E. (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY.) 



* * No sterile stamens or bodies resembling them. 

 *- Pod 2-3-celled and 2- 3-beaked, or of as many distinct follicles. 



6. Astilbe. Flowers polygamous. Stamens twice as many as the small petals. Seeds few. 



Leaves decompound. 



7. Saxifraga. Flowers perfect. Stamens twice as many as the petals. Seeds numerous, 



with a close coat. 



8. Boykinia. Flowers perfect. Stamens only as many as the petals, which are convolute 



in the bud and deciduous. Calyx-tube adherent to the ovary. Seed-coat close. 



9. Sullivantia. Flowers perfect. Stamens 5. Calyx nearly free. Seeds wing-margined. 



*- Pod one-celled with 2 parietal placentae. 

 ++ Stamens as many as the lobes of the calyx, namely 5. 



10. Hencliera. Calyx bell-shaped, coherent with the ovary below. Petals small, entire. 



t-t- -M- Stamens twice as many as the lobes of the calyx, namely 8 or 10. 



11. Mitella. Calyx partly cohering with the depressed ovary. Petals small, pinnatifld. 



12. Tiarella. Calyx nearly free from the slender ovary. Petals entire. 



13. Clirysospleuium. Calyx-tube coherent with the ovary. Petals none. 



1. BIBES, L. CURRANT. GOOSEBERRY. 



Calyx 5-lobed, often colored ; the tube coherent with the ovary. Petals 5, 

 inserted in the throat of the calyx, small. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals. 

 Ovary 1 -celled, with 2 parietal placenta and 2 distinct or united styles. Berry 

 crowned with the shrivelled remains of the calyx ; the surface of the numerous 

 seeds swelling into a gelatinous outer coat investing a crustaceous one. Em- 

 bryo minute at the base of hard albumen. Low, sometimes prickly shrubs, 

 with alternate and palmately-lobed leaves, which are plaited in the bud (except 

 in one species), often clustered in the axils ; the small flowers from the same 

 clusters, or from separate lateral buds. (An Arabic name, properly belonging 

 to a species of Rheum. Grossularia was the proper name to have been adopted 

 for the genus.) 



1. GROSSULARIA, Tourn, (GOOSEBERRY.) Stems mostly bearing thorns 

 at the base of the leafstalks or clusters of leaves, and often with scattered bristly 

 prickles: berries prickly or smooth. (Our species are indiscriminately called 

 WILD GOOSEBERRY: the flowers greenish.) 



* Peduncles 1 - 3-Jlowered : leaves roundish-heart-shaped, 3 - 5-lobed. 



1. B. Cynosbati, L. Leaves pubescent ; peduncles slender, 2 - 3-flowered ; 

 stamens and undivided styty not longer than the broad calyx. Rocky woods : com- 

 mon, especially northward. May. Spines small or obsolete. Berry large, 

 armed with long prickles like a burr, or rarely smooth. 



2. B. hirt^llum, Michx. Leaves somewhat pubescent beneath ; peduncles 

 very short, 1 - 2-flowered, deflexed ; stamens and 2-cleJl style scarcely longer than the 

 bell-shaped calyx ; fruit smooth, small, purple, sweet. Moist grounds, New Eng- 

 land to Illinois, common. May. Stems either smooth or prickly, and with 

 very short thorns, or none. This yields the commonest smooth gooseberry of 

 New England, &c., and usually passes for R. triflorum, Willd., which name be- 

 longs to the next. 



3. B. rotundif61ium, Michx. Leaves smooth or downy ; peduncles slen- 

 der, 1 - 3-flowered ; stamens and 2-parted style slender, longer than the narrow cylin- 

 drical calyx ; fruit smooth, pleasant. Rocks, W. Massachusetts to Wisconsin, 

 and southward along the mountains to Virginia, &c. June. 



