142 SAXIFRAGE CEJE. (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY.) 



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



6. MITELLA. Calyx partly cohering with the depressed ovary. Petals small, pinnatifid. 



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



8. CHRYSOSPLENIUM. Calyx-tube coherent with the ovary. Petals none. 



SUBORDER II. ESCALLONIEJE. 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^. THE HYDRANGEA FAMILY. 



Shrubs, with opposite simple leaves and no stipules. 



10. 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 - 6-parted ; the tube adhering to the 3 - 5-celled ovary. Pet- 



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



SUBORDER I. SAXIFRAGACEJE. TRUE SAXIFRAGE FAMILY. 



1. ASTIL.BE, Don. FALSE GOATSBEARD. 



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

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

 free, many ovuled : 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 ternately compound ample leaves, cut-lobed 

 and toothed leaflets, and small white or yellowish flowers in spikes or racemes, 

 which are disuosed in a compound panicle. (Name composed of d privative and 

 oriX/S/;, a bright surface, because the foliage is not shining.) 



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

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

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

 Spiraja Aruncus, but coarser, 3 - 5 high. 



2. SAXIFRAGA, L. SAXIFRAGE. 



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

 Petals 5, entire, commonly deciduous. Stamens 10. Styles 2. Pod 2-beaked, 

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

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

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

 saxum, a rock, and/raw/o, to break ; many species rooting in the clefts of rocks.) 

 * Stems prostrate, leafy : leaves opposite : calyx free from the pod. 



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

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

 long) ; flowers solitary, large ; petals purple, obovate, much longer than the 

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

 ward. (Eu.) 



