2l6 



THE SAXIFRAGA FAMILY. 



S. Virginiensis, early saxifrage, is the exquisite, bold little one which 

 blossoms out in earliest spring ; March often tossing it about with its bluster- 

 ing winds as it clings tightly to the crevices of rocks. Very densely its 

 flowers grow in cymes at the ends of hairy scapes and show.oblong-spatulate 

 petals, nearly all alike which are not raised by claws. Besides appreciating 

 the beauty of this saxifrage and the cheer it gives in the early season we 

 know it also, although such a small individual, as one of our greatest soil 

 producers. 



ACONITE SAXIFRAGE. 



Tht'rofon acojiitifbliiiin. 



FAMLIY 

 Saxifrage. 



COLOUR 



n-hiic. 



ODOUR 



Scentless. 



RANGE 



Gcors-ia to I '/rj^i/iia. 



TIME OF BLOOM 



J iDie^J uly. 



Flmvers : growing in terminal and lateral, cyme-like clusters, and having their 

 pedicels covered with a viscid substance. Calyx: with five lanceolate, viscid 

 lobes, the tube subglobose. Petals: five; oblanceolate; deciduous. Slametts: five; 

 filaments short. Leaves : those from the base with long, slender ])ubescent petioles; 

 the upper ones short-petioled, or sessile; orbicular reniform; slightly cordate or 

 squared at the base and palmately five to seven lobed, they being serrate and 

 sometimes viscid; almost glabrous above, hairy along the under veins. Stem : one 

 to two feet high. 



Very like a saxifrage is this attractive native of the Alleghanies where it 

 grows in the woods or by small creeks. Its generic name, meaning beast- 

 killing, is in reference to the substance of aconite v.diich the plant contains. 



FALSE GOAT'S BEARD. 



Astilbe biteriiata. 



FAMILY 

 Saxifrage. 



COLOUR 

 Creai)i-7vhite. 



ODOUR 



Scentless. 



RANGE 

 Tennessee to Virgi) 



TIME OF BLOOM 

 f line. 



Flcnvers : polygamous; small; sessile; growing in panicles often a foot long. 

 Staminate ones with linear, obovate petals, which in the perfect flowers are much 

 smaller or often wanting. Stamens : \^w\ greatly exserted. Leaves: very large; 

 twice or thrice compound, the leaflets with petiolules; ovate, obovate, or lanceo- 

 late; long pointed at the apex, and tapering, or cordate at the base, usually one- 

 sided; sharply-serrate or cut; thin. 



No goat's beard, it would seem was ever so pretty as the foamy, fleecy 

 spray of this plant's bloom, Froiii a long distance it can be seen lightening 



