2i8 THE SAXIFRAGA FAMILY. 



RUQEL'S HEUCHERA. 



Hciichera Rugclli. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Saxifrage. White. Scentless. Alaba)na to North Jiily-September. 



Carolina and Missouri. 



Flo7cers : terminating the sometimes leafy stem in loose panicles, and having 

 long, thread-like pedicels. Calyx: campanulate; persistent ; pubescent. Petals: 

 linear-spatulate, considerably longer than the calyx-lobes. Stamens: exserted. 

 Leaves : from the base with long, villous petioles ; broadly reniform, or orbicular, 

 cordate at the base and having from seven to nine short, broad lobes with crenate 

 teeth, each of which are tipped with a little point ; thin ; bright green above; lighter 

 below and very pubescent along the veins and margins. Stems: eight to fifteen 

 inches high; erect; very slender; viscid. 



Projecting from a fissure along the side of a great rock near Highlands, 

 North Carolina, I saw this plant clinging tightly to the scanty soil which 

 had there found a lodgement. Its bloom was passing, but still there 

 clung something of fleeciness about its thrust-out stamens and delicately 

 tinted calyx. Its large and finely formed leaves also gleamed vividly green 

 and presented an attractive appearance while quite different from the other 

 saxifrages which have been mentioned. This one, as well as a number of 

 members of the genus do remarkably well when planted in suitable situa- 

 tions and are desirable because they preserve their bloom until so late in the 

 season. 



H. villbsa, hairy heuchera, {Plate LXV.) may be known from the fore- 

 going species by its more acutely lobed leaves and because their under 

 surfaces, their stems, and petioles are so densely villous with brownish 

 hairs, almost like a small animal's shaggy coat. In rocky places it also is 

 found and through country from Georgia and Tennessee to Virginia. 



//. Americana, alum-root, raises a stout and high stem more nearly 

 glabrous than those of the others which have been mentioned ; while its 

 flower's petals, hardly exceeding the lobes of the campanulate calyx, are 

 greenish. Its leaves, however, are its prominent feature of beauty. They 

 are rounded and have lobes which are crenate, or dentate. In the autumn 

 they turn to pinkish purple and remain bright and variegated in colours 

 throughout the winter. On their upper surfaces they are soft and velvety, 

 for always there are traces to be seen of the scattered hairs which clothed 

 them in early days. 



KIDNEY=LEAVEDGRASS=OF=PARNASSUS. 



Parndssia asarifblia. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Saxifrage. White., veined Scentless. Georgia and North Carolina fuly-October. 



7t'ith green. to Virginia. 



Flowers: terminal; solitary; growing on scapes ten to twelve inches high and 

 about which midway is a rounded, clasping leaf. Calyx: with five ovate, or oval, 



