MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 49 



There are two tall very branching white Saxifrages which 

 to the ordinary eye closely resemble one another, namely, 

 Lyall's Saxifrage and Tall Saxifrage, and a careful reference 

 to the descriptions of each should be made in determining a 

 particular plant. 



Lyall's Saxifrage is the smaller of the two plants, and is 

 less branching ; its leaves grow in a cluster at the base, are 

 rounded, deeply toothed, and often tinged and streaked with 

 red. The flowers, which are very numerous, are white. A 

 special distinguishing feature is the seed-pods, three or four 

 in number, which develop in the centre of each flower in a 

 cluster, and are red, with very pointed beaks. 



TALL SAXIFRAGE 



Saxifraga Niitkana. Saxifrage Family 



Stems: tall, erect from a fleshy caudex, paniculately branched above. 

 Leaves : cuneate, spatulate, attenuate to a broad petiole, coarsely dentate 

 above the middle. Flowers: numerous, in a loose secund panicle; petals 

 five, white, with a red spot at base of blade ; filaments clavate as long as 

 the petals. Fruit : beaks red, erect. 



The Tall Saxifrage is a larger and handsomer plant than 

 Lyall's variety. It is also more branching, growing from six 

 to eighteen inches high, and covered with many tiny white 

 blossoms, each with a bright orange or red spot at the base 

 of the blade. The leaves grow in a cluster at the base, 

 from the centre of which the flower-stalks spring ; they are 

 hairy, long-shaped, and sharply toothed. You can best dis- 

 tinguish the Tall Saxifrage from Lyall's species by the leaves, 

 which in the former are spatulate and long-shaped and in the 

 latter rounded. The Tall Saxifrage also generally has small 

 bulblets growing below the flowers. 



