E0SACE2E. 



377 



Again one may rise up and become obliquel}' ascending, with its 

 mioropyle downwards and inwards. The fruit consists of a variable 

 number of follicles or pods,' and the seeds- contain within their 

 membranous coats a fleshy embryo, either exalbuminous, or more 

 rarely surrounded by a thin layer of cellular tissue.^ In this 

 genus we also find great variations in habit, vegetative organs, 

 and inflorescence. It consists of shrubs, undershrubs, or herbs, 

 sometimes very humble.^ The leaves are alternate, simple, and entire, 

 or lobed, pinnate, or even decompound. The petiole is accompanied 

 by free or adnate lateral stipules, which may, as we have seen, be 

 altogether absent. The flowers are axillary or terminal, in simple 

 or compound racemes, spikes, or corymbs, or in clusters of pluri- 

 parous or even uniparous cymes. ^ Species of this genus are to be 

 found in nearly all the cold and temperate regions of the northern 

 hemisphere.'' 



Spircea trifollatciJ (fig. 44:2) has become the type of the genus 

 Gillema^ whose hermaphrodite flower possesses a tubular receptacle, 

 somewhat contracted at the mouth, near which are inserted the 

 calyx and androceum. The calyx consists of five quincuncial sepals," 

 and the corolla of five long alternating petals contorted in the bud. 



' Some fruits are even indehiscent. Those of 

 »S'. Zflmaria are rolled up like a campylotropous 

 seed. 



^ They become quite ascending in certain 

 species, such as ;S'. Lindleyana. Those of S. 

 Aruncus, though similar in other respects, are 

 pendulous. The singular form of the rijje car- 

 pels of <S'. Ulmaria causes the seeds to assume 

 every possible direction. In none of these spe- 

 cies is there albumen, which distinguishes S. 

 Aruncus from Astilhe, to which TEEViRA:Nrs has, 

 however, referred it {Bot. Zeit. (1855), 817). 



•* "In S. parviflora...ewJ;'«/o?ie strata tenui 

 alhuminis donato," (B. H., Gen., 612.) 



■* Several have even the habit of little csespi- 

 tose Saxifrages, with a rosette of little simple 

 entire leaves, without much distinction of blade, 

 petiole, and sheath. We may cite S. (Petro- 

 phytum) caspUosa Nutt. (ex ToiiK. & Gk., Ft. 

 N. Amer., 414), possessing simple or ramiticd 

 racemes of flowers with long exserted stamens 

 and an entire cupuliform disk. Eriogyna has 

 the laciniate tritid leaves of many herbaceous 

 Saxifrages. The names, S. sorlifuUa, Ul- 

 maria, thalictroides, ■lalicifolia, &c., show pretty 

 clearly how great are the variations of habit and 

 foliage in this genus. 



•' 'I'he abortion of certain (lowers of the cymes 

 nuiy be joined to the uplilling of the i)edicels. 



producing the greatest abnormalities in the in- 

 florescence. This is the case with S. Filipendtda 

 [Dropwort], a plant also remarkable for tlie swel- 

 lings on its roots, from which it takes its name. 



^ Camee., De Ulmaria, I7l7. — Wald. & 

 Kit., pi. Par. Hung., t, 227.— Jacq., Hort. 

 Vindob., t. 88.— Pall., Fl. Pos.^., t. 27, 28.— 

 Cambess., op. cit., 355-385; Jacquem., T'ot/. 

 Pot., t. 37.— H. B. K., Nov. Gen. et Spec, vi. 

 185, t. 5G2.— Tore. & Ge., Fl. K Amer., i. 

 413.— A. Gray, ilff/w. o/ 7>'o/., ed. v. Ill); PI. 

 Wright, Tex., 54; PI. Fendl., 40.— Cti.U'M., i^/. 

 S. Unit.-States, 120.— Wedd., C/ilor. And., 

 ii. 231.— ToER. & Gr., Vljjpl. Pep., 1G4 (27), t. 

 v.— Bentk., Fl. Uongk., 105.— UoxB., Fl. Ind., 

 ii. 512. — MiQ., Ann. 3Ius. Ltigd. Bat., iii. 32; 

 Fl. Ind.-Pat., i. p. i. 389.— .Bo^ Peg., t. 13G5; 

 1840, t. 17; 1841, t. 4.:— Pot. Mag., t. 5151, 

 51G5, 51G9.— Walp., Pep., ii. 49, 914; v. G57; 

 Ann.,\. 287; ii. 521; v. GGG. 



' L., Spec, 702. — Cambess., Ann. So. Nat., 

 ser. 1, i. 387, n. 33.— Pot. Mag., t. 489. 



8 McENCii., Meih., Suppl., 286. — Nutt., 

 Gen. Am., i. 307. — UC, Prodr., ii. 5 IG. — Spacii, 

 S.rit. a Pufon, i. 44.7.— Tore. & Gr., Fl. N. 

 Amer., i. 412. — A.Geay, Man. of Pot., ed.v.,150. 

 — ENi)L.,G'e//.,n,6393.— B. II., G,n., 613. n. 22. 



'' The edges of the sepals bear little tessile 

 ulauds. 



