CLASS V. OIIDER II.] SESELI. 381 



GENUS LXV. SE'SELI.— Linn. Meadow Saxifrage. 



Gen, Char. Calyx margin of five teelL. Petals otcordate, with an 



indexed point, or nearly entire. Fruit ovate or oblong, roundish, 



on a transverse section, crowned with the reflexed styles. Carpels 



with five prominent or elevated filiform ridyes, the lateral ones 



mostly rather wider than the others, and forming the margin. 



Channels with single vittcB, rarely with two or three. Albumen 



half round. General involucre various, partial of numerous 



segments. — Name from o-eo-eXj, Seseli ; originally applied to some 



plants of this kind. 



1. S. Liban'otis, Koch. (Fig. 443.) Mountain Meadotv Saxifrage. 



Stem angular, furrowed ; leaves bi-pinnatifid or tri-pinnatifid ; leaflets 



cut into lanceolate very acute mucronated segments; general involucre 



of many narrow segments. 



Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. J 32. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 119. — 

 Athamanta Libanotis, Linn. — English Botany, t. 138. — English Flora, 

 vol. ii. p. 88. — Libanotis vulgaris, De Cand. 



Root tapering, crowned with the withered bases of the old leaves. 

 Stem erect, from one to three feet high, angular, smooth, furrowed, 

 and striated, more or less solid within, branched and leafy, the leaves 

 most numerous below, alternate, sometimes opposite above, the lower 

 ones on longish footstalks, the upper with short, and all with dilated 

 bases, with membranous margins embracing or sheathing the stem, 

 the loivcr leaves frequently tri-pinnated, with the leaflets broadly 

 wedge-shaped, cut into lanceolate very acute segments, tipped with a 

 bristle point, the lower leaflets on short footstalks, the upper sessile, 

 and frequently united at the base, the tipper leaves much smaller than 

 the lower, bi- rarely tri-pinnated, the leaflets deeply cut into lanceolate 

 segments, all of them are veiny beneath, and paler than above, fre- 

 quently somewhat glaucous. Umbels lateral and terminal, hemi- 

 spherical, the general of numerous angular more or less hairy rays^ 

 the partial of numerous crowded short ones. General involucre of 

 numerous narrow linear hairy reflexed segments, partial of numerous 

 hairy linear erect ones. Flowers numerous, crowded, while or pinkish. 

 Calyx of five narrow awl-shaped elongated hairy teeth, which soon 

 fall away. Petals inversely heart-shaped, with a strong mid-rib and 

 two narrow lateral ones, and inflexed point. Filaments awl-shaped, 

 with ovate anthers. Styles short. Stigmas small, obtuse. Disk fleshy, 

 somewhat convex, becoming purplish after flowering. Frtiit ovate, 

 hairy, roundish on a transverse section. Carpels with five elevated 

 ridges, the lateral ones somewhat wider than the others, and forming 

 the margin. Channels hairy, with single vitfxc. Albumen half round. 



