114 LETTER XXXVI. 



The fruit (fig. 6.) is a seed-vessel covered by the 

 i>iaiidular calyx, and opening at the point with two 

 spreading valves ; to its centre in the inside adhere 

 the seeds (fig. J.), which are exceedingly numerous, 

 oblong, studded with elevated points (fig. 8. 9-), and 

 contain an erect dicotyledonous embryo, enclosed in 

 fleshy albumen (fig. 10.). 



Such is the structure of the Three-fingered Saxi- 

 frage, and very nearly such is that of the principal part 

 of its tribe, with the following very remarkable excep- 

 tion. In the plant just examined, the ovary adhered 

 to the calyx for nearly all its length ; such a circum- 

 stance, if occurring in one genus of a natural group, 

 usually exists in all the remainder. But the Saxifrage 

 tribe offers an exception to this rule ; for in Leiogyne 

 the seed-vessel is altogether free from the calyx, and in 

 other cases it is partly free and partly adherent in the 

 same genus. 



This occurs in the genus Parnassia, one of the most 

 curious of all wild plants, the companion of Sun-dew 

 in her marshy haunts, and quite her rival in beauty 

 and singularity of structure. The remarkable glands 

 of Drosera are confined to her irritable leaves, and dis- 

 appear in her flowers. In Parnassia, on the contrary, 

 the leaves and stems are hairless, but there is a most 

 extraordinary glandular apparatus in the flowers. The 

 leaves of this plant are heart-shaped, and cluster round 

 the base of the stem. The latter rises to the heig-ht 

 of a few inches, bearing below its middle a solitary 

 stalkless leaf, similar in form to those of the base, and 

 on its point a single nodding white flower, whose petals 



