G4 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



ORDER XXXII.-S AXIFRAGACEiE. 



Herbs, or more rarely trees or shrubs, with alternate or oppo- 

 site or rarely verticillate simple or compound leaves, which are 

 rarely fleshy ; in tbe herbaceous genera the radical leaves are 

 generally in rosettes. Stipules none in the herbaceous forms, 

 present but deciduous in the shrubby ones. Inflorescence various, 

 often in paniculate or corymbose cymes. Flowers perfect, regular, 

 of various colours, but most commonly white. Calyx of 4 or 5 (rarely 

 more or fewer) sepals, which are distinct or more or less united 

 together, with the tube free from or partially or wholly united to the 

 ovary. Petals as many as the sepals, inserted on the calyx, some- 

 times absent. Stamens as many or twice as many as the petals, 

 rarely indefinite or fewer than the petals, inserted in the throat of 

 the calyx ; anthers introrse. Ovary either free from the calyx or 

 adnate to its tube, commonly of 2, more rarely 3 to 5 or more carpels 

 partially or wholly united, 1-ceUed with parietal placentae, or with 

 as many cells as there are carpels and the placentae in the axis ; 

 ovules generally numerous ; styles distinct, or more or less united. 

 Fruit a dry capsule, with septicidal or more rarely loculicidal 

 dehiscence. Seeds anatropous ; albumen fleshy, rarely absent. 



Sub-Order I.— SAXIFRAGES. 



Herbs, with the stipules absent or wholly adnate to the petiole. 

 Calyx free, or adherent to the ovary. Petals imbricated, rarely 

 convolute in the bud. No nectariferous deeply - divided scales. 

 Stamens perigynous. 



GENUS I— S AXIFRAGA. Linn. 



Calyx of 5 sepals, with the tube more or less adhering to the 

 ovary, more rarely free ; limb 5-cleft or 5-partite, imbricated in 

 aestivation. Corolla of 5 petals, inserted on the tube of the calyx, 

 entire. Stamens 10, very rarely 5 ; anthers 2-eelled, opening lon- 

 gitudinally. Styles 2, rarely more. Capsule adnate to the calyx 

 at the base, more rarely free, of 2 (or rarely more) carpels, partially 

 united by their inner sutures so as to form a 2-beaked fruit 2-celled 

 at the base, opening by a hole between the diverging beaks. Pla- 

 cental on the dissepiment. Seeds numerous, with the testa tight 

 over the nucleus. 



