228 TUB SAXIFEAGE FAMILY. 



Calyx reflexed, free. Stems 1-flowered 3. Marsh S. 



Flowers white or pink. 



Cahfx adherent at the base, the lobes erect or spreading. 



Stem much branched at the base, with procumbent or 

 densely tufted barren shoots. Leaves narrow, simple 

 or 3-lobed. 



Leaves or their lobes acute. Tufts loose 4. Cut-leaved S. 



Leaves or their lobes obtuse. Tufts dense 5. Tufted S. 



Stems simple or branched, without barren shoots at the 

 base. 

 Perennials, with the radical leaves larger, and longer 

 stalked. 

 Lower leaves rounded or palmate. Flowers solitary or 

 panicled. 

 Lowland plant. Stem erect. Lower leaves crenate 6. Meadow S. 

 High alpine plants. Stems weak. Lower leaves an- 

 gular or deeply lobed. 

 Petals at least twice as long as the calyx .... 7- Drooplnq S. 



Petals scarcely exceeding the calyx 8. Srook S. 



Radical leaves ovate, toothed. Stem almost leafless, 



with a terminal head of small flowers 10. Alpine S. 



Annual, with narrow leaves, entire or three-lobed ... 9. Rue-leaved S, 

 Calyx free, with rejlexed divisions. 

 Flowers white. Leaves thin, angular or acutely toothed , 11. Star S. 

 Flowers pink. Leaves thick and leathery, crenate. 



Leaves obovate, narrowed at the base 12. London-pride S. 



Leaves orbicular, cordate or rounded at the base . . . 1-S. Kidney S. 



The large, somewhat coarse Siberian thich-leaved Saxifrage {S. crassi- 

 folia) is common among herbaceous plants in our gardens. The Chinese 

 S. sarmentosa, with long, hanging runners, is often grown in pots in cot- 

 tage windows ; and several species from the great European mountain-ranges, 

 forui a great proportion of all cultivated collections of alpine plants. 



1. Purple Saxifrage. Saxifiraga oppositifolia, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 9.) 



Stems perennial, creeping, very much branched, forming low, straggling 

 tufts, of several inches in diameter, seldom rising above an inch from the 

 ground. Leaves crowded, small, opposite, obovate, and cilia te. Flowers 

 rather large, handsome, and purple, often so crowded as almost to conceal 

 the fohage, although growing singly, on very short, erect branches. Calyx- 

 tube adhering to the ovary and capsule up to more than half its length ; 

 the segments ovate, green, erect or spreading, not half so long as the petals. 



In moist alpine situations, in the higher mountain-ranges of Europe, 

 and Russian and central Asia, extending far into the Arctic regions. Com- 

 mon in the Scotch Highlands, and also found, but sparingly, on some of 

 the higher Irish, Welsh, and northern EugUsh mountaius. Fl. spring and 

 early summer. 



2. YelloTsr Saxifrag'e. Saxifraga aizoides, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 39.) 

 Stock short, sometimes tufted, the flowering stems ascending to about 

 6 inches high. Leaves alternate, narrow, rather thick, smooth and shining, 

 about half an inch long, entire or rarely notched with 1 or 2 teeth. Flowers 

 yellow, in a loose panicle of from 3 or 4 to a dozen or more. Calyx-segments 

 not much shorter than the petals, and often narrow, hke them, and almost 

 as yellow, giving the flower the appearance of lia\dng ten petals with a broad 

 circular disk in the centre. Capsule adhering, to about half its length, toJ^ 

 the short tube of the calyx. 



