230 THE SAXIFRAGE FAMILY. 



A high northern and Arctic plant. In Britain, only on some of the 

 higher Scotch mountains, such as Ben Avers and Ben Nevis. Fl. summer. 

 High alpine forms of the cut-leaved S. have be«n frequently mistaken for 

 this plant, and are not indeed always easy to distinguish from it. The Irish 

 variety figm-ed (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2909) seems referable rather to the cut- 

 leaved than to the tufted S, 



6. Meadow Saxift-age. Saxifraga ^anulata, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 500.) 



Perennial stock reduced to a cluster of small bulbs, covered with whitish 

 or brown hairy scales. Stems erect, 6 inches to a foot high, simple or shghtly 

 branched, more or less covered with short spreading hairs, which become 

 glandular in the upper part of the plant. Eadical and lower leaves on long 

 stalks, reniform, obtusely crenate or lobed, the upper ones few and small, 

 more acutely lobed or entire. Flowers white, rather large, 3 to 6 together, 

 in rather close terminal cymes. Calyx adherent to about the middle of the 

 ovary, with rather obtuse divisions, about half the length of the petals. 



In meadows, pastures, and on banks, throughout temperate Europe, 

 extending northward into Scandinavia, and eastward into central, but per- 

 haps not into Eussian Asia. Abundant in several parts of England and 

 southern Scotland, but scarcely penetrates into the Highlands. Fl. spring 

 and early summer. 



7. Drooping Saxifrage. Saxifraga cernua, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 664.) 



In many respects allied to the meadoto S., of which it may be a starved 

 alpine variety. It is weaker, more glabrous, and slender ; the stock does not 

 always form distinct bulbs ; the leaves are smaller, angular or broadly lobed, 

 and the upper ones have often little bulbs in their axils. Flowering stems 

 more or less drooping at the summit, with 1 to 3 flowers, rather smaller than 

 in the meadow S. 



At great elevations, in a few of the larger mountain-ranges of Europe 

 and Asia, and all round the Arctic Circle. In Britain, only known on the 

 summit of Ben Lawers, where, however, it very seldom flowers, and is now 

 almost extinct. 



8. Brook Saxifrage. Saxifraga rivuleu-is, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 2275.) 



A glabrous plant, stiU smaller than the drooping S., which it much resem- 

 bles in foUage. Perennial stock small, and seldom forming bulbs ; radical 

 leaves on long stalks, deeply 3- or 5-lobed. Flowering stems weak, only 

 2 or 3 inches long, with very few small leaves, and 1 to 3 flowers, like those 

 of the drooping S., but much smaller, the petals scarcely exceeding the 

 calyx. 



A high alpine or Arctic species, with nearly the same geographical range 

 as the drooping S., but usually not so scarce. In Britain, it occurs sparingly 

 near the summit of Ben Lawers and Ben Nevis, and more abundantly on 

 Lochnagar. FL August. 



9. Rue-leaved Saxifrage. Saxifraga tridactylites, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 501.) 

 A Httle erect annual, 2 to 5 inches high, simple or branched, and more or 



