Saxifraga.'] 



XXXYII. SAXIFKAGACE^ 



161 



with usually two diverging persistent sfijles, 2-celled with an 

 axile placenta, or 1 -celled with parietal placentas. Capsule 

 2-valved. Seeds numerous. Albumen Ae^hj.— Small, mostly 

 herbaceous -pViXnU, frequent in northern and alpine regions. 



1. Saxifraga. Petals 5, ovary 2-celled. 



2. CiiRYSOsrLENiUM. Petals 0, ovary 1 -celled. 



1. Saxifraga Linn, Saxifrage. 



Cal superior, or inferior, or half-inferior, in 5 segments. 

 Pet. 5. Stam. 10 or sometimes 5. Ovary 2-celled. Caps, with 

 2 beaks, 2-celled, many-seeded. — i^amed from saxum, a stone^ 

 and frango, to break; in allusion to the supposed medicinal 

 virtues of this plant; or, perhaps, to its roots penetrating the 

 crevices of rocks, among which the different species generally 



grow. 



"^ Flowering -stems erect, leafless. Flowers panicled, Cal. usually re- 



flexed. Caps, superior or nearly so. 



^ Filaments enlarged upwards. 



1. S. Geum L. {Kidney - shaped S.) ; leaves rotundate-reniform 

 crenate or sharply toothed, footstalks hairy linear convex beneath 

 channelled above, scape panicled, capsules superior. — a. leaves 

 hairy on both sides. E. B. S. t. 2893.-/3. leaves glabrous on 

 both sides. E.B.t.\5%\. 



Mountains in the south of Ireland. 1/.. 6. — This species has 

 the margin of the teeth cartilaginous, but less so than the following. 

 Its type has the leaves hairy and sharply toothed ; but they vary 

 much in these respects and in size. Between this and the next there 

 are several hybrids about Killarney, two of which may be noticed. 

 1. S, elegans Mackay {E, B. S, t. 2892.), leaves round and approach- 

 ing in form to S. Geum.hui with the petiole shorter and broader, and 

 although convex beneath, it is flat above as in S. umhrosa, — Turk 

 mountain. — 2. ^S*. hirsuta L. (£. B. t. 2322); leaves deep green 

 slightly hairy oval longer than broad scarcely cordate at base, and the 

 petiole as in *S'. Geum. Gap of Dunloe. 



2. S. umbrosa L. {London- Pride, or None-so-pretty) ; leaves 

 roundish oval with cartilaginous crenatures sharp teeth or 

 serratures tapering gradually into a broad flat footstalk, scape 

 panicled, capsule superior. — a. leaves obovate-oblong crenate or 

 toothed spreading, 

 toothed erect. 



E. B. t. 663. 



S. punctata Haw. (not Z.) 



/3. leaves roixndish sharply 



y. leaves oblong- 

 ovate erect with deep tooth-like serratures. E. B. S. t. 2891. 



Plentiful on mountains in south and west of Ireland. Woods at 

 Wetherby, and in Craven, Yorkshire, and about Edinburgh and Glas- 

 gow, but not really wild. l/.. 6. — The type of this species has the 

 leaves glabrous, longer than broad, with the teeth either blunt, or 

 short and acute : 7. the teeth are long, and in ^8. the leaves are often 

 as short as in S. Geum^ but it does not appear to be a hybrid. 



V 



