144 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



Saxifraga petrcea L. 



Stem solitary, decumbent, leafy, paniculate. Flower-stalks 

 i-flowered, with 2 bracts. Leaves pinnately 3-cleft, inciso-dentate 

 lower leaves, nearly reniform ; uppermost wedge-shaped at base, 

 entire or 3-cleft, the lobes acuminate ; leaf-stalk of lower leaves 

 elongated, furrowed. Petals white, oljovate, twice as long as calyx. 



Damp rocky places on limestone, often descending to a low 

 elevation ; 2000-5300 feet. May to July. 



Distribution. — Carpathians, Eastern Alps ; rare. 



Saxifraga paradoxa Sternb. {Zahlbrucknera paradoxa Rchb.). 



Stem prostrate. Leaves distant, lower ones long-stalked, cordate- 

 reniform, 5-7 lobed, lobes obtuse or shortly acuminate ; upper 

 leaves 3-lobed. Flowers solitary, at length long-stalked. Petals 

 green, shorter than the sepals. Calyx half-inferior ; the small 

 calyx-teeth narrowly lanceolate, acute. 



Damp rocks, especially overhanging slabs of gneiss, preferring 

 the darkest corners of the hollows ; 3300-6000 ; rare. 



Distribution. — Only in Western Styria, Carinthia, Southern Tyrol, 

 and on the border between Tyrol and Lombardy. 



Saxifraga roiundifolia L. Round-leaved Saxifrage. (Plate XIV.) 

 Stem erect or ascending, leafy, terminating in a loose, paniculate, 

 glandular-downy cyme. Leaves hairy, cordate, roundish or reni- 

 form ; root-leaves and lower stem-leaves long-stalked, coarsely 

 dentate, uppermost sessile, broadly wedge-shaped, and unequally 

 cut. Calyx-teeth spreading. Flowers star-like, milk-white, spotted 

 with red above and yellow below the middle. Petals narrowly 

 lanceolate. 



Damp Alpine and sub-alpine woods and shady places from 

 3000-7000 feet. June to August. 



Distribution. — ^Alps, Pyrenees, Central and Southern Europe, 

 Corsica, Caucasus, Asia Minor, Armenia. 



Saxifraga Hirculus L. 



Perennial stock often reduced to a mere tuft. Leaves alternate, 

 almost linear, entire. Flowering-stems ascending to about 6 inches, 

 leafy, and terminating in a large, single yellow flower, with narrow- 

 obovate or oblong petals. Capsule rather large. Calyx-segments 

 reflexed, not half the length of the petals. 



Sphagnum bogs and wet mountain moors. July, August. 



Distribution. — Jura, rare in Switzerland, Central, Northern, and 

 Arctic Europe ; Caucasus, Thibet, Himalaya ; North and Arctic 

 America ; rare in Britain. 



Saxifraga tridactylites L. 



A small annual, 2-5 inches high, usually branched and more or 

 less covered with glandular down. Leaves very small, entire or 



