SAXIFRAGI-; FAMILY 



'71 



sub-sessile ; fniit a capsule. (Named, from its beauty, after 

 Mount Parnassus, the home of the Muses.) 



I. P. paluitris (Common Grass of Parnassus). — An exqui- 

 sitely beautiful plant ; leaves ovate-cordate, long stalked ; flowers 

 I in. across, ivory-white, beautifully veined, on peduncles 

 S — TO in. high ; siaminodrs, fan-shaped scales, fringed with 

 9 — 13 white hairs terminating in yellow wa'x-Iikc glands. — Bogs, 

 principally in the north. — Fl. August, September. Perennial. 



4. RfDES (Currant and Gooseberry). ^Shrubs, sometimes 

 spinous j leaves scattered, lobed, plaited ; flmvers solitary or _ in 



Rir.F^ .vi'gRL'M {Black Currant). 



bracteate racemes ; sepals 4 or 5, superior ; petals and stamens 

 equal to the sepals in number ; ova>-y inferior, i -chambered ; 

 styles 2 ; fruit a berry ; seeds with a pulpy t^sta. (Name Arabic, 

 applied originally to the Rhubarb.) 



I.* R. Crfjwzi'/a'r/a (Gooseberry), well distinguished by its spines 

 below the leaf-buds, either single or 2 — 3 together ; leaves 

 plaited, 3 — 5 lobed, crenate ; fowers 1 — 3 together, greenish, 

 drooping ; sepals marcescent ; petals minute, white ; fniit 

 filandular-hairy or glabrous. — Hedges and woods, an escape. 

 The variety Uva-cnspa, with smooth berries,: may be wild, — Fl. 

 April, May. Perennial. 



2. li. alpUiutn (Tasteless )iIountain Currant). — "Without spines 

 and almost glabrous ; with dicecious yellowish floivers in erect 

 racemes, very long lanceolate bracts, and scarlet, insipid berries. 



