142 SAXIFRAGACE^. (SAXIFRAGE FAMILY.) 



■I- 4- Stamens twice as many as the lobes of the calyx, namely 8 or 10. 



6. MITELLA. Calyx partly cohering with the depressed ovary. Petals small, plnnatifld. 



7. TIARELLA. Calyx nearly free from the slender OTary. Petals entire. 



8. CHRYSOSPLENIUM. Calyx-tube coherent with the ovary. Petals none. 



StTBORDER 11. ESCALLONIE.S;. The Escallonia Family. 



Shrubs, with alternate simple leaves and no stipules. Petals usually 

 valvate in the bud. 



9. ITEA. Calyx free from the 2~celled ovary. Pod many-seeded. Stamens 5. 



Suborder III. HYDRANGIEJE. The Hydrangea Family. 



Shrubs, -with opposite simple leaves and no stipules. 



10. hydrangea. Calyx4-5-toothed, the tube adherent to the imperfectly 2-ceUed ovary. 



Petals valvate In the bud. Stamens 8 or 10. Styles 2, diverging 



11. PHILADBLPHUS. Calyx i - 5-parted ; the tube adhering to the 3 - o-oelled ovaiy. Pet- 



als convolute in the bud. Stamens 20-40. Styles united below. 



Suborder I. SAXIFRAGACE.i]<:. True Saxifrage Family. 



1. ASTIliBE, Don. Palsb Goatsbeakd. 



Flowers diceciously polygamous. Calyx 4 -5-parted, small. Petals 4-5, 

 spatulate, small, withering-pomstent. Stamens 8 or 10. Ovary 2-celled, almost 

 free, many ovuled : styles 2, short. Pod 2-celled, separating into 2 follicles, 

 each ripening few seeds. Seed-coat loose and thin, tapering at each end. — • 

 Perennial herbs, with twice or thrice temately compound ample leaves, cut-lobed 

 and toothed leaflets, and small white or yellowish flowers in spikes or racemes, 

 which are disDOsed in a compound panicle. (Name composed of a privative and 

 (TTtX/Si;, a bright surface, because the foliage is not shining.) 



1 . A. decsindra, Don. Somewhat pubescent ; leaflets mostly heai-fc- 

 shaped; petals minute or wanting in the fertile flowers; stamens 10. — Eich 

 woods, Alleghanies of S. W. Virginia and southward. July. — Plant imitating 

 Spiraea Amncus, but coarser, 3° - 5° high. 



2. SAXIFRAOA, L. Saxifkage. 



Calyx free from, or cohering with, the base of the ovary, 5-cleft or parted. 

 Petals 5, entire, commonly deciduous. Stamens 10. Styles 2. Pod 2-beaked, 

 2-celled, opening down or between the beaks ; or sometimes 2 almost separate 

 follicles. Seeds numerous, with a, close coat. — Chiefly perennial herbs, with 

 the root-leaves clustered, those of the stem mostly alternate. (Name from 

 saxum, a rock, and frango, to break ; many species rooting in the clefts of rocks.) 

 # Stems prostrate, leafy : leaves opposite : calyx free from the pod. 



1. S. oppositifolia, L. (Mountain Saxifrage.) Leaves thick 

 and fleshy, ovate, keeled, ciliate, imbricated on the sterile branches (l"-2" 

 long) ; flowers solitary, large ; petals puqjle, obovate, much longer than the 

 5-cleft free calyx. — Eocks, Willoughby Mountain, Vermont ( Wood), and north- 

 ward. (Eu.) 



