EODGEESIA 



BOCKFOIL OBDEB 



SAXIPEAGA 



415 



Culture dc. as above. This is a grand 

 plant for the sides of ponds, streams &c. 

 or in damp parts of the flower border. 

 It is easily increased by dividing the 

 roots in spring when growth is commen- 

 cing. 



A. rubra. — A somewhat rare and 

 pretty Indian species 4-6 ft. high, with 

 twice ternate leaves ; leaflets obHqiiely 

 cordate pointed, 1-2 in. long, serrated. 

 Flowers in summer and autmnn, rosy, 

 in dense panicles. 



Culture (Be. as above. 



A. Thunbergi. — A pretty little Japan- 

 ese undershrub about Ij ft. high. Leaves 

 oddly pumate or twice pinnate, with 

 broad, yellowish-green, sharply toothed 

 leaflets. Flowers in May, small, white, 

 in erect, dense, pyramidal clusters, with 

 reddish and rather downy stalks. 



Culture dc. as above. 



RODGERSIA (Eodgbes's Bronze 

 Leaf). — A genus with only one cultivated 

 species, described below with the generic 

 characters : — 



R. podophylla (if. japonica). — A 

 charming herbaceous Japanese perennial 

 with a thick, scaly rootstock and large 

 alternate leaves ; lower ones long-stalked, 

 pahnately or peltately 5-cleft, 1 to 3 

 ft. across ; upper ones 3-lobed, with 

 sessile, sharply serrated segments, cut at 

 the apex ; leaf-stalks dilated at the base, 

 with papery adnate stipules. Flowers 

 in June and July, yellowish-white, in 

 scorpioid cymes disposed in large panicles. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 plant thrives in a peaty soil and a rather 

 shaded situation. A mulching or top- 

 dressiug of well-rotted manure over the 

 crowns after the leaves have withered 

 away will be of great benefit every year. 

 It may be increased by cuttiug up the 

 rootstock in early spring, but the plants 

 should not be disturbed unless they have 

 become too large. 



Other species of Rodgersia have been 

 discovered of late years, and may soon 

 be introduced to cultivation from their 

 habitats in China. B,. cesculifoUa, with 

 yellowish- white flowers ; -B. Henrici, with 

 deep purple flowers ; and B. pinnata, 

 with pale rose or white flowers, are the 

 species referred to. 



SAXIFRAGA (Eockfoil ; Break- 

 stone). — A genus with about 160 species 

 of beautiful, mostly perennial rock plants, 



very smooth, hairy or glandular, erect or 

 decumbent. Leaves various ; the lower 

 ones often in rosettes ; the upper ones 

 usually alternate, sheathing at the base. 

 Flowers usually in panicles or corymbs, 

 white or yeUow, rarely purple or pink. 

 Calyx lobes 5. Petals 5. usually equal, 

 sometimes fringed or glandular at the 

 base, perigynous or nearly hypogynous. 

 Stamens 10, rarely 5. Ovary superior or 

 half inferior, 2-lobed at the apex, very 

 rarely with 2 free carpels. Capsule 2- 

 beaked. 



Culture and, Propagation. — The 

 Eockfoils are beautiful garden plants, 

 chiefly natives of the north temperate or 

 arctic regions, and are very easily grown 

 in ordinary soil with stone and rocks 

 abounding. The plants are easily 

 increased by division in spring, or from 

 seeds sown in cold frames as soon as ripe, 

 while many kinds with creeping or trail- 

 mg stems are also readily increased by 

 cuttings of the shoots inserted in sandy 

 moist soil in spring in cold frames. With 

 a few exceptions, which have been noted 

 in the proper places, most of the species 

 like rather higher ground than the 

 ordinary level, and are thus eminently 

 suitable for the rock garden in raised 

 positions, where they wUl not run the 

 risk of having stagnant moisture at the 

 roots. During the active period of growth 

 however they like an abundance of water, 

 and as they gradually begin to pass from 

 this stage, and to ripen their seeds, drier 

 conditions are necessary. Besides the 

 kinds described below there are many 

 forms which are probably hybrids, and they 

 resemble one another so closely that it is 

 practically impossible to distinguish them 

 by mere written descriptions, although 

 they appear distinct enough to the eye. 



As there are so many sections of 

 Saxifraga recognised by botanists it may 

 be as well to give them in a tabulated 

 form, showing the species belonging to 

 each section. 



1. Cymbala/ria. — Usually annual or 

 biennial herbs with fleshy, stalked, 5-9- 

 lobed leaves. Petals more or less obovate 

 oblong, yellow or orange. 



S. Cymhalaria S. huetiana 



2. Tridactylites.—'Kei-chs with rosettes 

 of fleshy, wedge-shaped 3-5-7-lobed or 

 entire leaves, narrowed into a petiole. 

 Petals white, obovate, wedge-shaped, 

 emarginate. 



