424 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE NATURAL ORDERS. 



crop, Orpine, Live-for-ever), Crassula, Sempervivum (Houseleek), 

 &c. They mostly grow in arid places, and are of no economical im- 

 portance. 



8iil. Ord. SElxifragacca) {Saxifrage Family). Herbs or shrubs, 

 with alternate or opposite leaves. Calyx of four or five more or 

 less united sepals, either free from or more or less adherent to 

 the ovary, persistent. Petals as many as the sepals, rarely want- 

 ing. Stamens as many, or commonly twice as many, as the pistils 

 or sepals, or rarely indefinitely numerous, perigynous. Ovaries 

 mostly two (sometimes three or four), usually united below and 

 distinct above, sometimes completely united and even the styles also. 

 Seeds numerous, with a straight embryo in fleshy albumen. The 

 order, taken in the largest sense, includes four tribes, as they should 

 probably be called, rather than suborders, which some botanists regard 



even as distinct orders, viz. : The SaxifragejE, or true Saxifrage 

 Family, which are herbs, with no manifest stipules, except the wings 

 or appendages at the base of the petiole or radical leaves. Ex. Sax- 



FIG. 839. SulHvantia Ohionia. 840. Flower with the calyx laid open, Bomewhat enlarged. 

 841. Fruit surrounded by the persistent calyx and withered petals, enlarged. 842. Section of 

 the lower part of the capsule, magnified ; showing the central placenta covered with the as- 

 cending seeds. 843. A magnified seed, with its cellular, wing-like testa. 844. Section of the 

 nucleus, showing the embryo in the midst of albumen. 



