262 The Saxifrage. 



flower well. Some of the species can be planted out in th e 

 open air, early in spring, when they will begin to flower i n 

 May, and continue through the summer. 



The species in our plate is named from the gentleman who 

 introduced it into England, from the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 is considered the handsomest of all the species. The flowers 

 are large, of a fine rose color, and produced in such abun- 

 dance as to have a most brilliant effect in the garden. When 

 placed in the open ground, says a cultivator, the plants flower 

 in September and October ; but by potting them, and' keeping 

 them quite dry, so as to allow them about a fortnight's rest in 

 midsummer, or later, and then placing them in a stove, to 

 start them, as the gardeners call it, they may be made to flower 

 freely, and at any season required, according to the time when 

 they are given their period of rest. 



A very pretty American species, is O. violacea, which ought 

 to be cultivated. The scape is very slender, about a foot 

 high, bearing an umbel of large, elegant, violet-colored flowers. 

 It grows in woods, and flowers in May. Three or four other 

 species are natives of the Northern States. 



SAXIFRAGA— THE SAXIFRAGE. 



Natural Order, Saxifragaccae ; Linnaean System, Decaudria, Digynia. Ge- 

 neric Distinctions: — Calyx of four or five sepals, more or less united; 

 petals, five, entire; capsule, two-beaked, two-celled, openiug between 

 the diverging beaks ; seeds, many. 



<S. ligulata. — Leaves, obovate, subcordate, denticulated ; quite glabrous on 

 both surfaces, but ciliated on the margin ; panicle, dichotomous; petals, 

 broad, orbicular. — Plate 38, Fig. 1. 



S. stellaris. — Leaves, wedge-form, serrate, pilose at the margin ; stem, sim- 

 ple, naked ; petals, acute ; capsule, superior. — Plate 33, Fig. 2. 



This is also a very extensive genus, comprising many spe- 

 cies, which are generally inhabitants of northern regions, all 

 over the world. Some of the species are easily cultivated, 

 and, although naturally mountaineers, are not incapable of 

 breathing the more impure air of towns and valleys. They 



