SAXIFRAGES. 45 



5 or 10, perigynous or hypogynous, as the calyx is above or 

 below the germ or ovary, which is commonly composed of 2 

 carpels and their lobes, terminated by the sessile stigma ; leaves 

 simple ; herbaceous. 



Saxifraga. L. 10. 2. 



S. Pennsylvanica^ L., Water Saxifrage, and S. Virginien- 

 515, Mx., Rock Saxifrage, are named from their usual habitations ; 

 the former grows two feet high, bright-green ; the latter is much 

 smaller, and flowers very early in the spring. Their properties 

 are of little consequence. 



Parnassia. L. 5. 3. 



P. Caroliniana. Mx. Parnassus Grass. The English name 

 is a great absurdity, as no part of the plant resembles any of the 

 grasses. Stem a foot or more high, with a single ovate leaf in 

 the middle, and several oval leaves at the root ; flowers white, 

 petals longer than the calyx ; 5 nectaries of 3 threads ending in 

 yellow heads, alternating with the stamens ; blossoms in August, 

 and grows in wet meadows and beside cold streams ; plentiful 

 in Berkshire County, and found also in the eastern counties. 



Chrysosplenium. L. 10. 2. 



C. Jlmericanum. Hooker. A small, creeping, succulent 

 plant, about springs and brooks, with 8 stamens commonly ; 

 leaves opposite, roundish, and narrowed to the petiole ; flowers 

 in April, with scarlet anthers ; dignified with the name of Golden 

 Saxifrage ; of no obvious use. 



Hooker considers this plant as different from the European, 

 C. oppositifolium, L., which name had been given to it. 



MlTELLA. L. 10. 2. 



M. diphylla. L. False Sanicle. Has its flowers on a stem 

 about a foot or less high, in a raceme, with 2 opposite leaves, 

 and having radical leaves on bristly petioles, cordate, dentate, and 

 lobed ; flowers small, white, delicate, their 5 petals being 

 beautifully pinnatifid, standing on the calyx ; grows abundantly in 

 moist woods, and blooms in June. 



