326 ORDER LIX. — SAXIFRAGACE^E. 



1. 0. America'num, (Schwein.) Stetn slender, decumbent, dichoto 

 mous above. Leaves roundish-ovate, crenate ; the upper ones alter 

 Date, the loAver ones opposite. Flowers sessile, scattered. Seeds his 

 pid, reddish-brown. — Yellowish-green. If. April — May. Mountains. 



Water Carpet. Golden Saxifrage. 



Genus VI.— LEPLTROPET'ALOX. Ell. 5—3. 

 (From the Greek lepurion, a little scale, and petalon, a petal.) 



Calyx 5-parted, with ovate, obtuse lobes ; tube turbinate, co- 

 hering to the lower portion of the ovary. Petals 5, minute, 

 spatulate, persistent. Stamens 5, with short filaments. Cap- 

 sule 1-celled, many-seeded, globose. Seeds numerous. A 

 small, annual herb, growing in tufts. Leaves alternate, spatu- 

 late, entire, marked with brownish dots. Flowers terminal. 



1. L. spathula'tem, (Ell.) Stem glabrous, somewhat succulent, slightly 

 angled, branching from the base. Flowers large for the size of the 

 plant. Calyx persistent ; segments ovate. Petals scale-like, ovate. 

 Capsule 3-valved at the summit. — White. *5. March — ApriL Close 

 soils. 1 inch. 



Genus VII.— ITE A. L. 5— 1. 



(From itea, the Greek name.) 



Calyx campanulate, 5-cleft, with subulate segments. Petals 

 5, inserted into the tube of the calyx, linear-lanceolate, with in- 

 curved points. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals. Style 1. 

 Stigma capitate, 2-lobed. Capsule 2-celled, with a central pla- 

 centa. 



1. I. Virgin'ica, (L.) A shrub with flexible, pubescent branches. 

 Leaves alternate, lanceolate, acuminate, serrulate, on short petioles. 

 Petals pubescent on the inside. Style furrowed. Flowers in terminal, 

 simple racemes. Seeds numerous. — "White. %. April — May. Wet 

 soil-. Common. 3 — 6 feet. 



Genes VIII.— HYDRAN'GEA. Gron. 10—2. 



(From the Greek hudor, water, and angeion, a vine; suggested by the capsules of 

 some of the species resembling a cup and growing in water.) 



Calyx 5-toothed. Floivers fertile or sterile ; calyx of the 

 sterile flowers membranaceous, colored, flat, dilated ; the re- 

 maining organs rudimentary or none; tube of the calyx in fer- 

 tile flowers, hemispherical, cohering to the ovary, ribbed. Pet- 

 als 5, ovate, sessile. Stamens double the number of the petals. 

 Styles 2. Capsule 2-celled, dehiscing by an aperture between 

 the styles. Seeds numerous. Shrubs, with opposite leaves, 

 with cymose flow. is. 



1. II. arbokes'cens, (L.) Stnn with opposite branches, pubescent 

 when young. Leaves oblong-ovate, acuminate, dentate, nearly glabrous. 

 Flowers in faetigiate cyme*, generally fertile. — White. ^ . May — 

 June. Mountains. G — 8 feet. 



