SAXIFRAGE FAMILY 



171 



sub-sessile ; fruit a capsule. (Named, from its beauty, after 

 Mount Parnassus, the home of the Muses.) 



1. P. pahistris (Common Grass of Parnassus). — An exqui- 

 sitely beautiful plant ; leaves ovate-cordate, long stalked ; flowers 

 1 in. across, ivory-white, beautifully veined, on peduncles 

 8 — 10 in. high ; staminodes, fan-shaped scales, fringed with 

 9 — 13 white hairs terminating in yellow wax-like glands. — Bogs, 

 principally in the north. — Fl. August, September. Perennial. 



4. RfBES (Currant and Gooseberry). — Shrubs, sometimes 

 spinous ; leaves scattered, lobed, plaited ; flowers solitary or in 



RfBES nJgrum {Black Currant). 



bracteate racemes ; sepals 4 or 5, superior ; petals and stamens 

 equal to the sepals in number ; ovary inferior, 1 -chambered ; 

 styles 2 ; fruit a berry ; seeds with a pulpy testa. (Name Arabic, 

 applied originally to the Rhubarb.) 



1.* R. Grossuldria (Gooseberry), well distinguished by its spines 

 below the leaf-buds, either single or 2 — 3 together ; leaves 

 plaited, 3 — 5 lobed, crenate; flowers 1 — 3 together, greenish, 

 drooping ; sepals marcescent ; petals minute, white ; fruit 

 glandular-hairy or glabrous. — Hedges and woods, an escape. 

 The variety Uva-crispa, with smooth berries, may be wild. — Fl. 

 April, May. Perennial. 



2. P. alpinum (Tasteless Mountain Currant). — Without spines 

 and almost glabrous ; with dioecious yellowish flowers in erect 

 racemes, very long lanceolate bracts, and scarlet, insipid berries. 



