SAXIFEAGE FAMILT. 



143 



3. C. VERRUCo'sA, L. Leaves deeply 5-lobecl, tlie middle lobe narrowed 

 at base ; fruit elliptic-oblong, or clavate and of^en arcuate, verrucose. 

 Warty Cucurbita. "Warted Squash. Long-necked Squash. 



Hirsute. Root annual. Stem 10-15 feet long, somewliat branching ; tendrils branched. 

 Leaves 8-10 inches long ; petioles nearly as long as the leaves. Flowers yellow, rather 

 large. Fruit varying from oblong to obovoid and clavate, often m«ch elongated and 

 curved, rough with warts or obtuse tubercles, and of various colors, or shades, from yel- 

 low to green and white, finally hard and subligneous or bony. 



Lots and gardens : cuhivated. Native country imknown. J^L July. i^/-. October. 



Obs. Cultivated as the preceding (to which it is nearly allied), — and 

 for the same purposes. Both species are apt to produce worthless Hy- 

 brids among- Pumpkins, when growing near them ; and therefore should 

 never be planted in their immediate vicinity. 



Order XXXI. SAXIFEAGA'CE^. (Saxifrage Family.) 



Herbs or shrubs, with alternate or opposite, sometimes stipulate leaves, and various, often 

 cymose inflorescence. Sepals 4-5, persistent, more or less connected with each other, and 

 olien more or less adherent to the ovary. Petals as many as the sepals, — rarely want- 

 ing. Stamens as many — or more commonly twice as many as the petals, and inserted 

 with them into the throat of the calyx. Ovaries mostly 2, cohering at base and dis- 

 tinct at summit. Fruit capsular, ^eecfe numerous ; embryo straight, in the axis of fleshy 

 albumen. 



An unimportant Order to the Agriculturist, — though some species of Hydrangea and 

 Ftiiladelphus are admired, and cultivated as Ornamental Shrubs. 



1. SAXI'FEAGA, L. Saxifrage. 



[Latin, Saxum, a rock, and frangere, to break ; the plant often growing in clefts of rocks.] 



Calyx 5-parted, often adnate to the base of the ovary. Petals 5, entire. 

 S*a'mens mostly 10 (rarely 5). Capsule usually 2-beaked, — or rather 

 consisting of 2 acuminate connate carpels, opening between the diverg- 

 ing beaks. Radical leaves usually rosulate ; caidine ones mostly alter- 

 nate. 



1. S. Pennsylyan'ica, L. Leaves all radical, oblanceolate or oval, rath- 

 er acute, obsoletely denticulate, tapering at base to a broad margined 

 petiole ; scape leafless, striate, pubescent ; cymes in an oblong panicle ; 

 flowers pedicellate ; petals linear-lanceolate, scarcely twice as long as the 

 calyx ; ovary nearly free. 



Pennsylvania Saxifrage. Tall Saxifrage. 



Root perennial, with coarse fibres. Leaves 4-6 or 8 inches long, thin and smoothish, 

 somewhat cibate. Scape 2-3 (occasionally 4-5) feet high, rather stout, sulcate-striate. 

 Cymes at first in conglomerate heads — finally rather loose, in an oblong open panicle 

 12-18 inches in length,— the branches glandular-pubescent and somewhat viscid. Petals 

 greenish yellow, small. Stamens persistent ; anthers orange-colored with a tinge of pur- 

 ple. Seeds angular, dark brown. 



Swampy meadows and low ground : Canada to Virginia and Ohio. Fl. May. Fr. July. 



- Obs. There are numerous species of Saxifrage on this continent, (a 

 white-flowered one, — viz. : S. Virginiensis, Mx. i? very common on 

 rocky banks, in the woodlands of the middle States) : but this is the only 



