Ë C A N D R I A. Digyniu•
Gen. Char. Cal. 5-deft. Petals 5. C ap/, with a
beaks, 1-celled. Seeds numerous.
Spec. Char.^ Leaves hairy, palmate : the lower ones
in five divifions ; upper in three;. Shoots afcend-
ing. Stem ereét, leafy, with a denfe panicle of
few flowers. Petals roundifh.
Syn. Saxifraga petræa. W ith . 890.
S. cæfpitofa. F I. Dan. t. 7 1 .
( jA T H E R E D wild on the rocks of Cwm Idwell, North
Wales, by Mr. Griffith in the end of May laft. The fame
gentleman alfo communicated fpecimens to Dr. Withering,
who has inferted this plant at the end of his 3d volume by
the name of S. petræa of Linnaeus and Gouan ; a miftake
fcarcely to be avoided, confidering the confufion which envelops
the S. petræa, and which we could never have removed
without the original fpecimens of Linnaeus, Gouan, and Seguier
now before us. From them it appears that the true petræa,
figured by Pona, and fent by Seguier to Linnaeus, who firft
rightly defcribed it in the 10th edition of Syftema Nature,
and then in Sp. PI. ed. 2, is widely different, both from our
plant and the variety /2 of S. tridaciylites in Flor. Suec. It is no
lefs different from Gouan’s petræay notwithftanding what he
fays about comparing it with Seguier’s fpecimens at Nifmes ;
for his is aâually S. adfcendem of Linnæus. We have not
room here to illuftrate this matter as it deferves. We cannot
refer our palmata to any fpecies defcribed in Haller, Allioni,
Scopoli or Villars, though it comes in fome points near the
exarata of the latter. We have little doubt in quoting the
Flora Danica, from the figure only y for, as ufual, there is not
much to be learned from the letter-prefs of that work. This
figure has no refemblance to S. cæfpitofa of Linnæus.
S. palmata has a perennial root, and grows in tufts, com-
pofed of numerous radical leaves, from whofe centre arifes a
fimple eredl flowering-ftem, furrounded at the bafe with lèverai
nearly upright, fhortilh, leafy fhoots or branches. All
the leaves are palmate, lengthened out at their bafe, clothed
with long white woolly fcattered hairs ; the radical ones, as
well as one or two on the lower part of the Item, are in 5
(rarely 7) fegments ; thofe on the Hem and fide fhoots in 3.
All the fegmerits are inclined to be elliptical, not linear. Panicle
ere£t, terminal, vifcid, denfe, compofed of 5 to 7 or 8
greenifh-white flowers. Bradteæ 3-cleft, or undivided. Segments
of the calyx ovate, pointed, hairy and vifcid. Petals
roundifh, a little pointed, with 3 fimple nerves united at their
bafe. Styles club-fhaped.—The fpecific character in Dr
Withering, as well as the defcription from Linnæus, belong to
the true S. petræa.