S A X I F R A G A hirta.
Trifid Hairy Saxifrage.
DECANDRIA Digynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. 5-deft. Petals 5 . Caps, with 2
beaks, 1 cell, and many seeds.
Spec. Char. L e a v e s in five, o r three, deep, elliptical,
a cu te lo b e s ; h a iry , lik e the stem an d footstalks.
Shoots ascending;. Stem ere ct, le a fy , w ith few
flowe rs. P e ta ls ob ova te, w ith three sim ple nerves.
Svn. S a x ifr a g a h irta . Bonn. Cant. ed. 5 . 107.
W E have received from the worthy Curator of the Cambridge
garden living plants of this Saxifrage under the above
name, along with several others, all of Scottish growth; but
the specimen in our plate was communicated by Mr. Joseph
Woods from a garden, as being a plant found by Mr. Mackay
in Ireland. It proves distinct from all we can find described
of this intricate tribe. It flowers in May, or early in June,
and forms lax perennial tufts, with ascending leafy shoots,
and erect flowering stems. The leaves have broad flat footstalks,
marked with a central groove, and exceeding their
own length. They are themselves deeply divided or fingered,
the lobes 3 or 5, the 2 outer ones in the latter case less separated
; all elliptical, acute, entire; fringed, like the shoots,
with long, soft, white hairs. The stem varies in height according
to circumstances, and is clothed with glandular
hairs; it bears 3 or 4 loosely panicled, white, large flowers,
accompanied by a few simple oblong bracteas. The petals
are obovate, in which this species differs from S. pabnata,
t. 455, though in many points they agree, especially in their
pubescence. Three green simple ribs are found in each petal,
combined for a short distance from the bottom.