A large family, almost all herbs, living usually in temperate regions.
They have no very peculiar characteristics and resemble the Rose
Family, but sometimes their leaves are opposite, usually they have no
stipules and have fewer stamens than Roses, not more than twice as many
as the sepals, and usually the pistils, from two to five in number,
with distinct styles, are united to form a compound ovary, which is
superior or partly inferior; sepals usually five; petals four, five, or
rarely none, alternate with the sepals; petals and stamens borne on the
calyx; fruit a dry pod or berry, containing numerous seeds. The Latin
name means "rock breaker," as many grow among rocks.
There are several kinds of Parnassia, of north temperate and arctic
regions; smooth perennials; leaves toothless, almost all from the
root; flowers single; sepals five; petals five, each with a cluster of
sterile filaments, tipped with glands, at the base; fertile stamens
five, alternate with the petals; ovary superior, or partly inferior,
with a very short style, or none, usually with four stigmas; fruit a
capsule, containing numerous winged seeds. These plants were called
Grass of Parnassus by Dioscorides, but are not grasslike. They resemble
the other members of this family so little that they have been made
into a separate family by some botanists.
[Sidenote: =Grass of Parnassus=
_Parnássia fimbriàta_
=White
Summer
Northwest=]
A charming plant, with several slender stems, about a foot tall,
springing from a large cluster of handsome, very smooth, glossy leaves.
The flowers are about an inch across and have cream-white petals,
delicately veined with green and prettily fringed towards the base, and
pale yellow anthers. At the base of each petal there is a queer little
stiff cluster of sterile filaments, like a tiny green hand. This grows
on banks of streams and in moist places, reaching an altitude of eleven
thousand feet. _P. Californica_ is similar, but the petals not fringed.
There are several kinds of Leptasea, perennials, with alternate, thick
or stiffish leaves; flowers white or yellow, single or in terminal
clusters; sepals five; petals five, with claws or claw-like bases;
stamens ten; ovary mostly superior.
[Illustration: Grass of Parnassus--Parnassia fimbriata.]
[Sidenote: =Dotted Saxifrage=
_Leptàsea austromontàna. (Saxifraga bronchialis)_
=White
Summer
Northwest=]
Pretty little plants, about six inches tall, forming matted clumps of
stiff, rather dark green foliage, the twigs crowded with leathery,
toothless leaves, bristly along the edges and tipped with a little
stiff point. The pretty flowers are about half an inch across, their
white petals dotted with dark red or purple towards the tips, sometimes
dotted with yellow near the center, with yellow anthers and a pale
green ovary, partly inferior. These little plants sometimes cover rocky
slopes for long distances with their leafy mats and are common in the
mountains at moderate altitudes.
There are several kinds of Muscaria, perennial, matted herbs; leaves
alternate, usually three-lobed, mostly from the root; flowers white,
single, or a few in terminal clusters; sepals five; petals five,
without claws; stamens ten; ovary about one-half inferior.
[Sidenote: =Tufted Saxifrage=
_Muscària caespitòsa (Saxifraga)_
=White
Summer
Northwest, etc.=]
Pretty little plants, from two to six inches tall, with small leaves,
with from three to five lobes or teeth, forming matted patches of
pretty foliage, from which spring many slender, slightly hairy
flower-stems, with a few bracts or leaves, and bearing one or more
pretty flowers, less than half an inch across, with white petals,
yellow anthers, and a greenish-yellow ovary. This grows in rocky
crevices in the mountains, across the continent, also in arctic and
alpine Europe and Siberia.
There are a good many kinds of Lithophragma, perennials, bearing
bulblets on their slender rootstocks and sometimes also on the stems;
leaves more or less divided, mostly from the root; stipules small;
flowers few, in a loose, terminal cluster; sepals five; petals five,
white or pink, with claws; stamens ten, short; ovary superior or partly
inferior, with three short styles.
[Sidenote: =Woodland Star=
_Lithophrágma heterophýlla_
=White
Spring, summer
California=]
A little woodland plant, delicate and pretty, with a slender, hairy
stem, from nine inches to two feet tall, springing from a pretty
cluster of hairy leaves, variable in shape, but usually with three or
five lobes. The starry flowers are three-quarters of an inch across,
with white petals, prettily slashed. This is sometimes called Star of
Bethlehem, but that name belongs to an Ornithogalum, grown in gardens.
[Illustration: Dotted Saxifrage--Leptasea austromontana.
Tufted Saxifrage--Muscaria caespitosa.