Saxifrage

Saxifrage (Saxifraga), a genus of calycifloral Dicotyledons, the type of the order Saxifragaceae, comprising nearly 200 species, belonging to the temperate and arctic-alpine floras of the northern hemisphere. They are mostly dwarf perennial herbs, with tufted simple exstipulate leaves, and white, yellow, or pink flowers, with five petals, ten stamens, and two half-superior and half-united carpels. Of some twelve British species, S. umbrosa, London Pride, or St. Patrick's Cabbage, has fleshy leaves with notched margins, S. granulata bears numerous small tubers, S. tridactylites is viscid with glandular hairs and reddish trilobed leaves, and S. hypnoides, the mossy saxifrage, with much-divided foliage, forms tufts on our higher mountains. Many others are in cultivation, especially in our rock gardens. One section Megasca) has large fleshy leaves and large clusters of rose-pink flowers. The name refers to many of the species growing in crevices of bare rock, as if breaking it.