SAXIFRAGA TENNESSEENSIS n. sp.
Grayana Kearney, Bull. Torr. Club, 21 : 262. 1894. Not Britton, 1894.
Perennial by a short erect or ascending rootstock, scapose, glandular-pilose, bright green. Leaves basal, ovate or sometimes suborbicular, the blade 2-6 cm. long, obtuse or rounded at the apex, but usually terminated by a tooth, coarsely crenate-dentate, abruptly narrowed at the base, the petiole winged, longer or shorter than the blade ; scapes erect or assurgent, 1-2.5 dm. tall ; branches of the panicle subtended by linear or spatulate bracts ; cymules open ; flowers white, 8-9 mm. broad ; calyx flattish, 5 mm. broad, its tube adherent to the ovary, its segments triangu lar-ovate, 1-1.5 mm. long, acute, spreading, longer than the tube ; petals lanceolate, 3.5-4 mm. long, obtuse or slightly notched at the apex, sessile or nearly so, with two lateral nerves which arise below the middle and converge at the apex, the lateral nerves often giving off short secondary branches ; filaments subulate, somewhat longer than the calyx-segments, mature fruit not seen.
Rocky bluffs of the Tennessee River about Knoxville. Alti tude about 270 meters.
Sa.rifraga Tomesscensis was apparently first collected by Prof. A. Ruth, of Knoxville, Tennessee, but first brought to notice by Mr. T. H. Kearney, who erroneously referred it to Grayana, a member of the subgenus Hydactia. The species really belongs to the subgenus Oficranthes and is a close relative of the common Saxifraga Virginiensis. The primary character to debar it from relationship with S. Grayana is its subulate filaments ; the calyx-segments, petals and follicles are also different from those of that species. The pubescence in S. Tennesseensis is inclined to be tomentose and tawny and is much more abundant than in S. Fur giniensis. Besides its general habit, it can be readily distinguished by its lanceolate petals, which are notched at the apex and strongly marked with two yellow spots near the base.