Mitella
(a diminutive from mitra, a mitre or cap; alluding to the form of the young pod). Including Drummondia. ORD. Saxifrageae. A genus consisting of five species of hardy perennial herbs, natives of North America and North-eastern Asia, only two of which have been introduced. Flowers greenish, small, distant, often secund or nodding, in slender many-flowered racemes; scape slender, erect, naked, or one or two-leaved. Leaves long-stalked, cordate, lobed or crenated. The species thrive in any light soil, but do best if grown in peat. Propagated by divisions. M. diphylla is a pretty plant for the rockery. Both the species here described are from North America. M. diphylla (two-leaved). fl. white, with pinnatifidly fringed petals. April. l., radical ones cordate, somewhat three to five-lobed, dentately serrated, on long petioles; cauline ones two, opposite, smaller, and nearly sessile. h. 6in. to 9in. 1731. (B. R. 166.) M. pentandra (five-anthered).* fl. yellowish; petals five, pectinately pinnatifid, alternating with the sepals; scape leafless. May. l., radical ones on long petioles, cordate, bluntly lobed. h. 6in. 1827. SYN. Drummondia mitelloides. (B. M. 2933.)