Saussurea
(named after the Swiss philosopher Horace Benedict de Saussure, 1740-1799, who possessed a considerable knowledge of botany). Sawwort. SYNS. Bennetia, Heterotrichum (of Bieberstein). Including Aplotaxis and Frolovia. ORD. Compositae. A genus comprising about sixty species of hardy, glabrous or white-tomentose, perennial herbs, mostly found on mountains in Europe, Asia, and North America. Flower-heads purplish or bluish, sometimes narrow and corymbose, sometimes broader and pedunculate, solitary or loosely paniculate; involucre ovoid, oblong or globose, with many series of closely imbricated bracts, the outer ones elongated; receptacle flat or convex, densely bristly-paleaceous or rarely naked; rays sometimes deeply five-fid; achenes glabrous; pappus bristles in one or two series. Leaves alternate, entire, toothed, or pinnatifid, the teeth or lobes unarmed. The species are not very ornamental. A selection of those introduced is given below. They thrive in ordinary garden soil, and may be increased by seeds. S. albescens (whitish). fl.-heads purple; involucre oblong, slightly hoary, the scales very acuminate; corymbs compound, many-headed. July. l. white-tomentose beneath; cauline ones sessile, oval, obtuse, sub-entire. h. 2ft. Nepaul, 1837. SYN. Aplotaxis albescens.
S. alpina (alpine). fl.-heads purple, 2in. to 3in. in diameter; involucre ovoid, with obtuse, woolly bracts; corymbs dense. August. l. oblong-lanceolate, toothed, cottony beneath; lower ones petioled, 4in. to 7in. long, acuminate; upper ones smaller, sessile. Stem simple, 6in. to 8in. high, stout, erect, leafy. Europe (Britain), &c. (Sy. En. B. 703.) S. elegans (elegant). fl.-heads pink, corymbose; involucre sub-cylindrical, hoary-villous, the outer scales ovate, the inner ones oblong. July. l. slightly scabrous above, cobwebby-tomentose beneath; lower ones lyrately pinnatifid or toothed; upper ones oblong, nearly entire, acuminate at both ends. h. 2ft. Caucasus, 1820.
S. pulchella (pretty).* fl.-heads purple, globose, corymbose; outer involucral scales tomentose, inner ones coloured. July. l. slightly scabrous, pinnatifid; segments linear-acute, slightly toothed; cauline leaves sub-decurrent, the uppermost ones undivided. h. 2ft. Siberia, &c., 1835. (B. R. xxviii. 18; B. M. 2589, under name of Serratula pulchella.) S. pygmaea (dwarf). fl.-heads purple; involucral scales slightly hairy, all acuminated. July. l. mostly clustered, sessile, linear, sub-entire, with revolute margins, slightly hairy beneath. Stems dwarf, sparsely leafy, one-headed. h. 1ft. Eastern Europe, 1816. (J. F. A. 440, under name of Serratula pygmaea.)