98 ROSACEAE 



They are beaked by the 2 persistent styles, are densely pubes- 

 cent, and are \^ to one-third inch high. They at length burst 

 open and reveal the bony, oblong, black seeds, which are not 

 quite so large as the capsule. 



Distribution. — The common Witch-Hazel, a plant of ravine 

 slopes and low woods, grows from Nova Scotia to Ontario 

 and Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas. It is found in 

 Illinois wherever a suitable habitat occurs, although it is not 

 to be looked for in purely prairie regions. 



This is the shrub from which the witch-hazel used in medi- 

 cine is derived. The bark and leaves are the source of the 

 drug. It is the plant that furnished the forked hazel branches 

 used by early settlers to search for underground water. 



ROSACEAE 

 The Rose Family 



The rose family is an exceedingly large one, made up of 

 herbs, shrubs and trees, all of which bear alternate, simple or 

 compound leaves and, generally, stipules. The flowers of all 

 members of the family are regular, usually having 5 sepals and 

 5 petals. The stamens are commonly numerous, and the fruit 

 is usually a follicle or an achene. 



With more than 75 genera and more than 1,200 species, this 

 family is very widely distributed over the world. ]\Iany of its 

 members furnish food and many of them also are valuable as 

 ornamentals. It has, therefore, great economic importance. 



Key to the Shrubby Genera 



Shrubs with unarmed stems. 



Shrubs with simple leaves and white or rose-colored flowers. 

 Shrubs with branches which curve down, corymbose in- 

 florescence, and carpels united at the base and in 

 maturity inflated, opening by 2 sutures. . Physocarpus, p. 99 

 Shrubs with erect or ascending branches, paniculate in- 

 florescence, and carpels free at the base and in matur- 

 ity not inflated, opening by only 1 suture. . .Spiraea, p. 101 

 Shrubs with compound leaves and yellow flowers 



Potentilla, p. 103 



Shrubs with stems armed with prickles or bristles, sometimes 

 with both. 

 Flowers white or purple; the fruit an aggregate of fleshy 



carpels, edible Rubus, p. 105 



Flowers rose colored ; the fruit a more or less fleshy hip, not 



commonly eaten Rosa, p. 117 



