152 CISTACEuE. Lechea. 



ovate, acute, the outer linear and obtuse ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, with 

 somewhat re volute margins (when dry), softly canescent beneath. — Michx. ! 

 f. 1. p. 307 ; DC. prodr. 1. 'p- 269; Ell. sk. 2. p. 5. Heteromeris cymosa, 

 Spachj I. c. 



Sterile places near the coast, from New Jersey to S. Carolina and Florida ! 

 April-May, and again in Oct. Ell. — x\bout a foot high, very tomentose 

 when young. Outer sepals about the length of the inner ones. Capsules of 

 the primary flowers many -seeded ; of the secondary ones rather few-seeded. 

 Flowers nearly the size of those of H. Canadense. — A well-marked species, 

 readily distinguished by having, among other characters, the apetalous flowers 

 not on leafy branches, but with the others forming a compound terminal 

 cyme. 



4. H. Caroliniamim (Michx.) : stem simple or branching from the base, 

 hirsute ; flowers (large, all polyandrous and petaliferous ?) on long solitary 

 peduncles, axillary and terminal ; sepals villous-hirsute, the outer ones linear 

 and shorter, the inner ovate-lanceolate acuminate and much longer than the 

 capsule ; leaves at first softly villous^ oblong or oval, slightly denticulate; the 

 lower ones crowded near the base of the stem, obovate. — Michx. ! fl. 1. p. 

 307 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 364; Vent. hort. Cels. t. 74 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 5; DC. 

 prodr. I. c. Cistus ( 'arolinianus, Walt. Car. p. 152. 



In dry rather fertile soils, S. Carolina to Georgia ! and Louisiana ! May- 

 June. — Nearly herbaceous, 5-12 inches high. Leaves larger than in the 

 other American species, on short but distinct petioles. Flowers few : petals 

 larger than in H. Canadense. Seeds minutely papillose-scabrous. 



5. H. scoparium (Nutt. ! mss.) : " slightly pubescent, decumbent and much 

 branched below ; flowers paniculate-racemose [all petaliferous and polyan- 

 drous] ; sepals ovate, acuminate, the outer ones minute and subulate ; petals 5, 

 cuneate-oblong, longer than the calyx ; capsule about 6-seeded ; leaves scat- 

 tered, linear-subulate, exstipulate." — H. '? (near H. tripetalum) Hook. 



tf Aril. bot. Beechey, p. 135. 



" Dry hills around Monterey, California ; common. — About a foot high. 

 Leaves an inch long, scarcely half a line wide. Flowers small, yellow, dis- 

 posed in a kind of paniculate raceme [the evolution of the flowers in the 

 branches of the inflorescence, as usual in the genus, centrifugal]. Seeds 

 smooth." Nutt. — Evidently allied to H. tripetalum, iMog. ^ Sesse, from 

 Mexico, as far as can be judged from the brief character in DC. prodr.; but 

 there are 5 petals. 



2. LECHEA. Linn.; G(jerrt7i. fr. t. 129; DC. prodr. \.p.2S5. 



Lecliea & Lechidium, Spach. 



The two exterior sepals much narrower and bract-like. Petals 3, incon- 

 spicuous, lanceolate, somewhat persistent. Stamens 3-12. Stigmas 3, near- 

 ly sessile, somewhat united, fimbriate-laciniate, depressed. Capsule 3-valved, 

 incompletely 3-celled, or 1-celled by the obliteration of the imperfect dissepi- 

 ments : placentae (internal valves, Linn.) ovate or roundish, nearly as broad 

 as the valves, membranaceous or somewhat crustaceous, fixed to the dissepi- 

 ments by the middle of the posterior face, about 2-seeded. Seeds borne on 

 the posterior face of the placentae near the base, one on each side of the dis- 

 sepiment, about the length of the valves. Embryo nearly straight. — Peren- 

 nial herbs, often sufFruticose at the base, much branched, with numerous 

 very small racemed or somewhat paniculate flowers : petals brownish-pur- 



