CISTACEAE 



205 



sepals and 5 yellow, oblong petals. There are 8 stamens, and 

 the ovary consists of 3 united carpels capped by a single filiform 

 style. The fruit, a 3-valved but 1-celled capsule containing 3 to 

 6 seeds, is inclosed at maturity in the mature calyx. 



There are three species of beach heathers, all native in 

 eastern North America. Only the following is native in 

 Illinois. 



HUDSON I A TOMENTOSA Nuttall 



Woolly Hudsonia False Heather 



The Woolly Hudsonia, fig. 52, is a low, diffuse and very 

 branchy shrub 4 to 8 inches tall, which forms dense tufts. The 

 leaves are very numerous, small, narrow and awllike, the 



FIG. 52 

 Hudsonia tomentosa 



longest being hardly ]/s inch long. They overlap so that they 

 cover the branches and branchlets, and they are hoary-pubescent 

 all over. 



The flowers, which appear during the last of May and 

 continue until the middle of July, stand at the end of short 

 branchlets. They are minute, yellow, and very short pediceled. 



