ROCK- ROSE FAMILY. Cistacex. 



ROCK-ROSE FAMILY. Cistacece. 



Small shrubs or herbs with regular flowers, the five 

 green sepals of unequal size, the two outer smaller ones 

 resembling bracts, or small leaflets. Petals 3-5. But 

 one style or none at all. Seed-receptacles (on slender 

 stalks) opening at the top. Visited by butterflies and 

 honeybees in particular. 



Frostweed A perennial, remarkable for the fact 



Helianthemum that ice-crystals form about the cracked 

 Canadense bark of the root in late autumn. Lance- 



Yellow oblong dull green leaves hoary with fine 



ugus j ia j rs on tj ie under side. With two kinds 

 of flowers, the early ones solitary, one inch broad, with 

 showy yellow petals which are more or less crumpled in 

 the bud, which fade early and fall away ; these early 

 blossoms have innumerable stamens. The later ones 

 have few, and are small and clustered at the bases of the 

 leaves. Pods of the larger flower \ inch long ; of the 

 smaller one, not larger than a pin head. Low. In sandy 

 soil from Me., south, and west to Minn. The name 

 from the Greek words sun and flower ; the flowers open 

 only once in sunshine. 



Hudsonia A bush y little shrub with tin y awl " 



tomentosa shaped, scalelike leaves, oval or longer, 



Yellow downy, and set close to the plant-stem. 



May-June The Bm& \\ yellow flowers crowded along 



the upper branches ; they open only in sunshine. The 

 stem 5-10 inches high, hoary with down. Sandy shores 

 Me. to Md., and along the Great Lakes to Minn. Also 

 on the sandy beaches of Lake Champlain, Burlington 

 and Apple Tree Bays. 



An insignificant, fine-hairy, perennial 



Pinweed herb, with tiny linear leaves, larger on the 



Lechea minor J » h 



Greenish or upper parts of the plant, and very small 

 magenta-tinted near the base. The three tiny, greenish 

 June- ^ or m agenta-tinted), narrow petals remain 



September within the g reen sepals after fading. The 

 pod nearly globose, and appearing like a pin head. The 

 upright smooth (when old) stem 10-18 inches high. 

 Common in dry, sterile ground. 

 274 



