46 CISTACE^E. (ROCK-ROSE FAMILY.) 



2. IIUDSOXIA, L. HUDSONIA. 



Petals 5, fugacious (lasting hut a day), much larger than the calyx Stamens 

 9-30. Style long and slender : stigma minute. Pod oblong, enclosed in the 

 calyx, strictly 1-celled, with 1 or 2 seeds attached near the base of each nerve- 

 like placenta. Kmbryo coiled into the form of a closed hook. Bushy heatk- 

 like little shruhs (seldom a foot high), covered all over with the smxll awl- 

 shaped or scale-like persistent downy leaves, producing numerous (small but 

 showy) bright yellow flowers crowded along the upper part of the branches. 

 (Named in honor of Hudson, an English botanist contemporary with Lin- 

 naeus.) 



1. II. ericoides, L. Downy but greenish; leaves awl-shaped, loose; 

 flowers on slender naked stalks. Diy sandy soil near the coast, Maine to Vir- 

 ginia : extending interior as far as Con way, New Hampshire. May. 



2. II. tomeiltosa, Nutt. Hoary with down; leaves oval or oblong, 

 close-pressed and imbricated ; flowers sessile. Sandy coasts from Maine to 

 Maryland, and on the Great Lakes from Champlain to Superior. May, June. 

 Flowers 5" broad. 



3. LKCIIEA, L. PINWEED. 



Petals 3, narrow, flat in the bud : not longer than the calyx, withering-persist- 

 ent. Stamens 3-12. Style scarcely any : stigmas 3, plumose. Pod globular, 

 appearing partly 3-cclled ; the 3 broad and thin placenta; borne on impeifcct 

 partitions, each bearing 2 seeds on the face towards the valve : in our species, 

 the placenta; curve backwards and partly enclose the seeds. Embryo straight- 

 ish. Homely perennial herbs, with very small greenish or purplish flowers. 

 (Named in honor of Leche, a Swedish botanist.) 



1. JL. major, Michx. Hairy; stem upright, simple, producing slender 

 prostrate branches from the base; leaves elliptical, mucronate-pointed, alternate 

 and opposite or sometimes whorled; flowers densely crowded in panieled clusters ; 

 pedicels shorter than the globose-depressed (very small) pods. Sterile wood- 

 lands; Maine to Kentucky and southward, chiefly eastward. July -Sept. 

 Plant l-2 high, stout. 



2. Jj. tliyillifolia, Pursh. Hoary with appresscd hairs, especially the 

 decumbent stout leafy shoots from the base ; flowering stems ascending, 

 loosely branched, with the leaves linear or oblanccolatc ; those, of the. shintx ( ///)>- 

 tit-al, whorled, crowded ; flowers scattered in small and loose clusters ; pedicels 

 as long as the globose pods. Sandy coast, Maine to New Jersey and south- 

 ward. July -Sept. Scarcely a foot high, tufted, rigid ; the pods Inruer than 

 in No. 1. 



3. It. minor, Lam. Minutely h<n'n/; stems slender, upright or ditVuse ; 

 leafy shoots densely tufted at the base; leaves linear ; flowers /*,/// nn-nntd on 

 the slender branchlets; pedicels mostly longer than the globose pods. Dry 

 open soil; common. June-Sept. Plant 5'-15' high, slender, running into 

 numberless variations according to the soil, season, and exposure. Podi small- 

 er than in No. 2. 



