ROCKROSE FAMILY. 69 



opens at the top long before the seeds are ripe ; the seeds are numerous, 

 kidney-shaped, on 0-6 parietal placentic ; leaves alternate. 



* Lfiavs not compound ; flowers yellowish. 



R. odorafa, Linn. Common Mignonette. (T) Anthers orange ; petals 

 6, the posterior ones cut into several fine lobes ; stems low ; some leaves 

 entire and oblong, others 3-lobed. N. Africa. Cult, for the delicious 

 scent of tlie yellowish- white flowers. 



R. Luteola, Linn. Over's Weed or Weld. Tall, with lanceolate, entire 

 leaves, and a long spike of yellowish flowers ; petals 4. Nat. along road- 

 sides. En. 



* * Leaves compound, or essentially so ; flowers white. 



R. diba, Linn. White or Upright M. ® or (2), 2°-3° higli, with 

 long, dense spikes of white flowers with brown anthers, and leaves all 

 pinnate or pinnatifid, the divisions lanceolate. Cult, from S. Eu. 



Xni. PITTOSPORACE^, PITTOSPORUM FAMILY. 



A small family of shi-ubs and trees, belonging mostly to 

 the southern henaisphere, a few in common cultivation: 



1. PITTOSPORUM. (Greek: pitch, seed; the seeds are generally 

 covered with a sticky exudation.) Flowers regular, of 5 sepals, 5 

 petals, and 5 stamens ; the claws of the petals sometimes slightly 

 united ; ovary 1-celled with 3 parietal placentae ; a single style and 

 stigma ; fruit a globular woody pod, many-seeded. Greenhouses, 



P. Toblra, Ait. CoxMmon P. Leaves obovate and retuse, evergreen, 

 crowded at the end of the branches, which are terminated by a small, 

 sessile umbel of white, fragrant flowers, produced in winter. Japan. A 

 low tree cultivated as a house-plant N., hardy S. 



P undulatum, Andr., from Australia, has oval-lanceolate undulated 

 leaves tapering at both ends, and white flowers in close panicles. 



P. viridiflbrum, Sims (or P. Sinense), from the Cape of Good Hope, 

 has obovate and retuse leaves and greenish-yellow jasmine-scented flowers 

 in somewhat globose panicles. 



XrV. CISTACKffi, ROCKROSE FAMILY. 



Shrubby or low herbaceous plants, with regular flowers ; a 

 persistent calyx of 5 sepals, two of them exterior and resem- 

 bling bracts ; the petals and stamens on the receptacle ; the 

 style single or none ; ovary 1-celled with 3 or 5 parietal pla- 

 centae (Lessons, Fig. 334), bearing orthotropous ovules. 



1. HELIANTHEMUM. Petals 5, crumpled In the bud, fugacious (falling at the close of 



the first day), or none. Stamens and ovules many in the complete flower ; placenta? 3. 

 Style none or short. Low, yellow-flowered ; in sandy or gravelly soil. 



2. HUDSONIA. Petals 5, fugacious, much larger than the calyx. Stamens 9-80. Style 



slender. Ovules 2-6. Heath-like shrubs, 0'-12' high ; leaves minute, downy, closely 

 covering the branches ; flowers small, yellow, opening in sunshine in spring and sum- 

 mer. Near the coast and Great Lakes. 



