CISTACi:^. (UOCK-nOSK FAMILY.) 81 



pods of the smaller flowers not larper than a pin's head. — Late in artiimn, 

 crystals ol' ice shoot iVoiii the cracked hark at tlie root, wlicncc tlie popular 

 name. 



2. H. COrymbbSUm, Michx. F/onrrs all rlusfcrcd at the summit of" liie 

 Stem or branches, the petal-bearing ones at length on slender stalks : calyx 

 woolly. — I'inc barrens, New Jersey and southward along the coast. 



2. HUDSONIA, L. lliDsoxiA. 



Petals 5, fugacious (la>iting but a day), much larger than the calyx. Sta- 

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

 in the calyx, strictly 1-eelled, with 1 or 2 seeds attached near the base of each 

 nerve-like placenta. Embryo coiled into the form of a closed hook. — Bushy 

 heath-like little shrubs (seldom a foot hiyh), covered all over with the small 

 awl-shaped or scale-like ]:ersistent downy leaves, jjroducing numerous (small 

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

 (Named in honor of \Vm. Hudson, an early English botanist.) 



1. H. ericoides, L. Downy but greenish; leaves slender, awl-shaped, 

 loose; flowers on slender naked stalks. — Dry sandy soil neat the coast, N. 

 Maine to Virginia. May. 



2. H. tomentbsa, Nutt. Iloary with down ; leaves oval or narrowly 

 oblong, short, elose-prcssed and imbricated; flowers sessile (sandy coasts from 

 Maine to Maryland), — or short-peduneled, the leaves also narrower: Maine 

 (at Harrison, /. Blake) and along the shores of the Great Lakes to Minnesota. 

 May, June. 



3. LECHEA, L. PixwEED. 



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

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

 globular, partly 3-celled ; the 3 broad and thin placenta; borne on imperfect 

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

 the placentic curve backwards and partly enclose the seeds. Embryo straight- 

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

 in summer. (Named in honor oi John Lcche, a Swedish l)otanist.) 



1. L. m^jor, Mieiix. //f(//;y; stem upright (i°- 2° high, stout), simple, 

 producing slender prostrate branches from the base ; leaves fUl/itical, mucronatc- 

 pointed, alternate and opposite or sometimes whorled ; flowers densely crowded 

 in ])anicled clusters; pedicels shorter than the very smiiW </lol)Ose-triaii(/ular pod; 

 sejials uarroicer than its i:<dns. — Sterile grounds : common, especially southward. 



2. L. thymif61ia, Pursh. Hoary with appressed hairs, especially the de- 

 cumbent stout leafy shoots from the base ; flowering stems ascending, loosely 

 branched, with the leaves linear or ohlanccohite ; those, of the shoots elliptiral, 

 whorled, crowded ; flowers saitlered in small and loose clusters ; pedicels as 

 long as the ijloliose jimls. — Sandy coast, Maine to New Jersey and southward. 

 — Scarcely a foot hiuh. tufted, rigid ; the pods larger than in No. 1. 



3. L. Novae-Coesarfeae, C. F. Austin, ined. Intermediate in appear- 

 ance between No. 1 and tlie taller forms of No. 4 ; leaves of the former, but 



6 



