TAMARICACEAE. 137 



ASCYRUM. St. Peter's-wort. 



Small deciduous shrubs or half-shrubs with flaking bark; 

 slender 2-edged twigs ; small rounded dark excavated pith ; op- 

 posite low small crescent-shaped leaf-scars with i bundle-trace; 

 no stipule-scars; entire pellucid-dotted nearly sessile leaves; 

 moderate yellow nearly solitary 4-merous perfect polypetalous 

 flowers ; and i-celled ovoid or compressed small capsules. 

 Leaves narrowed at base. (St. Andrew's Cross) A. hypericoides. 

 Leaves broad and rather clasping at base. A. stans. 



Family TAMARICACEAE. Tamarisk Family. 

 A very small family of little use aside from landscape 

 planting. 



TAMARIX. Tamarisk. Salt Cedar. 



Deciduous shrubs or small trees with reddish wood with 

 small ducts, sometimes larger and more crowded in spring and 

 smaller and tangentially seriate in autumn, and rather fine 

 medullary rays ; very slender terete green twigs ; relatively large 

 rounded continuous pale pith ; persistent somewhat alternate 

 raised leaf-bases; no stipule-scars; small round buds; minute 

 scale-like acute blue-green leaves largely deciduous with the 

 branched foliar' shoots that bear them; very small polypetalous 

 perfect rosy flowers in spike-like racemes ; and small many- 

 seeded, capsules. 



Petals 5. T. gallica. 



Petals 4. T. parviflora. 



Family CISTACEAE. Rock Rose Family. 

 A small and unimportant family, chiefly of herbs, some of 

 them bright-flowered. 



HUDSONIA. Beach Heather. 



Low densely branched heath-like evergreen shrubs with 

 slender roundish twigs ; usually alternate scale-like long-per- 

 sistent leaves ; small yellow perfect flowers from the upper 

 axils; and small i-celled I- or 2-seeded capsules. 

 Leaves spreading, rather green : flowers stalked. H. ericoides. 

 Leaves appressed, very gray : flowers subsessile. H. tomentosa. 



