332 



NATURAL niSTORY OF PLANTS. 



urn. 



There arc some species of Cistus, such as C. symphytifoliua? whose 



two exterior sepals are small and recurved outwardly, and whose 



style, much longer than the stamens, is slightly 



geniculate at the base ; it has been proposed to HeMcmthemom lasiocarp 



make of them a genus under the name of Rho- 



docistus." Their petals are red, as in the Cistus 



proper. In other species of the genus the 



corolla is white and the style very short. They 



had formerly been mixed in a section called Le- 



clo?iia 3 (fig. 346) ; they 

 have since been dis- 

 tinguished into three 

 other genera under the 

 names of Zedonia, 4 La- 

 danium, b and Stephano- 

 carpus. 6 The genus Cis- 

 tus, thus circumscribed, 

 includes some twenty 

 European, African, and 

 Asiatic species, 7 most 

 of them from the Me- 



Cistus (SlepJianocarpus) 

 monspeliemis. 



Fig. 345. 

 Diagram. 



Fig. 346. 

 Inflorescence. 



diterranean region. 



The Helianthemums 3 (figs. 346-348), formerly included in the 

 genus Cistus, can scarcely be separated from it, except by artificial 

 means. Instead of five placentas they have generally but three ; 

 and their capsule is divided into three valves* instead of five. The 

 inflorescence is really in cymes, but they generally resemble racemes 

 or spikes. 9 The embryo is generally hook-shaped, or at least one of 

 those defined in technical language as biplicatus or circumflexus. In 



1 Lamk., Diet., ii. n. 9. — C. vaginatns Ait. — 

 C. candid issimas Dun. 



2 Spach, loc. cit., 367 (M. BertJielotianus). 



3 Dun., loc. cit. (nee Spach). 



4 Spach, loc. cit., 369 (nee Dun.). 



5 See p. 33V, note 5. The gynaeceum may 

 here have as many as ten cells. 



6 Spach, loc. cit., 368. 



7 Heicub., Ic. Fl. Germ., iii. t. 36-40. — 

 Bernh., in Flora (1828), 688.— Webb, Phi/. 

 Canar., t. 12. — Guen. A Godr., Fl. de Fr„ i. 

 161.— Sot. Mag., t. 43, 112, 264, 5241.— 

 W'alp., Jicj>., i. 206; ii. 765 ; Ann., i. 61; vii. 

 204. 



i^ 8 Helianthemum T., Inst., 248, t. 128 (part.). 

 — Pees., Syn., ii. 75. — Dun., in DC. Prodr., 

 i. 266. — Spach, in Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 2, vi. 

 360 ; Suit, a Buffon, vi. 15. — Endi., Gen., n. 

 5029. — Payer, Organog., 15, t. 3; Fam. Nat., 

 145.— Wilik., Ic. Eisp., ii. t. 103-158.— A. 

 Gray, Gen. III., t. 87.— B. H., Gen., 113, n. 2. 

 Lem. & Dcne., Tr. Gen., 429. — Cistus L., 

 Gen., n. 673 (part.). 



9 Because the cymes often hecome uniparous 

 hy abortion, and the axes of successive genera- 

 tions are placed end to end as in a sympode, so 

 iis to simulate one single axis (fig. 346). 



