(249) 
family, to which belong the common balsam of the gardens, 
and the plant so common along our brooks and other wet 
places, and known as jewel-weed, or touch-me-not. A 
little beyond this are three beds of the mallow family; 
the hollyhocks belong here, as do the mallows; the crimson- 
eye mallow and the swamp-rose mallow, both from North 
America, are showy representatives of this family; and the 
marsh mallow, a native of Europe and the Orient, is also 
shown; its root is used in the manufacture of a mucilage 
and for medicinal purposes. 
To the right of the mallows is the bed given over to the 
St. John’s-wort family. The rock-rose family comes next, 
a little further on; here belong the rock-roses of Europe and 
our own frost-weeds. To the right of this is the violet 
family; a collection of our native species, together with 
some from foreign lands, is here brought together and 
many of these may be recognized as old friends. Near the 
violet bed is one devoted to the loasa family. Up on the 
ridge to the right, across the walk, may be found the cactus 
family; relatively few of these are hardy in this climate, so 
the larger part of the cactus collection must be sought in 
the conservatories. Here may be found, however, several 
representatives of the prickly pears (Opuntia), including 
the eastern prickly pear, common in this part of the country 
which is frequently found on the rocky ridges in the 
vicinity of New York and occurs wild on some ledges within 
the Garden reservation. Down near the brook, and not 
far from the mallow family, is the loosestrife family, repre- 
sented by the purple loosestrife, a native of Europe, but 
introduced in many places in this country; among others 
belonging to this family is the swamp loosestrife, or willow- 
herb (Decodon), a clump of which may be found along the 
brook opposite to the loosestrife bed. Near this, on the 
edge of the brook, is located the meadow beauty, one of 
the prettiest little flowers of our meadows; it belongs to 
the meadow beauty family, few species of which occur in 
coal regions; it is largely represented in warm temperate 
