Z\i CISTACEiE. 



capsule being loculicidal, these are borne on tlie middle of the valves, as in 

 the two preceding families. The elongated embryo is more or less excen- 

 tric, and either slightly curved (as in Lechea), or circulate, conduplicate or 

 variously convolute in the midst of the farinaceous (rarely corneous) albu- 

 men ; the slender radicle pointing to the extremity of the seed remote from 

 the hilum. 



Cistaceae possess no marked sensible qualities and furnish no useful prod- 

 ucts except a balsamic gum-resin, such as the officinal Ladanum, yielded 

 by Cistus Creticus and its allies, which exudes from the leaves and branches 

 of many species so as to render them glutinous. They are all slightly as- 

 tringent. 



The principal home of this family is in the western part of the Old World, 

 and especially around the Mediterranean. 



There are five or six species of Helianthemum in the New World, chiefly 

 in the warmer portion of the United States (one of them in California), be- 

 sides Lechea and Hudsonia, which are peculiar to this country. 



