206 CISTACE.E. 



two or by abortion the single erect seeds between them and 

 the proper valves. Embryo straight or 'accumbently arcuate 

 in the axis or nearly so of the corneous albumen : radicle 

 cylindrical, superior : cotyledons elliptical or obovate, flat. 



Herbs, branching and often suftrutescent at the base, with 

 entire and mostly sessile puncticulate leaves ; the lower usu- 

 ally opposite or verticillate, the upper alternate, gradually 

 reduced to bracts. Flowers very small and numerous, cy- 

 mulose-clustered, or racemiform on the branches (but not 

 axillary), pedicellate. Petals and stigmas dull purple. 



Etymology. Dedicated to Leche, a Swedish botanist, Professor at Abo. 

 Geographical Distribution. An Eastern North American genus of 

 three or four species, growing chiefly in sandy or sterile soil, from Canada 

 to Texas, principally along and near the coast. 



Division. There are two pretty well-marked sections, which are viewed 

 as genera by Spach, namely : — 



^ 1. Lechea, Spach. — Placentae membranaceo-crustaceous, fragile, sepa- 

 rating from the evanescent partitions and revolute around the seeds. 

 § 2. Lechidium, Spach. — Placentae cartilaginous, scarcely recurved, firm- 

 ly adherent to the persistent partitions which separate from the valves 

 at dehiscence. Pedicels slender, deflexed. (L. Drummondii.) 



PLATE 88. Lechea thymifolia, Pursh; — flowering stem, with some 

 of the sterile shoots at the base ; from the coast of Massachusetts. 

 1. Diagram of the flower and aestivation. 2. Open flower, magnified. 

 3. A stamen ; and 4, pistil and receptacle, more magnified. 



5. Double section of the ovary, displaying the ovules and placentae. 



6. Capsule, with the calyx opened, enlarged. 



7. Magnified cross-section of the valves, placentae, and seeds. 



8. Magnified seed ; and 9, vertical section of the same. 

 10. The embryo from the last, showing the cotyledons. 



PLATE 89. Lechea (Lechidium) Drummondii, Torr. <% Grl (Texas.) 

 1. Flower-bud, enlarged ; and 2, diagram in a transverse section. 



3. Expanded flower, magnified. 



4. An inner sepal ; 5, a petal ; and 6, a stamen, more magnified. 



7. Pistil and receptacle, equally magnified. 



8. Transverse section of a ripe capsule and seeds, showing the septifragal 



valves, and the persistent partitions fixed to the placenta?. < 



9. A magnified seed. 



