Rock-r<>sk Family. 17 



ish yellow flowers in long slender spikes. Sepals 4. Petals 4 or 5, the upper 

 lobed, the lower entire. The species is found in waste places near New York 

 and other seaports and is doubtful as an Iowa plant. 



CISTACEAE Limit. Rock-rose Family. 

 Herbs or shrubs; stems terete. Leaves simple, alternate or opposite, 

 entire, sessile or petioled; stipules foliaceous. Flowers perfect, solitary 

 or in cymose or paniculate clusters. Sepals 5, unequal, persistent. Petals 

 3-5, convolute in the bud. Stamens indefinite; anthers 2-celled, introrse. 

 Capsule 1-celled, 3-5-valved, sometimes with 3-5 imperfect cells and With 

 3-5 parietal placentas. Seeds few to many. 



Helianthemum. Petals 5, large, yellow, fugaceous or none: stamens many. 

 Lechea. Petals 3. small, brown-purple: stamens 3-1:;. 



riELIANTrlEMUM Pers. Sepals 5, the 2 outer smaller, bract-like. Petals 

 5. Styles short or none; stigma 3-lobed. Capsules triangular, 1-celled, open- 

 ing at the top. Flowers frequently of two kinds, the early ones larger, yel- 

 low, with many stamens and many-seeded pods; petals lasting only one day; 

 later flowers smaller, often apetalous, stamens 3-10, pods small, few-seeded. 



Y\. majus (L.) B. S. P. Whole plant hoary-canescent: stem 1-3 feet high, 

 erect, simple, at length much branched, the branches ascending; leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate, short-petioled, stellate-canescent beneath, petaliferous 

 flowers in a terminal eymose panicle, < v — XI, their capsules about twice the size 

 of those of the apetalous flowers which appear later in axillary clusters. Dry 

 soil, prairies; June-July; frequent. Iowa specimens have usually been 

 referred to H. a i multiline Mx. of Grays Manual. 



LECHEA Kalm. Pinwbbd. Perennial herbs, somewhat woody below, 

 with purplish or greenish flowers. Sepals 5, 2 outer bract-like. Petals 3, 

 lanceolate, not longer than the calyx. Stamens 3-13. Style nearly obsolete; 

 stio-mas 3, scarcely distinct. Pod globular, 3-valved, imperfectly 3-celled; 

 placentae 3, each 2-seeded. 



L. stricta Legget. Stems about 1 foot high, reddish below, fastigiately 

 branched, strigose-canescent; leaves linear, acute; flowers numerous, raeemi- 

 form, small, on pedicels twice the length of the flower. Dry upland soil; 

 July-August; reported as belonging to the flora of Iowa. 



L. tenuifolia Mx. Stems tufted, 4-10 inches high, much branched, 

 minutely strigose-pubescent; leaves narrowly linear to filiform, sessile or 

 nearly so; flowers more or less secund. Dry soil: July-August; Van Buren, 

 Henry, and Johnson counties. L. minor L. has been frequently reported but 

 the specimens probably belong here. 



VIOL ACE AE DC. Violet Family. 



Low perennial herbs, with alternate or basal leaves, usually scario us 

 stipules and axillary nodding flowers. Sepals 5, persistent, auriculate at 

 the base. Petals 5, unequal, inferior one spurred. Stamens 5, hypogy- 

 nous 2, with appendages extending into the hollow spur of the inferior 

 petal' anthers' connate, filaments broad, extending beyond the anthers 

 and uniting over the stigma. Pistil 1, club-shaped; stigma turned to 

 one side. Pod 1-celled, 3-valved, with 3 parietal placentas. Represented 

 in Iowa by the genus Viola L, the violets. 



* Stemless plants with a short tind thick rootstock. 

 f Lateral peUdx bearded. 



V. cucu'.lata Ait. Common Blue V. Glabrous or slightly pubescent; leaves 



