(7i) 



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 



