

ROCK-ROSE FAMILY. Cistaceae. 
ROCK-ROSE FAMILY. Cistaceae. 
A rather large family, mostly of the Mediterranean 
region; herbs or low shrubs; flowers regular, perfect, all the 
parts borne on the receptacle; sepals five, the two outer 
ones smaller and bract-like, or lacking; petals three to five; 
stamens many; ovary superior, one-celled, with a single 
style, or none; fruit a capsule, with several or many seeds. 
There are many kinds of Helianthemum, widely dis- 
tributed, perennials; leaves alternate, undivided, toothless; 
flowers yellow and, in most North American species, of 
two sorts; the earlier ones with large, yellow petals, very 
numerous stamens and a many-seeded pod; the later ones, 
small, clustered, with small petals or none, three to ten 
stamens, and small, few-seeded pods. 
A pretty plant, with many, slender 
Rock-rose ‘ 
Helidnthemum Stems and narrow, yellowish-green leaves, 
scoparium forming clumps from one to two feet high. 
Yellow The flowers are half an inch to three- 
peagian a quarters of an inch across, the buds and 
California 
calyxes reddish and the petals clear yellow, 
the pistil greenish, with a three-lobed stigma. In favor- 
able situations, such as Point Loma, this makes attractive 
little bushes, neat yet feathery, suggesting large clumps of 
grass, sprinkled thickly with flowers. 
CACTUS FAMILY. Cacta-eae. 
A large family, nearly all natives of America and of dry 
or desert places, with strange characteristics, which make 
them easily recognized as a whole, but many of the in- 
dividuals have not yet been studied or described; fleshy 
plants, with thick stems, often flattened, ridged or covered 
with knobs, mostly without leaves, usually with spines, 
which generally protrude from cushions of small bristles; 
the flowers perfect, regular, showy, and mostly single; 
sepals, petals, and stamens all numerous; ovary inferior, 
with a long style and several stigmas; fruit usually a pulpy 
berry, containing many seeds. 
There are many kinds of Echinocactus, round or oval 
plants, mostly ribbed, with bunches of spines of several 
kinds, arranged in straight or spiral rows; the fruits scaly, 
though spineless. 
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