COMMON HOCK EOSK 65 



general growth is diffuse and branching, the whole plant 

 being fragile-looking, though as a matter of fact it bears 

 in safety gusts of wind on the open downs against which 

 a man can scarcely stand. The flowering stems vary in 

 height from about four to nine inches. The leaves of 

 the rock rose, sun-flower, or dwarf cistus, are arranged 

 on the stems in pairs. On a first glance at our illus- 

 tration it would appear that this is hardly the case, as 

 in some instances they seem to be single, and in others an 

 agglomeration of several together. The leaves, however, in 

 a great many plants and this is one of them grow 

 irregular in arrangement as they approach the blossoms, 

 and are often smaller and simpler in shape, until they 

 pass at length into what the botanist calls floral leaves, 

 or bracts. The smaller leaf-like bodies that cluster round 

 the bases of the larger leaves are the stipules. The leaves 

 of the rock rose are on very short footstalks, and are 

 oblong-ovate in shape; the margins are often slightly 

 rolled back and curved under. The upper side of the 

 leaf is green, and either smooth or more frequently a little 

 hairy, and the lower surface is ordinarily somewhat greyer 

 in colour, from the fine down-like hairs with which it is 

 covered. The stipules are prominent, often almost half 

 the length of the leaf, erect, lanceolate in form, and 

 clothed with hairs. The flowers are arranged in a very 

 loose and open raceme, and the flower-stalks or pedicels 

 are often bent more or less downwards, both before the 

 opening of the bud and on the withering of the blossom ; 

 this gives a curious drooping effect that is very charac- 

 teristic of the plant. The calyx is rather peculiar in its 

 form, from the great irregularity of the parts. It is 

 composed of five sepals, three being large and very pro- 



