CIS'TUS PSILOSEP ALUS. 
SMOOTH-SEPALED ROCK ROSE. 
Class. 
POLYANDRIA. 
Order. 
MONOOYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
CISTACEJE. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Habit. 
Introduced 
S. Europe. 
2§ feet. 
June, July. 
Shrub. 
in 1820? 
No. 811. 
The word, Cistus, is deduced from the Greek, in 
allusion to its seed vessel. See No. 449. Psilose- 
palus, also, is a word compounded from the Greek; 
psilos, signifying naked, alludes to the sepals of 
this species being unclothed or smooth; they are, 
however, distinctly ciliated. It is a pretty bushy 
plant, producing abundance of flowers about 
midsummer, and is perfectly hardy, in a light soil, 
and dry situation. 
It is not very common for both generic and 
specific name to be drawn from the language of 
Greece; and perhaps it may be asked why thus 
exists our continual dependency on the Greek 
language. It may be answered briefly, on ac- 
count of its superiority. Out of this superiority, as 
is truly stated by the Society of Dilettanti, mainly 
arose the exalted state, in respect both to literature 
and the arts of the ancient Greeks. Their lan- 
guage was originally formed upon a plan more 
perfect than any other ever spoken by man. 
Words are not only signs by which we commu- 
nicate ideas to each other, but the counters by 
which we distinguish, arrange, and subdivide them 
211. 
