FAMILIES OF PLANTS 
69 
same length, and the fruit is a podlike capsule. Several members of 
the family are quite important as honey plants in some places. The 
family is represented here only by the Bee-flower ( Cleome serrulata ), 
a smooth herb with a freely branched stem 1 to 3 feet high. The 
leaves are compound with three leaflets and the numerous flowers 
vary from red to reddish purple or pink or almost white. The 
raceme becomes very long as the fruits mature. The plant is con¬ 
spicuous and has a very long blooming season. 
SUNDEW FAMILY (DROSERACEAE) 
This is a small family of insectivorous plants. The leaves are 
beset with glandular hairs to which insects adhere and may be 
digested. One member of the family, Narrowleaf sundew ( Drosera 
longifolia) , is in the park. 
ORPINE FAMILY 
(CRASSULACEAE) 
A family of fleshy plants found 
growing in all sorts of situations 
from dry, stony banks to very wet 
places. Some are extensively 
used as ornamental plants, espe¬ 
cially in rock gardens. 
Sedum stenopetalum. —This is 
a smooth perennial, usually less 
than 4 inches high, with fleshy, 
linear, crowded leaves and yellow 
flowers in a compact cluster. 
Common on the travertine at 
Mammoth Hot Springs as well 
as elsewhere in the park. 
Sedum douglasii is very similar but taller and not so common. 
Sedum integrifolium, which is found at high elevations, grows 2 
to 8 inches high and has dark purple flowers which are imperfect, 
some plants bearing staminate flowers and some pistillate. 
Sedum rJiodanthum is usually found along streams. The stems are 
4 inches to a foot high and the flowers are perfect and rose color. 
The genus Sedum is commonly known as stonecrop. 
Tillaeastrum aquaticum has also been reported in the park. 
SAXIFRAGE FAMILY (SAXIFRAGACEAE) 
A rather large family with many of the characters of the orpine 
family but the plants not fleshy. In most cases there is a 5-lobed 
calyx, 5 petals, and either 5 or 10 stamens. 
