Stigma capitatum. Stylus nunc subnullus, nunc rectus, nunc obliquus, nunc basi flexus.
Ovarium triquetrum. Capsula 3-valvis, valvis medio septi aut seminiferis. Semina angu-
lata, glabra. Albumen farinosum. Embryo uncinato-inflexus. DC.
1. H. canadense ; {Sect. Lecheoides;) exstipulata, caule erecto vel ascendente suffruti-
coso ramoso pubescente, foliis oblongis pubescenti-hirsutis subtus incano-tomentosis
margine revolutis, calycibus hirsutis, staminibus sub-20, floribus serotinis apetalis capsul-
isque reliquis 5-plo minoribus.—Mich. Am. v. 1. p. 308. Pursh, FI. Am. v. 2. p. 263.
Sweet, Cistin. t. 21. De Cand. Prodr. v. l .p . 269.—Cistus canadensis. Willd.—Bigel. FI. Bost.
ed. 2. p. 47.—Lechea major. Linn. Amcen. Acad. v. 3. p. 11. (excl. fig.) according to Smith.
Hab. Canada. Mzchaux.—Few persons on seeing an early shoot of this, with its few terminal flowers,
having large hairy calyces, ample yellow petals, and capsules half-an-inch broad, would take it for the same
plant as it appears at an after period, throwing out many branches from above, these again bearing leafy racemes,
with numerous axillary small flowers and shortly downy calyces, without petals, and capsules not larger
than a moderately sized pin’s head. Yet such is the case, and the plant then looks so much like a Lechea,
that it has probably been described as such: indeed, certainly so, according to Smith, by Linnaeus. Sometimes
the whole plant bears only such small flowers; at other times, as in specimens given me by Dr. Boott,
from the neighbourhood of Boston, the lower part has a few large lateral capsules, while all the branches
above produce the small ones in question. Dr. Bigelow observes of this plant, that at the beginning of frosts
the bark cracks and rolls backwards, at which time the fragments are found connected by a mass of fibrous,
icy crystals, and Mr. Eaton, in his useful Manual of Botany, remarks, that at the foot of the Pine-rock,
New-Haven, in November and December, 1816, he has seen hundreds of these plants sending out broad,
thin, curved ice crystals, about an inch in breadth, from near the roots. These were melted away by day,
and renewed every morning, for more than twenty days in succession.
2. LECHEA. Linn.
Cal. 3-sepalus, bracteis sepalisve duobus exterioribus stipatus. Pet. 3, lanceolata. Stam.
3-12, ssepius numero ternaria. Ovarium 1, subtrigonum. Stigmata 3, vix distincta.
Capsula 3-valvis, valvis medio septi aut nerviferis; semina septo nervove adfixa, paucis-
sima, ssepius 8; albumen carnosum. Embryo dorsalis rectiusculus, radicula infera, coty-
ledonibus ovato-oblongis.— Herbse boreali-Americana incomptce, floribus numerosis, parvis,
ramis infimis a floriferis scepe diversis.
1. L . villosa; ramis radicalibus prostratis villosis, foliis oblongo-lanceolatis mucronatis
pilosis, panicula brevi foliosa, floribus fasciculato-fibrosis secundis brevissime pedicellatis,
caule erecto.—Elliott, Carol, v. 1. p. 184. De Cand. Prodr. v. \. p . 285.—L. major. Mich.
Am. v. \ .p . 76. (non Linn.) Pursh, FI. Am. v. 1. p. 90. Bigel. FI. Bost. ed. 2.p. 46. Torrey in
FI. o f Mid. Un. St. v. 1. p. 160.—L. minor. Linn. etSm. in Rees’ Cycl.—Lam. III. t. 52. f . 2.
Hab. Canada. Kalin; Pursh.—Sir James E. Smith had long ago, in Rees’ Cyclopedia, recommended
the abolishing the name Lechea major; Linnseus' original specimen, (which he afterwards confounded with
other things,) being our Helianthemum canadense; but it appears that the plant so called by Michaux,
Pursh, and Bigelow, is a true Lechea; hence, to avoid confusion, Mr. Elliott, the estimable author of the
Flora of Carolina and Georgia, has given to the latter the name of villosa, which has been adopted by Nuttall
and De Candolle. It is the tallest and broadest-leaved of the genus, and, in most instances, the leaves are
elliptical, and not unfrequently temately or quaternately whorled, those of the radical shoots and lesser
branches of the stem being the smallest.
2. L. minor; ramis radicalibus prostratis villosis, foliis linearibus seu lineari-lanceolatis
appresso-villosis, paniculis foliosis elongatis, floribus breviter pedicellatis, caule erecto.
—Pursh, FI. Am. v. 1. p. 91. (non Linn.) De Cand. Prodr. v. 1. p . 285.^-Lam. III. t. 52.
f . 1,?- Torrey in FI. o f Mid. Un. St. v, 1. p. 161.
Hab. Gravelly hills, Canada. Pursh. North side of Lake Winipeg. Drummond.—Only one specimen
of this exists in the collections of our Arctic Travellers; and it has the root-shoots perfect, but the stem
and branches have lost all their leaves, and bear only a panicle of ripe capsules. It would hence appear
that the upright and flowering branches die down in thé autumn; and that our Travellers in passing through
the country of this plant, were either too early or too late to meet with it in perfection. It is frequent in
the New England States, and in all probability too in Upper Canada. Lechea racemulosa Dr. Boott finds
m similar situations near Boston, United States; but except in its larger growth, and in having some of the
stem-leaves broader, I can scarcely distinguish it from L. minor; an opinion in which I am happy to be
confirmed by Dr. Torrey. The two remaining American species of this genus, L. thymifolia, Mich., and
L. tenuifolia of the same author, are confined to the more southern of the United States.
3. HUDSONIA. Linn.
Cal. 5-partitus, segmentis inasqualibus, 2 exterioribus minutis. Pet. 5. Stam. 9-30.
Stylus rectus, simplex. Stigma simplex. Caps. 1-locularis, 3-valvis, 1-3-sperma. Semina
granulata. Embryo in albumine corneo immersus.— Suffrutices parvi, subccespitosi. Folia
parva, exstipulata.
\. H. tomentosa; casspitosa canescente-pilosa, foliis lato-linearibus acutis arete imbrica-
tis, floribus subsessilibus solitariis vel aggregatis, segmentis calycinis obtusis, capsula mono-
sperma.—Nutt. Gen. Am, v. 2. p. 5. Bigd. FI. Bost. ed. 2. p. 213. De Cand. Prodr. v. 1.
p. 285. Sweet,- Cist. t. 57.—H. ericoides. Rich, in Franhl. lsf J o in . ed. 2. App. p. 18.
a . Central Canada. From Lake Huron, {Dr. Todd,) to as far north as Slave Lake, in several places.
M » « o n —Tins is very different from the true B. ericoides of Linn, which has subulate and less
imbricated leaves, and longer peduncles to its flowers—After flowering, the sepals of our plant become
spirally twisted. 1
Ord. XII. V IO L A R IEÆ . DC.
L VIOLA. Toum.
Calycis sepala inæqualia, omnia plus minus deorsum in appendices auriculæformes (e
dilatationibus nervorum prodeuntes) producta, post anthesin erecta. Pet inæqualia,
æstivatione convolutiva, ungue trine™ ; inferius deorsum in calcar earnin'plus minus,
productum. Stam. approximata aut coarctata , (nec coalita) ad apicem dentium tori
pentagon! 5-dentati inserta. Filamenta basi dilatata, oblonga vel triangularia, antheras
denussms gerentia; lobi antherarum basi divergentes ; ,: stamina duo anteriora dorso
appendices varias nectanferas in calcar intrantes gerentia. Ovarium nunc superum, nunc
basi toro concavo cinctum et semiinferum. Valmlrn capsules elastic* post maturationem
contracte semma ejicientes ; semina horizontalia manifeste cafiinculata, plus minus ovoidea
et nitida. Embryo oblongus, radimla teretiuscula,. cotyledones sæpius oblongo-orbiculatæ
planiusculæ radleula vix longiores— Herbæ plarumqm perennes, rarissime amuse, nunc
caule bremssimo vel subterraneo, unde acaules dictes, nunc caulescentes vel suffrutices parvi,