Petals 5, fugacious (lasting but a day), much larger than the calyx. Stamens 9–30. Style long and slender; stigma minute. Pod oblong, enclosed in the calyx, strictly 1-celled, with 1 or 2 seeds attached near the base of each nerve-like placenta. Embryo coiled into the form of a closed hook.—Bushy heath-like little shrubs (seldom a foot high), covered all over with the small awl-shaped or scale-like alternate persistent downy leaves, producing numerous (small but showy) bright yellow flowers crowded along the upper part of the branches. (Named in honor of Wm. Hudson, an early English botanist.)
1. H. ericoìdes, L. Downy but greenish; leaves slender, awl-shaped, loose; flowers on slender naked stalks; ovary hairy.—Dry sandy soil near the coast, E. Maine to Va.; N. Conway, N. H. (Miss Minns.) May.
2. H. tomentòsa, Nutt. Hoary with down; leaves oval or narrowly oblong, 1´´ long, close-pressed and imbricated; flowers sessile or some short-peduncled.—Sandy shores, Maine to Md., and along the Great Lakes to Minn.; rarely on banks of streams inland. May, June.
3. LÉCHEA, Kalm. Pinweed.
Petals 3, narrow, flat in the bud, not longer than the calyx, withering-persistent. Stamens 3–12. Style scarcely any; stigmas 3, plumose. Pod globular, partly 3-celled; the 3 broad and thin placentæ borne on imperfect partitions, each bearing 2 seeds on the face toward the valve; in our species the placentæ curve backward and partly enclose the seeds. Embryo straightish.—Homely perennial herbs, with very small greenish or purplish flowers, in summer. (Named in honor of John Leche, a Swedish botanist.)
[*] Pubescence villous, spreading; leaves oblong; flowers very short-pedicelled in cymulose clusters.
1. L. màjor, Michx. Stem upright (1–2° high), stout, simple, very leafy, producing slender prostrate branches from the base; leaves elliptical, mucronate-pointed, alternate and opposite or sometimes whorled; flowers densely crowded; pedicels shorter than the very small depressed-globose pod; sepals narrower than its valves.—Sterile grounds; common, especially southward.
[*][*] Pubescence appressed, leaves narrower; flowers paniculate.
[+] Leaves comparatively short, broad, and thin; panicles leafy.
2. L. thymifòlia, Michx. Erect, about 2° high; stem-leaves oval or oblong (3–6´´ long), commonly somewhat hairy, some whorled or opposite, those of the rather crowded panicles more linear; pod obovate-globose, one of the narrow outer sepals often longer. (L. Novæ-Cæsareæ, Austin.)—Dry grounds near the coast, E. Mass. to Fla.