Common Name: ROCK-ROSE FAMILY
Habit: Annual to shrub, aromatic, of sunny areas, often sandy or chalky substrates; hairs nonglandular, in stellate clumps or not, peltate or not, and/or glandular. Leaf: simple, alternate or opposite [whorled], often +- reduced, entire or not, petioled or not, stipuled or not. Inflorescence: raceme- or panicle-like cymes or flowers 1. Flower: generally bisexual, +- radial; sepals 3 or 5 (outer 2 often narrower), free or fused at very base, often persistent in fruit, 3 twisted in direction opposite that of petals; petals [0(3)]4--5, generally ephemeral; stamens (3--10) many, free, often sensitive to touch, +- persistent in fruit or not; ovary superior, chambers 1 (or +- 3--12 from intruded parietal placentas), style 0--1, stigma 1(3), lobes 0 or 3--12. Fruit: loculicidal capsule, valves 3--12. Seed: [1--]3--many.
Genera In Family: 8 genera, +- 175 species: temperate, especially southeastern United States, Mediterranean; some cultivated (Cistus; Crocanthemum; Tuberaria). Note: Flowers open in sunshine for < 1 day. Taxa of Helianthemum in TJM2 treated here in Crocanthemum.
eFlora Treatment Author: John W. Thieret & Elizabeth McClintock, final revision by Thomas J. Rosatti & Bruce G. Baldwin, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti, Bruce G. Baldwin.