C 352 ] 



Oenothera Purpurea. Purple 

 Oenothera. 



Cla/s and Order. 



OcTANDRIA MONOCYNIA. 



Generic Char abler. 

 Gal. 4-fidus. Petala 4. Cap/, cylindrica infera. Sem. nuda. 



Specific Charatler and Synonyms. 



OENOTHERA purpurea foliis ovato-lanceolatis glaucefcen- 

 tibus imegerrimis, capful is feffilibus, fiigmate 

 atro-purpureo. 



The fpecies of Oenothera here figured is the one we 

 mentioned in treating of the ro/ea, a very ornamental fpecies, 

 introduced to the Royal Garden at Kew, from the weftern 

 coaft of North-America, in 1791.* We have given to it the 

 name of purpurea, it being the only one in our gardens with 

 purple flowers. 



It is diltinguifhed by three principal characters, the glaucous 

 appearance of its foliage, the purple hue of its bloffoms, and 

 the dark colour of its lligma. 



It flowers during the months of July and Auguft, and ripens 

 its feeds in September ; is an annual of ready growth, and 

 worthy of being more generally introduced to the flower- 

 garden ; its feeds mould be fown in the fpring, with other 

 tender annuals, and the feedlings when of a proper age planted 

 out fingly in the open border, where they will acquire the 

 height of two feet, and produce abundance of bloflbms which, 

 like thofe of the ro/ea t open during the day as well as in the 

 evening. 



* Donn, Hart. Cantab. 1796, 



