l\Q MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



the Hooker fragment referred to above ? ) should all bear 

 the name micranthum. 



Boisduvalia, Spach, Hist. Nat. des Veg. 1835, iv. 383, 

 and Atlas, pi. 85, f . 2 ; Monogr. Onagrearum, 1835, 398, 

 pi. 31, f. 2; Benth. and Hook., Gen. Plant, i. 790, — as 

 section of Oenothera. 



Like Gayophytum, this is a small group, confined to the 

 mountains of Western North and South America, what has 

 been said of the distribution of the former genus applying 

 equally to this, except that our species are more closely 

 confined to the Pacific coast. In general habit it approaches 

 closest to Oenothera, with which Bentham and Hooker 

 unite it, but in aspect it differs from most species of Oeno- 

 thera proper, from which it also differs (so far as our 

 species are concerned) in its short, nearly basifixed anthers 

 in two sets, erect calyx lobes, and pollen grains adnate in 

 tetrads. It is also closely related structurally to Epilobium, 

 from which it differs in aspect, and in its seeds destitute 

 of a coma. In my study, I have thought best to follow 

 most American botanists in treating it as a distinct genus. 

 The principal revisions of our species appear in Torrey 

 & Gray, Fl. N. A., i. 505 (under Oenothera); Watson, Bot. 

 Calif, i. 233; Behr, Flora of the vicinity of San Fran- 

 cisco; and Greene, Flora Franciscana, 224. — For other 

 references see Watson, Bibl. Index, 362, and Jackson, 

 Index Kewensis, i. 318. 



SYNOPSIS. 



Capsule membranaceous, loculicidal, a considerable portion of the 

 septa remaining attached to the valves on dehiscence. 



Leaves ovate lanceolate, toothed, the upper not reduced: seeds 

 minute, fusiform B. glabella. 



Leaves narrowly lanceolate, nearly entire, the tipper small : seeds 



broad and flattened B. stricta. 



** Capsule membranaceous, septifragal, the septa wholly adherent to 



the placenta, rendering the latter strongly 4 winged: leaves 

 lanceolate, toothed, the upper broader B. densiflora. 



Capsule coriaceous, 4 sided, very tardily (loculicidally?) dehiscent: 

 leaves narrowly lanceolate, toothed, the upper not enlarged. 



B. cleistogama. 



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