EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY 167 



tube cylindric, 4 mm. long, the teeth lanceolate, scarcely 1 mm. long ; seeds obliquely and broadly 

 ovoid. 



Moist ground. Transition and Upper Sonoran Zones; Curry County, Oregon, and Siskiyou Mountains, Cali- 

 fornia, south to southern California. Type locality: "low meadow lands adjacent to the salt marshes of San 

 Francisco Bay, especially about west Berkeley," California. May-Nov. 



3. Lythrum californicum Torr. & Gray. California Loosestrife. Fig. 3350. 



Lythrum califonticiim Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 482. 1840. 



Lythrum Sanfordii Greene, Pittonia 2: 12. 1889. : 



Perennial with rootstocks, the stems mostly erect, paniculately and rather divaricately branch- 

 ing above, 5-15 dm. high, pale green and glabrous. Leaves narrowly linear to linear-oblong, or 

 the lower lanceolate, 1-3 cm. long; flowers distinctly pedicelled; petals 4-6 mm. long, bright 

 purple ; calyx-teeth subulate, sharply acute ; the tube cylindric, 5-6 mm. long ; seeds linear-lanceo- 

 late, about 1 mm. long, scarcely half as broad. 



Moist ground, mainly Upper Sonoran Zone; central California to northern Lower California. Type locality: 

 California. Collected by Douglas. April-Oct. 



4. Lythrum Salicaria L. Spiked or Purple Loosestrife. Fig. 3351. 



Lythrum Salicaria L. Sp. PI. 446. 1753. 



Perennial, the stems erect, 5-10 dm. high, simple or at length much branched, pubescent or 

 tomentose at least above. Leaves opposite or occasionally in threes, lanceolate, cordate or clasp- 

 ing at the base, 5-7 cm. long ; flowers several in the upper axils, forming a dense compound in- 

 terrupted terminal spike, trimorphous ; calyx-teeth subulate, 2 mm. long; petals 6-8 mm. long, 

 bright purple. Stamens 8-10, alternately longer and shorter. 



Naturalized from Europe; western Washington, also in the northern Atlantic States. July-Oct. 



Lythrum tribracteatum Salzm. ex Tenore, Ind. Sem. Hort. Neap. 13. 1830. Stems prostrate, 5-25 cm. 

 long, rather densely leafy; leaves somewhat decussate, 5-25 mm. long, normally oblong to linear, obtuse; calyx 

 4-7 mm. long, the teeth and appendages very short; stamens included, irregularly inserted on the corolla-tube. 

 This native of the Mediterranean region has been collected by J. T. Howell (Madroiio 2: 20. 1931.) in "beds of 

 summer-dried rain-pools," in the vicinity of Elmira, Solano County, California. 



Family 106. ONAGRACEAE * 



Evening-primrose Family. 



Herbs or rarely shrubs with simple alternate or opposite leaves ; stipules none. 

 Flowers perfect, axillary or in terminal racemes, the parts mostly in twos or in fours. 

 Hypanthium adnate to ovary and usually prolonged beyond. Sepals 4 (sometimes 

 2 or 5). Petals 4 (sometimes 2 or 5), inserted at summit of hypanthium. Stamens 

 as many or twice as many as petals or sepals, borne at summit of hypanthium. Ovary 

 inferior, 4-celled (sometimes 2- or 5-) ; style 1 ; stigma 4-lobed, or capitate, or 

 discoid. Fruit a capsule, rarely nut-like. 



About 20 genera and 600 species of wide distribution, particularly well represented in western North America. 



Sepals persistent. 



Petals 5, 1 cm. or more long; stamens 8-12, in 2 series; capsule at length reflexed. 1. Jussiaca. 



Petals lacking or minute; stamens 3-6, in 1 series; capsule erect. 2. Ludungia. 



Sepals deciduous after flowering. 

 Flowers 4-merous. 



Seeds with tuft of hairs (coma) at one end. 



Hypanthium 2-3 cm. long and funnelform, with row of 8 scales within at about one-half its length; 



flowers scarlet. ^- Zauschncria. 



Hypanthium less than 1 cm. or lacking, no scales within; flowers not scarlet. 4. Epilobium. 



Seeds without coma. 



Fruit a capsule, dehiscent. 

 Ovary 4-ceIled. 



Anthers innate, attached near base, erect; petals not yellow, but ranging from pink to 

 lavender or rose, sometimes whitish. 

 Sepals erect; petals small or wanting; pollen in tetrads. 5. Boisduvalia. 



Sepals reflexed or the tips remaining united and turned to one side in anthesis; pollen 

 not in tetrads. 

 Petals distinctly clawed, the claw at least one-sixth as long as the blade. 



6. Llarkta. 



Petals not at all or scarcely clawed, the claw not more than one-tenth as long as 

 the blade. '■ Codetta. 



Anthers usually versatile, attached near the middle; petals yellow or ^'""'u^^,*^'';),/^^'^'^"^ 

 in ag^e. 

 Ovary 2-celled; hypanthium not prolonged beyond the ovary; flowers "^^^''^ ™"%^= .^l,^™^ 

 capillary. 

 Fruit indehiscent, nut-like. 



Biennials or perennials; anthers all fertile; stigma 4-lobed. 10. Gaura. 



Annual; anthers opposite the petals sterile; stigma discoid, entire. H. Heterogaura. 



Flowers 2-merous; fruit indehiscent, obovoid. bristly with hooked hairs. 1^- Circaea. 



* Text contributed by Philip Alexander Munz. 



