N. ORD.-ONAGRACE. | 60 
GENUS.—CENOTHERA,* LINN. 
SEX. SYST.—OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA, 
OENOTHERA. 
EVENING PRIMROSE. 
SYN.—_CINOTHERA BIENNIS, LINN.; @NOTHERA PARVIFLORA, LINN.; 
GiNOTHERA GAUROIDES, HORNEM; ONAGRA BIENNIS, SCOP.; 
ONAGRA VULGARIS, AND CHRYSANTHA, SPACH. 
COM. NAMES.—COMMON EVENING PRIMROSE, NIGHT WILLOW-HERB, 
SCABBISH, TREE PRIMROSE, CURE-ALL; (FR.) ONAGRE; (GER.) 
NACHTEKERZ,. 
A TINCTURE OF THE WHOLE, FRESH, NEWLY BLOSSOMING PLANT, GiNOTHERA 
BIENNIS, LINN. 
2 
Description.—This nocturnal annual, or biennial plant, attains a growth of 
from 2 to 4 feet. Root conical; dark thin, yellowish, or brownish. The roots of 
the first year are fleshy and succulent, in the second they become fibrous and 
woody. Leaves alternate, 2-6 inches long, ovate-lanceolate, acute, very minutely 
toothed, and pubescent; the cauline sessile, those near the root contracted into a 
petiole. /nflorescence a terminal, foliaceous spike, lengthening greatly as the 
flowers develop and the fruit matures; flowers odorous, light-yellow, ephemeral. 
Calyx-tube cylindrical, caducous, prolonged quite a distance beyond the ovary, be- 
ing more than twice as long as its lobes; Zimé of 4 long, reflexed lobes. Feéal/s 4, 
obcordate, not clawed, withering and becoming orange-brown after a night's 
expansion. Stamens 8, nearly equal, shorter than, and both opposite and alter- 
nate with, the petals; //aments slender, sometimes curved; azthers linear, versa- 
tile. Ovary ovate; style terminal, long, cylindrical, exserted ; stigmas a group of 4 
linear, diverging lobes. rut a 4-valved, many-seeded follicle ; fod/icle oblong, 
sessile, tapering above; seeds naked. Read description of the order under Epilo- 
bium palustre, 59. 
History and Habitat.—The Evening Primrose is common in the United States, 
growing in fields and waste places generally, and flowering from’ July to Septem- 
ber. It varies greatly in its growth, affording at least 5 distinct varieties, v7z., 
var. a grandiflora, a large-flowered form; var. 8 muricata, with rough, bristly 
stem and pods; var. y canescens; var. § hirsutissima, a particularly hairy form ; 
* Theophrastus describes a plant whose dried root caught the odor of wine. Hence he called it oivo;, oinos, wine; 
@ipa, thera, catch. (Barton.) Or taking @/¥a to mean a hunt or chase, it is alleged that the meaning is applicable to the 
belief that it was the root of this plant, or one of its botanical relatives, that was eaten to provoke an appetite for wine. 
This genus is a large and varied one, containing 57 species, and 33 varieties, in North America alone. 
