EPILOBIACE.E. 225 



deciduous ; the lobes not reflexed in flower. Petals 4, obovate-cuneiform, 

 sessile, 2-lobed. Stamens 8, all perfect, unequal ; filaments slender, 

 naked at base ; anthers oblong, fixed near the base. Ovary 4-celled, 

 several-ovuled ; stigma-lobes short, somewhat cuneate. Capsule mem- 

 branaceous, ovate-oblong to linear, nearly terete, acute, dehiscent to the 

 base. Seeds in 1 row in the cell. — A very distinct genus in habit and 

 aspect, but separable from Oenothera only by the erect calyx-lobes, and 

 from Epilohiutn, to which it is even more nearly allied, only by the 

 naked seeds. Fl. late summer and early autumn. 



1. B. densiflora, Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 233 (1876) ; Liudl. Bot. Reg. t. 

 1593 (1883), under LEnothera. B. BouglasU, Spach, Monogr. Ouagr. 80. 

 t. 31. f. 2 (1835). Stoutish, sparingly branching, 1—3 ft. high, soft- 

 pubescent throughout : lower leaves lanceolate, acuminate, serrate- 

 toothed ; the floral broader, entire : flowers in rather loose terminal 

 spikes : calyx 1% — 3 lines long, half as long as the purple petals : cap- 

 sules ovate-oblong, glabrous or villous, 2 — 4 lines long ; cells 3— 6-seeded, 

 the partitions separating from the valves and adhering to the placenta : 

 seeds nearly a line long. Var. imbricata. Less canescent than the type, 

 the whole plant larger and coarser ; spikes thick and dense, the capsules 

 concealed under the very broad, acute closely imbricated bracts. — The 

 type, figured by Lindley, is not in middle California, but must be Ore- 

 gonian. The species is represented in the Bay region only by the 

 variety, which is a plant of very different aspect. 



2. B. stricta, Greene. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 340 (1868), under 

 Gayophytum. B. Torreyi, Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 233 (1876). (Enothera 

 Torreyi, Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 600 (1873j. Canescent with a short 

 stiff spreading pubescence ; plant slender, seldom 1 ft. high : leaves 

 lanceolate or linear, narrow at base, entire or denticulate, the floral not 

 differing from the others except as being smaller : flowers in a loose 

 simple spike, minute : capsules linear-acuminate, 4—6 lines long ; cells 

 6 — 8-seeded : seeds V^ line long or less, ovate. Frequent in the Coast 

 Range from Santa Clara Co. northward. 



3. B. cleistogama, Curran, Bull. Calif. Acad. i. 12 (1884). Very pale 

 and glaucescent, glabrous or hispidulous ; 4 — 10 in. high, rather slender: 

 leaves ovate-lanceolate, }^ — 1^^' in. long, remotely serrate : fl. small, rose- 

 red, the earliest ones cleistogamous : capsule rather coriaceous : seeds 

 numerous. — Species well marked by its very pallid herbage, coriaceous 

 capsules, etc. ; common on the Sacramento plains from Chico southward, 

 also in Lake Co., Sinwuds, and near Petaluma, Greene. B. glabella, 

 the only other species, is smaller than this, glabrous and not pallid. It 

 may be found within our borders northeastward, but is mainly Oregonian. 



8. GAURA, Linnseus. Herbs with alternate leaves, and terminal 

 spikes or racemes of scarcely regular white or rose-colored flowers. 



