]>Li\TE XXXIX. 



I. OENOTHEllA FRUTICOSA. 



SHRUBBY OENOTHERA. 



This genus contains plants of the lierbaceous, biennial, peren- 

 nial and under shrubby ]>ereniiia1 kinds. 



It belongs lo the class and ordev Ortaiidria Mouogijiiia, and ranks 

 in the natural order o( Ca/ijcantheifHV. 



The; characters are: that the calyx is a one-leafed, superior, deci- 

 duous pcrianthium: lube cylindrical, erect, long, deciduous: bor- 

 der four-cleft: the segments oblong, acute, bent down: the corolla 

 has four petals, obcordate, flat, inserted into the interstices of the 

 calyx, and the same length with the divisions of the calyx: the sta- 

 mina have eight awl-shaped filaments, curved inwards, iiscrted into 

 the throat of the calyx, shorter than the corolla: anthers oblong, 

 incumbent: the pistillum is a cylindrical germ, inferior: style fili- 

 form, the length of the stamens: stigma four-ckft, ihicV, blunt, 

 reflex: the pericarpium is a cylindrical capsule, four-corner d, four- 

 celled, four-valved, with contrary jiartitions: the seeds very many, 

 ano-ular, naked : the receptacle columnar, fiee, four-cornered, with 

 the angles contiguous to the margin of the partitions. 



The species cultivated are: 1. O. biennis, Broad-leaved Tiee- 

 Prinirose; 2. O. longiflora. Long-flowered Tree-Primrose; 3. O. niol- 

 iissima. Soft 'J'ree-Piimrose; 4. O. fniticosa. Shrubby Tree-Primrose; 

 5. O. puinila. Dwarf 'J'ree-Primrose. 



The fust has a biennial fusiform fibrous root, yellowish on the 

 outside, white within: from this, the first year, arise many obtuse 

 leaves, which spread flat on the ground; and from among wlfch, 

 the second year, the stems come out, three or four feet high, upiight. 



