248 ONAGRACEAE. 



spot at the base, turning green or reddish in age. Sta- 

 mens 8; anthers versatile, oblong. Style filiform; 

 stigma capitate. Ovary 4-celled, usually linear, 4- 

 angled, often contorted, membranous, sessile, dehiscent 

 loculicidally. Seeds in 1 row in each cell. 



Flowers axillary, yellow. 



Capsules more or less contorted. 

 Petals 8 mm. long or more. 



Biennial or perennial from a tap-root, 

 maritime species. 

 Leaves silvery-canescent with a short 



\. S. viridescens (Lehm.) Walp. Silvery-canescent, with a 

 short and dense appressed pubescence; branches prostrate or ascend- 

 ing, 3-8 dm. long, somewhat woody; leaves rather thick, spatulate- 

 oblong or linear-oblong to ovate-cordate, sessile, usually entire, 2 

 cm. long or more; petals 12-16 mm. long, turning greenish in age; 

 anthers linear-oblong, fixed below the middle; capsule short-pubes- 

 cent. {Oenothera viridescens Lehm.; 0. cheiranthifolia suffruticosa 

 Wats.) 



Common on the sand-dunes along the seashore. Flowering 

 nearly throughout the year. 



2. S. spirale (Lehm.) Walp. Stems herbaceous, prostrate or 

 ascending, 3-6 dm. long; leaves rather thick, spatulate to ovate- 

 cordate, the lowest short-petioled, entire or dentate, more or less 

 hirsute; calyx pubescent; petals 8-12 mm. long, turning red or 

 tawny in age; anthers linear-oblong, fixed in the middle; capsule 

 acutely 4-angled, hirsute. (0. cheiranthifolia of Bot. Cal.) 



With the last but less common. 



3. S. bistortiim (Nutt.) Walp. Stems prostrate or ascending, 

 2-5 dm. long; leaves thinner, narrowly lanceolate to ovate, the upper 

 mostly sessile and rounded or cordate at base, all denticulate or 

 dentate; calyx hirsute; petals 8-14 mm. long; capsule 8-18 mm. 

 long, 2 mm. wide or more; beak very short. (0. bistorta Nutt.) 



Very common in sand-washes about San Diego, where it was 

 first collected by Nuttall; extending north to Santa Barbara. 



