\8B LYTHRACE^. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 



6. DECODON", Gmel. Swamp Loosestrife. 



Calyx short, broadly bell-shaped or hemispherical, with 5-7 erect teeth, and 

 -IS many longer and spreading horn-like processes at the sinuses. Petals 5. 

 Stamens 10 (rarely 8), exserted, of two lengths. Capsule globose, 3 - 5-celled, 

 .oculicidal. — Perennial herbs or slightly shrubby plants, with opposite or 

 whorled leaves, and axillary clusters of trimorphous flowers. (Name from 

 8«Ka, ten, and dSovSf tooth.) 



1. D. vertieill^tus, Ell. Smooth or downy; stems recurved (2-8° 

 long), 4-6-sided; leaves lanceolate, nearly sessile, opposite or whorled, the 

 upper with clustered flowers in their axils on short pedicels; petals 5, wedge- 

 lanceolate, rose-purple (^' long) ; stamens 10, half of them shorter. (Xesaja 

 verticillata, HBK.) — Swampy grounds, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Out., Minn., 

 and La. Bark of the lower part of the stem often spongy-thickened. 



6. CUPHEA, Jacq. 



Calyx tubular, 12-ribbed, somewhat inflated below, gibbous or spurred at the 

 base on the upper aide, 6-toothed at the apex, and usually with as many little 

 processes in the sinuses. Petals 6, very unequal. Stamens mostly 12, approxi- 

 mate in 2 sets, included, unequal. Ovary with a curved gland at the base next 

 the spur of the calyx, 1 - 2-celled ; style slender ; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule ob- 

 long, few-seeded, early ruptured through one side. — Flowers solitary or race- 

 mose, stalked. (Name from Kvcpos, gibbous, from the shape of the calyx.) 



1. C. viscosissima, Jacq. (Clam^iy Cuphea.) Annual, very viscid- 

 hairy, branching ; leaves ovate-lanceolate ; petals ovate, short-clawed, purple ; 

 seeds flat, borne on one side of the placenta, which is early forced out of the 

 ruptured capsule. — Dry fields, R. I. to Ga., west to Kan. and La. 



Order 42. ONAGRACE.^. (Evening-Primrose Family.) 



Herbs, loith A-mei'ous (sometimes 2-S- or 5- 6-merous) perfect and sym- 

 metrical Jlowers ; the tube of the calyx cohering with the 2-4-celled ovary, 

 its lobes valvate in the bud, or obsolete , the petals convolute in the bud, some- 

 times wanting; and the stamens as many or twice as many as the petals or 

 calyx-lobes, inserted on the summit of the calyx-tube. Style single, slen- 

 der; stigma 2-4-lobed or capitate. Pollen grains often connected by 

 cobwebby threads. Seeds anatropous, small, without albumen. — ^Mostly 

 herbs, -vrith opposite or alternate leaves. Stipules none or glandular. 



* Parts of the flower iu fours or more, 

 ■t- Fruit a many-seeded pod, usually loculicidal. 

 ** Calyx-limb divided to the summit of the ovary, persistent. 

 i. Jussisea. Petals 4 -6. Stamens twice as many. Capsule elongated. 

 i. Liudvvigia. Petals 4 or none. Stamens 4. Capsule short. 



♦+ -H- Calyx-tube prolonged beyond the ovai-y (scarcely so in n 3) and deciduous from it 

 Flowers 4-merous. 



3. Epllobium. Seeds silky-tufted. Flowers small, not yellow. Lower leaves often 



opposite. 



4. CEnothera. Seeds naked. Flowers mostly yellow. Leaves alternate 



