ONAGRACEJE. (EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY.) 135 
with a solitary suspended seed in each cell. Albumen thin. — Marsh 
or water plants, with very small axillary sessile flowers, often monoe¬ 
cious or dioecious. 
6. Proserpinaca. Stamens 3. Fruit 3-sided, 3-celled. 
7. Myriophyllum. Stamens 4-8. Fruit 4-angled, 4-celled. 
8. Hippuris. Stamen 1. Fruit 1-celled. Style slender. 
Suborder I. ONAGRACEA2 proper. 
I- EPILOBIUM, L. Willow-herb. 
Calyx-tube not prolonged beyond the ovary; limb 4-cleft, de¬ 
ciduous. Petals 4. Stamens 8: anthers short. Pod long and 
linear, many-seeded. Seeds with a tuft of long hairs at the end. 
— Perennials, with nearly sessile leaves, and violet, purple, or 
white flowers. (Name composed of «ri Xo^oO top, viz., a violet 
on a pod.) 
* Flowers large in a long spike or raceme: petals widely spreading , 
clawed: stamens and style turned to one side : stigma with 4 long 
lobes: leaves scattered. 
1. E. anglistifdlium, L. (Great Willow-herb.) Stem 
simple, tall (4°-7°); leaves lanceolate; style at length deflexed. 
— Fields, and especially in newly cleared land. July. — Flowers 
pink-purple, very showy. Pods hoary. 
* * Flowers small , corymbed or panicled : petals (white or rose-color ), 
stamens , and style erect: stigma club-shaped: lower leaves opposite , 
entire or denticulate. — 
2. E. alpilllim, L. (Alpine Willow-herb.) Low ; smooth 
or nearly so, simple ; leaves ovate or oblong; flowers solitary or few. 
— High mountains of New Hampshire and N. New York. 
3. E. coloratum, Muhl. (Purple-veined Willow-herb.) 
Nearly smooth; stem roundish, much branched , many-flowered; leaves 
chiefly opposite, lanceolate, acute, purple-veined or turning reddish; 
petals 2-cleft at the apex. —Ditches, &c. July-Sept. — Plant l°-3 9 
high. 
4. E. Ill olio, Torr. (Downy Willow-herb.) Soft-downy all 
over , strait, at length branching; leaves crowded , linear-oblong or 
lanceolate , blunt; petals notched. — Bogs, Rhode Island to Michigan. 
Sept. — Flowers larger than in No. 3. 
5. E* palustre, L. (Swamp Willow-herb.) Minutely hoary 
with a crisped pubescence ; stem slender, roundish, at length much 
branched; leaves lanceolate or linear , acutish at both ends; pods 
hoary.— Bogs, chiefly northward, principally the narrow-leaved va¬ 
riety with white flowers. (E. rosmarinifblium, Pursh. E. squama- 
tum, Nutt.) 
