14:4 EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY. 



7. CENOTHERA, EVENING-PRIMROSE. (Name from Greek words 

 for wine and luint ; application obscure.) Very many species, all originally 

 American, and most of them from the U. S., especially from S. W. and W. 

 The following are the principal common ones, both wild and cult, for 

 ornament : fi. summer. (PoUen-grainslooselyconnectedby cobwebby threads, 

 strongly 3-lobed. See Lessons, p. 115, fig. 250.) 



§ 1. Stigmas 4, long and slender, spreading in the form of a cross : tube of the 

 cali/x beyond the ovary long and mostly slender. 



* Yellow-flowered Evening-Primroses, properly so-called, the flowers 



opening {usually suddenli/) in evening twilight, and fading away when sun- 

 shine returns, odorous ; the yellow petals commonly obcordate. 



■*- Stems elongated and leafy : pod cylindrical or spindle-shaped, sessile. ® (5) 



CE. biennis, Common E. Wild in open grounds, and the large-flowered 

 forms cult, for ornament; erect, 2° -5° high, hairy or smoothish, with lance- 

 oblong leaves entire or obscurely toothed, flowers at length forming a terminal 

 leafy-bractcd spike, and petals obcordate. Runs into several varieties, of which 

 the largest and finest now cultivated is 



Var. Lamarckiana, from S. W., which is tall and stout, with corolla 

 3' -4' in diameter : the sudden opening at dusk very striking. 



CE. rhombip^tala. Wild on our western limits ; more slender, hoary, 

 1° - 3° higli, the rather small flowers with rhombic ovate and aciite petals. 



CE. Drummondii, cult, from Te.xas ; has its stems spreading on the 

 ground, and large flowers, like those of the fii'st, in the upper axils, the lance- 

 ovate leaves, &c. soft-downy. 



CE. sinUclta. Wild from New Jersey S., in sandy ground ; low and 

 spreading, hairy, with lance-oblong sinuate or pinnatifid leaves, small flowers 

 in their axils, pale yellow petals turning rose-color in fading, and slender pods. 

 •1- -1- Stems short and prostrate or scarcely any : pod short, 4-winged. 



CE. triloba. Cult, from Arkansas : leaves pinnatifid and cut, like those 

 of Dandelion, smooth, all in a tuft at the surface of the ground, on the short 

 crown, which in autumn is crowded with the almost woody pyramidal -ovate 

 narrowly 4-winged sessile pods, forming a mass 3' - 5' in diameter ; flowers 

 rather small, the slender tube of the calyx 4' - 5' long, its lobes about as long 

 as the obscurely 3-lobed or notched pale-yellow petals, which turn pui^plish in 

 fading. ® @ 



CE. Missouri^nsis, the greener-leaved form also called CE. macrocArpa. 

 Cult, from Missouri and Texas ; finely hoary or nearly smooth, with many 

 short prostrate stems 2' - 12' long from a thick woody root, crowded lanceolate 

 entire leaves, very large and showy flowers in their axils, opening before sun- 

 set ; the tube of the calyx somewhat enlarging upwards, 6' - 7' long ; the 

 bright-yellow corolla 4' - 6' across ; pod v.'ith 4 very broad wings. ^ 



* * White-flowered Evening-Primroses, usually turning rose-colored in 



fading, some of them opening in the daytime : petals broadly obovate or ob- 

 cordate : flower-buds commonly nodding. 



CE. taraxicif61ia (probably a variety of CE. ACAtLis), from Chili : rather 

 hairy, at first stemless, at length forming prostrate stems, with pinaatifid or 



fiinnate leaves, after the manner of Dandelion (as the name denotes), and very 

 arge flowers in the axils, tube of calyx 3' -4' long, corolla 3' -5' across, and a 

 woody obovate and sharply 4-angled sessile pod. @ 



CE. specidsa, Nutt., of Arkansas and Texas, not hardy in cult. N. ; 



[)ubescent, with erect and branching stems 6'-20' high, lance-oblong cut-toothed 

 eaves, the lower mostly pinnatifid ; flowers somewhat racemed at the summit, 

 and oj)ening in the daytime ; calyx-tube rather club-shaped and not much longer 

 than the ovary ; corolla 3' - 4' across ; pod club-shaped. ^ 



(CE. margin\ta, a tufted mostly stemless species, with lanceolate and often 

 pinnatifid toothed soft-hairy leaves, and peduncled oblong-cylindrical roughish 

 pods ; Q<>. triciiocAlyx, soft-hairy, conspicuously so on the calyx, with 

 deeply obcordate petals, long-linear pods with a thicker closely sessile base and 

 Bmootli seeds ; CE. ALUiCAtins> with ascending stems, smooth or slightly hoary. 



