NAT. ORDER. 



Onagrarice. 



(ENOTHERA DRUMMONDII. EVENIiNG-PRIMROSE. 



QaSS VIII. OcTANDRIA. OrdCT I. MONOGYNIA. 



Gen. Char. Calyx of four sepals. Sepals connected into a long 

 tetragonal, or eight-ribbed tube. Segments, deciduous. Petals, 

 four. Stainens, eight, erect or declinate. Polen, triangular, 

 clammy. Stigma, four-cleft^ or capitate. 



Spe. Char. Stem, simple, erect. Leaves, oblong-lanceolate, toothed. 

 Capsule, curved, cylindrical, four-cornered, four-celled, four- 

 valved. Seeds, angular, naked. ' 



This plant has a biennial fusiform fibrous root, yellowish on the 

 outside, and white within ; from tliis, the first year arise many obtuse 

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

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

 upright, of a pale green color, about the size of tlie finger, not hollow 

 but pithy, angular, slightly pubscent and ragged, tinged with purple, 

 especially towards the bottom, branched alternately almost from the 

 ground ; the root-leaves run down into a three-sided petiole, which is 

 about one incli in length ; the stem-leaves are sessile, of a bright 

 liglitish green, pubscent on both sides, waved a little about the edge, 

 and having a few small teeth near the base ; they are from five to 

 seven inches in length, and about two inches in breadth, having a 

 considerable midrib running the w'hole length, very wide and tinged 

 with purple towards the base; at the back it is very prominent, with 

 white nerves springing from it, and curved towards the point ; the 

 fioicers are produced all along the stalks on axillary brandies, and in 

 a terminating spike ; the leaves on the former are similar to the 

 stem-leaves, but much smaller, being not more than two inches long, 



Vol. iv.— 69. 



