6 ONAGRAPJ^ 



as well as those of several other species of Ginotliera, contain much nutriment, 

 and the root-stock is almost as good as the potato. Perhaps we owe some 

 of the wild plants which occur on our landscape to the former cultivation of 

 the flower for the sake of these root-stocks, which were once much valued, 

 and which would probably have retained their place at the modern table, 

 had not the potato become so general and accessible. They still, in some 

 countries, form a common article of food. 



The Evening Primrose grows to the height of two or three feet, beginning 

 to flower about July. The uppermost blossoms expand first, and there is a 

 constant succession of pale yellow flowers, till the end of autumn. Many of 

 the garden species are much larger and handsomer than this. (Enothera is 

 qviite an American genus, all but one (Tasmanian) member of this family 

 having been brought from the New World. 



3. ISNARDIA. 



Marsh Isnardia (/. pah'istris). — Leaves opposite, egg-shaped, acute, 

 and stalked ; stem procumbent, rooting, and smooth ; flowers solitary and 

 axillary ; capsule 4-angled. Plant annual. This little herb has stems about 

 six or eight inches long, and flowers which have pistils and stamens, but 

 which are destitute of petals. It is very rare, having been found in a pool 

 at Buxstead, in Sussex, and on Petersfield Heath, in Surrey, where it occurred 

 in abundance. It also grows near Brockenhurst, in Hampshire, and in Jersey. 

 It was formerly recorded as a British plant, but was again lost in this king- 

 dom, though known as a plant of various parts of Europe and America, as 

 far south as Mexico. Mr. Borrer, in 1827, rediscovered it in Sussex. Some 

 authors call it Ltidwigia palustris. 



4, Enchanter's Nightshade {Circcea). 



1. Common Enchanter's Nightshade {C. lutetidna). — Leaves egg- 

 shaped, tapering to a point, toothed ; bracts none ; stem erect, downy ; calyx 

 hairy ; root perennial. This is a very common plant in lanes where the 

 thick bushes or high trees cast a deep shadow, and in shi'ubberies, woods, 

 and gardens. The stem is about a foot or a foot and a half high ; and the 

 dark green leaves, somewhat heart-shaped at the base, are very large in pro- 

 portion to the blossoms. It is very troublesome in damp gardens, on account 

 of its strong creeping roots ; and the two-petalled flowers are too small to 

 render the plant ornamental in any situation. They appear in June and 

 July, are white or pale rose-colour, with pink stamens, and are destitute of 

 odour. 



The genus Circcea, though named after the enchantress Circe, does not 

 appear ever to have been used in enchantments, and it has no active properties 

 either of a useful or deleterious kind. Some writers think that the name 

 was given because many of the dark shady nooks in which it grows are such 

 places as would be chosen for incantations by the pretender to magic, in 

 order that their gloom might affect the imagination of his victims. Boerhaave 

 ingeniously suggested that the fruit, which is clothed with hooked bristles, 

 laying hold of unwary passengers, and clinging to them, might, to him who 



