204 WEEDS OF THE FARM AND GARDEN 



sepals five and spurred, becoming less distinct with cul- 

 tivation. Sometimes found in waste places, having 

 escaped from old gardens. 



Primrose Family (Onagraceae). Herbs or rarely 

 shrubs, with alternate or opposite leaves, generally with- 

 out stipules, or stipules glandular; calyx adnate to the two 

 to four-celled ovary, petals two to nine ; stamens as many 

 as the petals or twice as many ; ovules numerous. About 

 300 species. A few of the plants are medicinal. The 

 great willow herb (Epilobium angustifoUum) is occasion- 

 ally used in medicine. Many species are used for orna- 

 mental purposes, especially some of the western species 

 of the genus, such as Oenothera, the Clarkia elegans of the 

 gardens, and greenhouse Fuchsia. 



Fireweed (Epilobium angustifoUum, L.). A simple 

 stemmed perennial growing from four to seven feet tall ; 

 nearly entire, lanceolate leaves pale beneath and green 

 above; rather showy flowers in long racemes, the calyx 

 limb being deeply parted; petals purple or pale and four 

 in number; seed has a long soft coma at one end. This 

 fireweed is very abundant in burned-over districts of 

 Oregon and Washington ; also found very frequently in 

 northern and central Minnesota and Wisconsin, but 

 rarely seen growing in Iowa; considered an excellent 

 honey plant. 



Gaura (Gaura biennis, L.). A soft, hairy biennial from 

 three to eight feet high; leaves alternate sessile, oblong 

 lanceolate denticulate; flowers in wandlike spikes; calyx 

 tube prolonged beyond the ovary ; lobes four, reflexed ; 

 petals clawed, unequal, rose-colored ; stamens eight ; stig- 

 mas four-lobed ; fruit oval or oblong, ribbed and downy. 

 Common from New England to Minnesota and Nebraska. 

 The hairy gaura (G. parviflora) is a softly villous herb 

 two to five feet high with ovate-lanceolate, softly pubes- 

 cent leaves ; fruit oblong, four-nerved, small. From 

 Iowa to Utah. The purple gaura (G. coccinea) is a low 



