PRIMROSE FAMILY. Primulacese. 



inches high. Moist ground from Me., west to Minn., and 

 south. The Steironcmas are cross-fertilized, according 

 to Prof. Robertson, by bees ; in Connecticut by Macropis 

 ciliata and Macropis patellata, and in Illinois by Macro- 

 pis steironematis. The name is from two Greek words, 

 sterile and thread, in allusion to the abortive stamens. 



„ , A delicate and pretty species common 

 Four-leaved i ■, • ,f j 

 Loosestrife on a ^ * ow lands, especially sandy river 

 Lysimachia banks. The light green leaves are pointed 

 quadrifolia lance-shaped or broader, and are arranged 

 Yellow j n a c j rc } e Q f generally four, but some- 

 June-July .. J • T-, /, , C 



times three and six. From the bases of 

 these leaves project slender long stems, each bearing a 

 single star-shaped light golden yellow flower, prettily 

 dotted around the centre with terra-cotta red, which 

 sometimes extends in faint streaks all over the corolla 

 lobes. The stamens and pistil project in a cone-shaped 

 cluster ; the stigma is advanced so far beyond the an- 

 thers that self-fertilization rarely if ever occurs. The 

 Lysimachias are visited by the bees of the genus Macro- 

 pis, by bumblebees, and by honeybees evidently for the 

 purpose of collecting pollen. Stem smooth or very min- 

 utely hairy (under a glass), straight and round, 12-30 

 inches high, simple or rarely branched. Sandy soil or 

 often moist ground, Me., west to Minn., south to Ga. 

 Lysimachia Along with preceding species bloom the 



stricta slender spirelike clusters of the simple- 



Yellow stemmed Lysimachia stricta, whose flow- 



June-August erg are 110 ^. appreciably different, though 

 recorded by Dr. Gray and others as having slenderer 

 corolla-divisions. This variation, however, is not so ap- 

 parent ; but at the base of the divisions the red spots are 

 double in L. stricta, while they are single in L. quadri- 

 folia. The slender flower-spike is distinctly characteris- 

 tic of L. stricta ; it forms an aggregation of misty yellow 

 color (when a large colony of the plants is seen) which is 

 never present with the other species. Often little elon- 

 gated bulblets appear at the bases of the leaves. Leaves 

 lance-shaped and sharp-pointed at either end ; in both 

 species apt to be sepia-dotted. Stem 8-20 inches high. 

 Moist and sandy soil. Me., west to Minn., south to Ga. 



34& 



