126 THE EVENING PRIMROSE. 



fruit the following year. By cultivation the tubers are im- 

 proved in size and quality.* 



The Stem, early the second year, rises erect and stout, 

 2-6 feet high, terete, hairy, simple at first, but at length 

 widely branched like a little tree (hence often called the 

 Tree Primrose). Sometimes the stem is rough, with short, 

 bristly hairs. 



The leaves are many, closely ranged around the stem in 

 an order called alternate, but easily seen to be in a spiral 

 line running from right to left (see note, p. 193). Their 

 outline is lanceolate, margin finely toothed in a manner 

 called repand-dentate, like the border of a parasol. The 

 lowest are petiolate, the upper sessile, and all pubescent. 



Inflorescence centripetal, the lower buds opening first, 

 forming a bracted spike which lengthens as the bloom 

 advances upward, until, at length, there are at once fruit 

 below, flowers in the midst, and buds at the top. 



The Flowers are regular, symmetrical, 4-parted. N The 

 calyx is the remarkable feature. It consists of a long, slen- 

 der tube adhering to the ovary below, expanding into 4 

 sepals at the top, where it also supports 4 broad yellow 

 petals and 8 stamens, f The ovary is sessile, oblong, with a 



* The tubers contain much nutriment, and before the discovery of the Potato were 

 cultivated for food. Wine-bibbers ate them after dinner, as olives are eaten, suppos- 

 ing them to give greater relish to their potations. 



t Fig. XXXI, 1, representing a vertical section of the flower of Evening Primrose, 

 is worthy of careful study. It shows very plainly the nature of the adherent or supe- 

 rior calyx. Now it is understood that the floral organs all issue together from the 

 torus (1) the base of the flower. Then in this flower the sepals, petals, stamens and 

 pistils are fused together into one body as far upward as the top of the ovary (o). At 

 this point the style (which is compounded of 4)- becomes free from the mass of the 

 other organs, which continue in the form of a tube to the throat (e). Here the tube 

 is resolved into its constituents, viz. the 4 sepals, the 4 petals, and the 8 stamens- 

 all becoming free and distinct, and finally the style is also resolved into the 4 sepa- 

 rate stigmas. In the related genus, Epilobium, " the calyx tube is not prolonged 

 above the ovary," but is resolved Into distinct organs, all at once, at the summit of 

 the ovary. Other genera, as Circaea, are intermediate between these two, having the 

 calyx tube slightly prolonged. 



