128 lady's eardrops. 



long filiform style inclosed in the calyx tube and bearing at 

 the summit 4 slender, spreading stigmas. The petals are 

 contorted in aestivation. The anthers are versatile — fixed 

 by the middle point. The pollen grains are angular, and 

 loosely connected by spidery threads. After a night of 

 bloom, the flower withers, breaks from the top of the ovary, 

 and falls entire. * 



The ^ruii is an oblong, 4-sided, 4-celled capsule, filled 

 with small seeds which have no albumen. 



The Name. — (Enothera, the title of this genus, comes 

 from the Greek, meaning wine-hunter, from the notion that 

 the roots cause a thirst for wine. The cuts represent 

 (E. biennis (biennial), one of the many species, f 



XXXII. LADY'S EARDROPS. 



Description. — These floral gems are natives of the 

 Andes from Mexico to Patagonia. They began to be known 

 in Europe about A. D. 1780 — in America, 1800 ; and are 

 now universally cultivated. They are smooth, tender shrubs, 

 requiring protection in our winters, and are propagated by 

 slips and cuttings, as they seldom ripen their seeds. 



Analysis. — The Leaf Eegiok. — The root, as we grow 



* The flowers open about seven in the evening, just at Summer twilight. The 

 mode of expansion is very curious. The petals are held together at the summit by 

 the hooked ends of the calyx. The segments of this flower-cup at first separate at 

 the base, and the yellow petals may be seen peeping through these openings long be- 

 fore the flower is fully blown. The expansion is gradual until the petals are free from 

 the confinement of the hooks, but when this is effected, the flower unfolds very 

 quickly for a minute or two and then stops, after which it opens gradually, spreading 

 itself out quite flat. The whole process occupies half an hour, and in some cases a 

 little sudden noise is made as it jerks the topmost hooks asunder. It has been stated 

 by Pnrsh and others that this plant, when in full flower, can be seen at a great dis- 

 tance, even in a dark night when all other objects are invisible, having a glow of 

 bright white (see note, p. 85), as if its flowers were phosphorescent. There is evidently 

 in this a reference to the visits of some night-flying moth adapted to suck its nectar 

 in pay for scattering its pollen. 



t Species 100, attaining their highest development in numbers and beauty W. of the 

 jyjississippi River. Their flowers are yellow, white, purple, 2', 3', or even 4' in -iiameter, 



