596 ONAGRACEAE (EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY) 



3. EPIL6BIUM L. Willow-herb 



Calyx-tube scarcely or not at all prolonged beyond the ovary ; limb 4-cleft or 

 -divided. Petals 4, violet, magenta, pink, or white. Capsule slender, many- 

 seeded. Seeds with a tuft of long hairs at the end. — Mostly perennial herbs 

 with nearly sessile leaves. (Name from eirl, on, and \6^iou, a little pod.) 



§ 1. CHAMAENERION [Tourn.] Tausch. Petals entire, large, magenta 

 {rarely lohite) ; calyx-limb divided essentially to the summit of the ovary; 

 stamens and style successively deflexed; stigma of 4 long lobes; flowers 

 racemed. 



1. E. angustifblium L. (Great W., Fireweed.) Tall (0.3-2 m. high), 

 simple ; leaves scattered, long, lanceolate, subentire, pinnately veined. (E. 

 spicatum Lam.; Chamaenerion angustifoliiim Scop.) —Low ground, especially 

 in clearings and newly burned lands, common. July, Aug. (Eurasia.) 



§ 2. LYSIMACHION Tausch. Petals notched at the summit ; calyx-tube pro- 

 longed a little beyond the ovary ; stamens and style erect; flowers corymbed 

 or panicled or few in the upper axils. 



a. Stigma 4-parted ; petals 1-2 cm. long . ... . . 2. E.hirsutum. 



a. Stigma entire ; petals smaller b. 



6. Stems terete, no decurrent lines running down from the bases of 

 the leaves ; leaves entire or subentire, with revolute margins. 

 Stem and pods densely covered with fine short straight spread- 

 ing hairs Z. E. molle. 



Stems and pods cinereous with appressed or incurved hairs, or 

 glabrous. 

 Leaves closely and evenly pubescent above ; well developed 



plant freely branching A. E. densum. 



Leaves glabrous above, or with scattered hairs ; plant simple 



or subsiuiple 5. E. palustre. 



b. Stems subterete, with decurrent lines running down from the 

 bases of the leaves ; leaves toothed (rarely entire), flat, the 

 margins not revolute. 

 Stems solitary ; the basal shoots (developing in late autumn) 

 in the form of sessile or short stalked rosettes. 

 Seed abruptly contracted above ; mature coma cinnamon- 

 color ; leaves elongate-lanceolate . . . . . 6. E. cnloratum. 

 Seed gradually contracted to a hyaline neck ; coma whitish ; 



leaves oblong-lanceolate to narrowly ovate . . .I.E. adenocaulon. 

 Stems tufted ; the basal shoots quickly developing into elongate 

 branches. 

 Seed (under a microscope) smooth. 

 Stems erect ; flowers chiefly 3-6, the lowest in the axils of 



the foliage-leaves 8. JS". alpinum. 



Stems stronglv decumbent ; flowers 1 or 2 (rarely 3), es- 

 sentially terminal 9. jF. anagalUdifolium. 



Seed (under a microscope) papillose 10. £". Hornemanni. 



2. E. HiRStiTHM L. Tall (1-2 m. high), the much branched stem densely 

 covered by rather long fine straight spreading hairs; leaves oblong, serrulate, 

 sessile and clasping ; petals magenta, showy. — In waste places and about 

 dwellings, local, s. Me. to Ont. and s. N. Y. July-Sept. (Nat. from Eu.) 



3. E. m611e Torr. Erect, 2-15 dm. high, simple or with few upright 

 branches toward the summit, stems, leaves, and pods grayish-velvety ; leaves 

 narrowly lanceolate to linear, entire or undulate, the margins revolute ; petals 

 pink, 7-8 mm. long ; seed nearly 2 mm. long, minutely papillate, coma dingy. 

 (E. strictum Muhl.? as nomen subnudnm.) — Bogs and mossy meadows, rather 

 local, e. Que. to Athabasca, s. to Va. , 111., and Minn. July-Sept. 



4. E. densum Raf. Minutely hoani-pubescent, 3-10 dm. high, usually much 

 branched and very leafy, rarely stoloniferous ; leaves linear or nearly so, revo- 

 lute, acute, canescent above {the lateral veins inconspicuous), erect, usually much 

 exceeding the internodes, commonly proliferous in the axils ; pedicels \~^ as 

 long as the canescent pods; petals 3-5 mm. long, pink or white ; seed 1.5 mm. 

 long. {E. lineare Muhl. ? as nomen subnudnm.) —Open low grounds, e. Que. 

 to Alb., s. to Del., W. Va., Kan., and Col. Julj^-Sept. 



