Epilobitjm. ONAGRACE^. 231 



Order XLI. ONAGRACEiE. Juss. The Evening -Primrose Tribe. 



Calyx adherent to the ovary, and produced above it into a tube ; the limb 4- 

 parted. Petals usually 4 (rarely absent). Stamens as many or twice as many 

 as the petals, and inserted with them into the throat of the calyx. Ovary 

 mostly 4-celled : style elongated ; stigma capitate or 4-lobed. Fruit mostly 

 capsular, w^ith loculicidal dehiscence, or indehiscent. Seeds indefinite or 

 solitary in each cell. Embryo straight. — Herbaceous or sometimes shrubby 

 plants, with entire or toothed leaves. Flowers usually showy, axillary, or in 

 terminal spikes or racemes. 



Tribe I. ONAGRE^. Torr. ^ Gr. 



Petals as many and stamens twice as many as the lobes of the calyx, regular. Pollen con- 

 nected by cobweb-like threads. Ovules mostly numerous. Fruit capsular, or rarely 

 dry and indehiscent. {Stamens 4 in Ludwigia, and some of the species apetalous.) 



CONSPECTUS OF THE GENERA. 

 » Stamens 8. 

 1. Epilobium. Calyx-tube not prolonged above the ovary. Capsule linear, 4-celled. Seeds numerous, with a tuft of 



hair at one extremity. 

 3. {Enotbera. Calyx-tube prolonged above the ovary. Capsule 4-celled. Seeds numerous, naked. 



3. Gauki. Calyx-tube much prolonged. Capsule mostly one-celled and indehiscent, 1 - 4-seeded. 



♦• Stamens 4. 



4. Lddwigii. Calyx-tube not prolonged. Petals often minute or wanting. Stamens opposite the lobes of the calyx. 



Capsule mostly short. 



1. EPILOBIUM. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 6121. WILLOW-HERB. 



[ From the Greek, epi, upon, and lobos, a pod ; the flower growing at the top of the seed-vessel.] 



Tube of the calyx not produced above the ovary ; the limb 4-parted, deciduous. Petals 4. 

 Stamens 8 : anthers elliptical or roundish. Stigma 4-lobed ; the lobes spreading, or co- 

 hering, and then clavate. Capsule linear, 4-sided, 4-celled, 4-vaIved. Seeds numerous, 

 crowned with a tuft of hairs. — Perennial herbs, with alternate or opposite nearly sessile 

 leaves. Flowers rose-color, purple or white, nodding before expansion. 



* PetdU spreading i stamens and style declined : stigma globed. 



1. Epilobium angustifolium, Linn. Rose-lay Willow-herb. 



Stem erect, simple, mostly smooth ; leaves scattered, lanceolate, remotely denticulate, the 



veins pellucid ; flowers (large) in a long spicate raceme ; petals clawed, obovate.^Ziwn. sp. 



1. p. 347 ; Engl. bot. t. 1947 ; Michx. fl. I. p. 223 ; Pursh, Jf. 1. p. 259 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. 



