WILD FLOWERS yellow and orange 



considered a mere variety of the latter. Its distin- 

 guishing features, however, are at once sufficiently 

 prominent to remove any doubt as to its identity. It 

 prefers moist situations, and is generally found in 

 blossom before the Downy Yellow Violet. The basal 

 leaves are usually present during the flowering season 

 The leaves are inclined to be more pointed and often 

 sharply toothed. The flowers are light yellow and 

 the spur is very short. Several stems may be found 

 growing together, and taken in all, it is a slightly smaller 

 plant. This species grows in woods and thickets dur- 

 ing April and May, and its range extends from Nova 

 Scotia to Nebraska, and south to Georgia and Florida. 



EVENING PRIMROSE. NIGHT WILLOW-HERB 



Oenothera biennis. Evening Primrose Family. 



The Evening Primrose is commonly found in dry, 

 open fields, and along roadways everywhere east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, from June to October. The 

 large, bright yellow flowers open in the evening, and 

 after exhaling their fragrance for the benefit of the 

 night-flying moths, they close the following day, and, 

 after hanging withered for a day or two longer, drop 

 away. Long before the potato was universally cul- 

 tivated the fleshy root of this plant was used as a table 

 vegetable. Years ago a strong decoction of this plant 

 was highly esteemed for skin affections, and more 

 recently a drug extracted therefrom has been com- 

 mended in cases of asthma and in whooping-cough. 

 Primrose ointment has been used for relieving itching 



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