186 LYTHRACE^E. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 



6. D^CODOW, Gmel. SWAMP LOOSESTRIFE. 



Calyx short, broadly bell-shaped or hemispherical, with 5-7 erect teeth, and 

 as many longer and spreading horn-like processes at the sinuses. Petals 5. 

 Stamens 10 (rarely 8), exserted, of two lengths. Capsule globose, 3 - 5-celled, 

 lOculicidal. Perennial herbs or slightly shrubby plants, with opposite or 

 whorled leaves, and axillary clusters of trimorphous flowers. (Name from 

 Se'/ca, ten, and oSotfs, tooth.) 



1. D. verticilltUS, Ell. Smooth or downy; stems recurved (2-8 

 long), 4-6-sided; leaves lanceolate, nearly sessile, opposite or whorled, the 

 upper with clustered flowers in their axils on short pedicels ; petals 5, wedge- 

 lanceolate, rose-purple (J' long) ; stamens 10, half of them shorter. (Nesaea 

 verticillata, HBK.) Swampy grounds, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Out., Minn., 

 and La. Bark of the lower part of the stem often spongy-thickened. 



6. CUPHEA, Jacq. 



Calyx tubular, 12-ribbed, somewhat inflated below, gibbous or spurred at the 

 base on the upper side, 6-toothed at the apex, and usually with as many little 

 processes in the sinuses. Petals 6, very unequal. Stamens mostly 12, approxi- 

 mate in 2 sets, included, unequal. Ovary with a curved gland at the base next 

 the spur of the calyx, 1 - 2-celled ; style slender ; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule ob- 

 long, few-seeded, early ruptured through one side. Flowers solitary or race- 

 mose, stalked. (Name from KV^OS, gibbous, from the shape of the calyx.) 



1. C. viscosissima, Jacq. (CLAMMY CUPHEA.) Annual, very viscid- 

 hairy, branching ; leaves ovate-lanceolate ; petals ovate, short-clawed, purple ; 

 seeds flat, borne on one side of the placenta, which is early forced out of the 

 ruptured capsule. Dry fields, K. I. to Ga., west to Kan. and La. 



ORDER 42. ONAGRACEJE. (EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with 4-merous (sometimes 2 - 3- or 5 - Q-merous) perfect and sym- 

 metrical flowers ; the tube of the calyx cohering with the 2-4-celled ovary, 

 its lobes valvate in the bud, or obsolete , the petals convolute in the bud, some- 

 times wanting ; and the stamens as many or twice as many as the petals or 

 calyx-lobes, inserted on the summit of the calyx-tube. Style single, slen- 

 der; stigma 2-4-lobed or capitate. .Pollen grains often connected by 

 cobwebby threads. Seeds anatropous, small, without albumen. Mostly 

 herbs, with opposite or alternate leaves. Stipules none or glandular. 



* Parts of the flower in fours or more. 

 *- Fruit a many-seeded pod, usually loculicidal. 

 M. Calyx-limb divided to the summit of the ovary, persistent. 

 |. Jus si sea. Petals 4 -6. Stamens twice as many. Capsule elongated. 

 . Ludwigia. Petals 4 or none. Stamens 4. Capsule short. 

 + -H- Calyx-tube prolonged beyond the ovary (scarcely so in n. 3) and deciduous from it 



Flowers 4-merous. 

 8. Epilobium. Seeds silky-tufted. Flowers small, not yellow. Lower leaves often 



opposite. 

 4. CEnothera. Seeds naked. Flowers mostly yellow. Leaves alternate 



