ONAGRACEJE. (EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY.) 187 



t- - Fruit dry and indehiscent, 1 - 4-seeded. Leaves alternate. 



5. Gaura. Calyx-tube obconical. Filaments appendaged at base. 



6. Steiiosiplioii. Calyx-tube filiform. Filaments not appendaged. 



* * Parts of the flower in twos. Leaves opposite. 



7. Circsea. Petals 2, obcordate or 2-lobed. Stamens 2. Fruit 1 -2-seeded, bristly. 



1. JUSSI^IA, L. 



Calyx-tube elongated, not at all prolonged beyond the ovary ; the lobes 4 - 6, 

 herbaceous and persistent. Petals 4-9. Stamens twice as many as the petals. 

 Capsule 4 - 6-celled, usually long, opening between the ribs. Seeds very nu- 

 merous. Herbs (ours glabrous perennials), with mostly entire and alternate 

 leaves, and axillary yellow flowers, in summer. (Dedicated to Bernard de 

 Jussieu, the founder of the Natural System of Botany.) 



1. J. dectirrens, DC. Stem erect (1-2 high), branching, winged by the 

 decurrent lanceolate leaves ; calyx-lobes 4, as long as the petals ; capsule oblong- 

 club-shaped, wing-angled ; seeds in several rows in each cell. Wet places, Va. 

 to Fla., west to S. 111., Ark., and La. 



2. J. ripens, L. Stem creeping, or ^floating and rooting ; leaves oblong, 

 tapering into a slender petiole ; flowers large, long-peduncled ; calyx-lobes and 

 obovate petals 5 ; pod woody, cylindrical, with a tapering base ; seeds quadrate, 

 in 1 row in each cell, adherent to the spongy endocarp. In water, 111. and 

 Ky. to E. Kan., Ark., and Tex. 



2. LIinWIGIA, L. FALSE LOOSESTRIFE. 



Calyx-tube not at all prolonged beyond the ovary ; the lobes 4, usually per- 

 sistent. Petals 4, often small or wanting. Stamens 4. Capsule short or 

 cylindrical, many-seeded. Seeds minute, naked. Perennial herbs, with axil- 

 lary (rarely capitate) flowers, through summer and autumn. (Named for C. G. 

 Ludwig, Professor of Botany at Leipsic, contemporary with Linnaeus.) 



# Leaves all alternate, sessile or nearly so. 



*- Flowers peduncled in the upper axils, with conspicuous yellow petals (4-8" 

 long), equalling the ovate or lanceolate foliaceous lobes of the calyx. 



1. L. alternifolia, L. (SEED-BOX.) Smooth or nearly so, branched 

 (3 high); leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, acute or pointed at both ends; 

 capsules cubical, rounded at base, wing-angled. Swamps, E. Mass, to Fla., 

 west to Mich., E. Kan., and La. 



2. L. hirt&la, Raf . Hairy all over ; stems nearly simple (1 - 2 high) ; 

 leaves oblong, or the upper lanceolate, blunt at both ends ; capsules nearly as in the 

 last, but scarcely wing-angled. Moist pine barrens, N. J. to Fla. and Tex. 

 H- -t- Flowers small, sessile (solitary or sometimes clustered) in the axils, with very 



small greenish petals (in n. 5) or mostly none ; leaves mostly lanceolate or linear 

 on the erect stems (1 - 3 high) and numerous branches ; but prostrate or creep- 

 ing sterile shoots often produced from the base, thickly beset with shorter ob- 

 ovate or spatulate leaves. (Our species glabrous, except n. 3.) 



3. L. sphserocarpa, Ell. Minutely pubescent, especially the calyx, or 

 nearly glabrous; leaves lanceolate or linear, acute, tapering at base, those 

 of the runners obovate with a wedge-shaped base and glandular-denticulate; 



