PRIMULACE.^— PRIMROSE FAMILY 



BULB-BEARING LOOSESTRIFE 



Lysimdchia terreslris 



Lysimachia, Greek, Loosestrife. 



A native perennial herb, dwelling in swampy land 

 and wet ditches, bearing wands of yellow flowers. New- 

 foundland, New England, and southward. July-Septem- 

 ber. 



Stems. — Smooth, hollow, leafy, less than two feet high. 



Leaves. — Opposite, narrow, lanceolate or oblong-lance- 

 olate; entire, acute at both ends, short-petioled or sessile, 

 sometimes covered with black dots. 



Flowers. — Star-like, yellow, in terminal racemes; pedi- 

 cel half to three-fourths of an inch long. 



Calyx. — Five, minute sepals, ovate, acute. 



Corolla. — Yellow, rotate, with very short tube and 

 border cut into five, ovate, acute segments; each seg- 

 ment slightly curling at the tip and marked with dark 

 streaks and two reddish dots at the base. 



Stamens. — Five, inserted on the corolla, erect, mona- 

 delphous below; filaments glandular; anthers clustered, 

 reddish. 



Pistil. — Ovary once-celled; style one; stigma obtuse. 



Fruit. — Capsule, one-celled. 



Pollinated by flies. Nectar-bearing. Anthers mature 

 before stigma. 



The slender, yellow wands of this Loosestrife stand 

 in the wet ditches by the wayside, and a stem in bloom 

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