VOL. II.] 



MEADOW-BEAUTY FAMILY. 



475 



3. Rhexia aristosa Britton. Awn-petaled Meadow-Beauty. (Fig. 2553.) 



Rhexia aristosa Britton, Bull. Torr. Club, 17: 14. 



pi. 99. 1890. 



Stem square, slender, glabrous, branched 

 or simple i^-2 high. Leaves sessile, 

 erect, oblong or linear-oblong, obtusish at 

 each end, 9 // -i5 // long, i> // -3 // wide, 3- 

 iierved, serrate toward the apex with ap- 

 pressed subulate teeth, glabrous or very 

 nearly so beneath, but with a few scattered 

 hairs above; flowers 1-4 together, short- 

 pedicelled, magenta-red, I'-iJ^' broad; sum- 

 mit of the calyx- tube and its linear lobes with 

 scattered subulate hairs; petals rounded, 

 but obtusely pointed and aristate at the apex; 

 anthers linear, minutely spurred on the back. 



In sandy swamps, pine-barrens of New Jer- 

 sey, Delaware and South Carolina. Base of the 

 stem with a coating of spongy tissue when 

 growing in water. July-Aug. 



4. Rhexia ciliosa Michx. Ciliate Meadow- 

 Beauty. (Fig. 2554.) 



Rhexia petiolata Walt. Fl. Car. 130. 1788. (?) 

 Rhexia ciliosa Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i: 221. 1803. 



Stem square, glabrous, simple or nearly so, i-2 high. 

 Leaves ascending, ovate, very short-petioled, or sessile, 

 acutish at the apex, mostly rounded at the base, 6 // -io // 

 long, 4 // -6 // wide, 3-nerved, glabrous or nearly so be- 

 neath, pubescent with a few scattered hairs above, the 

 margins bristly-ciliate; cyme few- flowered; flowers very 

 short- pedicelled, violet-purple, i / -i>^ / broad; calyx gla- 

 brous, or with a few hairs on its lobes; petals rounded, 

 sometimes apiculate; anthers oblong, straight, not 

 spurred on the back. 



"In swamps, Maryland to Florida, west to Louisiana. June- 

 Aug. 



Family 87. ONAGRACEAE Dumort. Anal. Fam. 36. 



EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY. 



Annual or perennial herbs, rarely shrubs, with alternate or opposite leaves, 

 no stipules or mere glands in their places, and axillary spicate or racemose gen- 

 erally perfect regular or sometimes irregular flowers. Calyx-tube adnate to 

 the ovary, often prolonged beyond it, the limb 2-6-lobed (usually 4-lobed). 

 Petals 2-9 (usually 4), convolute in the bud, rarely none. Stamens usually as 

 many or twice as many as the petals, inserted with them on the summit of the 

 calyx-tube, or on the epigynous or perigynous disk. Ovary i-6-celled (usually 

 4-celled); styles united; stigma capitate, discoid or 4-lobed; ovules oo in each 

 cavity, generally anatropous. Fruit a capsule or small nut. Seeds mostly 

 small; endosperm very little or none; embryo straight. 



Forty genera and about 350 species of wide geographic distribution, most abundant in America. 

 Floral whorls of 4 parts or more. 



Fruit a many-seeded capsule, opening by valves or by a pore. 

 Calyx-tube not prolonged beyond the ovary. 

 Seeds naked. 



Stamens 4, in i row. 



Leaves opposite ; stems creeping or floating. 



Flowers sessile; petals none, or very small; leaves petioled; capsules ses- 

 sile, short, the top flat. i. Isnardia. 

 Flowers long-stalked; petals conspicuous; leaves sessile; capsules elon- 

 gated, curved, with a prominent 4-lobed stylopodium. 2. Ludwigiantha. 

 Leaves alternate; stems erect or ascending. 3. Ludwigia. 



4; Jussiaea. 



1829. : 



Stamens 8-1 2. in 2 rows. 

 Seeds furnished with a tuft of silky hairs. 



5. Chamaenerion. 



* Text revised by Dr. JOHN K. SMALL. 



