496 



ONAGRACEAE. 



[Voi,. II. 



i. Meriolix serrulata 

 Tooth-leaved Primrose. 



(Nutt.) Walp. 

 (Fig. 2602.) 



OEnothera serrulata Nutt. Gen. i: 246. 1818. 

 Meriolix serrulata Walp. Repert. 3: 79. 1843. 



Erect, simple or branched, canescent or glabrate, 

 4 / -i8 / high. Leaves linear-oblong or lanceolate, 

 acute or acutish at the apex, narrowed at the base 

 and usually sessile, sharply dentate or denticulate, 

 i '-3' long, 2 // -3 // wide; flowers yellow, axillary, 

 ()"-<)" broad; calyx-lobes ovate, acuminate, some- 

 what reflexed, the tube funnelform, silvery canes- 

 cent, shorter than or equalling the ovary; petals ob- 

 ovate, crenulate; stigma discoid; capsule sessile, 

 linear-cylindric, silvery canescent, 8 // -i5 // long, 

 about i" thick, slightly grooved longitudinally. 



In dry soil, Manitoba and Minnesota to Texas and 

 New Mexico. May-July. 



Meriolix serrulata spinulosa (T. &G.) Small, Bull. Torr. 



Club, 23: 187. 1896. 

 OEnothera serrulata var. spinulosa T. & G. Fl. N. A. i: 502. 1840. 



More robust than the species. Leaves usually more spiny-toothed; flowers i'-a' broad; petals 

 with a dark blotch at the base. Saskatchewan, south to Missouri and Texas. 



18. GAURA L. Sp. PI. 347. 1753. 



Annual biennial or perennial herbs, somewhat woody at the base, with alternate nar- 

 row sessile leaves, and white pink or red flowers in terminal spikes or racemes. Calyx us- 

 ually pubescent, its tube narrow, prolonged beyond the ovary, deciduous, 4-lobed (rarely 

 3-lobed), the lobes reflexed. Petals 4 (rarely 3), clawed, unequal. Stamens usually 8, de- 

 clined; filaments filiform, each with a small scale at the base. Ovary i-celled; united 

 styles filiform, declined; stigma 4-lobed, surrounded by a cup-like border; ovules usually 4, 

 pendulous. Fruit nut-like, ribbed or angled, indehiscent or nearly so, 1-4 seeded. Seeds 

 unappendaged. [Greek, proud, some species being showy.-] 



About 18 species, natives of North America and Mexico. 



Fruit sessile or very nearly soj flowers spicate. 



Flowers i &"-2 broad; stigma little exserted beyond its cup. i. G. parviflora. 



Flowers 4" -5" broad; stigma exserted beyond its cup. 



Flowers red. turning scarlet; fruit canescent. 2. G. coccinea. 



Flowers white, turning pink; fruit villous. 3. G. biennis. 



Fruit pedicelled; flowers racemose. 



Fruit about 3" long, the body nearly as thick as long. 4. G. Michauxii. 



Fruit 5" -7" long, the body much longer than thick. 



Leaves mostly glabrous; fruit 7" long, glabrous, its stout pedicel club-shaped. 



5. G. sinuata. 

 Leaves densely villous; fruit 5" long, pubescent, its slender pedicel nearly filiform. 



6. G. villosa. 



i. Gaura parvifldra Dougl. Small- 

 flowered Gaura. (Fig. 2603.) 



Gaura parviflora Dougl.; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 

 1:208. 1832. 



Erect, branched, villous-pubescent with 

 whitish hairs, 2-s high. Leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute or acuminate at the apex, 

 repand-denticulate, narrowed at the base, 

 softly pubescent, i> / -4 / long, 4 // -i8 // wide; 

 spikes elongated, usually densely flowered; 

 flowers sessile, pink, \W~i" broad, the 

 ovary and calyx-tube slender; fruit sessile, 

 narrowed at the base, 4-nerved, obtusely 

 4-angled, glabrous or nearly so, 3 // -4 // long. 



In dry soil, Nebraska and Missouri to Louisi- 

 ana, Texas and Mexico, west to Oregon, Utah 

 and New Mexico. May-Aug. 



