LOASA FAMILY. 187 



11. CIRC-ffiA, ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE. (Named from Circe, 

 the enchantress, it is not obvious why ; the plants are insignificant and 

 inert, natives of damp woods, flowering in summer.) ^ 



C. Luteti^na, Linn. The common species, is l-2 high, branching, 

 with ovate and slightly toothed leaves ; no bracts under the pedicels ; the 

 rounded little fruit 2-celled and beset with bristly hairs. 



C. alpina, Linn. Common only N. or in mountainous regions ; smooth 

 and delicate, 3'-6' high, with thin and heart-shaped, coarsely toothed leaves, 

 minute bracts, and obovate or club-shaped fruit, 1-celled and soft-hairy. 



12. GAURA. (Name in Greek means superb, which these plants are 

 not. ) Flowers all summer. 



G. L/ndhe/meri, Engelm. & Gray, of Texas ; cult, for ornament, nearly 

 hardy N. ; about 3 high, hairy, with lanceolate, sparingly toothed leaves ; 

 long, weak branches producing a continued succession of handsome, white 

 flowers ; the calyx hairy outside ; petals nearly 1' long. 2/ 



G. bie'nnis, Linn. The common wild species ; 3-8 high, soft-hairy or 

 downy, with oblong-lanceolate obscurely toothed leaves, small, white, or 

 flesh-colored flowers, and downy fruit. 



13. TRAP A, WATER CALTROPS or WATER CHESTNUT. (From 

 Latin for the Caltrops, a 4-spined instrument for impeding naviga- 

 tion in times of war.) 



T. natans, Linn. A curious water plant, occasionally cult., with small, 

 axillary, white flowers, and large nut-like fruits with 2 large and 2 smaller 

 horns. The seeds are eaten in parts of S.Eu., where the species is native. 



XLVm. LOASACKE, LOASA FAMILY. 



Herbs with rough pubescence, and some with stinging bris- 

 tles, no stipules ; a 1-celled ovary coherent with the tube of the 

 calyx (which is little if at all extended beyond it), and mostly 

 with 3-5 parietal placentae, in fruit a pod, few-many-seeded; 

 persistent calyx lobes and true petals mostly 5, and often an 

 additional inner set of petals ; stamens commonly numerous, 

 often in 5 clusters ; style single. 



* Erect or spreading, not twining ; leaves alternate; petals flat. 



1. MENTZELIA. Petals lanceolate, spatulate, or obovate, deciduous. Filaments long 



and slender, or some of the outermost broadened or petal-like, all inserted below the 

 petals. Anthers short and small. Style 8-cleft. Pod top-shaped, club-shaped, or 

 cylindrical, straight. Seeds few, rarely many, on 3 parietal placentae. Herbage 

 rough with short stiff pubescence, or bristly, but not stinging. 



2. EUCNIDE. Differs in having the stamens united to the conjoined bases of the petals, 



and with them falling off in a ring. Style 5-cleft. Seeds many and minute, on 5 

 broad placentae. Pod short. Flowers showy, yellow, opening in bright sunshine. 

 * * Twining herbs ; leaves opposite, petioled ; petals hood-shaped or slipper-shaped. 

 8. BLUMENBACHIA. Petals 5, spreading, and as many scale-like small ones or append- 

 ages alternate with them. Stamens in 5 sets, one before each petal, with very slender 

 filaments ; also 10 sterile filaments, a pair before each appendage. Ovary and many- 

 seeded pod, 10-ribbed, when old, spirally twisted and splitting lengthwise. Peduncles 

 axillary, mostly 1-flowered. Herbage beset with sharp bristles, commonly stinging 

 like nettles. Flowers on long axillary peduncles. 



