KNOTWORT FAMILY. 359 



* # Flowers white. 



A. fragrans, Nutt. Stems ascending, branching ; leaves lance-ovate ; 

 flowers sweet-scented, opening at sunset ; the involucre of conspicuous, 

 ovate, scarious and whitish bracts. W. Iowa, W. 



* * * Flowers yellow. 



A. arenar/a, Menzies. Leaves thick, ovate to reniform ; plant glandu- 

 lar. Cal. 



2. OXYBAPHTJS. (Greek, for a vinegar saucer, from the shape of 

 the involucre.) 2/ Flowers rose-purple, all summer. 



* Plant glandular ; leaves sessile or nearly so. 



O. dlbidus, Sweet. S. Car., S.; hairy or pubescent above; leaves 

 acute at base, lanceolate or oblong ; fruit hairy ; stem 4-angled. 



O. hirsfctus, Sweet. Glandular-hirsute, especially at the joints and 

 inflorescence, l-3 ; leaves lanceolate or narrower, cuneate at the base ; 

 fruit with obtuse angles. Wis., S. W. 



* * Plant not, or very little, glandular, leaves distinctly petioled or else 



linear. 



O. nyctagfneus, Sweet. Much branched, l-3, nearly smooth; 

 leaves lanceolate to ovate ; inflorescence loose and but slightly pubescent ; 

 fruit acutish-angled. Minn, and Wis., S. ; also cult., and sometimes 

 escaped. 



O. angustif61ius, Sweet. Tall, glabrous, or the peduncles and invo- 

 lucres hirsute ; leaves linear, thick and glaucous, 2'-6' long. Minn., S. 



3. MIRABILIS, FOUR-O'CLOCK or MARVEL OF PERU. (Clu- 

 siiis called it Admirabilis, which Linnaeus shortened.) Natives of 

 warm parts of America ; roots often very large and fleshy ; leaves more 

 or less heart-shaped, the lower petioled ; flowers mostly clustered, 

 showy, opening towards sunset or in cloudy weather, produced all 

 summer. 2Z 



M. Ja/dpa, Linn. COMMON F. Cult, for ornament in many varieties 

 of flowers (red, yellow, white, or variegated), its tube only 2' long, and 

 thickish ; stamens shorter than its spreading border ; whole plant nearly 

 smooth ; inodorous. 



M. long/flora, Linn. Less common in cult. ; tube of the sweet-scented 

 flower 6' long and clammy-hairy (as well as the upper leaves) j stamens 

 shorter than its spreading white border. 



XCII, ILLECEBRACE^E, KNOTWOKT FAMILY. 



Ours small and unimportant herbs, often united with the 

 Pink Family, having mostly opposite and entire, often linear 

 leaves, scarious stipules (0 in Scleranthus), calyx 4-5-toothed 

 or -parted and persistent, stamens borne on the calyx and as 

 many as its lobes (then opposite the lobes) or fewer, styles 2, 

 distinct or united, and utricle 1-seeded. Flowers small, whitish 

 or greenish ; plants tufted or diffuse ; staminodia sometimes 

 present. 



