178 ONAGRACE^E. (EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY.) 



England to Penn., Illinois, and northward. There is also a small an simple 

 1 -few-flowered form (4' -9' high), less hoary or nearly glabrous, with shorter 

 leaves (E. oliganthum, Michx.), found in N. New York, White Mountains of 

 New Hampshire, and northward. This is E. nutans, Sommerf. & E. lineare, 

 Fries, but the pods are usually a little hoary. (Eu.) 



5. E. m611e, Torr. Soft-downy all over, strictly erect (1- 2 high), at 

 length branching; leaves crowded; linear-oblong or lanceolate, blunt, mostly peti- 

 oled; petals rose-color, notched (2" -3" long). Bogs, Rhofle Island and 

 Pennsylvania to Michigan, and northward. Sept. 



6. E. color atum, Muhl. Glabrous or nearly so; stem roundish, not 

 angled, much branched (1 -3 high), many-flowered ; leaves lanceolate or ovate- 

 oblong, acute, denticulate, often petioled, not at all decurrent, thin, usually pur- 

 ple-veined; flower-buds erect; petals purplish, 2-cleft at the summit (l|"-2" 

 long). Wet places : common. July - Sept. 



4. (ENOTHERA, L. EVENING PRIMROSE. 



Calyx-tube prolonged beyond the ovary, deciduous ; the lobes 4, reflexed. 

 Petals 4. Stamens 8 : anthers mostly linear and versatile. Pod 4-valved, 

 many-seeded. Seeds naked. Leaves alternate. (Name from olvos, wine, and 

 6fjpa, a hunt or eager pursuit, given to some plant the roots of which were eaten 

 to provoke a relish for wine.) 

 1. Tube of the calyx filiform or cylindrical and much prolonged beyond the ovary : 



stamens nearly equal : anthers linear : stigma of 4 JUifortn or linear divergent 



lobes. 

 # Annuals or biennials : flowers nocturnal, odorous, yellow, withering the next day : 



pods fusiform or cylindrical, closely sessile. 



1. (E. biennis, L. (COMMON EVENING-PRIMROSE.) Erect, mostly 

 hairy ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, obscurely toothed ; flowers in a terminal 

 rather leafy spike ; calyx -tube much prolonged ; petals inversely heart-shaped 

 (light yellow) ; pods oblong, somewhat tapering above. Varies greatly ; as 

 Var. 1. MURICATA, with rough-bristly stem and pods, and petals rather longer 

 than the stamens. Var. 2. GRANDIFI^RA, with larger and more showy petals. 

 Var. 3. PARVIFL6RA, with petals about the length of the stamens. Var. 4. 

 CRUCIATA, with singularly small and narrow linear-oblong petals, shorter than 

 the stamens, and smooth pods. Var. 5. OAKESIANA (CE. Oakesiana, Bobbins), 

 with a minute and wholly appressed pubescence, or almost glabrous : otherwise 

 as Var. 3. Fields and waste places : very common. June- Sept. 



2. CE. rhombip6tala, Nutt. Petals rhombic-ovate, acute ; calyx-tube very 

 slender, extended an inch longer than the short cylindrical ovary : otherwise 

 resembling a smoothish or rather hoary narrow-leaved state of No. 1 . Sandy 

 soil, Illinois, Wisconsin, and westward. July -Sept. 



3. (E. sinuata, L. Hairy, low, ascending, or at length procumbent ; leaves 

 oblong or lanceolate, sinuate-toothed, often pinnatifid, the lower petioled ; flow- 

 ers (small) axillary; petals not longer than the stamens (pale yellow, rose-color 

 in fading); pods cylindrical, elongated. Sandy fields, New Jersey and south- 

 ward, principally a dwarf state. June. 



