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



Pod 4 - 6-celled, usually long, opening between the ribs. Seeds very numerous. 

 Herbs (ours glabrous perennials), with mostly entire and alternate leaves, 

 and axillary yellow flowers, in summer. (Dedicated to Bernard de Jussieu, the 

 founder of the Natural System of Botany, as further developed by his illustrious 

 nephew.) 



1. J. deciirrens, DC. Stem erect (l-2 high), branching, winged by 

 the decurrent lanceolate leaves ; calyx-lobes 4, as long as the petals ; pod oblong- 

 club-shaped, wing-angled. Wet places, Virginia to Illinois, and southward. 



2. J. ripens, L. Stem creeping, or floating and rooting; leaves oblong, ta- 

 pering into a slender petiole; flowers large, long-peduncled ; calyx-lobes and 

 obovate petals 5; pod cylindrical, with a tapering base. In water, Illinois, 

 Kentucky, and southward. Also nat. near Philadelphia. 



6. LUDWIGIA, L. FALSE LOOSESTRIFE. 



Calyx- tube not at all prolonged beyond the ovary ; the lobes 4, usually persist- 

 ent. Petals 4, often small or wanting. Stamens 4. Pod short or cylindrical, 

 many-seeded. Seeds minute, naked, Perennial herbs, with axillary (rarely 

 capitate) flowers, produced through summer and autumn. (Named in honor 

 of Christian G. Ludwig, Professor of Botany at Leipsic, contemporary with Lin- 

 naeus.) 



# Leaves all alternate, sessile or nearly so. 



- Flowers pedunded in the upper axils, with conspicuous yellow petals (4" - 8" long), 

 equalling the ovate or lanceolate foliaceous lobes of the calyx. 



1. L. alternifblia, L. (SEED-BOX.) Smooth or nearly so, branched 

 (3 high); leaves lanceolate, acute or pointed at both ends ; pods cubical, rounded 

 at the base, wing -angled. Swamps : common, especially near the coast. Pods 

 opening first by a hole where the style falls off, afterwards splitting in pieces. 



2. L. hirt611a, Raf. Hairy all over; stems nearly simple (l-2 high) ; 

 leaves oblong, or the upper lanceolate, blunt at both ends ; pods nearly as in the last, 

 but scarcely wing-angled. Moist pine barrens, New Jersey to Virginia, and 

 southward. Fascicled roots often tuberous-thickened. 



t *- Flowers small, sessile (solitary or sometimes clustered or crowded) in the axils, 

 with very small greenish petals (in No. 5) or mostly none: leaves mostly lanceolate 

 or linear on the erect stems (l-3 high) and numerous branches; but prostrate 

 or creeping sterile shoots or stolons are often produced from the base of the stem, 

 these are thickly beset with shorter obocate or spatulate leaves. ( Our species gla- 

 brous, except No. 3.) 



3. L. sphserocarpa, Ell. Minutely pubescent, especially the calyx, or 

 nearly glabrous ; leaves lanceolate or linear, acute, tapering at the base ; those 

 of the runners obovate with a wedge-shaped base and glandular-denticulate ; 

 bractlets minute, obsolete, or none ; pods globular or depressed (sometimes acute at the 

 base), not longer than the calyx-lobes (less than 2" long). Water or wet 

 swamps, E. Mass., S. New York, New Jersey, Penn., and southward. Bark 

 of lower part of the stem often spongy-thickened. 



4. L. polycarpa, Short & Peter. Leaves narrowly lanceolate, acute at 

 both ends ; those of the runners oblong-spatulate, acute, entire ; bractlets linear- 



