ONAGRACEJE. (EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY.) 133 



* Leaves alternate, sessile : flowers pedundcd : petals yeUovo t about equalling the calyx. 



1. L.. alteriiifolia, 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 southward and near the coast 

 Aug. Pods opening first by a hole at the end where the style falls off, after- 

 wards splitting in pieces. 



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

 leaves ovate-oblong, or the upper lanceolate, blunt at l*>th ends; pods nearly as in 

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

 and southward. June - Sept. 



* * Leaves alternate, sessile : flotvers sessile : petals minute or none. 



3. L.. splircrocarpa, Ell. Nearly smooth, much branched (l-3 

 high); leaves lanceolate, acute, tapering at the base; flowers solitary, without 

 bractlets ; petals mostly wanting ; pods globular, not longer than the calyx-lobes, very 

 small. Wet swamps, Massachusetts (Tewksbury, Greene), New York (Peeks- 

 kill, R. I. Browne), New Jersey, and thence southward: also Illinois. 



4. L<. polyczcrpa, Short & Peter. Smooth, much branched ; leaves 

 narrowly lanceolate, acute at both ends ; flowers often clustered in the axils, with- 

 out petals ; bractlets on the base of the 4-sided top-shaped pod, which is longer than 

 the calyx-lobes. Swamps, Michigan to Illinois and Kentucky. Aug. Stem 

 !-3 high, sometimes with runners. 



5. Li. linearis, Walt. Smooth, slender (1 high), often branched, with 

 narrow lanceolate or linear leaves ; bearing short runners with obovate leaves ; 

 flowers soliiart/, usually with (greenish-yellow) petals : bractlets minute ; pods elon- 

 gated top-shaped, 4-sided, much longer than the calyx. Bogs, pine barrens of New 

 Jersey and southward. Aug. 



* * * Leaves opposite, pctloled: flowws sessile : petals none or small. (Isnardia, L.) 



6. It. paliistris, Ell. (WATER PURSLANE.) Smooth, low ; stems pro- 

 cumbent, rooting or floating ; leaves ovate or oval, tapering into a slender peti- 

 ole; calyx-lobes very short; pods oblong, 4-sided, not tapering at the base. 

 (Isnardia palustris, L.) Ditches, common. July -Oct. Petals rarely pres- 

 ent, small and reddish when the plant grows out of water. (Eu.) 



* * * * Leaves opjiosite, sessile : floicers long-peduncled : petals exceeding the calyx. 



7. Li. arciiata, Walt. Smooth, small and creeping ; leaves oblanceo- 

 late; flowers solitary, yellow (^' broad); peduncles '-!' long; pods oblong- 

 club-shaped somewhat curved (' long). Swamps, Eastern Virginia and south- 

 ward. May. 



6. C I R C JE A , Tourn. ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE. 



Calyx-tube slightly prolonged, the end filled by a cup-shaped disk, deciduous ; 

 lobes 2, reflexed. Petals 2, inversely heart-shaped. Stamens 2. Pod obovate, 

 . -2-celled, bristly with hooked hairs : cells 1 -seeded. Low and inconspicuous 

 perennials, with opposite thin leaves on slender petioles, and small wnuish 

 flowers in racemes. (Named from Circe, the enchantress.) 



