136 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



1. (ENOTHE'RA, L. EVENING PRIMROSE. 



[Greek, Oinos, wine, and Thera, a chase ; application obscure.] 



Calyx of 4 membranaceous sepals, united below into a long tube ; limb 

 reflexed, and, with a portion of the tube, deciduous. Petals 4. Sta- 

 mens 8, erect or declined. Capsule more or less oblong and quadrangu- 

 lar, 4-valved, many-seeded. 



1. (E. BIEN'NIS, L. Stem erect, somewhat branched, pilose and 

 roughish ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, repand-dentate ; petals inversely 

 heart-shaped ; capsule obtusely 4-angled, subsessile. 



BIENNIAL (ENOTHERA. Evening Primrose. Night Willow-herb. 



Root biennial. Stem 2-5 or 6 feet high, rather stout, hairy and usually greenish. 

 Leaves 2-6 inches long, sessile or subsessile. flowers large, in a terminal leafy spike. 

 Calyx colored, the tube much longer than the ovary. Petals yellow. Ovary oblong ; 

 style rather longer than the corolla ; stigma cruciate, elongated, linear. Capsule ob- 

 scurely 4-sided, an inch to an inch and a half long, smoothish, splitting into 4 sub-linear 

 valves. 



Fields, fence-rows, &c. throughout the United States, f'l. June -September. Fr. 

 August - October . 



Obs. This coarse plant is entitled to the notice of the farmer, merely 

 in consequence of being a common, rather conspicuous, and worthless 

 weed, in pastures, and on the borders of cultivated fields. A variety, 

 of yet stouter growth, and very large flowers ((E. grandiflora, of some 

 authors), is often tolerated in gardens. There is another species ((E, 

 fruticosa, L. of smaller size, with more slender, yet more rigid stems), 

 which is quite common in old fields ; but is scarcely of sufficient impor- 

 tance, even as a weed, to claim a place in this work. 



ORDER XXIX. GROSSULA'CE^. (CURRANT FAMILY.) 



Small shrubs, often spinose or prickly, with alternate palmately lobed and veined leaves 

 and flowers in racemes or small clusters. Calyx-tube adherent to the ovary, the limb 

 5-lobed, sometimes colored. Petals 5, small. Stamens 5. Ovary with 2 parietal placenta) ; 

 styles more or less united. Fruit a berry, crowned with the shrivelled remains of the 

 flower. Seeds mostly numerous ; embryo minute, in hard albumen. 

 A small Order, and of little or no interest beyond the genus here noticed. 



1. EI'BES, L. GOOSEBERRY AND CURRANT. 



[An ancient Arabic name, of obscure meaning.] 



JH^g* The Generic character the same as that of the Order. 

 * Stems more or less prickly. 



1. R. UVA-CRIS'PA, L. Leaves obtusely 3 -5-lobed, spmewhat villous 



beneath and on the petiole ; peduncles mostly 1-flowered, bracteate ; 



sepals reflexed ; ovary and style villous ; berry hairy or smooth. 



Goose-berry. 



Fr. Vrai Groseillier. Germ. Die Stachclbeere. Span. Uva espina. 



Stem 2-3 feet high, diffusely branching. Leaves % of an inch to au inch and a half in 



