EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY 



ONAGRACE^ EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY 



(Enothera muricata, L. 



Yellow Evening Primrose, 



Night Willow Herb. 

 June-October 



(Enothera: for derivation see biennis. 



Muricata: Latin, meaning roughened by short, stiff 

 processes. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons, 

 often in pure sand and gravelly spots. 



THE PLANT: erect, one foot to three feet tall or higher; the 

 stem simple or nearly so, usually having long, spreading 

 hairs on enlarged reddish bases. 



THE LEAVES: alternate or scattered; ascending; lanceolate; 

 acute at the apex; entire, or sparingly and very shallowly 

 denticulate; passing without marked transition into the 

 leaf-like bracts. 



THE FLOWERS: lemon-scented, in the axils of the leaves, 

 much exceeded by the bracts; the petals obovate. 



THE FRUIT: a more or less hairy capsule, somewhat cy- 

 lindric. 



They seem like garden flowers, growing in the " inevit- 

 able" spot where a remarkable colour-picture will result, 

 these tall, straight plants that lift their large, pure-yellow 

 flowers above the surrounding green of the open Commons. 



Botanically, the flowers are difficult to identify on ac- 

 count of their variability. In the type form, the stem has 

 spreading hairs on enlarged reddish bases and the bracts 

 are much longer than the flowers or capsules. 



Mr. Bicknell says, " Professor DeVries who, on his first 

 visit to America looked over some of my Nantucket and 

 Long Island specimens of this (Enothera, pronounced them 



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