THE EVENING-PRIMROSK FAMILY. ->r,i 



bend downward to iheir reflexed position. Later the petals unfold and 

 emit a fragrance subtle yet far reaching enough to catch the sense of night 

 moths roaming about, even although they have not seen its shimmering 

 light, At the base of the primrose's stalk it is interesting to sec how sym- 

 metrical IS the rosette arrangement of its leaves. One year the plant takes 

 to make this rosette ; in the second year it sends up its stalk of bloom and 

 later having accomplished its work, perishes. This is the way of biennials. 

 Once I saw a little plant that appeared to be a primrose. It had sent out 

 several side shoots with puny flowers and had altogether so (jucer a lo<jk 

 that I questioned a scientist in the neighbourhood concerning it. He pon- 

 dered, then said, "In youth its top had probably been eaten by a cow." 



Hariniannia spccibsa may be mentioned as a most beautiful primrose of 

 the western prairies and has now become abundantly naturalised in 

 Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Its flower, often over three inches in 

 diameter, is white and richly tinted with rose-pink. 



LONG-STEMMED SUNDROPS. 



Knnffia longipediccllaia. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Evening-/>rhiirose. Yelloiv. Sec )it less. Florida to 2<cil> York. May-July. 



Flowers : large, showy; axillary and solitary or in a terminal raceme, their pedi- 

 cels long and pubescent. Calyx : with slender tube dilated at the throat and 

 linear, long segments. Corolla: with four thin, obovate petals. Stamens: eight. 

 with linear anthers. Stigma: four-lobed. Slc?n-lt'aves : alternate, linear-lanceo- 

 late, narrowed at the base, entire, pubescent; basal ones obovate-spatulate and 

 tufted. Stc'ms : ascending, or erect, simple, or branched above, reddish and pu- 

 bescent. 



Very often the sundrops are mistaken for evening-primroses, but were 

 they the same they would never be opening their petals in full daylight and 

 boldly facing the sun. As the genus occurs usually through dry or sandy 

 soil, its flowers make many bright yellow spots among gerardias, goat's-rue 

 and other pea-like plants which overrun the ground. This particular species 

 bears its common specific name in reference to the long pedicels which 

 hold the flowers and afterwards outmeasure in length the capsule. 



K. fnilicbsa, common sundrops, begins to bloom through the fields early 

 in June. Its flowers, often two inches broad, grow in lateral and terminal, 

 leafy spikes which as long as they last are quite close. While pubescent 

 the plant is not covered with a bloom, and its small capsules are distinc- 

 tively four-winged. 



K. glahca, glaucous sundrops, only expands its delicate pale yellow 

 flowers in the sunshine. They then are extremely showy and grow in short, 

 leafy racemes. The plant is a smooth slightly glaucous one, with simple or 



