EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY. Onagracew. 



EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY. Onagraceoe. 



Herbs, or sometimes shrubs. The perfect flowers 

 commonly with four petals and four sepals (rarely 2-6), 

 and with as many or twice as many stamens : the 

 stigma with 2-4 lobes. Fertilized by moths, butterflies, 

 and bees. 



A nearly smooth herb with many 

 branches, and lance-shaped, toothless, op- 

 posite-growing leaves which taper to a 

 point at either end. The solitary light 

 yellow, four-petaled flowers, about | inch 

 broad, with sepals nearly as long as the 

 petals. The seed-capsule is four-sided and wing-mar- 

 gined, rounded at the base ; the seeds eventually become 

 loose and rattle about when the plant is shaken. 2-3 

 feet high. Common in swamps, from Mass., to north- 

 south, and west to Mich, and Kan. 



A less showy species with very narrow 

 lance-shaped leaves, and tiny inconspicu- 

 ous, stemless flowers whose rudimentary 

 petals are pale green. The flowers grow 

 at the junction of leaf-stem with plant- 

 stem. The four-sided, top-shaped seed-capsule is fur- 

 nished at the base with linear or awl-shaped leaflets. 

 1-3 feet high. In swamps from Mass. southwest to Ky., 

 and west to Minn, and E. Kan. 



A common uninteresting aquatic species 

 found in swamps and ditches. The tiny 

 inconspicuous flowers without petals, or, 

 when the plant grows out of water, with 

 very small ruddy ones. The lance-shaped, 

 opposite-growing, slender-stemmed leaves 

 (with the flowers growing at their bases) 

 an inch long or less. The elongated capsule indistinctly 

 four-sided. Stems 4-12 inches long, creeping or float- 

 ing. Shallow marshes, and muddy ditches everywhere. 

 Named for C. G. Ludwig, a German botanist. 



Seedbox 



Ludwigia 

 alternifolia 

 Yellow 

 June- 

 September 



ern N. Y. 



Liidwigia 



polycarpn 



Green 



July 



September 



Water 

 Purslane 



Ludwigia 

 pal u stria 

 Pale reddish 

 June- 

 September 



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