PRIMROSE FAMILY. Primulacese. 



inches high. Moist ground from Me., west to Minn., and 

 south. The Steironemas are cross-fertilized, according 

 to Prof. Robertson, by bees ; in Connecticut by Macroxjis 

 ciliata and Macropis patellata, and in lUinois by Macro- 

 pis steironematis. The name is from two Greek words, 

 sterile and thread, in allusion to the abortive stamens. 



^ . , A delicate and pretty species common 



Four=leaved n i i i • i, , • 



Loosestrife ^^ ^^^ ^^"^^^ lands, especially sand}^ river 

 Lyiiiinachia banks. The light green leaves are pointed 

 quadrifoUa lance-shaped or broader, and are arranged 

 Yellow jjj ^ circle of generally four, but some- 



times three and six. Fi'om the bases of 

 these leaves project slender long stems, each bearing a 

 single star-shaped light golden yellow flower, prettily 

 dotted around the centre with terra-cotta red, wdiich 

 sometimes extends in faint streaks all over the corolla 

 lobes. The stamens and pistil project in a cone-shaped 

 cluster ; the stigma is advanced so far beyond the an- 

 thers that self-fertilization rarely if ever occurs. The 

 Lysimachias are visited by the bees of the genus Macro- 

 pis, by bumblebees, and by hone3'bees evidently for the 

 purpose of collecting pollen. Stem smooth or very min- 

 utely hairy (under a glass), straight and round, 12-30 

 inches high, simple or rarely branched. Sandy soil or 

 often moist ground, Me., ^vest to Minn., south to Ga. 

 Lysimachia Along with preceding species bloom the 



stricia slender spirelike clusters of the simple- 



Yellow stemmed Lysimachia stricta, whose flow- 



June-August ^j.g g^j.g j-,Q^ appreciably different, though 

 recorded by Dr. Gray and others as having slenderer 

 corolla-divisions. This variation, however, is not so ap- 

 parent ; but at the base of the divisions the red spots are 

 double in L. stricta, while they are single in L. quadri- 

 foUa. The slender floicer-sjnke is distinctly characteris- 

 tic of L. stricta ; it forms an aggregation of misty yellow 

 color (when a large colony of the plants is seen) which is 

 never present with the other species. Often little elon- 

 gated bulblets appear at the bases of the leaves. Leaves 

 lance-shaped and sharp-pointed at either end ; in both 

 species apt to be sepia-dotted. Stem 8-20 inches high. 

 Moist and sandy soil. Me . west to Minn., south to Ga. 



34^ 



