236 ONAGRACE^. (Enothera. 



Biennial ? Stem a foot high, purplish, smooth above. Leaves 1 - 1 ^ inch long and 3-5 

 lines wide, narrowed below into a short slender petiole. Flowers smaller tiian in CE. Jruticosa, 

 bright orange-yellow. Capsules somewhat pyriform, tapering into a slender stipulate base ; 

 the wings narrow, not decurrent on the pedicel : intermediate ribs very prominent. 



Near Oswego (Dr. Knieshern) ; Niagara Falls {Mr. J. Carey). June - July. I fear not 

 sufficiently distinct from the following. 



5. CEnothera pumila, Linn. Dwarf Evening Primrose. 



Minutely pubescent ; stem ascending ; leaves lanceolate, mostly obtuse, entire, acute or 

 attenuate at the base, the radical ones obovate-spatulate ; flowers (small) in a loose elongated 

 leafy spike, the apex nodding before expansion ; tube of the calyx shorter than the ovary, and 

 about the length of the segments ; petals obcordate, scarcely longer than the calyx-segments 

 and stamens ; capsules oblong-clavate, almost sessile, the alternate angles narrowly winged. 

 — Linn. sp. (ed. 2.) 1. p. 493; Bot. mag. t. 335; Pursh,fl. I. p. 262; Torr.ji. l.p.390; 

 DC. prodr. 3. p. 51 ; Hook. fi. Bor.-Am. \. p. 212; H. H.Eaton in Transylv . journ. med. 

 1832; Becli, hot. p. 119 ; Torr. <^ Gr. fi. N. Am. 1. p. 498. CE. pusilla, Michx. fl. I. 

 p. 225. 



Biennial. Stem 6-12 inches high, simple or sometimes sparingly branched, somewhat 

 canescent with very short crisped hairs. Leaves I — 1 J inch long and 3-4 lines wide, 

 strigosely pubescent. Flowers, when fully expanded, scarcely half an inch in diameter. 

 Sepals lanceolate, with a very short abrupt acumination. Petals pale yellow. Stamens 

 somewhat declined. Raceme elongated in fruit. Capsules nearly smooth when mature ; 

 the lower ones often with a short pedicel. 



Dry fields ; not uncommon, particularly in the northern and western part of the State. On 

 Long Island {Dr. Knieskern.) June - July. 



3. GAURA. Linn.; Endl. gen. 6131. gavra. 



[ So named from its showy flowers ; gauros, in Greek, signifying superb.] 



Tube of the calyx much prolonged above the ovary, deciduous : segments 4 (rarely 3), re- 

 flexed. Petals 4 (rarely 3), clawed, somewhat unequal or one-sided. Stamens mostly 8. 

 Ovary usually 4-celled, with 1-2 suspended ovules in each cell : stigma 4-lobed. Fruit 

 4-angled, by abortion mostly 1-celled, dry and indehiscent, 1 - 4-seeded. Seeds naked. — 

 Herbaceous or suff"ruticose plants, with mostly sessile, alternate leaves. Flowers in terminal 

 spikes or racemes. Petals white or rose-color. 



1. Gaura biennis, Linn. Biennial Gaura. 



Stem herbaceous, hairy ; leaves lanceolate, acute, repandly denticulate or toothed ; segments 



