ONAGRARIACEJE. 465 



Diemen's Land. The leaves are alternate, and the flowers ^ are soli- 

 tary in the axils either of the leaves or of bracts at the extremity of 

 the branches, so as to form elongate or capituliform spikes. 



In Gayophytum,^ slender annual herbs of Chili, Peru, and espe- 

 cially the western regions of North America, the flowers, small and 

 tetramerous, are constructed like those of the (Enotheras, whose 

 receptacle does not extend beyond the summit of the ovary, particu- 

 larly like those of Eulohus and Sphcerostlgma ; but the ovary has 

 only two cells, and the capsule opens longitudinally in four pannels. 

 Two of them correspond to the margins of the interlocular partition, 

 and two larger to the back of the cells. The former bear at the 

 middle of their internal surface the remains of the partition, the 

 central portion of which generally separates finally in the form of a 

 column from the peripherical portions. The seeds, in construction 

 like those of Onagra,^ have a smooth or papillose surface. The 

 leaves of Gayophytum are alternate, linear, nearly always entire, 

 rarely dentelate or crenelate. The flowers* are axillary, solitary, 

 sessile or supported by a short peduncle. About half-a-dozen species 

 are distinguished.-^ 



Ludwigia is very near (Enothera ; it has the flower of those in 

 which the receptacular tube is not prolonged beyond the ovary, but 

 bears immediately above its summit, crowned with epigynous glands, 

 the perianth and androecium. The number of floral parts is often 

 four or five, more rarely three or six. The sepals are valvate, and 

 the petals, more or less developed, may be wanting in some species. 

 The stamens are often double the sepals in number, and superposed 

 half to the latter and half to the petals. This is the case in the 



^ White, yellow, or pink, often large, hand- G^ertn. Fruct. i. 158, t. 51. — DC. Prodr. iii. 58. 



some, sometimes odorous, nocturnal. — Spach, Suit, d Buffon, iv. 340. — Endl. Gen. 



2 A. Juss. Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 1, xxv. 18. t. 4. n. 6110.— B. H. Gen. 788, n. 4.— Hook. Fl.Ind. 

 — Spach, Nouv.Ami. Mus. iv. 331 ; Suit, a Bu;^on^ ii. 588. — Xematopyxis Mia. Fl. Ind.-Bat. i. p. i. 

 iv. 346.— Endl. Gen. n. 6112.— B.H. Gen. 7«9, 630.— Isnardia L. Gen. n. 156.— G^rtn. Fruct. 

 n. 6. i. 158, t. 31.— Lamk. Diet. iii. 313; Suppl. iii. 



3 To which the genus might perhaps he united 187 ; III. t. 77. — J. Gen. 333 ; Ann. Mus. iii. 473. 

 as a sect, characterized by a dicarpellar ovary. — DC. Prodr. iii. 59. — Endl. Gen. n. 6111. — 

 {^QeAdansonia,^\\.22.) Bantia Vwr.Gen. 49, t. 49 (1710), This last 



■* Small, often pink. name having priority, ought, in fact, to he pre- 



* Presl, Eel. Ecenk. ii. 51.— Spach, Nout. ferred to all others. (See H. Bn. Bull. Soc. 



Ann. Mus. iv. 334 {Holostigma).—^. Gay, Fl. Linn. Par. 101.) 



Chil. ii. 323, t. 22.— Walp. Rep. ii. 76. 7 The pollen has " seeds united in fours, each 



6 L. Gen. n. 153.— J. Gen. 319.— Desrx, Lamk. presenting three round umbilics {Jussieua erec- 



Diet. iii. 613; Suppl. iii. 511 ; III. t. 77 — to) " (H. Mohl, Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 2, iii. 332). 



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