ON A GRARIA CE^. 489 



Comhrctacecc have also the micropyle exterior. It is so with the 

 AraliacecG which, in flower, would resemble the Onagrariacece. The 

 Cornacece, whose ovules, definite in number, have the micropyle 

 directed as in the Haloragece, have not the divided style and they 

 are nearly all woody with isostemonous flowers.^ 



UsES.^ — These are few ; nearly all the Onagrariacece are without 

 active properties. The greater part are gorged with a mucous juice. 

 Epilohium rosmarinifolmm^ was considered emollient and slightly 

 astringent ; it was mostly applied externally. The ancients believed 

 that the infusion of its root tamed wild animals and that its decoction 

 in wine sweetened the temper and gladdened the heart. In the 

 present day, the inhabitants of eastern Siberia and Kamtchatka are 

 said to mix an infusion of this plant with an alcoholic drink prepared 

 from the petioles of the great Cow-parsnip (Heracleum Sphondylium)^ 

 which has a soothing effect. In Sweden the buds of this Epilohe 

 are eaten as are also the young shoots prepared like asparagus. 

 From tufts of the seeds a kind of thread is prepared in the polar 

 regions. The same properties are attributed to E, latifolium and, 

 in the north of Europe, to E. tetragonum.^ Circcea lutetiana ^ (fig. 

 443-446) is also considered mucilaginous, resolutive ; it is applied 

 baked to hemorrhoids ; its action appears nil. The (Enotlierce have 

 rather variable qualities. Onagra or (Enothera biennis"^ (fig.427-429), 

 a species believed to have been brought from America to Europe a 

 couple of centuries since, is a pot-herb the root of which is eaten 

 baked with other vegetables or in salad, or preserved in vinegar with 

 sugar. Other American species have an edible root, particularly (E. 

 muricata, suaveolens, grandijlora, and imrviflora. In Brazil, (E, 



1 Callitriche has also been referred to this Fl. de Fr.i. 58S. — E.angustifolwm'LPM.yi.Fl.Fr. 

 family; but to justify its admission, it must be iii 282. — E, anffusiissimum'B-EmoL. — E.Dodu)tcei 

 supposed, I think, that the free ovary is sur- Vill. — Chamcenerion pahistre Scov. — Lysimachia 

 rounded by a receptacular sac, at the summit of Chamcunerion dicta angustifolia C. Bauh. 

 which there is no calyx, or only, as some authors "* L. Spec. 494. — E. frigidum Retz. 



say, an obsolete one. It is an error to suppose ^ L. Spec. 494. — Sm. Engl. Bot. t. 1948. — E. 



that Callitriche has four uniovulate cells like ratnossimtcm Mcexch. 



Haloragis ; they are only half cells ; it has also ^ L. Spec. 12. —DC. Prodr. iii. 63. — Grex. et 



only two stylary branches. Godr. Fl. de Fr. i. 586. — C. major Lamk. Fl. Fr. 



2 ExDL. E)ichirid. 638, 640. — Lixdl. Veg. iii. 475. — C. vulgaris Mcench. 



Kingd. (1846) 724.— Rosenth. Sgn. PL Diaphor. 7 L. Spec. 492.— OEd. Fl. Dan. t. 4i6.— Mill. 



906, 909. Icon. t. 189, %. 2.— DO. Prodr. iii. 46, n. 4.— 



•■* HiKNCK, Jacq. Collect, ii. 50.— Ge. et God.;. Gren. et Gode. Fl. de Fr. i. 584. 



