FOUR,.0'CtOCK FAMILY. Nyctaglnaceae. 



This is very common in southern 



California and forms <} uite lar S e ' low 

 Hesperdnia clumps cf rather yellowish green, sticky 



\^Cvlif6rnica. and hairy foliage, sprinkled with numbers 



\Mirabilis) of bright little flowers, opening in the 



Magenta, pink a f te rnoon. The base is woody and the 



Spring, summer . 



California weak, hairy stems are supported on bushes, 



?.s if climbing over them. The leaves 

 are rather thick, about an inch long, and the flowers are 

 open bell-shaped, about three-quarters of an inch across, 

 usually magenta, but often pink of various shades, some- 

 times quite pale in tint with long stamens drooping to one 

 side, and the involucre is often purplish and very hairy and 

 sticky. The effect at a distance is gay and attractive, 

 though the plant is not quite so pretty close by. 

 Hesperdnia This has a straggling, hairy, sticky 



glutindsa var. stem, over a foot long, and thickish, dull- 

 grddlis green leaves, hairy and sticky. The 



White, pinkish flowers are about hal f an inch longf white 



Arizona or tinged with pink, and are rather delicate 



and pretty, though the plant is not es- 

 pecially attractive. It blooms at night, the flowers 

 gradually closing with the morning sun. This variety is 

 common in the southern part of the state, in mountain 

 canyons, and Hesperonia glutinosa is common in the 

 north. 



There are several kinds of Abronia, all American, with 

 branching, usually sticky-hairy stems, thick, toothless 

 leaves, with leaf-stalks, in pairs and one of each pair 

 somewhat larger than the other. The flowers are more 

 or less salver-form, with five lobes, a threadlike style, and 

 from three to five, unequal stamens, on the tube of the 

 perianth and not protruding from it. They are numerous 

 and in clusters, with involucres, on long flower-stalks, 

 from the angles of the leaves. The fruit is winged. The 

 name is from the Greek meaning graceful, but most of these 

 plants are rather awkward in their manner of growth. 



102 



