EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY. Onagraccae. 



rows of spines in stars along the ridges, and ornamented 

 during May and June with handsome, large, whitish, wax- 

 like flowers, very perfect in form, opening in the daytime, 

 blooming most abundantly on the sunny side of the plant 

 and remaining open but a short time. Woodpeckers 

 often make holes for nests in the branches, which are used 

 afterwards by a little native owl, the smallest kind in the 

 world, and by honey-bees, and these holes often lead to 

 decay and to the ultimate death of the tree. The fruits, 

 with crimson flesh and black seeds, are valued by the 

 Papago Indians for food, and mature in enormous quan- 

 tities in midsummer, but birds eat up many of the seeds 

 and of the millions reaching the ground only a very few 

 germinate and develop into odd, little round plants, a few 

 inches high, often eaten by some animal before they become 

 sufficiently prickly for protection. 



EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY. Onagroceoe. 



A large family, widely distributed, most abundant in 

 America; herbs, with no stipules; flowers usually perfect, 

 their parts usually in fours; calyx- tube attached to the 

 usually four-celled, inferior ovary and usually prolonged 

 beyond it; stamens four or eight, inserted with the petals, 

 on the throat of the calyx- tube, or on a disk; style single 

 with a four-lobed or round-headed stigma; fruit usually a 

 four-celled capsule, containing small seeds or a nut. The 

 flowers are generally showy and many are cultivated. 



This is the only kind of Eulobus. It 

 Calif drnicus would be a pretty plant, if more flowers 



Yellow were out at one time and if they did not 



Spring close so soon. The smooth, hollow, loosely- 



Southwest branching stem is from one to three feet 



tall, with a "bloom," the leaves are smooth, rather light 

 dull-green, and the buds are erect. The flowers are about 

 three-quarters of an inch across, with a very short calyx- 

 tube, light-yellow petals, fading to reddish-pink, eight 

 stamens, four of them smaller and shorter, and the light- 

 green stigma with a round top. The slender pods are 

 three inches long, smooth, cylindrical, and turning stiffly 

 down, with many seeds. This grows in mountain canyons. 



3*2 



