EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY. Onagraceae. 



capsule is oblong and hairy. This is common on prairies 

 and plains, from Nebraska to Utah, and south to New 

 Mexico, reaching an altitude of nine thousand feet. 



There are several kinds of Onagra, differing from 

 Anogra in having yellow flowers and in the arrangement of 

 the seeds; with stems; leaves alternate, with wavy or 

 toothed margins; buds erect; flowers night-blooming, in 

 terminal clusters; calyx-tube long; petals four; stamens 

 eight, equal in length; stigma four-cleft; capsule four- 

 angled, more or less tapering. 



A fine biennial, with stout, leafy stems, 

 Evening Primrose . '. J . 



Onagra Hdokeri from three to Slx feet hl S h bearing 

 (Oenothera) splendid flowers, over three inches across, 



Yellow with clear yellow petals, fading to pink, 



and reddish calyx-lobes. The leaves, 

 stems, and buds all downy and the buds 

 erect. The stigma has four, slender lobes, forming a little 

 cross, and the yellow pollen is loosely connected by cob- 

 webby threads, clinging to visiting insects, and is thus 

 carried from flower to flower; the capsule is an inch long. 

 This is much handsomer than the common Evening Prim- 

 rose, 0. biennis, and especially fine in Yosemite. As the 

 mountain shadows begin to slant across the Valley the 

 blossoms commence to open, until the meadows are 

 thickly strewn with "patens of bright gold." They stay 

 open all night, withering with the noonday sun. 



There are several kinds of Lavauxia; low, usually stem- 

 less; leaves mostly from the root; calyx- tube slender; petals 

 four; stamens eight, the alternate ones longer; ovary short, 

 stigma four-cleft; capsule stout, four-angled or winged. 



An attractive little plant, in the desert, 

 Sun-cups . 



Lavauxia primi- Wlth no stem the flowers With long, 



vlris (Oenothera) slender calyx-tubes, resembling stems, 

 Yellow springing from a clump of rather downy 



root-leaves. The buds are hairy and the 

 Arizona 



flowers are about an inch across, light 



yellow, with pale yellow stamens and stigma. This plant 

 varies a good deal in size, bearing one or several flowers, 

 and the margins of the leaves almost toothless or irregu- 

 larly slashed. It superficially resembles Tardxia ovata^ 

 the Sun-cups so common on the southwestern coast, for 

 the flowers have the same little fresh, sunny faces, but the 

 latter has a round-topped stigma. 



