ON'AGRACE^E. ( EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY.) 177 



biffC&nt or nearly so, usually becoming 1 -celled and 1 -4-seeded. Seeds naked. 



— Leaves alternate, ,-e->ile. Flowers rose-color or white, changing to reddish 

 in fading, in wand-like spikes or racemes ; in our species quite small (so that 

 the name, from yaiipos, superb, does not seem appropriate), 



1. G. biennis, L. Soft-hairy or downy (3° -8° high); leaves oblong-lanceo- 

 late, acute, denticulate; fruit oval or oblong, nearly sessile, ribbed, downy. — 

 Dry banks, from New York westward and southward: common. Aug. 



2. G. filipes, Spach. Nearly smooth; stem slender (2° -4° high) ; leaves 

 linear, mostly toothed, tapering at the base ; branches of the panicle very slen- 

 der, naked ; fruit obovate-elub-shaped, 4-angled at the summit, slender pedicelkd. 



— Open places, Virginia to Ohio, Illinois, and southward. Aug. 



3. EPILOBIUM, L. Willow-herb. 



Calyx- tube not prolonged beyond the ovary ; the limb 4-cleft, deciduous. Pet- 

 als 4. Stamens 8 : anthers short. Pod linear, many-seeded. Seeds with a tuft 

 of long hairs at the end. — Perennials, with nearly sessile leaves, and violet, 

 purple, or white flowers; in summer. (Name composed of em Xo/3oG lov, viz. 

 a violet on a pod.) 



* Flowers large in a long spike or raceme : petals icidely spreading, on claws, entire: 



stamens and style turned downwards : stigma of 4 long lobes : leaves scattered. 



1. E. angustifdlium, L. (Great Willow-herb.) Stem simple, tall 

 (4° -7°); leaves lanceolate. — Low grounds, especially in newly cleared land: 

 common northward. — Flowers pink-purple, very showy. (Eu.) 



* * Flowers rather large, regular : peta/s obcordate : stamens and style erect : stigma 



of 4 long linear lobes : leaves mostly opposite. 



2. E. HiRst'Tc.M, L. Soft-hairy, branching (3° -5° high); leaves lance- 

 oblong, serrulate ; flowers in the upper axils or in a leafy short raceme ; petals 

 rose-purple, 6" long. — Spontaneous in waste grounds, New Bedford, Mass. 

 (T. A. Greene) and Roxbury (D. Murray) ; and in a ravine near Albany, New 

 York ( C. II. Peck). (Nat. from Eu.) 



* * Flowers small, corymbed or panicled : petals (mostly notched at the end), sta- 



mens, and style erect: stigma club-shaped, nearly entire: lower leaves opposite, 

 entire or denticulate. 



3. E. alpinum, L. Low (2' -6' high), nearly glabrous; stems ascending 

 from a stoloniferous base, simple ; leaves elliptical or ovate-oblong, obtuse, nearly 

 entire, on short petioles ; flowers few or solitary, drooping in the hud ; petals 

 purple; pods long, glabrous. — Alpine summits of the White Mountains of 

 New Hampshire, and Adirondack Mountains, New York. (Eu.) 



Var. majus, Wahl. Taller; upper leaves more or less acute and toothed, 

 pod glabrous or somewhat pubescent. (E. alsinifolium, Vill. E. origanifolium, 

 Lam.) — With the typical form : also upper Wisconsin and Michigan. (Eu.) 



4. E. pallistre, L., var. lineare. Erect and slender (l°-2° high), 

 branched above, minutely hoary-pubescent ; stem roundish ; leaves narrmdy lanceo- 

 late or linear, nearly entire ; flower-buds somewhat nodding ; petals purplish or 

 white; pods hoary. (E. lineare, J/uW. E. squamatum, Xutt.) — Bogs, N. 



12 



