464 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Œnothera (Sphœrostigma) 

 micrantha. 



four short lobes, and the capsular fruit has coats of little thick- 

 ness. 



8j)hcerostigma ] (fig. 431) comprises Œnotheras, in which the 

 flowers, small in size, have a style with the stigmatiferous summit 

 enlarged to a head spherical or nearly so. The ovary is surmounted 

 by a prolongation, very short or even almost nil, of the receptacle a 

 little dilated at this point and bearing on its 

 margin the perianth and andrcecium. The ovary, 

 four-celled, multiovulate, is narrow and elongate, 

 and the seeds, ascending, are finally uniseriate. 3 

 In E 'ulobus 4, californiens, hitherto retained as 

 a separate genus, the flowers are those of Œno- 

 thera of the section Sphcerostigma, with the 

 superior orifice of the receptacle furnished with 

 The ovary fills nearly all the receptacular cavity. 

 The fruit, four-celled with ascending seeds, is also similar to that of 

 Sphcerostigma, but it breaks open at maturity. 5 We can make this 

 plant therefore only a section of the genus Œnothera. 



Thus constituted 6 this genus contains about a hundred species. 7 

 They are annual or evergreen herbs, or exceptionally undershrubs, 

 rare in tropical regions, abundant in North and South America, 

 esjiecially in the west ; a single species (Œ. tasmanica) is from Van 



431. Flower. 



a glandular disk. 



' Seb. DC. Froth: Hi. 46.— Endl. Ge». n. 6113. 

 — Wats. he. cit. 576,591. — Meterostemum Ndtt. 

 (ex Endl.), — Ohamissonia Link. Jahrb. (1818) 

 186. — Eohstigma Spach, Nouv. Ann. Mus. iv. 

 332. — Ayassizia Spach, Suit, à Buffon, iv. 

 347. 



■ The organization and development of this 

 ovary are quite the same as in the true Œno- 

 theras. Duchartre, as we have shown {Adan- 

 8ùnia : xii. 25, 29), was mistaken on this point, 

 in supposing that the inferior ovary is entirely 

 of a foliaceous nature, and that at a certain age 

 the earpellary leaves are separated from each 

 other hy the axis interposed. Nothing of the 

 kind takes place in nature. 



3 In certain species of Sphcerostigma the seeds 

 hecome mucilaginous on the surface when wet. 

 Of them the genus Blennoderma has been made. 

 (Spach, Nouv. Ann. Mus. iv. 406.) The Chylisma 

 of Ncttall (Œ. brevipes, scapoidea, etc.) are 

 annual Sphcerostigmas, the fruits of which are 

 linear-claviform, pedicellate, and obtuse. 



4 Nutt. Torr.ct Gr. Fl. N.-Amer. i. (1840) 

 514.— Endl. Gen. 1426, n. 6118.— B. II. Gen. 



789, n. 7.— II. Bn. Adansonia, xii. 30 ; Bull. 

 Soc. Linn. Par. 113. 



5 The ascending glabrous seeds are lodged in 

 distinct depressions of the valves. 



/ 1. Euoenothera (Torr. et Gr.). 



2. Tarama (Nun.). 



3. Megapterium (Spach). 



4. Meriolix (Ravin.). 



5. Hartmamiia (Spach). 

 ; 6. Cratericarpium (Spach). 



sret. 12. 1' Boisduvalia (Spach). 



8. Godetia (Spach). 



9. Sphcerostigma (Ser.). 



10. Blennoderma (Spach). 



11. Chylisma (Ni'TT.). 

 V 1 -- Eulobas (Npjtt.). 



7 Gren. et Goim. Fl. de Ft: i. 584. — Griser. 

 Fl. Brit. W.-lnd. 273.— Torr. et Gr. Fl. N.-Am. 

 i. 492.— A. Gray, Man. ed. 5, 178.— C. Gay, 

 Fl. Chil. ii. 324, 346.— Presl, Pel. Hmik. ii. 31. 

 —Hook. Icon. t. 338, 339.— Bot. Peg. t. 763, 

 1040, 1142, 1479, 1593.— Bot. Mag. t. 347, 468, 

 2832, 2873, 3545, 3764, 5078.— W alp. Pep. ii. 

 79; Ann. i. 291 ; ii. 533; iv. 676. 



