EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY 



ONAGRACEAE 



SEEDBOX 



Ludvigia alternifolia L. 



The Evening Primrose family is small and none of its 

 members are economically important. The varied forms 

 of the Evening. Primrose of this family and the common 



garden Pea of the Pulse family 

 inspired Hugo De Vries, present- 

 day Dutch botanist, to use them 

 as a basis of observations for his 

 theory of mutation. 



The Seedbox grows 2-3 feet high 



in swamps and low wet woods from 



New Hampshire, southern Ontario 



and Michigan to Florida, 



Kansas and Texas. It is, 



an erect, branching and 



nearly smooth perennial 



herb having tuberous or 



clustered roots. The 



leaves are lanceolate to 



linear-lanceolate and 



acute or pointed at both ends. 



The flowers appear from June to 

 September singly in the axils of the upper 

 leaves. The 4 green sepals persist on 

 the fruit but the 4 yellow petals are 

 likely to fall away if the plant is jarred. 

 The 4 stamens are inserted on the calyx 

 with the petals. The fruit is a cubical 

 capsule about one-quarter inch long, 

 which contains many seeds and is the source of the plant's 

 common name. It opens by a pore at the base of the short style. 



The Water Purslane, Ludvigia palustris (L.) Ell., is quite common 

 in muddy ditches and swamps. It is very different trom the Seedbox. 

 Its oval leaves are opposite instead ot alternate and its stems creep 

 upon the mud or float, and root at the nodes. The calyx lobes are 

 very short and yvhen the plant grows in water there usually are no 

 petals; if it grows on land there areotten 4 small reddish petals. The 

 capsule is 4-slded and about one-tourth ot an inch long. This plant 

 ranges throughout the United States and blooms trom June to 

 November. 



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