THE EVENING PRIMROSE TRIBE. 47 



dance in their general appearance, agree also in this 

 remarkable circumstance, that every one of the parts 

 of the flower consists either of four pieces or of some 

 number which may be divided by four ; in South 

 America are many species of a similar nature, only 

 they are shrubs and are much more richly coloured. 

 Botanists call these Onagracese, or the Evening Prim- 

 rose tribe, because the charming yellow flower which 

 unfolds its bosom to the evening sun, and drinks up 

 the dews of night with its petals, rendering darkness 

 as lovely as noon-day, but which retires at the ap- 

 proach of the sun, rolling up its petals and carefully 

 protecting its stamens and pistils from the glare of 

 liofht, is one of the tribe ; it mig-ht be called the owl 

 of the vegetable world, only it is more beautiful and 

 delicate than that hard-hearted enemv of mice. 



If you have ever examined one of them accurately 

 you will be at no loss to recognize all the rest. For 

 this purpose suppose you take the Shrubby Evening 

 Primrose (CEnothera fruticosa), a beautiful little North 

 American plant, with an absurd name, for it is not a 

 shrub. 



The leaves of this plant are of a narrow figure, not 

 unlike the head of a lance, and their veins are dis- 

 posed in a netted manner like all the preceding ; 

 it has therefore a stem w^hich increases in size by 

 addition of matter to the outside of the wood ; or in 

 a word it is Exogenous ; the leaves do not grow 

 opposite each other from opposite sides of the stem, 

 but are placed one a little above the other, so as to be 

 alternate ; mark this. 



