24 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



The origin of the name of this genus are the two Greek words oivoc (oinos), wine, 

 and dripu (thera), imbued or penetrated with, the roots having a vinous scent when 

 dried : they were also formerly eaten as incentives to wine-drinking, as olives are ; hence 

 the name was changed from onagra, the ass food, to Oenothera, the wine-trap. We are 

 not sure that the change was necessary. 



SPECIES I— OENOTHERA BIENNIS. Linn. 

 Plate DVIII. 



Root biennial or annual. Stem erect, often simple, herbaceous. 

 Leaves shortly stalked, the radical ones oblanceolate-elliptical ; 

 stem-leaves elliptical or lanceolate-elliptical, all remotely repand- 

 denticulate. Flowers in a terminal leafy spike. Tree part of the 

 calyx-tube longer than the ovary and the calyx-segments. Petals 

 inversely deltoid, obcordate, yellow. Anthers linear, versatile. 

 Stigma 4-partite. Capsules tetragonal-cylindrical, tapering to the 

 apex, somewhat woody, obsoletely 4-ribbed, pubescent, many-seeded. 



In sandy waste places and cultivated grounds. A North 

 American plant, which is now perfectly established on the Lanca- 

 shire coast, at Crosbie, near Liverpool, and occurring occasionally 

 throughout Britain, but generally an outcast from gardens. 



[England, Scotland.] Biennial or Annual. Summer 

 and Autumn. 



Boot a tapering whitish or pink tap-root. Stem 2 to 3 feet 

 high, branched in luxuriant examples. Radical leaves 6 inches to 

 1 foot long ; stem-leaves 3 to 6 inches ; all attenuated at the base 

 into a short petiole, with thick white midribs. Flowers sessile, 

 with the calyx-tube about 2 inches long, the free portion twice as 

 long as the part adhering to the ovary ; calyx-segments acuminate, 

 with slender points diverging in bud. Petals l£ to l£ inch or more 

 across, bright yellow. Pod 1 to 1| inch long, with a broad blunt 

 rib on the back of each valve. Seeds in 2 rows in each cell, oblong, 

 angular, pale-brown. Plant dull-green, sub-glabrous, with the stem, 

 calyces, petioles, midribs, and margins of "the loaves more or less 

 hairy ; sometimes the whole of the leaves, especially the under sides, 

 have very short distant hairs. 



Common Ecening-Frimrose. 



French, Onugre Bisannuelle. German, Ztoeijah-lge Xac7ithr:e. 



This pretty plant is well known in our gardens, and grows luxuriantly even in the 

 neighbourhood of large towns. It is in its glory as the sun is setting, when its bright 

 sulphur-coloured petals open by a sudden retraction of the calyx-leaves, which are 

 thrown forcibly against the peduncles. The flowers continue open throughout the 

 night, until an hour or two after sunrise, when they partially close, to open again, or 



