ON A GBA RIA CEM. 489 



ComhretacecB have also the micropyle exterior. It is so with the 

 Araliacece which, in flower, would resemble the OnagrariacecB. The 

 Cornacece,. whose ovules, definite in number, have the micropyle 

 directed as in the Haloragece, have not the divided style and they 

 are nearly all woody with isostemonous flowers.' 



UsES.^ — These are few ; nearly all the OnagrariacecB are without 

 active properties. The greater part are gorged with a mucous juice. 

 EpiloMum rosmarinifolium^ was considered emollient and slightly 

 astringent ; it was mostly applied externally. The ancients believed 

 that the infusion of its root tamed wild animals and that its decoction 

 in wine sweetened the temper and gladdened the heart. In the 

 present day, the inhabitants of eastern Siberia and Kamtehatka are 

 said to mix an infusion of this plant with an alcoholic drink prepared 

 from the petioles of the great Cow-parsnip (Heradeum Sphondylium), 

 which has a soothing effect. In Sweden the buds of this Epilobe 

 are eaten as are also the young shoots prepared like asparagus. 

 From tufts of the seeds a kind of thread is prepared in the polar 

 regions. The same properties are attributed to E. latifoUum and, 

 in the north of Europe, to E. tetragonum.^ Girccea lutetiana ^ (fig. 

 443-446) is also considered mucilaginous, resolutive ; it is applied 

 baked to hemorrhoids ; its action appears nil. The (Enotherce have 

 rather variable qualities. Onagra or (Enothera biennis'' (fig.427-429), 

 a species believed to have been brought from America to Europe a 

 couple of centuries since, is a pot-herb the root of which is eaten 

 baked with other vegetables or in salad, or preserved in vinegar with 

 sugar. Other American species have an edible root, particularly (E. 

 muricata, suaveolens, grandiflora, and parviflora. In Brazil, CE. 



^ CalUtriche has also been referred to this Fl. de Fr.i. 5%Z. — E. angustifolium.1ji.in-K. Fl. Fr. 



family ; but to justify its admission, it must be iii 282. — E. angustissimum Beetol. — E.Dodonai 



supposed, I think, that the free ovary is sur- Vill. — ChamcBnerionpalustreBcov. — Lysimachia 



rounded by a receptaoular sac, at the summit of ChamcBnerion dicta angustifoUa C. Bauh. 

 which there is no calyx, or only, as some authors * L. Spec. 494. — E. frigidum Retz. 



say, an obsolete one. It is an error to suppose ^ L. Spee. 494. — Sm. Engl. Bot. t. 1948. — E. 



that Callitriehe has four uniovulate cells like ramossimum Mcenoh. 



Saloragia ; they are only half cells ; it has also ' L. Spec. 12.— DC. Pndr. iii. 63. — G-een. et 



only two stylary branches. Gode. Fl. de Fr. i. 586. — C.major Lamk. Fl. Fr. 



^ Endl. Enohvrid. 638, 640. — Lindl. Veg. iii. 473. — 0. vulgaris Mcenoh. 

 JKmgd. (i846) 724.— Eosenth. (Syw. PL Diaphor. 7 L. Spee. 492.— (Ed. Fl. Dan. t. 446.— Mill. 



906, 909. Icon. t. 189, fig. 2.— DO. Prodr. iii. 46, n. 4.— 



H.«NOK, Jacq. Collect, ii. 50. — Gn. et Godu. Geen. et Gode. Fl. de Fr. i. 584. 



