Genus 14, 



EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY. 



605 



I. Gaurella canescens (Torr.) Small. Spotted Primrose. Fig. 3061. 



Oenothera canescens Torr. Frem. Rep. 315. 1845. 

 Oenothera guttulala Geyer ; Hook. Lond. Journ. 



Bot. 6 : 222. 1847. 

 Gaurella guttulata Small, Bull. Torr. Club 23: 183. 



1896. 



Diffusely branched from near or at the base, 

 4.'-8' high, canescent with appressed hairs, the 

 branches decumbent or ascending. Leaves 

 lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, nearly sessile 

 and narrowed at the base, obtusish at the apex, 

 4"-8" long, ii"-2" wide, repand-denticulate or 

 entire; flowers axillary, white or pink, 9"-i2" 

 wide ; calyx-lobes lanceolate, canescent, the 

 tube longer than the ovary ; petals obovate, 

 entire ; capsule ovate, canescent, 4"-5" long, 

 angled, not winged, sessile; seeds angled, 

 slipper-shaped. 



Prairies, Nebraska to Texas, Colorado and New 

 Mexico. June-Sept. 



15. MEGAPTERIUM Spach, Hist. Veg. 4: 363. 1835. 



Low perennial herbs with stout sparingly branched stems. Leaves numerous, alternate, 

 narrow, entire or slightly toothed. Flowers perfect, few, but large and showy, axillary, 

 yellow. CaJyx-tube much elongated, dilated toward the throat ; calyx-segments narrow, the 

 tips free in the bud. Petals 4, spreading. Stamens 8, the alternate ones longer; filaments 

 filiform ; anthers linear. Ovary 4-ceIled, 4-angled or 4-winged ; united styles filiform ; stigma 

 4-cleft; ovules few, sessile in rows. Capsules broadly 4-winged. Seeds few, crested. [Greek, 

 broad-winged.] 



About 4 species, in North America and Mexico. Type species : Megapterium Nuttallianum 

 Spach. 



Flowers 3'-6' broad ; capsules suborbicular, 2'-2li' long. i. M. missouriense. 

 Flowers i'-2' broad ; capsules oblong, 5)"-i4" long. 



Densely finely canescent. 2. M. Fremontii. 



Glabrous. 3. M. oklahomense. 



I. Megapterium missouriense (Sims) 

 Spach. Missouri Primrose. Fig. 3062. 



Oenothera missouriensis Sims. Bot. Mag. pi. 1592. 



1814. 

 Oenothera macrocarpa Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 



734. 1814. 

 Megapterium missouriense Spach, Hist. Veg. 4 : 



364- 1835- 



Tufted, stems decumbent or ascending, 

 finely and densely canescent, 6-12' long. 

 Leaves thick, linear-lanceolate or oblong- 

 lanceolate, acuminate or acute at the apex, 

 narrowed at the base into a slender petiole 

 or the uppermost nearly sessile, entire or re- 

 motely denticulate, 2'-6' long, 2"-8" wide; 

 flowers 3'-6' broad ; calyx-lobes broadly lan- 

 ceolate, spreading, the tube 2'-6' long, 6-12 

 times the length of the ovary ; capsule short- 

 stalked, nearly orbicular, very broadly winged, 

 finely canescent, or glabrate when mature, 

 1-3' long. 



In dry soil, Missouri to Nebraska, Colorado 

 and Texas. May-July. 



