240 OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA 



Root squamosa, bulbous. Xutt. Stem 12 to 18 inches high, slender, rigid, simpU 

 below, branched or bushy at summit, somewhat hoary with a short pubescence, 

 which is more dense on the branches. Leaves about an inch long, and scarcely a 

 line wide, sessile, or nearly so, roughish-pubesccnt on the upper surface, and mid- 

 rib beneath, with the margins rcvulute. Flowers few, rcry small, axillary, on 

 peduncles half an inch to an inch long. Petals pale purple, or ofton nearly white. 

 Capsule an inch to an inch and half long, very slender, linear, hoary -pubesceut 

 while young. 

 I/ab. Swampy, low grounds; near West Chester: rare. Fl. August. Fr. October. 



Obs. This seems also to come very near the E. striatum, Muhl. Berk. 6rc. or E. 

 molle, Torr. That it is NuttaWs plant, I have had an opportunity of verifying,— 

 by comparing it with one of his specimens. Prof. Hooker appears to consider it a 

 variety of E. Pahistrc. Five or six additional species are enumerated in the U. 

 States; and in British America, Prof. Hooker enumerates 13 species. 



194. OENOTHERA. /.. JSTutt. Gen. 360. 

 [Gr. Oinos, wine, and thero } to hunt ; the roots being incentives to wine-drinking.] 



Calyx 4-8cpalled ; sepals membranaceous, partially cohering above, 

 united below into a long 4-sided or 8-ribbed tube ; limb reflcxed, and, 

 with part of the tube, caducous. Petals 4. Stamens erect, or decli- 

 ned ; anthers linear, incumbent ; pollen triangular, viscid. Stigma 4- 

 cleft (rarely spherical). Capsule oblong, or obovoid-clavatc, obtusely 

 or acutely 4-anglcd, 4-celled, 4-valved, ruany-secded, adnatc to the base 

 of the calyx. Seeds naked. 



Herbaceous, or suffruticose : leaves alternate ; flowers axillary, solitary, or in 

 terminal spikes. Nat. Grd. 47. Lindl. Oxackakias. 



* Fruit oblong, obtusely ^-angled, subsessile; valves linear. 



1. CE. biennis, L. Stem villose and scabrous; leaves ovate-lanceo- 

 late, repand-dentate ; fruit subsessile, obtusely 4-angled, somewhat tur- 

 gid. Beck, Bot. p. 118. 

 Also? CE. muricata, of Authors. 

 Biennial (Enotheua. Vulgo — Evening Primrose. Night willow-herb. 



Root annual and biennial, Torr. perennial? KIL Stem 3 to 5 or 6 feet high, 

 branched, terete, mostly greenish, hairy, often rough with the rigid enlarged base 

 of the hairs. Leaves 2 to 6 inches long, and half an inch to an inch wide, often 

 rather obsoletely toothed, pubescent; those near the root on short petioles, the 

 upper ones sessile. Flowers rather large, in a terminal leafy or bracteate spike. 

 Calyx colored, slightly pubescent externally, with a cylindrical tube 1 to 2 inches 

 m length; limb dividing, reflected; segments partially cohering, and turned to 

 one side, subulate at apex ; the limb, and tube above the ovary, caducous. PetaU 

 yellow, large, roundish, obcordate, inserted on the calyx. Stamens shorter than 

 the corolla ; anthers long, linear, recurved. Ovary oblong, adnate to the base of 

 the tube; style rather longer than the corolla; stigmas divided into 4 linear 

 spreading segments (or rather 4 stigmas), about 1 fourth of an inch long. Capsule 

 Bubcylindric, an inch to an inch and half long, smoothish, sessile, or subsessile, 

 splitting into 4 valves, with the dissepiments in the middle. Seeds numerous, some, 

 what compressed, ovate 1 [angular, Torr,]. 



Hob. Fields, fence-rows, woodlands, &c. frequent. Fl. June, Sept. Jr. Aug, Oct. 



06s. The (E. grandiflora, Ait.— -which is almost naturalized about our gardens- 

 is a biennial, of stouter growth than this, with more ovate leaves, larger flowers, 

 and the calyx more pubescent ; but seems to be nearly allied to it,— and may, as 

 Br. Torrey suggests, be scarcely more than a variety. 



