22 Oenothera grandijlora 



Root biennial. Stem from two to four feet high, very much 

 branched, the central branch or continuation of the main stem, 

 much exceeding the other branches in length; generally destitute 

 of pubescence, but not unfrequently downy. Leaves broad-lanceo- 

 late, from three to six inches long, and one and a half or two inches 

 broad, scalloped towards the base, glabrous for the most part, though 

 often pubescent. Upper leaves half the size of the lower ones, and 

 much undulated on the margin, and irregularly folded and twisted. 

 Flowers axillary, very large, sessile, agreeably odorous. Petals 

 deeply emarginate, gamboge-yellow, expanding after sunset and 

 during the night. Tube of the calix one and a half inch long ; germ 

 glabrous or pubescent. Stamens declinate, and somewhat shorter 

 than the corolla. Anthers orange yellow, filaments curved at their 

 bases or near their points of origin. Stigma cruciate, the divisions of 

 the cross clavate. Found native in the woods and fields, and about 

 habitations, in Carolina and Georgia, flowering from May until 

 August. 



Theophrastus describes a plant, the root of which had caught the 

 perfume of wine from being dried. Hence he called it (Enothera, 

 from o„o S , wine, and *« s * a searching or catching. Modem botanists 

 do not know whether any one of the species of our genus (Enothera, 

 be the plant described by Theophrastus, though there is no doubt that 

 this is the derivation of the name by which they are now grouped. 



