oq7 Evening Primrose. 



slender tube from the top of which arise two leaves, both 

 turned the same way and notched at the point ; it is in reality 

 composed of four sepals, united at the base into a tube, but 

 capable of being separated above the tube into four pieces, as 

 mav be easily seen on an attempt to divide it with the point of 

 a pin. From the top of the tube of the calyx arise four petals, 

 which are of a bright yellow, and rolled together, except at 

 nioht, when the flowers arc expanded. Twice four stamens 

 spring from the top of the tube ; each of which has a very long 

 anther which swings by its middle from the summit of the 

 filament, and sheds its pollen in such a way that it looks as if 

 it were mixed with cobweb. If this pollen is magnified in a 

 drop of water, each grain will be found three cornered, and 

 held to its neighbor by excessively delicate threads ; ;i pecu- 

 liarity in the pollen rarely to be met with except in this tribe. 

 The ovary is inferior, and is marked by eight (2 X 4) ribs, of 

 which four are more prominent than the others : it contains 

 four cavities, in each of which is a great many seeds. The 

 style is a long slender body, rising within the tube of the 

 calyx as high as the stamens, and then separating into four 

 narrow stigmas. The fruit is a dry oval case, with four 

 angles, opening into four pieces called valves. This tribe has 

 little, with the exception of beauty, to render it interesting to 

 mankind, for there is not a single species which possesses any 

 useful property worth mentioning. 



The Evening Primrose with us is vulgarly known by the 

 name of Scabish ; though how it acquired the name, it is 

 difficult to understand, as the Scabious, of which some sup- 

 pose this name is a corruption, has not the slightest affinity 

 with the plant. Its stem is from four to six or seven feet high, 

 rough, covered with hair, and branching. The leaves from 

 the root provided with footstalks ; those from the stem without 

 any ; both hairy, and slightly toothed on the margin : 



You, Evening Primroses, when day has fled, 



Open your pallid flowers, by dews and moonlight fed. 



Barton. 



This flower is a native of North America, and was first 

 sent from Virginia to Padua in the year 1619, and became 



