OENOTHERA EVENING PRIMROSE. 149 



OENOTHERA.— Evening Primrose. 



(Enothera biennis Linne. — Evening Primrose. 



Description. — Calyx-tube prolonged beyond the ovary, deciduous, the 

 limb 4-cleft, the lobes reflexed. Corolla : petals 4, obcordate, light yellow. 

 Stamens 8. Capsules oblong, 4-valved, many-seeded. 



An annual or biennial herb. Stem erect, commonly hairy, 1 to 5 

 feet high. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, obscurely toothed. Flowers in 

 a terminal spike ; they expand late in the afternoon or in the evening and 

 wither next day. The plant occurs in numerous varieties, differing in re- 

 spect to size of flowers, etc. 



Habitat.- — In fields, waste places, along fences and roadsides ; common 

 everywhere. 



Parts Used, — The bark, leaves, and the young branches — not official. 



Constituents. — Unknown. 



Preparations. — A decoction has been recommended. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Dr. Griffith recommends the decoction 

 as a local application "in infantile eruptions," of what character, however, 

 he does not state. Its virtues, if it have any, are yet to be ascertained. 



UMBELLIFERjE. 



Character of the Order. — Herbs, with alternate, mostly compound leaves, 

 and flowers in umbels. Calyx wholly adherent to the ovary ; limb obso- 

 lete or minutely 5- toothed. Petals 5, small, imbricate in the bud, or val- 

 vate, with the point inflexed, inserted, together with the 5 stamens, upon 

 the disk which crowns the ovary. Ovary 2-celled, each cell 1-ovuled ; 

 styles 2. Fruit composed of 2 seed-like carpels, which during develop- 

 ment are closely adherent to each other, but at maturity separate and are 

 usually suspended from the summit of a prolongation of the axis. Each 

 carpel, commonly though erroneously denominated a seed, is marked lon- 

 gitudinally by 5 primary and 5 alternate secondary ridges, between which 

 are minute tubes, called vittw, containing essential oil. Seed proper sus- 

 pended from the summit of the cell, with a minute embryo in hard albu- 

 men. Stems usually hollow. Leaves with dilated or clasping petioles. 

 Umbels generally compound, the secondary ones being termed umbellets. 



A very large and well-characterized order, comprising many species 

 of medicinal or economic importance. Many of them possess agreeable 

 aromatic properties ; many others, on the other hand, are actively poison- 

 ous. In general the poisonous members of the order grow in wet places, 

 so that an umbellate plant found in such a situation should be viewed 

 with suspicion until its character has been ascertained. The flowers of all 

 plants of the order bear a close similarity to each other, and are therefore 



