EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY. Onagraceae. 
w 
There are several kinds of Sphaerostigma; leaves alter- 
nate; flowers yellow, white or pink, turning green or 
reddish; stamens eight, with oblong, swinging anthers; 
style threadlike, with a round-top stigma; capsule four- 
celled, usually long and narrow, four-angled, often twisted, 
with no stalk. 
; A common kind, very variable in its 
Evening Primrose jvanner of growth, being tall and erect in 
ee ey moist, shady places and spreading flat on 
(Oenothera) the ground in dry, sunny spots. The 
Yellow leaves are dull green, more or less downy 
Spring) and more or less toothed, and the flowers 
California 
are three-quarters of an inch across, clear 
yellow, usually with a speck, or blotch, of reddish-brown 
at the base of each petal; the stamens and pistil also 
yellow; the pods reddish and very much twisted. Gravelly 
washes are often thickly sprinkled with 
S phaerostigma a : 
V ccichinwute these gay and charming flowers. 
(Oenothera) Much like the last, but the flowers are 
Yellow only a little over a quarter of an inch 
a. across. The pods are dark red and shiny, 
California 
with a few hairs. 
A beautiful seashore plant, forming 
Beach Primrose jarce, low clumps of reclining stems and 
S phaerostigma f y 
Pipe ad pale gray, downy foliage, the twigs 
(Oenothera and younger leaves silvery-white. The 
cheiranthifolia var. flowers are about an inch and a quarter 
seictecos) across, clear yellow, often with two, dark 
Yellow - 
‘A ceanons red dots at the base of each petal; the 
California stamens and pistil also yellow of the same 
shade; the pods pinkish, downy, and much 
twisted. The flat masses of pale foliage, strewn with 
golden disks, are exceedingly effective, growing in drifting 
sand hills along the coast, from San Francisco south. 
w 
324 

