280 



THE OENOTHERA FAMILY. 



9. Alpine Epilobe. Epilobium alpinum, Linn. (Fig. 344.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 2001. JE. anagallidi folium, Bab. Man.) 



This little plant is seldom more than 

 4 or 5 inches high, and often much 

 shorter, decumbent and much branched 

 at the base, glabrous or nearly so ; the 

 autumnal scions usually above ground, 

 slender and leafy, rarely short and tufted. 

 Leaves more or less stalked, small, ovate 

 or lanceolate, usually obtuse, and en- 

 tirely or obscurely toothed. The stems 

 have not the raised decurrent lines of 

 t\ie pale E., but are only marked occa- 

 sionally with faint downy lines. The 

 flowers, although as small as in the marsh 

 E. f appear large in proportion to the 

 size of the plant, they are few in the 

 axils of the upper leaves, forming short, 

 leafy racemes. Buds nodding. Petals 

 notched. Style ending in a club-shaped stigma, entire or nearly so. 

 Pod 1 to 2 inches long, narrowed at the base into a long stalk. 



Along alpine rills, and wet places in the high mountain-ranges or 

 Arctic regions of Europe, Russian Asia, and northern America. Abun- 

 dant in the Scotch Highlands, but very local in England, and does not 

 extend into Wales or Ireland. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 344. 



II. OENOTHERA. (ENOTHEBA. 



Herbs or undershrubs, with alternate leaves, and yellow, red, or 

 purple flowers, either axillary or in terminal spikes or racemes. Calyx- 

 tube prolonged above the ovary, 4-lobed at the top. Petals 4. Sta- 

 mens 8. Ovary and capsule 4-celled. Style distinct, with a capitate 

 or 4-lobed stigma. Seeds numerous, without any tuft of cottony hairs. 



A large American, and chiefly North American genus, from whence 

 several species are cultivated in our flower-gardens. 



1. Common CEnothera. CEnothera biennis, Linn. (Fig. 345.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1534. Evening Primrose.) 



A biennial, 2 or 3 feet high ; the stems almost simple, and more or 

 less hairy : leaves ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, slightly toothed, 



