ONAGRACEiE. 



281 



lioary or downy. Flowers yellow, large, 

 and fragrant, in a long, terminal spike, 

 often leafy at the base. Ovary sessile, 

 about 6 to 8 lines long, the tube of the 

 calyx at least an inch longer, the petals 

 broad and spreading. Capsule oblong. 



A JN"orth American plant, long culti- 

 vated in European flower-gardens, and 

 now naturalized on river- banks and 

 other sandy places in several parts of 

 western Europe. Appears to be fully 

 established in Lancashire and some other 

 counties of England. Fl. summer and 

 autumn, opening in the evening. 



Fig. 345. 



III. LUDWI6IA. LUDWIGIA. 



Marshy or almost aquatic herbs, with opposite leaves, and small 

 flowers solitary in the axils of the upper leaves. Limb of the calyx of 

 4 short divisions. Petals very small, or, in the British species, none. 

 Stamens 4. Ovary and capsule 4-celled. Style distinct, with a capi- 

 tate stigma. Seeds numerous, without any tuft of hairs. 



The genus consists of a considerable number of species, widely dif- 

 fused over the hotter as well as the temperate regions of the globe, in 

 the new world as in the old. In their general habit and small flowers 

 they resemble Peplis, and some other semiaquatic plants of the Lyth- 

 rum family, but the inferior ovary and other characters are entirely 

 those of the Oenothera family. 



1. Marsh Ludwigia. Ludwigia palustris, Ell. (Fig. 346.) 



(Isnardia, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2593.) 



A small glabrous annual, 3 to 6 inches high or rarely more ; the 

 lower part of the stem creeping in mud or floating in water, branching 

 and rooting at almost every node. Leaves ovate and entire, 6 lines to 

 an inch long. Flowers closely sessile, with a small green calyx, no 

 petals, very small stamens, and an exceedingly short style, with acom- 

 paratively large capitate stigma. The capsule rapidly enlarges, being, 



VOL. I. Z 



