178 ONAGRACE^. ( EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY.) 



England to Perm., Illinois, and northward. There is also a small an simple 

 1 -few-flowered form (4' -9' high), less hoary or nearly glabrous, with shorter 

 leaves (E. oliganthum, Michx.), found in N. New York, White Mountains of 

 New Hampshire, and northward. This is E. nutans, Sommerf. & E. lineare, 

 Fries, but the pods are usually a little hoary. (Eu.) 



5. E. molle, Torr. Soft-downy all over, strictly erect (1° -2^° high), at 

 length branching; leaves crowded; linear -oblong or lanceolate, blunt, mostly peti- 

 oled; petals rose-color, notched (2" -3" long). — Bogs, Rhode Island and 

 Pennsylvania to Michigan, and northward. Sept. 



6. E. coloratura, Muhl. Glabrous or nearly so ; stem roundish, not 

 angled, much branched (1° -3° high), many-flowered ; leaces lanceolate or ovate- 

 oblong, acute, denticulate, often petioled, not at all decurrent, thin, usually pur- 

 ple-veined ; flower-buds erect ; petals purplish, 2-cleft at the summit (l^"-2" 

 long). — Wet places : common. July - Sept. 



4. OENOTHERA, L. Evening Primrose. 



Calyx-tube prolonged beyond the ovary, deciduous ; the lobes 4, reflexed. 

 Petals 4. Stamens 8 : anthers mostly linear and versatile. Pod 4-valved, 

 many-seeded. Seeds naked. — Leaves alternate. (Name from oivos, wine, and 

 Orjpa, a hunt or eager pursuit, given to some plant the roots of which were eaten 

 to provoke a relish for wine.) 

 § 1, Tube of the calyx filiform or cylindrical and much prolonged beyond the ovary : 



stamens nearly equal : anthers linear : stigma of 4 filiform or linear divergent 



lobes. 

 * Annuals or biennials: flowers nocturnal, odorous, yellow, withering the next day : 

 pods fusiform or cylindrical, closely sessile. 

 1. CE. biennis, L. (Common Evening-Primrose.) Eret, mostly 

 hairy ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, obscurely toothed ; flowers in a terminal 

 rather leafy spike ; calyx -tube much prolonged ; petals inversely heart shaped 

 (light yellow); pods o'dong, somewhat tapering above. — Varies greatly; as 

 Var. 1. mtjricAta, with rough-bristly stem and pods, and petals rather longer 

 than the stamens. Var. 2. grandifl6ra, with larger and more showy petals. 

 Var. 3. parvifl6ra, with petals about the length of the stamens. Var. 4. 

 cruciAta, with singularly small and narrow linear-oblong petals, shorter than 

 the stamens, and smooth pods. Var. 5. OakesiAna (CE. Oak^siana, Robbins), 

 with a minute and wholly appressed pubescence, or almost glabrous : otherwise 

 as Var. 3. — Fields and waste places : very common. June- Sept. 



2. CE. rhombipetala, Nutt. Petals rhombic-ovate, acute ; calyx-tube very 

 slender, extended an inch longer than the short cylindrical ovary : otherwise 

 resembling a smoothish or rather hoary narrow-leaved state of No. 1 . — Sandy 

 soil, Illinois, Wisconsin, and westward. July- Sept. 



3. CE. sinuata, L. Hairy, low, ascending, or at length procumbent; leaves 

 oblong or lanceolate, sinuate-toothed, often pinnatifid, the lower petioled ; flow- 

 ers (small) axillary ; petals not longer than the stamens (pale yellow, rose-color 

 in fading); pods cylindrical, elongated. — Sandy fields, New Jersey and south- 

 ward, principally a dwarf state. Juno. 



