146 



Descriptive Flora 



Flowers shell pink to deep pink, 2y 2 to 3 inches across, opening 

 and closing with the sun, lasting several days, and blossoming 

 singly or a few at a time out of the tops of thick, fleshy stems. 

 Petals many, in several rows, coming out of a thick, green, fleshy, 

 spiny cup. Within this circle of petals are innumerable yellow 

 stamens and in the center is the 10-rayed stigma. A very orna- 

 mental cactus. March and April. In rich soil, on dry, rocky 

 hills and hillsides. 



ONAGRACEAE. Evening Primrose Family. 

 EPILOBIACEAE. Evening Primrose Family. In Small's Flora. 



Tsnardia natans (Ell.) Small Marsh Purslane. 



(Ludwigia natans Ell) 



Smooth-stemmed, creeping or floating plants with 4 minute, 

 inconspicuous petals crowning a short ovary, one in the axil of 

 each leaf. Leaves simple, opposite. Blades 1 to 1*4 inches long, 

 broader above and tapering toward the base. Fruit a short, 4- 

 sided, inversely pyramidal capsule, about one-eighth inch long. 

 Spring to fall. Rooting in mud or floating in shallow water. 



Jussiaea diffusa Forskl. Floating Evening-primrose. 



Floating or creeping plants with showy, yellow, 4 or 5- 

 petaled flowers, about 1 inch across, solitary in the axils of the 

 leaves. Leaves simple, alternate. Blades entire, oblong, oval to 

 wedge-shaped, 1 to 3" long. Petals 4 or 5, large, crowning a long, 

 tubular ovary. Stamens 10. Pod woody, oblong or club-shaped, 

 iy 2 to 3 inches long, the body narrowed into a pedicel-like base. 

 April to fall. Creeping in mud or floating in shallow water. 

 Flowers close at sundown. 



Jussiaea suffruticosa L . Willow-leaved Evening-primrose. . 



Much branched green plant, 1 to 4 feet high, with showy, 

 yellow, 4-petaled flowers, growing on moist banks of streams. 

 Leaf -blades narrowly oblong or lanceolate, 2 to 6" long, tapering, 

 entire, short-petioled, strongly resembling Smartweed. Flowers 



