CENOTHERA, (Evening Primrose,) Nat. Ord. Onagracece. 
ENOTHERAS are a very fine genus of showy plants, opening their 
flowers suddenly in the 
latter part of the day, 
and making a most 
brilliant exhibition du- 
ring the evening and 
early in the morning. 
Some of the large va- 
rieties will attract as 
much attention as any 
thing that can be' 
grown. They certainly 
look like things of life, as they open with a nervous 
motion that cannot only be seen but heard. The low, 
white variety, acatdis alba, is a marvel of beauty, pro- 
ducing flowers four inches across, pure white, and one 
or more flowers appearing each successive evening. Most other varieties are primrose yellow. 
OBELISGARIA, Nat. Ord. Composite. 
The Obeliscarias are coarse plants with showy flowers. The best, O. pulcherrima, exhibits 
a strange commingling of red, brown and yellow. The engraving gives a 
very good idea of the form of this flower, with 
its curious, acorn-like center, and drooping 
petals, or rather, the ray-flowers. These ray- 
flowers are of a rich, velvety crimson, edged 
with yellow. The central cone, or disk, is 
brown until the ray-flowers expand, and they 
are bright yellow. The flowers are borne on 
pretty long stems, and plants are about eigh- 
teen inches in height. The Obeliscaria we cannot call beautiful, but it is interesting. 
OXYURA, Nat. Ord, Composites. 
Oxyura chrysanthemoides is a very pretty, free-flowering, little hardy annual, one of the very 
many pretty things for which we are indebted to California, The plant 
is neat in habit, branching, about eighteen 
inches in height; the flower is daisy-like, ^P.*^ ^ 
size and form being very well represented in 
the engraving. The color is of the most 
delicate lemon yellow, with a clear, white 
edging. The effect of these two colors is 
very pretty. The only possible objection to 
this plant is the fact that it does not continue in flower all the summer, like ttie Phlox, Petunia, etc. 
PALAFOXIA, Nat. Ord. Composites. 
ALAFOXIA HoOKERlANA is a fine, new 
several species, but the best is the one we 
describe, which is of a dwarf, branching 
habit. The flowers are rosy crimson, 
with a dark center, and continue in 
flower well through the summer. We 
have uniformly sown the seed of this 
flower under glass, judging from its ap- 
pearance and place of nativity, Texas 
and Mexico, that this would be the best 
treatment, but some of our correspondents 
have succeeded by sowing in the open ground. Set the plants about ten inches apart. 
80 
annual. There are 
