(ENOTHERA MISSOURENSIS. LARGE-FRUITED (ENOTHERA. 
Class VIII. OCTANDRIA. Order I. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order, ONAGRARI^E. — THE EVENING PRIMROSE TRIBE. 
Perianth one-leafed, superior, deciduous : tube cylindrical, erect, long, deciduous : border four-cleft ; the 
segments oblong, acute, bent down. Petals four, obcordate, flat, inserted into the interstices of the calyx. 
Filaments eight, awl-shaped, curved inwards, inserted into the throat of the calyx, shorter than the corolla. 
Anthers oblong, incumbent. Germ cylindrical, inferior. Style filiform, the length of the stamens. Stigma 
four-cleft, thick, blunt, reflex. Capsule cylindrical, four-cornered, four-celled, four-valved, with contrary 
partitions. Seeds very many, angular, naked. Receptacle columnar, four-cornered : with the angles con- 
tiguous to the margin of the partitions. 
Specific Character. Leaves lanceolate, veined. Petals serrated. Capsule elliptic, angular. 
Stems branched, prostrate, and of a fine purple ; the leaves are seated close on the stem : the flowers 
appear at each joint ; the petals are supported on a long tube somewhat resembling longiflora ; calyx spotted ; 
the capsules are seated close to the leaves. 
This interesting dwarf plant has been described as a biennial ; and though it will be found to live and 
flower for more than two years, yet its existence is but of short duration ; it would therefore better support the 
appellation of a short-lived perennial. The present plant and the CE. macrocarpa have been imagined by 
some persons to be the same ; the flowers of both are similar in appearance and colour, but the straggling 
habit of growth and the narrowness of the leaves of the missourensis will mark a sufficient distinction. 
During the months of July and August the prostrate branches of the missourensis are abundantly decorated 
by very numerous and luxuriant yellow flowers, which become truly conspicuous from their size, and par- 
ticularly so from their being produced on a plant of such humble growth. By intermixing this species with 
the plant CE. caspitosa (a plant similar in its habit of growth, but bearing a white flower) a pleasing and 
beautiful group for ornamenting small beds on a lawn or in a flower-garden may be obtained. The careless 
mixture of the blooms appearing above the dark green leaves, through which the elegantly twining purple 
stem is casually seen, produces a beauty that every lover of the flower-garden must view with admiration. 
The rock-work of a garden will also receive a considerable additional charm by a judicious decoration with 
these elegant little trailing plants. These species of (Enothera require an earth tolerably rich : mellow loam, 
rotten manure, and decayed leaves will form a good composition. As there is no certainty of raising a sup- 
ply by separating the roots, it is advisable to increase these plants by cuttings, which if planted in an earth 
somewhat sandy, placed under a hand-glass, and partially shaded, will readily strike : they should be kept 
in pots under the protection of a frame during the first winter, after which they will thrive well in the open 
border. This species was discovered by Mr. Nuttall growing freely near the banks of the Missouri.* 
From Dr. Lardner’s Lectures delivered at New York, we select the following extraordinary and per- 
fectly original observations upon the influence of the moon : — 
Lunar Influences. — On a former occasion I examined the question respecting the supposed in- 
fluence of the moon upon the weather, and demonstrated that so far as actual observation has hitherto 
afforded grounds for reasoning, there is no discoverable correspondence between the lunar changes and the 
vicissitudes of rain and drought which can justify or in any degree countenance the popular belief so gene- 
rally entertained as to dependence of change of weather upon the changes of the moon. 
But meteorological phenomena are not the only effects imputed to our satellite ; that body, like com- 
ets, is made responsible for a vast variety of interferences with organized nature. The circulation of the 
juices of vegetables, the qualities of grain, the fate of the vintage, are all laid to its account : and timber 
must be felled, the harvest cut down and gathered in, the juice of the grape expressed, at times and under 
circumstances regulated by the aspects of the moon, if excellence be hoped for in these products of the soil. 
According to popular belief, our satellite also presides over human maladies ; and the phenomena of 
the sick-chamber are governed by the lunar phases ; nay, the very marrow of our bones, and the weight of 
our bodies, suffer increase of diminution by its influence. Nor is its imputed power confined to physical 
or organic effects: it notoriously governs mental derangement. 
* Flora Conspicua. 
