46 
THE LADIES' FLOWER-GARDEN 
may mention the position of the capsule, which, being below the calyx, looks like the foot-stalk of the flower, and 
that all the parts of the flowers are in even numbers—such as twice two, or twice four. For example, in the 
genus CEnothera there are four sepals, four petals, and eight stamens. The capsule is also four-celled, and the 
stigma four-lobed. This constant adherence to even numbers is peculiar to the Onagracea. 
GENUS I. 
CENOTHERA, Lin. THE CENOTHERA, OR THE EVENING PRIMROSE. 
Lin. Syst. OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. — Limb of calyx 4-parted. Petals 4. Capsule oblong-linear, bluntly tetragonal or clavate, 4-oelled. Seeds naked.— 
(G. Don.) 
Description, &c. —The beautiful plants which used formerly to compose the genus CEnothera, have lately 
been divided by M. E. Spach, a German botanist residing in Paris, into no less than fourteen genera (see Annates 
des Sciences Naturelles. — Botanique, 2d Ser. tom. iv. p. 161) ; but many of these genera are founded on such very 
slight distinctions, that they have not been adopted by botanists in general. Godetia is the only one of M. Spach’s 
genera which has been adopted by Dr. Lindley, and it includes all the purple and lilac-flowered (Enotheras, as 
they all have a part of their seeds bordered by a feathery margin, so small however as to be quite imperceptible 
without a very powerful microscope, as the seeds themselves are not larger than grains of sand. Spach’s genus 
Boisduvalia has also been adopted by some botanists: it contains two species, CEnothera densiflora, Lindt., and 
CEnothera concinna, D. Don ; and the distinctive mark is, that the four stamens opposite the petals are much 
shorter than the others. Dr. Lindley, however, rejects this genus. We have entered more at length into these 
botanical distinctions than we should otherwise have done, because the name of Godetia has been generally 
adopted for the three new lilac-flowered specimens introduced in 1835, while the other purple and lilac kinds are 
all still called in the seed-shops by their original name of CEnothera. For this reason, and because Dr. Lindley 
states (Bot. Reg. t. 1829), that he considers the purple-flowered kinds distinct, and that they will not mix with 
the true yellow-flowered evening primroses, we shall follow him in calling the purple and lilac-flowered species 
Godetia, and arranging all the other kinds under the general name of CEnothera. 
The name of evening primrose was given to the CEnotheras because CE. biennis (a yellow-flowered biennial 
species), which was the first introduced from America, has the habit of closing its flowers during sunshine, and 
not opening them till evening, or during cloudy weather, and this is the case with several other species. The 
name of CEnothera (which is said to be derived from two Greek words, signifying wine inducer) is also supposed 
to be taken from CEnothera biennis; as, when that plant was first introduced, its roots were eaten like olives, 
to give a relish to wine. CE. biennis, in the old catalogues of plants, is called the tree primrose of Virginia. 
