BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
157 
species is a biennial, and its pale yellow blossoms do not open till the evening, when they give out a delightful 
fragrance. The following beautiful lines on this flower are from Clare’s Rural Muse ,:— 
“ When once the sun sinks in the west, 
And dew-drops pearl the evening’s breast; 
Almost as pale as moon-beams are, 
Or its companionable star, 
The Evening Primrose opes anew 
Its lovely blossoms to the dew; 
And, hermit-like, shunning the light, 
Wastes its fair bloom upon the night. 
Who, blindfold to its fond caresses, 
Knows not the beauty she possesses. 
Thus it blooms on while night is by ; 
When day looks out with open eye, 
’Bashed at the gaze it cannot shun, 
It faints, and withers, and is gone.” 
GENUS III. 
THE ISNARDIA. (Isnardia, Lin.) 
Lin. Syst. TETRANDR1A MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —Calyx with a four-parted limb. Potals four, and a loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds many. Aquatic or marsh plants, 
or none. Stamens four, alternate with the petals. Style deciduous. Leaves entire, alternate, or opposite. Flowers axillary, sessile. ( Dec .) 
Stigma capitate. Capsule four-cornered, four-celled, with four valves, 
Description, &c. —The only species in this genus (/. palustris , Lin.) is a little insignificant marsh-plant, 
the flowers of which have no petals. It is an annual, and flowers in July. The genus is named in honour of a 
French botanist; and it is placed in the Linnsean class and order Tetrandria Monogynia, from its four stamens 
and its single style. 
CHAPTER XXXYI. 
THE ENCHANTER’S NIGHTSHADE FAMILY. (Circ^aceze, Lindlexj.) 
Character of the Order. —Calyx superior, deciduous, tubular, 
with a two-parted limb. Petals two, alternate with the lobes of the 
calyx. Stamens two, alternate with the petals, inserted into the calyx. 
Disk large, cup-shaped, filling up the whole of the tube of the calyx, 
and projecting beyond it. Ovarium two-celled, -with an erect ovulum 
in each cell ; style simple, arising out of the disk ; stigma emarginate. 
Fruit two-celled, two-valved, two-seeded. Seeds solitary, erect ; 
albumen none ; embryo erect ; radicle short, inferior. Herbaceous 
plants. Leaves opposite, toothed, stalkod. Flowers in terminal and 
lateral racemes, covered with uncinate hairs. ( Lindley .) 
Description, &c. —The only genus in this order is Circoea, which takes both its English and scientific 
name from its supposed magical properties. It is said to be the herb which Circe gave to the companions of 
Ulysses to turn them into swine; but if it was, it has greatly degenerated in modern times, for it has now no 
medicinal property whatever. There are two species in the genus, C. lutetiana , the Common Enchanter’s 
Nightshade, and C. alpina , which is somewhat smaller in all its parts, and is only found in Westmoreland 
and Cumberland, and in some parts of Scotland. Both species are perennials with very small pink flowers, 
and their seeds covered with hooked bristles. 
