CORNACEAE 
111 
1. O. biennis L. Biennial, stout, usually simple, 3 to 15 dm. high, 
more or less, hirsute; leaves lanceolate to oblong, mostly sessile; flowers 
opening at night.—Throughout U. S. 
2. O. californica Wats. Stems several from a perennial rootstock, 
ascending; calyx-tips free in the bud; petals white, fading purplish; 
flowers opening at night and remaining open two or three hours in the 
morning.—Sacramento Valley to S. Cal. 
3. O. ovata Nutt. Golden Eggs, Root fleshy; leaves 7.2 to 14.4 cm. 
long; calyx-tube 7.2 cm. long; petals yellow, orbicular 1.2 cm. long; 
ovary and capsules more or less below the surface of the ground, the 
latter 2.4 cm. long.—Coast Range valleys. 
4. O. graciliflora H. & A. Annual; leaves erect or ascending 8.9 cm. 
long or less; petals yellow, broadly obovate, with a shallow notch at 
apex, 6 to 8 mm. long.—Hillsides. 
5. O. cheiranthifolia Hornem. Stems prostrate or decumbent, rigid 
and tough, radiating from a central rosette crowning the perennial root; 
young herbage white-pubescent: leaves obovate to oblanceolate, the upper 
sessile; petals yellow, aging red or green as in the next, broader than 
long, 6 to 10 mm. long; capsules sharply 4-angled, becoming contorted.— 
Sand dunes along the coast. 
6. O. micrantha Hornem. Habit of no. 5 but branches not tough; 
pubescence hirsutulous; leaves oblong, lanceolate or oblanceolate, often 
undulate, denticulate; petals entire or notched, 2 to 4 mm. long; capsules 
sharply 4-angled, becoming contorted, 2.4 long.—Maritime. 
7. O. bistorta Nutt. Annual; stem at first a very short primary axis 
bearing a basal tuft of leaves and flowers, later producing erect or de¬ 
cumbent leafy flowering branches 1.4 to 4 dm. long; leaves linear or 
lanceolate (or the basal ones oblong-obovate) ; petals yellow, often with 
a small brown spot at base, broadly obovate, 8 to 14 mm. long; capsules 
1.8 to 2.7 cm. long, 2 mm. wide, narrowed upward, more or less curved 
or flexuous.—S. Cal., sandy soils. 
8. O. strigulosa T. & G. Slender erect or at length diffusely branched 
annuals 1.4 to 2.4 dm. high; leaves linear, mostly 1.2 cm. long; petals 2 
to 4 mm. long, aging to bright red.—Sandy lands. 
9. O. gauraeflora T. & G. Annual; often stout, erect, 1.5 to 6 dm. 
high; bark loose, white, shining; leaves lanceolate to narrowly oblanceo¬ 
late; spike often many-flowered; capsules attenuate from the base to a 
narrow beak.—S. Cal. and n. 
CORNACEAE. DOGWOOD FAMILY 
Shrubs or low plants with opposite simple leaves, 4 petals, 4 stamens, 
a single style, and an inferior 2-celled ovary becoming a 1 or 2-seeded 
fleshy Stone fruit. Calyx-tube coherent with the ovary, its limb repre¬ 
sented by 4 small teeth at the summit or none.—Species about 120, north 
temperate regions. 
1. CORN US L. Cornel. Dogwood 
Leaves entire. Flowers small in open clusters or close heads. (Latin 
cornu, a horn, on acount of the hardness of the wood.) 
