Part 65 (1/2)

6. CuPHEA, Jacq.

Calyx tubular, 12-ribbed, somewhat inflated below, gibbous or spurred at the base on the upper side, 6-toothed at the apex, and usually with as many little processes in the sinuses. Petals 6, very unequal. Stamens mostly 12, approximate in 2 sets, included, unequal. Ovary with a curved gland at the base next the spur of the calyx, 1--2-celled; style slender; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule oblong, few-seeded, early ruptured through one side.--Flowers solitary or racemose, stalked. (Name from ??f??, _gibbous_, from the shape of the calyx.)

1. C. viscosissima, Jacq. (CLAMMY CUPHEA.) Annual, very viscid-hairy, branching; leaves ovate-lanceolate; petals ovate, short-clawed, purple; seeds flat, borne on one side of the placenta, which is early forced out of the ruptured capsule.--Dry fields, R. I. to Ga., west to Kan. and La.

ORDER 42. ONAGRaCEae. (EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY.)

_Herbs, with 4-merous (sometimes 2--3- or 5--6-merous) perfect and symmetrical flowers; the tube of the calyx cohering with the 2--4-celled ovary, its lobes valvate in the bud, or obsolete, the petals convolute in the bud, sometimes wanting; and the stamens as many or twice as many as the petals or calyx-lobes_, inserted on the summit of the calyx-tube.

Style single, slender; stigma 2--4-lobed or capitate. Pollen grains often connected by cobwebby threads. Seeds anatropous, small, without alb.u.men.--Mostly herbs, with opposite or alternate leaves. Stipules none or glandular.

[*] Parts of the flower in fours or more.

[+] Fruit a many-seeded pod, usually loculicidal.

[++] Calyx-limb divided to the summit of the ovary, persistent.

1. Jussiaea. Petals 4--6. Stamens twice as many. Capsule elongated.

2. Ludwigia. Petals 4 or none. Stamens 4. Capsule short.

[++][++] Calyx-tube prolonged beyond the ovary (scarcely so in n. 3) and deciduous from it. Flowers 4-merous.

3. Epilobium. Seeds silky-tufted. Flowers small, not yellow. Lower leaves often opposite.

4. nothera. Seeds naked. Flowers mostly yellow. Leaves alternate.

[+][+] Fruit dry and indehiscent, 1--4-seeded. Leaves alternate.

5. Gaura. Calyx-tube obconical. Filaments appendaged at base.

6. Stenosiphon. Calyx-tube filiform. Filaments not appendaged.

[*][*] Parts of the flower in twos. Leaves opposite.

7. Circaea. Petals 2, obcordate or 2-lobed. Stamens 2. Fruit 1--2-seeded, bristly.

1. JUSSIae'A, L.

Calyx-tube elongated, not at all prolonged beyond the ovary; the lobes 4--6, herbaceous and persistent. Petals 4--9. Stamens twice as many as the petals. Capsule 4--6-celled, usually long, opening between the ribs. Seeds very numerous.--Herbs (ours glabrous perennials), with mostly entire and alternate leaves, and axillary yellow flowers, in summer. (Dedicated to _Bernard de Jussieu_, the founder of the Natural System of Botany.)

1. J. decurrens, DC. _Stem erect_ (1--2 high), branching, _winged_ by the decurrent lanceolate leaves; _calyx-lobes 4_, as long as the petals; _capsule oblong-club-shaped, wing-angled_; seeds in several rows in each cell.--Wet places, Va. to Fla., west to S. Ill., Ark., and La.

2. J. repens, L. _Stem creeping, or floating and rooting_; leaves oblong, _tapering into a slender petiole_; flowers large, long-peduncled; _calyx-lobes and obovate petals 5_; pod woody, cylindrical, with a tapering base; seeds quadrate, in 1 row in each cell, adherent to the spongy endocarp.--In water, Ill. and Ky. to E. Kan., Ark., and Tex.

2. LUDWiGIA, L. FALSE LOOSESTRIFE.

Calyx-tube not at all prolonged beyond the ovary; the lobes 4, usually persistent. Petals 4, often small or wanting. Stamens 4. Capsule short or cylindrical, many-seeded. Seeds minute, naked.--Perennial herbs, with axillary (rarely capitate) flowers, through summer and autumn. (Named for _C. G. Ludwig_, Professor of Botany at Leipsic, contemporary with Linnaeus.)

[*] _Leaves all alternate, sessile or nearly so._