tube of the calyx obconic (very short), many times shorter than the linear
ovary ; petals (“ ochroleucous,” Nutt., about 2 lines long) broadly oval, entire,
rather acute, twice the length of the longer stamens and the style ; stigma
capitate, somewhat 4-lobed; capsules erect, nearly straight; linear, slightly
quadrangular, scarcely attenuate at either end, on a short but distinct
pedicel.
St. Diego, California, Nuttall! May.—Plant a foot or more high, with
the habit of an Epilobium, very minutely puberulent. Leaves scattered,
about half an inch long and 1-2 lines wide. Tube of the calyx minute.
Anthers oblong, attached near the base ; those of the shorter stamens smaller.
Capsules an inch long and about half a line in diameter, cylindrical, but
slightly angled.
61. CE. strigulosa: pubescent with minute hairs, at length nearly glabrous;
stem slender, branched near the base; leaves linear, denticulate, attenuate
towards the base; flowers (very small) axillary; tube of the calyx obconic,
very short, about half the length of the oblong-lanceolate (reddish) segments;
ovary filiform; petals (a line long) broadly obovate, entire, exceeding (by
one-third) the longer stamens and the large stigma ; capsules elongated and
very slender, slightly quadrangular, torulose, sessile, of nearly the same
diameter throughout, at length incurved or somewhat contorted.—CE. siliquo-
sa, Nutt.! mss. Sphserostigma strigulosa, Fisch. &f Meyer, ind. sem. St.
Petersb. (1835) p. 50. (ex descr.)
Near St. Diego, California, Nuttall! (California, Fisch. Meyer.) Also
in the Rocky Mountain plains near Lewis’s River, Nuttall!—Stem 8-12
inches high. Leaves scarcely an inch long, less than a line wide. Capsules
an inch long, scarcely half a line wide. Seeds oblong, terete.—The plant,
as Mr. Nuttall remarks, has wholly the appearance of a small Epilobium.
62. CE. Andina (Nutt.! mss.): “ very small, depressed, canescently
puberulent; leaves linear-spatulate, attenuate into slender petioles, entire,
obtuse; flowers minute, axillary, very numerous | tube of the calyx infun-
dibuliform, rather shorter than the segments, many times shorter than the
subulate ovary; petals (less than half a line long) obovate, entire, scarcely
exceeding the longer stamens, shorter than the style; stigma large ; capsules
canescent, somewhat 4-sided, attenuate-subulate above, straight.
“ Dry plains in the Rocky Mountains, near the Black-Foot River.—A
very remarkable and distinct species. Stem about an inch and a half high,
sending off decumbent branches from the base. Leaves less than a line
wide, half an inch or more in length. Flowers commencing with the lowest
leaves. Capsules large for the size of the plant, 3-4 lines long: the dissepiments
almost wanting. Seeds cylindrical, on a filiform placenta.” Nutt.
(E. media (Link. enum. Berol.) appears from the description to be CE. linearis,
except that the capsules are said to be sessile.
CE. tetragona (Roth) is doubtless CE. fruticosa.
CE. alata, Raf. fl. Ludov.
CE. viscosa, Raf. fl. Ludov.
4. GAYOPHYTUM. Adr. Juss. in ann. sci. nat. 25.p . 18, t. 4.
Tube of the calyx not at all produced beyond the ovary; the limb 4-parted,
reflexed. Petals 4. Stamens 8; the alternate ones (opposite the petals)
minute and mostly sterile: filaments filiform: anthers subglobose, fixed
above the middle ; those of the shorter stamens minute. Ovary oblong or
Gayophytum. ONAGRACEiE. 513
linear, compressed, 2-celled : style short: stigma large, capitate, rarely cla-
vate. Capsule membranaceous, linear or linear-clavate, 2-celled, 4-valved,
many-seeded; the valves revolute, the 2 opposite ones bearing the narrow
dissepiment, which is at length separable ; the 2 others rather smaller.
Seeds naked, obovate or oblong, ascending, imbricated in a single series in
each cell. Cotyledons oval: radicle obtuse.—Small and much branched
annual herbs, (natives of the Western portion of America) with linear
entire nearly sessile veinless (often revolute) leaves, and minute flowers.
Petals (pale yellow, Juss. but this is doubtful) rose-color, (fide Nutt. & spec.)
Capsules pedicellate.
The discovery of several additional species of Gayophytum certainly tends to
confirm the gonus; but some species of (Enothera (Sphserostigma) with minute
flowers and very short calyx-tube approach it somewhat too closely. Sphaarostig-
ma minutiflorum, Fisch. <$• Meyer^ judging from a specimen in flower only, belongs
to this genus.
* Stigma small, clavate (flowers larger): pedicels as long as the linear-clavate
torulose capsules: seeds 6—10 in each cell.
1'. G. diffusum: nearly glabrous; stem divaricately and dichotomously
much branched above ; flowers terminating the branches ; segments of the
calyx more than half the length of the linear-subclavate minutely canescent
ovary, shorter than the petals ; stamens all fertile; the longer ones about the
length of the petals, with roundish-oval anthers; the shorter with smaller
globose anthers ; style longer than the stamens; stigma small, subclavate;
capsules oblong, acute at the base, about the length of the capillary pedicels.
CEnothera (Trichomeria) diffusa, Nu tt.! mss.
Rocky Mountains and plains of Oregon, Nuttall! July.—Stems 6-12
inches high, with numerous filiform branches. Flowers nearly 2 lines in
diameter. Capsules about one-fourth of an inch in length. Radicle shorter
than the oval cotyledons.—The shorter filaments are more than half the
length of the longer ones, with nearly similar, but smaller, apparently pol-
leniferous anthers. Excepting the larger flowers, it wholly accords with the
succeeding species in appearance.
* * Stigma large, capitate (flowers minute).
t Capsules short, linear-clavate, on slender pedicels : seeds 6-10 in each cell.
2. G. ramosissimum: glabrous, divaricately branched; flowers (very
minute) towards the extremity of the branches; segments of the calyx
lanceolate-oblong, acute, as long as the petals, rather shorter than the clavate-
oblong ovary ; longer stamens rather shorter than the petals (the 4 alternate
ones wanting?); capsules oblong, acute at the base, few-seeded, shorter
than the capillary pedicels— CEnothera (Trichomeria) ramosissima, Nutt.!
mss.
“ Rocky Mountains &c., with the preceding, from which it is distinguished
principally by its smaller flowers and larger round stigma.” Nuttall__
This species, judging from an imperfect Chilian specimen, nearly resembles
the original G. micranthum, H ok. 8p Am. (G. humile, Adr. Juss.), and
the flowers are about the same size (scarcely a line in diameter) ; but it is
readily distinguished by the capillary pedicels. The flowers in our speci