sa (Enothera grandijlora.
R oot biennial. Stem from two to four feet high, very much
branched, the central branch or continuation of the main stem,
much exceeding the other branches in length ; generally destitute
of pubescence, but not unfrequently downy. Leaves broad-lanceolate,
from three to six inches long, and one and a half or two inches
broad, scalloped towards the base, glabrous for the most part, though
often pubescent. Upper leaves half the size of the lower ones, and
much undulated on the margin, and irregularly folded and twisted.
Flowers axillary, very large, sessile, agreeably odorous. Petals
deeply emarginate, gamboge-yellow, expanding after sunset and
during the night. Tube of the calix one and a half inch long; germ
glabrous or pubescent. Stamens declinate, and somewhat shorter
than the corolla. Anthers orange-yellow, filaments curved at their
bases or near their points of origin. Stigma cruciate, the divisions of
the cross clavate. Found native in the woods and fields, and about
habitations, in Carolina and Georgia, flowering from May until
August.
Theophrastus describes a plant, the root of which had caught the
perfume of wine from being dried. Hence he called it (Enothera,
from *<*•!, wine, and e??*, a searching or catching. Modern botanists
do not know whether any one of the species of our genus (Enothera,
be the plant described by Theophrastus, though there is no doubt that
this is the derivation of the name by which they are now grouped.
(Enothera grandijlora. 23
Of the numerous species of this genus native of this country, the
present one may properly be considered the largest and most worthy
of cultivation. The flowers possess a very agreeable scent, and
in favourable soil and exposure, become even larger than represented
in the plate. They first appear about the last, of May or beginning
of June, and continue successively blooming, until August and
September: those however which appear last, are considerably smaller
than those which expand in the first month of florescence. They open
in the evening, just after sunset, by a very sudden retraction of the
calix leaves, in a manner common perhaps to the genus, but more
especially conspicuous in this species, and the (E. biennis, to which
it bears a very close resemblance, and of which it has been deemed
by some a luxuriant variety. It is however specifically distinct. The
same flower does not open a second time, but a numerous succession
of new ones continues to adorn the plant during the time already
mentioned. Luxuriant garden specimens are not uncommon, of four
and five feet height, exhibiting a profusion of flowers at the same
time. Pursh informs us that he has noticed .a phosphoric light emanating
during dark nights, from the flowers of the (E. biennis; and it
is not improbable that the same circumstance attends the expansion
of the flowers of the present species. Mr. Elliott restricts the habitat
of (E. grandiflora, to the vicinity of habitations in South Carolina
and Georgia, remarking that it is “ certainly not indigenous in the
low country.”