_Evening Primrose Family_
Herbs, with alternate or opposite leaves and perfect flowers; calyx
tube adnate to the ovary, 2—6 lobed; petals white, yellow, pink, or
purple, folded on each other in the bud; stamens usually as many or
twice as many as the petals.
Parts of the flower in 4’s; seeds with tufts of hair on the ends.
Calyx tube not prolonged beyond the ovary; flowers large.
=Chamænerion.=
Calyx tube prolonged beyond the ovary; flowers usually small.
=Epilobium.=
Parts of the flowers in 2’s; fruit with hooked hairs. =Circæa.=
[Sidenote: =Chamænerion angustifolium= (L.) Scop. _Great Willow-herb,
Fire-weed._]
Erect, stout, simple or branched, usually smooth, 2—8 feet high.
Leaves numerous, alternate, very short petioled, lanceolate, entire or
denticulate, 2—6 inches long, ¼—1 inch wide, pale beneath, thin, acute
at the apex, the lateral veins confluent in marginal loops. Flowers
¾—1½ inches broad, reddish-purple, in elongated terminal spike-like
racemes, 1—2 feet or more long.
An abundant plant throughout the entire region on open mountain sides
and banks, especially where visited by fire, flowering throughout the
summer, the air being filled with the white cottony seeds a few weeks
after flowering commences.
[Sidenote: =Chamænerion latifolium= (L.) _Sweet Broad-leaved
Willow-herb._]
Erect, usually branching, very smooth below, 6—18 inches high. Leaves
mostly sessile, 1—2 inches long, ¼—½ an inch wide, denticulate or
entire, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acutish at both ends, thick,
those of the branches opposite, the veins inconspicuous. Flowers
reddish-purple, 1—2 inches broad, mainly in short leafy-bracted
racemes; petals entire; stigma 4-lobed.
On gravelly river bars and moist clayey banks throughout the entire
region; flowering during July.
[Illustration: _a_ Epilobium luteum Pursh. Yellow Willow-herb. (⅗ Nat.)
_b_ Chamænerion latifolium (L.) Sweet. Broad-Leaved Willow-herb.]
[Sidenote: =Epilobium luteum= Pursh. _Yellow Willow-herb._]
Stems rather stout, 1—2 feet high, usually simple, nearly smooth.
Leaves 1—3 inches long, ovate or elliptical to broadly lanceolate,
acute or acuminate, sinuate-toothed, sessile, or when large, obliquely
tapering to a winged petiole, slightly fleshy. Inflorescence with more
or less glandular pubescence; flowers about ¾ of an inch long, not
opening widely, pale yellow, rather few, at first nodding in the axils
of the upper leaves; style usually exserted and deeply 4-parted.
A rather rare plant in springy places and along alpine brooks, confined
to the Selkirks: flowering during July.
[Sidenote: =Epilobium alpinum= L. _Alpine Willow-herb._]
Slender, smooth or nearly so, 3—12 inches high. Leaves pale, petioled,
opposite or the upper alternate, obtuse or obtusish at the apex, ½—¾ of
an inch long. Flowers, few, white, nearly erect, ¼ of an inch or more
broad; stigma nearly entire; capsules slender stalked, 1—2 inches long,
seeds beaked.
In damp and springy places at the higher altitudes throughout the
region; flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Epilobium anagallidifolium= Lam. _Nodding Willow-herb._]
Low, usually tufted, 2—6 inches high, slender, smooth or nearly so;
stems commonly hairy in lines and nodding at the apex. Leaves oblong
or narrowly ovate, entire or nearly so, obtuse at the apex, narrowed
at the base into a short petiole ½—1 inch long. Flowers few, axillary,
clustered at the apex, pink-purple, nodding, about ¼ of an inch broad;
stigma entire.
On damp stones and along alpine brooks at high elevations throughout
the region; flowering during midsummer.
[Illustration: Berberis aquifolium Pursh. (¼ Nat.) Trailing Mahonia.]
[Illustration: Chamænerion angustifolium (L.) Scop. (½ Nat.)
Fire-Weed.]
[Sidenote: =Epilobium Hornemanni= Reichb. _Hornemann’s Willow-herb._]
Erect, 6—12 inches high, simple or nearly so, slightly hairy above,
otherwise smooth. Leaves short-petioled, ovate or elliptic, mostly,
broadly obtuse at the apex, narrow or rounded at the base, entire or
rather remotely denticulate, thin, ½—1¼ inches long. Flowers few in the
upper axils, pink-purple or violet, ¼ of an inch or more broad; stigma
entire.
A frequent and very variable species throughout the region at the
higher elevations, along alpine brooks or in damp, partly shaded or
springy spots; flowering during June and July.
[Sidenote: =Circæa alpina= L. _Smaller Enchanter’s Nightshade._]
Mostly smooth or slightly hairy above, 3—8 inches high. Leaves acute
or acuminate at the apex, more or less cordate at the base, coarsely
dentate, 1—2 inches long. Flowers about ⅛ of an inch broad, white, on
pedicels nearly ¼ of an inch long, subtended by minute, slender bracts,
in a slender raceme; fruit nearly obovoid, about ⅛ of an inch long,
covered with weak hooked hairs.
In moist shaded situations and beside alpine brooks, through the
Selkirks; flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Circæa pacifica=. Achers and Magnus. _Western Enchanter’s
Nightshade._]
Mostly smooth, stems usually simple, 6—12 inches high, from a small
tuber. Leaves ovate, rounded or cordate at the base, acute or
acuminate, repandly dentate, 1—3 inches long, the slender petiole about
the same length. Flowers white, very small in slender racemes, without
bracts; fruit about ⅛ of an inch long loosely covered with soft curved
hairs.
Growing oftentimes with the other species in moist shaded situations
through the Selkirks; flowering in July.