SUN-CUPS.
Œnothera ovata, Nutt. Evening-Primrose Family.
Root.—A thick tap-root. Leaves.—All radical; oblong-lanceolate; smooth; ciliate. Flowers.—Solitary in the axils; bright golden yellow. Calyx-tube.—Filiform; one to five inches long; limb of four lanceolate, reflexed divisions. Petals.—Four; three to ten lines long. Stamens.—Eight. Ovary.—Four-celled; underground. Style filiform. Stigma capitate. Fruit.—A ribbed capsule. Hab.—Near the coast from San Francisco to Monterey.
This little evening primrose is an exceedingly interesting plant, although it is not of very wide distribution. The flat rosettes of leaves sometimes measure over a foot across, and are thickly sown with the bright golden flowers, large in proportion to the size of the plants. A flower or bud is found in the axil of every leaf, diminishing in size toward the center, one plant sometimes having a hundred blossoms and buds. These flowers are peculiarly fresh and winsome, and were they not so abundant where they grow they would doubtless be considered very beautiful.
A strange feature of the plant is its flower-stem, which is not a flower-stem at all, but a very much prolonged calyx-tube, the seed-vessel being just within the surface of the ground.
We wonder how these imprisoned seeds are going to escape and find lodgment to start new colonies elsewhere. Perhaps the moles and gophers could tell something about it if they would.
The leaves of these little plants are sometimes used for salads.
These blossoms are often erroneously called "cow-slips."