_Stems._--Prostrate. _Leaves._--All radical; a foot or so long; pinnate, with seven to twenty-one leaflets with smaller ones interposed. _Leaflets._--Sessile; oblong; toothed; shining green; silvery beneath. _Flowers._--Bright yellow; long-peduncled; solitary; an inch across. _Sepals._--Five; with five bractlets between. _Petals._--Five. _Stamens._--Twenty to twenty-five. _Pistils._--Numerous; on a hairy receptacle. _Hab._--Throughout North America.
The bright golden blossoms of the silver-weed are common in moist places, haunting stream-banks, lingering about stagnant ponds, or even pushing their way up amid the grasses of our salt marshes. The white under-surfaces of the leaves are responsible for one of the common names of this plant.
_P. glandulosa_, Lindl., is found upon dry hillsides. It is one or two feet high, and is an ill-smelling, somewhat sticky plant, with glandular hairs. The stems are leafy, and the small flowers, like pale-yellow strawberry-blossoms, are produced in loose clusters. The corolla scarcely exceeds the calyx. The leaves, which have from five to nine leaflets, have not the silvery under-surface of those of _P. Anserina_.
_Œnothera biennis_, L. Evening-Primrose Family.
_Stems._--Stout; usually simple; one to five feet high; more or less hairy. _Leaves._--Mostly sessile; lanceolate to oblong; two to six inches long; denticulate. _Flowers._--Golden yellow; in a leafy spike; erect in the bud. _Calyx-tube._--Twelve to thirty lines long. _Petals._--Six to nine lines long. _Stigma-lobes._--Linear. _Capsule._--An inch or less long. (See _Œnothera_.) _Hab._--Throughout the United States.
The common evening primrose is a very widespread plant in the United States, and it has long been in cultivation in Europe. Its flowers open suddenly at night, and, according to tradition, with a popping noise. Referring to this, the poet Keats speaks of--
"A turf of evening primroses, O'er which the mind may hover till it dozes; O'er which it well might take a pleasant sleep, But that 'tis ever startled by the leap Of buds into ripe flowers."
These blossoms are said to be luminous at night, shining by the sunlight they have stored during the daytime.
The young roots, which are edible, are excellent, either pickled or boiled, having a nutty flavor. In Germany and France these are used, either stewed or raw, in salads, like celery; and the young mucilaginous twigs are also used in the same way. A tincture of the whole plant is a valued remedy in medicine for many disorders. Our Californian plants are mostly of the _var. hirsutissima_, Gray, having very large flowers and a hairy capsule.