Family, Evening Primrose. Color, magenta. Calyx-tube, deeply 4-lobed. Petals, 4. Stamens, 8, maturing before the pistil. Pistil, 1, with a 4-lobed, spreading stigma. Pod, long, at length bursting and liberating seeds furnished with downy white tufts. The flowers are large, in long racemes, terminating the stem. The lower ones mature while the uppermost are still in bud, giving an untidy appearance to the whole spike. Leaves, long, narrow, willowy, scattered, pinnately veined. July and August.

A tall, handsome plant, growing in low meadows and in burned-over districts. So the pine woods, which arc subject to frequent fires, give rise to this pink flower in great abundance. It illustrates one of nature's devices for covering ugliness with beauty.