The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening

Every genus a Victorian gardener could grow — Abelia to Zygopetalum across four volumes, with each plant's history, species, and culture, by the Curator of Kew.

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Onagrarieae

An order of inodorous, annual or perennial herbs, rarely shrubs or trees, a few being aquatic. They are found in all temperate regions, but are rare in the tropics. Flowers generally hermaphrodite, usually axillary and solitary, or else spicate or racemose at the tips of the branchlets, rarely paniculate; calyx tube adnate to the ovary; lobes two or four, rarely five or six, valvate; petals often two or four (rarely none), inserted at the base of the disk, fugacious, twisted. Fruit capsular, nut or berry-like. Leaves opposite and alternate, membranous, entire or rarely pinnatifid, sometimes toothed or serrated; stipules none. The species contain mucous and, occasionally, somewhat astringent principles. The berries, as a rule, are sweet and edible; while the roots of several species of (Oenothera are also eaten. The order comprises twenty-two genera and about 300 species. Illustrative genera are: Fuchsia, Gaura, Oenothera, and Trapa.

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