42 University of California Publications in Botany [Vol. 6 



In former years it was very common in this general region, but 

 cultivation of the lands and extension of villages has considerably 

 restricted it, and the following appreciative note of Mr. C. H. Shinn 

 scarcely represents the present fact : 



There is a glowing California field-flower that possesses many charms, and 

 well deserves introduction to the garden. In its season this lovely Californian 

 Oenothera, with its dwarf growth and its compact clusters of golden bloom, 

 appears as distinct and as striking a feature of the landscape as the great 

 flame-red Eschscholtzias. One can almost claim that, when the Wild Poppy 

 became the state flower, the modest merits of this perennial Evening Primrose 

 were sadly neglected. 



The other day — it was May 10th — I walked \i\) the long seaward slopes of 

 Berkeley. Every vacant lot and the very streets were golden with little plats 

 of shining blossoms. I began to remember that for three or four months this 

 brilliant display continues; I bent down and counted the flowers and yet un- 

 opened buds on the nearest plant of Oenothera ovata. The plant was nowise 

 conspicuous among its fellows that dotted the slope; in fact, many showed far 

 more flowers and covered a greater area. The sample jilant, however, made a 

 very respectable display. The circle of its outer leaves was about a foot in 

 diameter; they rested upon the turf, hardly rising four inches above it at any 

 point. Fifteen open flowers rose well above the foliage, and no less than thirty- 

 six buds could be counted without pulling the crown apart and descending to 

 the microscopic sizes. Each of the four-petaled flowers was fully as large as a 

 fifty-cent piece; one almost covered a silver dollar. The rich clear yellow hue. 

 and the regularity of the petals and stamens, with the golden ball of the erect 

 pistil, formed a charming whole. 



Botanists are interested in this little Oenothera on account of its peculiarly 

 long calyx-tube, which is never less than one inch, and usually is from three to 

 five inches long. The ovarj' is concealed in the very crown of the plant, and is 

 thus protected from accident in as complete a manner as one could well imagine. 

 There are not many flowers of this curious type, and none is better adapted for 

 a garden-flower. Oenothera ovata, if planted on the lawn in a solid bed of, say, 

 ten feet square, would surprise every beholder by its abundant bloom and its 

 glowing color. 1 



The observations, extending over several years, that follow have 

 been made on the uncultivated grounds of the University of California 

 at Berkeley, where Of. ovata grows about and between the older 

 buildings. From their location, as may be imagined, the plants are 

 subject to many vicissitudes, and attempts at continuous observation 

 have been cut short by vandalism, or by the lawn-mower, for which 

 reasons several questions, notably of duration, remain unsettled. 



The very great variation in Oenothera ovata has perhaps escaped 

 notice on account of its low growth, and it has never had a synonym. 

 This, together with the fact that no nearly related species, nor one 

 flowering at the same time, occurs in its range, eliminates at once all 



1 Garden and Forest, vol. iv, (1891), p. 285. 



