Oenothera Laevi folia. 313 



plants never lack water this character makes no differ- 

 ence. 



A very characteristic feature of O. laevifolia is af- 

 forded by the flowers on the weaker shoots. They have 

 narrow petals which exhibit every transition from the 

 broad, obcordate contour of those of the strongest flowers 

 to oval or elliptical forms as shown at c and d in Fig. 59. 



This character is very constant. It was through it, 

 that I first discovered the new form and it was only 

 after this had been in cultivation for some time that I 

 became acquainted with the smooth leaves. Weak plants 

 bear such flowers on the main stem ; stronger ones either 

 on the whole extent or only at the base of the lateral 

 branches. 



In the height of summer these flowers are rare ; but 

 towards autumn and often as early as the beginning of 

 September they appear in greater numbers. By cultivat- 

 ing only healthy plants without lateral branches it would 

 be possible for a whole year to go by, without seeing one 

 of these flowers : this has sometimes happened in my 

 experiments. 



There is something extraordinarily attractive about 

 these flowers. They are smaller and neater than the 

 rather gross and stout flowers of the common Evening 

 Primrose; their color is often paler; their form, in a 

 sense, freer, inasmuch as the petals scarcely touch one 

 another. I have often stuck them into my journal or 

 photographed them. I have found them from 1887 up 

 to the present day, always the same, exhibiting the same 

 varieties of form but without progressing in any one 

 particular direction, just like all the other new species 

 which have proved constant in all their characters from 

 their origin. 



