6 MUTATIONS, VARIATIONS, AND RELATIONSHIPS OF THE OENOTHERAS. 



made before O. grandiflora, the only known species which might be confused 

 with O. lamarckiana, was discovered, the inference may be drawn by exclu- 

 sion that nothing but O. lamarckiana was referred to, and this inference is 

 strengthened by the fact that O. lamarckiana was recognized and cultivated 

 in the Paris gardens a few years later. 



Of the cultures that have been carried out from material obtained from 

 various sources, the following are selected as of unusual interest : 



Two sheets of dried material of 0. lamarckiana, collected by Mr. E- P. Bick- 

 nell at Nantucket City, were received in September, 1904. These plants had 

 been found in the previous month, growing near a cottage, and had spread to 

 an adjoining waste lot. A visit was made to the place in August, 1905, by 

 the senior author, but no trace of the plant could be seen, although it was 

 found again in 1906 by P^Ir. Bicknell. This journey was inspired by the behav- 

 ior of the seeds taken from the herbarium specimen and sown in sterilized soil 

 in November, 1904. No particular attention was paid to the lot, but on 

 January 27, 1904, 24 plantlets representing the widest diversity observable 

 were transplanted to small pots in accordance with the usual practice. Six of 

 these corresponded quite exactly to the mutant O. albida. Four of these 

 died before May, 1905, at which time the remainder were transplanted to the 

 experimental grounds. All of the other individuals developed in accordance 

 with qualities of 0. lamarckiana, with a maximum amount of color in the buds, 

 and also a maximum number of basal branches of some length. The pale 

 mutants, however, did not proceed beyond the rosette stage in 1905. 



The owner of the grounds in which the original plants were growing in 

 Nantucket could not give any information as to the origin of the culture, 

 except to say that it had been started from seeds a great many years before. 



A lot of seeds taken from a trade packet sold by Vilmorin & Company, of 

 Paris, were sown in sterilized soil on January 3, 1905. The record shows that 

 192 duplicates of the parental type had been discarded when the 1 1 remaining 

 ones were transplanted to the experimental garden on May 16. Of these but 

 3 were mutants, including i lata, 1 nanella, and i albida. The mutants were 

 thus seen to constitute but 1.5 per cent of the total culture. 



Far the most interesting material and records were obtained from England, 

 and it was found that O. lamarckiana has been growing in some profusion 

 in certain localities in that country for several years. 



In 1905 Mr. H. Stuart Thompson (Thompson, 1905) called attention to 

 Oenothera biennis h- and O. odorata Jacq., growing on sandhills in Lancashire 

 and Somersetshire, and with the view of comparing the native North American 

 O. biennis with the plant so called growing in England, Mr. C. Theodore Green 

 was apphed to for seeds of the plant growing in Liverpool district. To him, 

 therefore, we are indebted for seeds, a photograph of the Lancashire 0. biennis, 

 and the note on the following page (Green, 1902). 



