10 



cited after the description (L'Heritier, Stirp. Novae, 2, pi. 2) was 

 never published, and repeated search for the original drawing or 

 a copy of the unpublished plate has not been successful. 



An herbarium specimen of " Oenothei-a grandiflora MSS. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew 2:2" from " Hort. Fothergill 1778 " is preserved 

 in the Herbarium of the British Museum, and a traced drawing 

 of this specimen was procured for the Garden by Dr. H. H. 

 Rusby in August, 1904. A close comparison of the herbarium 

 specimens of the Alabama plant collected by Tracy and the 

 tracing of the Fothergill plant show them to be identical, and the 

 evidence is fairly conclusive that the OenotJiera grandiflora Ait., 

 so well and so long established in cultivation, originated from 

 seeds sent to Fothergill by William Bartram after his famous 

 travels through the southern United States. 



The Alabama plants were shown to Professor de Vries when 

 he passed through New York in October, 1904, and he unhesi- 

 tatingly stated that they did not in the least resemble the Oeno- 

 tJiera Laniarckiana of his experiments. 



Just what is the relationship of Onagra grandiflora (Ait.) from 

 Alabama, with other large-flowered species in general cultivation, 

 remains to be investigated. The historical records of Onagra 

 grandiflora are numerous and most complicated, but it is of un- 

 doubted interest at the present time to find the plant spoken of 

 by Bartram still growing in the same locality observed by him 

 more than a century and a quarter ago, and to find it still true 

 in every way to the characters as described by him at the time, 

 and which are now still further emphasized by the tracing of the 

 plant grown by Fothergill in 1778. 



New York Botanical Gardkn. 



.SIIORTKR NOTICS 



Carex Underwoodii sp. nov. — Stout, glabrous ; culm sharply 

 trigonous, i ni. high or more, roughish above. Leaves about 

 as long as the culm, 1—2 cm. wide, slightly rough-margined : 

 spikes clustered at the summit, the pistillate 4, linear-cylindric, 

 4-5 cm. long, about 8 mm. in diameter, the lowest on a slender 

 stalk about 2 cm. long, the others sessile or nearly so : staminate 



