T1914] DE VRIES—OENOTHERA LAMARCKIANA 353 
Encyclopédie correspond as closely with the characters of my 
plants as dried specimens and descriptions expressed in words 
ever can do. 
On the contrary, the specimen B is surrounded with doubts. 
Davis has given a very elaborate description of this branch, com- 
paring it with my Lamarckiana. The sheet bears the label: “Oeno- 
thera . . . . [grandiflora] . . . . nova spec. flores magni lutei, 
odore grato, caulis 3 pedalis.”” The fact that the name grandi- 
flora is placed in brackets shows that Lamarck did not wholly 
trust his identification of this plant with the other one. Perhaps 
the words “nova species” indicate that he took it to be possibly 
a different species. Later, Porret discovered the identity of this 
specimen with O. grandiflora Aiton Hort. Kew,® as has been 
indicated by Davis. And in De CANDOLLE’s Prodromus (3:47. 
1828), SERINGE separated the two types, describing O. grandi- 
flora Ait. and O. Lamarckiana (SER. MSS) as different species. 
The words “odore grato” point to O. grandiflora Ait., which 
has fragrant flowers, while the flowers of O. Lamarckiana Ser. 
are almost without odor. In the original description no mention 
1s made of the odor, and this shows once more that the specimen 
B was not the authentic one for this description. 
Davis has compared the branch B with some of his hybrid 
Strains from Dixie Landing” and finds a close resemblance. Per- 
haps the plant of Lamarck was a chance hybrid found in the Jardin 
des P lantes, and in this case, as Davis says, “‘we can have no 
certainty as to the characters of an individual plant unless its seeds 
have been grown in large cultures." At all events, it is not backed 
by other herbarium material in the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, 
sofaras I know. If Porret’s opinion that it belongs to O. grandi- 
flora Ait. is correct, then it has evidently not served as a basis for 
the description of O. grandiflora Lam. (O. Lamarckiana Ser.). In 
O. grandiflora the fruits are thin and relatively large, for example, 
” Encyclopédie méthodique. Suppl. IV, p. 141. 1816. See DAvIs, Pp. 522. 
” At Dixie Landing, Alabama, only hybrid strains of O. grandiflora and O. Tracyt, 
fe mixed with other species too, are to be found. See Science of. cit. P- 399- 
12, 
* Davis, B, M., A much desired Oenothera. Plant World 16:148. 1913. 
