524 Davis: Lamarck's evening primrose 



Museum d'Histoire Naturelle. First, however, it should be noted 

 that Buchet (1912) in a recent paper gives his opinion that this 

 sheet agrees with Oenothera suaveolens Desfontaines, which he 

 recognizes as synonymous with Oenothera grandiflora Solander, 

 an older name. Buchet also regards the sheet shown on plate 38 

 from the collection of Abbe Pourret as the same form as Lamarck's 

 plant and identifies it also with 0. suaveolens. On this point I 

 cannot agree, since, as will be shown later, the specimen of Abb6 

 Pourret has important characters that distinguish it both from 

 Lamarck's plant (0. suaveolens Desfontaines = 0. grandiflora 

 Solander) and from the material in the cultures of De Vries. 



In the following account of the sheet which stands for the 

 type of Oenothera Lamarckiana Seringe, are included not only the 

 characters shown by the photograph (plate 37) but also others 

 of equal or perhaps greater importance from the notes of Miss 

 Eastwood and M. Gagnepain. In order to obtain direct com- 

 parisons with respect to the pubescence I furnished M. Gagnepain 

 with specimens of stems and buds from both grandiflora and the 

 Lamarckiana of De Vries's cultures, asking him to compare the 

 specimens with Lamarck's plant but not informing him of their 

 source. 



1. Stem and foliage. The specimen of Lamarck's plant 

 (plate 37) exhibits the rather dense branching characteristic 

 of certain forms of grandiflora in sharp contrast to the long sparsely 

 branched stems of De Vries's Lamarckiana. The stem, according 

 to M. Gagnepain, does not have long hairs from red papillae, as is 

 so characteristic of De Vries's Lamarckiana; the pubescence is 

 short and the stem subglabrous. The leaves are broadly elliptical 

 or lanceolate with serrulate margins and with short but distinct 

 petioles as in grandiflora; they are not sessile or almost sessile nor 

 so broad as are the leaves of the Lamarckiana of De Vries. This 

 herbarium sheet may be readily matched in the form of the 

 branching and in the foliage by numerous specimens of grandiflora 

 collected in Alabama; it represents neither the broader- nor the 

 narrower-leaved forms in the range of variation in this species but 

 is nearest to the intermediate condition. 



2. Inflorescence. The inflorescence does not present the 

 close spike with broad-based, sessile bracts, which are so character- 



