532 Davis: Lamarck's evening primrose 



Lamarckiana arose as a hybrid between biennis and grandiflora has 

 been fully discussed in the paper mentioned above. 



Although Carter and Company state that they received their 

 seed from Texas, it must be borne in mind that we have at present 

 no confirmatory evidence that such a plant as they describe or 

 as that represented on the sheet in the Gray Herbarium is native 

 in the southern or southwestern United States. Here is a problem 

 that well deserves the attention of botanists in these regions, who 

 should make every effort to bring such a type to light that seed 

 may be sent to the workers in the experimental gardens. If such 

 a form grew in Texas no further back than i860 it may surely be 

 expected there today. 



It is possible that the cultures of Carter and Company arose in 

 England and that their association with a Texan source may have 

 been some mistake on the part of the seedsmen. We have several 

 accounts of large-flowered Oenotheras in England at dates previous 

 to i860. The most important and the earliest is that in Smith's 

 English Botany (22: 1534. 1806) with the excellent figure of 

 Sowerby. This account describes at this early date (1806) very 

 extensive growths of an interesting form on the sand banks along 

 the coast a few miles north of Liverpool. At the present day 

 " Oenothera Lamarckiana De Vries " and variants from this type are 

 established and flourishing over extensive tracts in the same region 

 north of Liverpool through the sand hills of Lancashire. It is 

 not impossible that the Lamarckiana of Carter and Company may 

 have come from such regions. 



The problem of the origin of "Oenothera Lamarckiana De Vries" 

 must be approached from two sides. The English botanists 

 have the problem of the history of such an Oenothera flora as 

 that of the Lancashire sand hills, and collections should be searched 

 with the greatest thoroughness for herbarium sheets that may be 

 of assistance in tracing its development. American botanists have 

 the problem of the discovery and isolation by cultures of the 

 large-flowered Oenotheras throughout the south and west, which 

 might have a direct relationship to Lamarckiana or which might 

 be one of the parents of a possible hybrid. A good beginning was 

 made in the rediscovery of Oenothera grandiflora Solander but 

 the search should be pushed further. 



University of Pennsylvania. 



