234 Bradley Moore Davis. 



of O. Latnarckiana De Vries in Europe at dates previous to 1796 

 are, to the writer, not convincing and have been discussed in previous 

 papers.' In a recent contribution Gates ' abandons his former views 

 and admits (pp. 17-19) that the presence oi Latnarckiana in Europe 

 previous to 1760 is not established. 



Since (Enothera Latnarckiana Seringe becomes a synonym of 

 O. grandiflora Solander, I have proposed that the plant of De Vries 

 retain the name under which ft is known in the extensive literature 

 of experimental morphology, but the name must be written (Enothera 

 Latnarckiana De Vries. In making the above suggestion it should 

 be noted that O. Latnarckiana De Vries has come down to us as 

 the product of the garden through a long history of cultivation and 

 that there are good reasons for believing it to be of hybrid origin. 

 We have no evidence that the plant is present as a native species 

 of any flora. As a garden plant we are apparently justified in giving 

 it the name (Enothera Laniarckiana De Vries by Article 50 of the 

 nomenclatorial code formulated by the International Botanical 

 Congress held in Vienna in 1905. 



There is little doubt that the material of De Vries's cultures 

 was derived, possibly greatly modified, from certain plants placed 

 upon the market by the seedsmen Carter and Company of London 

 at about 1860. These plants were considered by Lindley to be 

 (Enothera Lanlaixkiatia Seringe, but we cannot accept this identifi- 

 cation as correct. However, this opinion of Lindley gave the name 

 Latnarckiana under which seedsmen are to this day selling a some- 

 what heterogeneous mixture of forms. 



The description of the cultures of Carter and Company,' 

 accompanied by an obviously inaccurate figure, gives us very little 

 information on the plants. We are told that they were 3-4 feet 

 high, very hardy biennials, and with flowers 4 inches in diameter. 

 Carter and Company state that their plants came from seed received 

 unnamed from Texas. 



The problem of the origin of (Enothera Latnarckiana De Vries 

 at present largely centers on the probable composition of the cultures 

 of Carter and Company, and every effort should be made to bring 

 forward evidence on the characters of these plants. The only 

 information so far at hand apart from the unsatisfactory description 



■ See Davis, American Naturalist, vol. 45, pp. 226-227, 1911, and vol. 46, 

 pp. 379-380, 1912. 



^ Gates, R. R. " A Contribution to a Knowledge of the Mutating 

 CEnothei'as." Trans. Linnean Society, Botany, vol. 8, Part I, 1913. 



' The Floral Magazine, vol. 2, plate 78, 1862. 



