238 Bradley Moore Davis. 



is not uncommon in England. De Viies ' reports (p. 32) that it is 

 present on the sand hills of Lancashire. 



This plant which I have referred to as the Dutch biennis, so 

 well known through the studies of De Vries, is perhaps the most 

 important type in the biennis assemblage of races and should be 

 familiar to all students of Oenotheras. It is very old having 

 apparently been on the sand dunes of Holland since pre-Linnean 

 times. Bartlett^ has recently brought forward strong reasons for 

 regarding the plant as the form known to Linneeus as CEnothera 

 biennis and consequently to be regarded as the type-form of the 

 species. It is very important that British botanists should endeavour 

 to trace the history of this species in England and its relations to 

 the present CEnothera floras. I shall be glad to supply seeds of the 

 plant to anyone interested in the study. 



To return to the specific problems of the origin and development 

 of Laniarckiana floras in England the most important and historically 

 the most interesting flora seems to be that of the Lancashire sand 

 hills north of Liverpool. From the studies of several botanists it 

 appears that over an extensive area O. Lnmarckiana De Vries occurs 

 mixed with variants from the type proper. It is reported by Gates 

 (I.e. 1913) that O. grandiflora is also present vi'ith the Lamarckiana 

 and we have De Vries's statement (I.e. 1912) that the Dutch biennis 

 (0. biennis Linnaeus) is in the same region. The studies of Gates 

 (I.e. 1913) clearly show that among the types there is a large amount 

 of hybridization and consequently a very complex mixture of forms 

 differing among themselves in many respects. 



We know that a conspicuous CEnothera flora was present on 



the sand hills of Lancashire before 1806,' and the problem is briefly 



the determination of its original character and the tracing of its 



modification or development down to present times. The account 



by Smith in the "English Botany" (1806) together with the 



accompanying figure of James Sowerby's indicate a biennial plant, 



2-3 feet high, a stem "rough with minute tubercles," leaves broad 



and the lower decidedly crinkled, flowers with petals about 3 cm. 



long (if drawn natural size), and stigma lobes slightly above the tips 



of the anthers. There is no mention of red coloration in the stem 



tubercles which suggests a plant with green stems as in the Dutch 



' De Vries H. " Die Mutationen in der Erblichkeitslehre.'' Berlin, 1912. 



= Bartlett, H. H. "The Delimitation of CEnothera biennis L." Rhodora, 

 vol. 15, p. 48, 1913. 



> English Botany, vol. 22, p. 1543 1806. 



