Origiit of CKnothet a. Lamarckiana De Vries. 239 



biennis and if the petals were really no more than 3 cm. long the 

 flower size was also closer to this species than to the large-flowered 

 forms of Lamarckiana. On the other hand the stigma lobes figured 

 somewhat above the tips of the anthers are in a position more like 

 that in Lamarckiana than in the Dutch biennis where the stigma 

 lobes lie below the tips of the anthers and pollination takes place 

 before the opening of the bud. 



In the third edition of the "English Botany" Syme' gives a 

 description of " CEnothera biennis Linn." and states it to be "now 

 perfectly established on the Lancashire coast, at Crosbie, near 

 Liverpool, and occuring occasionally throughout Britain, but 

 generally an outcast from gardens." The description of this plant 

 is accompanied by a somewhat different figure from that in the 

 edition of 1806, but the two figures agree in all essentials of structure. 

 The figure and description indicate a plant 2-3 feet high, rosette 

 leaves oblanceolate-elliptical 6 inches to 1 foot long, stem leaves 

 elliptical 3-6 inches long, all leaves short petioled and with thick 

 white midribs, repand denticulate ; flowers with petals 1^ to l-^ inch 

 or more across (about 3-4 cm.), stigma lobes figured somewhat 

 above the tips of the anthers ; " plants dull green, sub-glabrous, 

 with the stem, calyces, petioles, midribs, and margins of the leaves 

 more or less hairy." In this account, also, as in that of the first 

 edition (1806) there is no mention of that stem coloration character- 

 istic of Lamarckiana, i.e., red papillae on green pdrtions of the stem. 

 This point together with the statement that the plant is dull 

 green suggests the Dutch biennis but the large petals and the 

 position of the stigma indicate a plant with flowers more like those 

 of Lamarckiana, 



It ought at least to be possible to determine through herbaria 

 whether or not the " (Enothera biennis " described in the different 

 editions of the " English Botany " is the same form or one similar 

 to the Dutch biennis which probably represents the CEnothera biennis 

 of Linnaeus. It ought to be possible to obtain evidence through 

 herbaria for or against the possibility of the presence in England 

 of 0. Lamarckiana De Vries at a date as early as 1806 or at least 

 previous to 4 860. There should be some direct evidence whether 

 or not 0. Lamarckiana was flrst introduced into England through 

 the cultures of Carter and Company at about 1860 and whether or 

 not its appearance on the sand hills of Lancashire is of an earlier 

 or a later date. 



' English Botany, Third Edition, vol. 4, p. 24, 1865. 



