^97 ^- iiuggles OaieS. 



Professor De Vries (13; with Mr. Bartlett made a visit to the 

 type-locality for O. grandiflora, in Alabama, last year — the locality 

 where Bartram discovered this species in 1778. They found both 

 O. grandiflora and O. Tracyi, and a number of races or variations of 

 each. These forms freely intercrossed, at least in the case of 

 grandiflora, so that no forms were free from the suspicion of 

 hybridization. This confirms a fact which had already been 

 emphasized by Gates (15), namely, that in open-pollinated plants 

 the intercrossing of many closely-related races which make up the 

 population is continually taking place in every generation. The fact 

 that O. Lainarckiana has undergone crossing does not therefore 

 render its condition essentially different from that of any other 

 allogamous species. 



Much attention has been devoted to the history not only of 0. 

 Lainarckiana, but of all the related species in Europe. Many of the 

 early records, from 1614 to the present time, have been brought 

 together by Gates (14), and in this and subsequent papers many of 

 the plants referred to or figured under pre-Linnsean polynomials 

 have been identified with reasonable certainty. The writer's 

 first conclusion, that the original form brought to Europe most 

 resembled O. Lainarckiana, has since been modified, but it seems 

 certain that forms agreeing with O. Lainarckiana were growing wild 

 in Europe at the time this species was recognized and described 

 from garden material in Paris about 1797. 



In drawing any conclusions concerning the origin and history 

 of Q. Lainarckiana, whether through crossing or otherwise, tiie 

 following crucial facts must be kept in mind : (i.) That a large- 

 fiowered (Enothera from " Virginia " was recognized by Ray as early 

 as 1686. This must have belonged to a race eithev o{ 0. grandiflora 

 Solander or 0. Lainarckiana Ser., and the possibility that it may 

 have been the latter is certainly not excluded, (ii.) Three forms, 

 including (a) 0. biennis in the general sense, (b) 0. inuricata, and (c) 

 a large-flowered form belonging to 0. grandiflora ov 0. Lainarckiana, 

 were clearly recognized and figured by Barrelier in 1714; (c.) was 

 probably the same as the large-flowered form of Ray. (iii.) The 

 early synonomy gives clear evidence that this large-flowered form 

 was cultivated in many Botanical Gardens in pre-Linnjean times, 

 (iv.) An (Enothera which belongs to O. Lainarckiana in the rather 

 narrow sense is now the commonest form in English gardens, where 

 it seeds itself from year to year, (v.) A very similar form has been 

 found by Heribert-Nilsson (24) in the gardens of Southern Sweden, 

 (vi.) A form which is practically identical with that of De Vries has 

 been flourishing in abundance in a naturalized condition on the 

 Lancashire coast since at least 1805. 



These facts equally permit two explanations. (a) That 0. 

 Lainarckiana as it now exists in England, naturalized and in 

 gardens, is essentially the same plant described by Ray and by 

 Barrelier and is descended directly from seeds brought from 

 " Virginia." We now know it to be probable that such seeds would 

 not produce a uniform race to begin with, (b) The other possibility 

 is that the race above-mentioned from Virginia belonged to 0. 

 grandiflora rather than to 0. Lainarckiana, the latter originating 

 through crossing afterwards. One weakness of this theory is the 

 fact that 0. biennis races also occupy this area of Virginia which was 



