Oenothera grandiflora. 23 



Of the numerous species of this genus native of this country, the 

 present one may properly be considered the largest and most wor- 

 thy of cultivation. The flowers possess a very agreeable scent, and 

 in favourable soil and exposure, become even larger than represent- 

 ed in the plate. They first appear about the last of May or begin- 

 ning of June, and continue successively blooming until August and 

 September: those however which appear last, are considerably small- 

 er than those which expand in the first month of florescence. They 

 open in the evening, just after sunset, by a very sudden retraction of 

 the calix leaves, in a manner common perhaps to the genus, but 

 more especially conspicuous in this species, and the CE. biennis, to 

 which it bears a very close resemblance, and of which it has been 

 deemed by some a luxuriant variety. It is however specifically dis- 

 tinct. The same flower does not open a second time, but a nume- 

 rous succession of new ones continues to adorn the plant during the 

 time already mentioned. Luxuriant garden specimens are not un- 

 common, of four and five feet height, exhibiting a profusion of flowers 

 at the same time. Pursh informs us that he has noticed a phospho- 

 ric light emanating during dark nights, from the flowers of the <E. 

 biennis; and it is not improbable that the same circumstance at- 

 tends the expansion of the flowers of the present species. Mr. El- 

 liott restricts the habitat of GS. grandiflora, to the vicinity of habita- 

 tions in South Carolina and Georgia, remarking that it is "certain- 

 ly not indigenous in the low country." 



