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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 



[Vol. XLV 



very favorable for combination wit h grandi/lara with cer- 

 tain ends in view. This southern strain was crossed this 

 season with grandiflora, and the hybrids and the parent 

 biennis will be studied through further cultures. 



(Enothera grandiflora Ait. 



We are indebted to Dr. MacDougal ('05, p. 7) and to 

 Miss Vail ('05, p. 9) for accounts of the rediscovery of 

 this remarkable species of the southern United States 

 and for a clear analysis of its probable history. Aiton's 

 original description (1789), from material grown at Kew, 

 states that (Enothera grandi flora was introduced by John 

 Fothergill, M.D., in 1778. An expedition of William 

 Bartram in 1776, undertaken at the request of Dr. Foth- 

 ergill for the purposes of botanical discovery, records 

 the finding of a large-flowered (Enothera near Tensaw 

 (Taensa), Ala. Bartram 's picturesque and excellent de- 

 scription of this new plant (see MacDougal, '05, p. 7), 

 together with a herbarium specimen in the British 

 Museum from "Hort. Fothergill, 1778," makes it evident 

 that Bartram must have sent seed to Fothergill, through 

 whom the plant was introduced into England in 1778. 



Professor S. M. Tracy in 1904 visited the original lo- 

 cality and found the species growing in considerable 

 quantity along the east bank of the Alabama river m 

 the vicinity of Dixie Landing, which is only a few miles 

 from Tensaw. His material agrees with the descriptions 

 of Bartram and Aiton and, according to Miss Vail, with 

 the herbarium specimen of Fothergill, and there seems to 

 be no doubt that (Enothera grandiflora, so widely culti- 

 vated, has been rediscovered growing wild in its original 

 locality. 



My seed of (Enothera grandiflora was collected by 

 Professor Tracy at Dixie Landing in September, 1907. 

 During the past three seasons I have sampled the col- 

 lection to the extent of bringing to maturity from the 

 wild seed thirty-four plants, and in addition some sev- 

 enty rosettes and young plants have passed under my 



