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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLVI 



Gates ( y lla, p. 101) also believes that the description of 

 Lysimachia Americana by Hernandez ("Nova Plant. 

 Anim. et Miner. Mex.," p. 882, 1651) is that of Lamarck- 

 iana "in the strict sense." This account is quite as 

 vague in character as others of the period and the figure 

 is very crude. Gates emphasizes the statement concern- 

 ing the leaves "sinibus levibus excavata" and regards 

 this as descriptive of the characteristic crinkling of the 

 leaves of Lamarckiana. He gives no consideration to the 

 petals clearly drawn as mucronate or to the stigma 

 figured on about the level of the anthers, and is not im- 

 pressed with the description and figures of the leaves as 

 like the willow. The writer must express his astonish- 

 ment that an identification of this plant with Lamarckiana 

 should be claimed chiefly on a single character loosely 

 described, ignoring important points that radically dis- 

 agree, and giving no weight to the evident inaccuracy of 

 the description and figure. Gates has changed his posi- 

 tion respecting the account of Bauhin which in this later 

 paper (Gates, '11a) is referred to biennis in agreement 

 with the general opinion of botanists, but I have found 

 no further reference by him to the description of Her- 

 nandez. 



There have been then no new developments to modify 

 my view that 0. lamarckiana was unknown previous to 

 the description of Lamarck's plant at Paris in 1797, 

 about eighteen years after the introduction of 0. grandi- 

 fiora at Kew in 1778. There is less reason to lay stress 

 upon the appearance of this plant in the gardens at Paris 

 since the evidence seems clear that the Lamarckiana of 

 to-day has genetic relation to the cultures of Carter and 

 Company of London about 1860. I shall have more to 

 say on this point in connection with the valuable sheet in 

 the Gray Herbarium and the interesting history of its 

 probable relation to these same cultures of Carter and 

 Company. This seems to the writer perhaps the most im- 

 portant herbarium -sheet known bearing on the problem of 

 the origin of (Enothera Lamarckiana. It will be con- 

 sidered in the latter part of this paper. 



