418 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLVI 



(E)totitcra Lantarckiana and which seem to have been the 

 starting point of the Laniarck'unut now under cultivation. 

 The only descriptions which we have of these cultures 

 are the very unsatisfactory accounts in The Floral Mug a- 

 zinc. Vol. II, Plate 78, 186l\ and in " L'lllust ration Horti- 

 cole," Vol. IX, Plate 318, 1862, both accompanied by the 

 same figure of an impossible (Enothera. 



An inquiry was at once started to determine the mean- 

 ing of the note "from seed of Thompson, Ipswich," and, 

 thanks to the courtesies of correspondents, the matter 

 now seems clear. There seems to have been no botanist 

 or horticulturist of the name of Thompson in Ipswich, 

 Massachusetts, at that period from whom Dr. Gray could 

 have obtained this seed. The reference is almost certain 

 to have been to William Thompson of Ipswich, England, 

 who died several years ago. William Thompson "was a 

 seedsman in a small way of business, but a most enthu- 

 siastic cultivator with correspondents in all temperate 

 countries and the introducer of numerous herbaceous 

 plants more particularly annuals and biennials." He 

 corresponded with Kew as early as 1860. 



It is in a high degree probable that William Thompson, 

 with Ins interest in novelties, obtained from Carter and 

 Company their new (Enothera and that the seed sent to 

 Dr. Gray was either directly from this source or from 

 plants cultivated by Thompson. It will be remembered 

 that Carter and Company stated that they received their 



seed from Texas, which accords with Dr. Gray's note 

 "said by English horticulturists to come from Texas." 

 If this interpretation of the history of the sheet in the 



sheet then gives evidence on the composition of the cul- 

 tures of Carter and Company immensely more valuable 

 than the obviously inaccurate plate of The Floral Mag a- 



