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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXVII. 



in the writing of Spach. The larger of the two specimens con- 

 sists of a simple entire plant not fully developed, showing root, 

 leaves, flowers, and capsules, but no basal leaves. The other 

 specimen, which is smaller, is incomplete and fragmentary. A 

 comparison of the tracing of the larger specimen with material 

 in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden shows that 

 it is identical with a specimen under the name of Onagra biennis 

 grandiflora (Ait) Lindl., collected by K. S. and Mrs. Steel on 

 Stony Man Mountain, Luray, Virginia, August 15 th, 1901. 

 The comparison also shows that the wild plant has undergone 

 no change of any kind during a period of over a century. 



"The following memoranda and citations may be of interest 

 as throwing some light on the history of (E. lamarckiaua previ- 

 ous to 1788. 



Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum says that (Enotlura biennis 

 was brought from Virginia in 16 14 and was then (1753) common 

 in Europe. In Hortus Cliffortianus | 1737) he states on p. 144, 

 that it is a native of Virginia, having been brought from there 

 to Europe 120 years before and was at the time he wrote spon- 

 taneous and plentiful in the fields of Holland. In Hortus 

 Upsaliensis (p. 94. 1748) he gives the date of its introduction 

 as 1620, then declared it to be spontaneous in Belgium, Italy, 

 'Gallia and Germania.' So that from the middle of the 17th 

 century it was generally in cultivation in the botanical and horti- 

 cultural establishments of Europe. 



Referring to some of the prelinnean writers we find that 

 Tournefort in Inst. rei. herb., on p. 302 (1700) enumerates nine 

 species of Onagra, the first four of which only are of interest 

 here, as follows : 



(1.) Onagra latifolia. Lysimachia iutea, corniculata. C. B. 

 Pin. 245. 



(2.) Onagra latifolia, flare dilution-. Lysimachia eornieiilata 

 nan favosa, I Irgunaiia, major, flore sulphnrea. II. I .. Hat. 



( 3 . ) ( hiagra /at if alia, flaribus ampins . Lysimachia I Irgiuiana, 

 altera. Joins latiorib/is, flaribus luteis, majoribus. C at. Alt- 

 doff, 



(4.) Onagra augusti folia . Lysimachia augustifolia, Canadensis, 

 corniculata H. R. Par. Lysimachia carmen lata, In tea. Cana- 

 densis minor, sen angnstifolia Mor. H. R. Bles. 



