CRUCIATE-FLOWERED OENOTHERAS OF SUBGENUS ONAGRA 235 
cruciata de Vries, and has found it to be, as de Vries and Stomps have 
said, quite indistinguishable, except as to floral characters, from the 
true Dutch Oe. biennis. It is quite impossible that it has any relation- 
ship with the older Oe. cruciata Nutt. That it has originated as a 
mutation from Oe. biennis not only once, but several times, inde- 
pendently, seems the most likely explanation of its sporadic occurrence. 
In his latest book, de Vries^^ states that he has received living specimens 
from PjTof. H. Klebahn, collected on the Liineburg heath. Its pres- 
ence in Holland at several localities besides Sandpoort has also been 
reported to him. Although rare, it seems to be of rather wide dis- 
tribution, and, decidedly worthy of taxonomic recognition. Since the 
name Oe. biennis var. cruciata is preoccupied, and therefore likely to 
continue to be a source of confusion, the writer proposes to substitute 
for it the new designation Oe. biennis var. leptomeres. 
Oenothera cruciata of the American Manuals has been reported 
only from New England and northern New York. It is represented 
in the Gray Herbarium by specimens from Nova Scotia (Sable Island, 
Macoun) : Maine (Madison, Lexington and Cornish, Fernald; Cumber- 
land, Chamberlain and Knowlton): New Hampshire (Surry, Fernald; 
Rollinsford, Parlin; Dublin, Robinson): Vermont (Brattleboro, Grout\ 
Vernon, Robinson): New York (Axton, Adirondack Mts., Rowlee, 
Wiegand and Hastings) : and Massachusetts (Rockport, Cape Ann, 
Bartram; Northampton, Robinson). Seeds from these or any other 
localities would be very welcome to the writer of this article. Doctor 
Robinson has again been so kind as to collect seeds of a cruciate Onagra 
at Jaffrey, New Hampshire, which will be grown during the coming 
summer. There is little doubt that careful cultural study will bring 
other cruciate strains to light from the region of New England and 
northern New York, in addition to Oe. cruciata {sensu strictiore), Oe. 
atrovirens and Oe. venosa. 
Although no cruciate Onagrae have hitherto been reported from the 
region south of New England, Doctor Shull has had an undescribed 
species from Long Island in cultivation for several years. It will be 
treated in a future paper. The writer has cultivated two others, one 
from Mobile, Alabama, which must be studied another season before it 
caQ be described, and a second from Montgomery County, Maryland, 
to which the name Oe. stenomeres is here given. 
" De Vries, H. Gruppenweise Artbildung, 1913, p. 298. 
1^ Since this article was submitted for publication Bicknell (Bull. Torr. Bot. 
