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IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
species for forms with flowers of this size, although, as we have seen, the 
type of Linnaeus’ species was clearlj^ indicated by his citation of figures, 
both in the Hort. Cliff, and the Species Flantarum. In later works the 
large and small-flowered forms were usually referred indiscriminately to 
0. hiemiis L. Miller’s citation of the synonomy of the Hort. Cliff, cannot, 
therefore, be taken as indicating that this plant referred to the type of 
Linnaeus’ description, as this was evidently not the case. 
Philip Miller was ‘‘gardener to the worshipful company of Apothe- 
caries at their Botanic Garden at Chelsea.” I have recently cultivated a 
race of 0. hiennis (as we now understand the name, i. e., a plant with 
smaller flowers than 0. Lamar ckiana and a short style so that the flower 
pollinates itself) received under that name from the Chelsea Physic Gar- 
den, whose flower characters agree in general with those of our 0. Mennis^ 
but the rosette leaves and stem leaves are remarkably crinkled and in 
general appearance much resemble 0. Lamar chiana, being quite unlike 
our 0. hiennis races. I mention this case not only to show that numerous 
races of 0 . hiennis exist, differing widely from each other in certain feat- 
ures, but to emphasize the necessity, in determining any plant from the 
early records, of considering every character in so far as it can be 
known, before deciding upon its affinities. 
Miller’s statement that his plant is “more commonly seen in the Gar- 
dens than any of the other species” may be true, or it may indicate a 
failure to differentiate between this and the large-flowered forms. It 
seems probable, however, that the large-flowered forms had by this time 
largely disappeared from the English Gardens. We have seen that the 
large-flow^ered form referred to by Kay in 1686 which we have with a 
large degree of probab’’ility determined to be 0. grandiflora from its 
eastern range in North America, was more common in gardens at that 
time than the other large-flowered form (0. Lamarckiana) . Later, dur- 
ing the three-quarters of a century intervening between 1686 and 1760 
both must have disappeared from cultivation in the English gardens. 
It is interesting to note that 0. Simsiana is a species with large flowers 
and a short style, so that the stigma is surrounded by the stamens, as 
in 0. hiennis. But this was not introduced into England until 1816 (see 
Curt. Bot. Mag. 45:1974), where it was raised in the garden of the Mar- 
quis of Bath at Longleats, in Wiltshire, from seeds obtained in Mexico. 
Moreover, its flowers are much larger than those in Miller’s figure, and 
there are other differences. (See also Miss Vail’s account in MacDougal, 
1907, p. 68.) 
From the use of the adjective planis in the polynomial cited by Lin- 
naeus from Vir. Cliff. 33, it may be inferred that this plant did not have 
the crinkled character of the leaves as we know them in the present 0. 
