IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
AYe have seen that, previous to the introdiietion of 0. (jrandiflora in 
1788. a large-tiowered form wliieh was at any rate more closet}^ similar 
to 0. Lamarcl'iana than to any other species except perhaps O. laevifoUa, 
had been commonly grown in Euro})ean gardens and illustrated with va- 
rious figures. This was tlie first Oenothera to he introduced from the 
New World, about 1614. Already in 1737 (llort. Cliff.) it had escaped 
from gardens and was found growing wild in large numbers in Holland 
and (llort. Upsal. 1748) was widely distributed in Europe. It is alto- 
gether prol)ahle that various races were included in this distribution, 
even at that time. 1 iiave not attempted to trace the earliest references 
to the occurrence of Oenotlieras wild in England, but it was abundant 
on the coast near Liverpool in 1805, (Sowerby Eng. Bot., 22 pi. 1534) and 
prol^ably existed there much earlier. Thompson (1905) states that 1837 
is the first record of its occurrence wild on the coast of Somerset. He 
refers to the form as 0. bienni^i L., but it has recently been shown by 
cultures to include 0. Lamar ckiana and other forms. For a summary of 
the distribution of Oenotheras in Europe see A. DeCandolle (1855) 
(II :710) . They are naturalized and growing abundantly in many places. 
The Liverpool plants now consist of 0. Lamarckiana and certain of its 
mutants, as well as 0. grandiflora and a great variety of hybrids between 
these forms. Perhaps it would be equally correct to regard them as a 
series of intermingling ‘‘pure” lines or races. The 0. Lamarckiana is 
certainly very closely similar to that of DeAHiesf cultures, but there seem 
natWe to Aurginia would belong to a different elementary species from 
that in Texas. 
In 1832 Don (.2:685), under the name 0. biennis refers to Oenotheras 
growing in the greatest abundance on the Lancashire coast, north of 
Liverpool, and also says, “It covers several acres of ground near AA^ood- 
bridge, Suffolk.” The flowers are referred to as “large, pale yellow, and 
delicately fragrant.” In Edwards’ Botanical Register (19. pi. 1604) in 
1833, a large-flowered form is figured under the name Oenothera biennis 
var. grandiflora l)y Bindley. The flowers and the flowering shoot prob- 
ably represent 0. Lamarckiana, for though the shoot is slender and with 
only slight pubescence, yet the 'flower buds are rather stout and with 
short sepal tips as represented, though scarcely decisive. But the leaf 
(which probably is from the rosette or far down on the stem) is much 
longer and more narrowly lanceolate than shown by 0. grandiflora. This 
leaf is very narrow even for 0. Lamarckiana, but the sessile stem leaves 
with their broad clasping bases, certainly characterize 0. Ijamar ckiana 
rather than 0. grandiflora. 
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