in great abundance by Mr. David Douglas, in all the dis- 
tricts about the river Columbia. It is a hardy annual, 
requiring no care in its cultivation, growing to the height 
of one and a half or two feet, and producing its singular 
bright rose-coloured blossoms from May to September. 
Whether we consider the facility with which it can 
be managed, the curious and very unusual conformation of 
the petals, stamens, and stigma, or the brilliancy of its 
colours, this must be pronounced to be by far the most 
remarkable hardy annual that has lately been introduced, 
except the Coreopsis tinctoria. 
The genus was originally established by Pursh, with 
a figure and very meagre description, in the Flora America 
Septentrionalis. The characters of Pursh were adopted, 
almost without alteration, by Mr. Nuttall, who had only 
seen dried specimens. Professor Sprengel appears to have . 
wholly omitted it in his Systema. Its 3-lobed petals, 
4 abortive stamens, and petaloid stigma, abundantly distin- 
guish it from Ginothera and Epilobium, its nearest co-ordi- 
nates. We have spelt it Clarkia, with Mr. Nuttall, rather 
than Clarckia, as it is written by Pursh, because it was 
named in honour of Captain Clarke, the companion of 
Captain Lewis in his journey up the Missouri. 
RA J. L. 
