This section is from the book "British Wild Flowers - In Their Natural Haunts Vol5-6", by A. R. Horwood. Also available from Amazon: A British Wild Flowers In Their Natural Haunts.
The habitat of this plant is sandy ground on the coasts of Somerset and Cornwall. The habit is erect. The stems are purplish, branched, with spreading hairs. The foliage is bright-green. The leaves are short-stalked, the lower nearly flat, with green or purple nerves, the radical leaves linear to lance-shaped, toothed, wavy, the stem-leaves egg-shaped to lance-shaped, narrowed. The flowers are large, bright-yellow, fragrant (hence odorata), becoming red. The petals are longer than the stamens. The capsule is long, cylindrical, club-shaped, downy. The plant is 2-3 ft. high, flowering from July to September, and is a herbaceous perennial.
This species is a casual which occurs in waste places, and is well known from the interesting experiments made by De Vries upon the variations to which the plant is liable, which he calls mutations. It differs from Cen. biennis (Sect. XII, Vol. V) in having more pointed radical leaves. The style is longer than the stamens. The capsule is less hairy. The plant is 2-4 ft. high, flowering between July and September, and is a herbaceous biennial.
This plant is a North American species which has been found on the Somerset coast, and has become naturalized on the Somerset coast.
 
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