282 THE GARDENER. [June 



are easily cultivated, and where the conditions are favourable they are even apt 

 to become troublesome as weeds, and should not therefore be placed in the neigh- 

 bourhood of anything more choice than themselves. They are useful also for 

 introducing into woods, if not too close and shady ; for though shade-loving plants, 

 they do not thrive long under dense shade. Increase by division of the roots. 



A. Dracunculus — Dragon A. — A very singular subject, worthy on that score 

 alone of a place among cultivated plants. It grows about 3 feet high. The leaves 

 are dark green, deeply palmately divided, and the stalks are marked and spotted 

 like the belly of a snake. The spathes are blackish brown, showing themselves 

 clear above the foliage. The flowers have the unenviable distinction of being 

 among the most offensively-odorous of flowers : they are equal to, if they do not 

 actually surpass, carrion itself, in the effluvium they emit. ISTative of S. Europe. 



A. italicum— /;r///«?i Cuckoo-jnnt. — This species grows from 1 foot to 18 inches 

 high. The leaves are broadly arrow-shaped, veined, and often also spotted with 

 white on a bright shining green ground. The berries are scarlet, in close spikes, 

 supported on stout erect stalks, appearing at their best in late autumn and early 

 winter. It is worthy of a place among choice and curious plants in shady 

 borders. ISTative of Italy. It is a curious fact in connection with this plant, 

 and perhaps with others of the family, if it is not general, that at the time of 

 opening the spadix evolves a quantity of heat not only sufficient to affect the 

 thermometer, if placed within the spathe, but to be distinctly appreciable to the 

 hand also. AVhat purpose this heat may serve in the economy of the plant, or 

 whether it is a result rather than any agency, are points I believe not yet clearly 

 settled. Lamarck was the first to point out the fact. 



A. maculatum — Spotted Cuchoo-2nnt. — Besides the popular name just given, 

 the following have been applied to this plant at different times and in different 

 localities : Starch-ivort, Wale Robin, Friar's Coui, Lords and Ladies, and Priest's- 

 2nnt. It grows about 9 inches high, with leaves of the same form as those of 

 italicum, but smaller. The berries are similar to those of that species also, but 

 both they and the spike are smaller : they appear about the same time. The 

 usual colour of the spots, in the indigenous form, is black or blackish brown on 

 a shining green ground ; but there is a variety, peculiar to the Isle of Wight, in 

 which the colour of the markings is the same as those of italicum. Some hold 

 that it is that species naturalised, and somewhat altered by peculiar conditions. 

 Mr Bentham, a most reliable authority, is of opinion that it is a peculiar local 

 form of maculatum. 



Calla palustris — Bog C.—A beautiful and interesting plant — an excellent subject 

 for planting in shallow pools or bogs, but unfitted for deep water. It extends 

 itself rapidly in quaggy or marshy ground that is always more or less moist, 

 throwing out its creeping stems in all directions^ rooting and establishing itself 

 as it pushes out. The leaves, on short stout stalks, are broadly heart-shaped, 

 terminating in an abruptly-attenuated point, and dark shining green. The spathe 

 is pure white, the same in form as the leaves, but scarcely so broad ; and they 

 are flat, not cuccullate, as in the ^Ethiopian Calla. The flowers appear in summer 

 and autumn. Native of N. Europe and N. America. W. S. 



— '^-s-J^itsi-<^ -Ms 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



It was with feelings of surprise I read Mr Hind's article on the Chry- 

 santhemum in the ' Gardener ' for March. Seemingly he has entirely 



