1877.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



291 



able and unsurpassed, having been tested these 

 many years by the various nurseries of Fkishing, 

 and by hundreds of persons in all parts of the 

 country to whom they have been sold. It is 

 gratifying to learn that so valuable a variety as 

 Magnolia Thurberi can bloom, since never 

 before, to our knowledge, has a single flower 

 appeared in America. In all probability, ma- 

 ture age is necessary, in this case, to produce 

 wood suitable for flowering. 



My main object, however, is to call attention 

 to another variety, or perhaps, species, Magnolia 

 Hypoleuca, which deserves consideration, not 

 only for beauty, but extreme rarity, never 

 having been ofiered for sale in America, nor as 

 far as I know, in Europe. The merit of this 

 variety lies chiefly in the great beauty of its 

 milk-white flowers, which resemble those of 

 Conspicua, and possess a delicious banana-like 

 odor, surpassing that of any other hardy 

 Magnolia. Bright and attractive in foliage, the 

 under side of the leaf is greenish- white, whence 

 the name. . Hj-poleuca is quite hardy, having 

 been grown a dozen years or more in New York 

 City by Mr. Thomas Hogg. The bloom appears 

 about the middle of June. Specimens of the 

 flowers were exhibited by Mr. Hogg at the June 

 exhibition of the New York Horticultural 

 Society. The firm of S. B. Parsons & Sons are 

 in exclusive possession of a considerable stock of 

 this variety and will soon offer it for sale. They 

 have other new and valuable Magnolias from 

 Japan, obtained through the enterprise of Mr. 

 Hogg, which they propose, as soon as propaga- 

 ted in sufficient quantities, to describe and offer 

 to the trade. All Magnolias are so beautiful and 

 valuable, that any real addition to the list of 

 good kinds should be very interesting to the 

 horticultural public. 



P/EONIA BROWNII. 



BY W. C. L. DREW, EL DORADO, CAL. 



One of the most strikingly handsome plants 

 growing in California in a wild state, is the one 

 whose name heads this article. 



I saw it for the first time this Spring, and was 

 immediately taken with its great beauty, and 

 have no doubt that when brought into market 

 it will be found one of the most desirable of 

 novelties. 



Poeonia Brownii is, like all other Pseonies, a 

 perennial, the top dying down in Winter and 



new shoots coming up from the root every 

 Spring. It grows about one foot high. 



The one to two ternately compound leaves are 

 of a very thick, leathery nature, the leaflets are 

 ternately and pinnately lobed or divided. The 

 leaves are glaucous beneath, and either glaucous 

 or glabrous above. 



The petals of the flower are from five to ten 

 in number, they vary in size, in color they are a 

 dark red, the centre of each petal being almost 

 black, the edges shading clearer red; they are 

 very thick. The sepals are about the same size 

 as the petals and vary from a pure green to a 

 bronze green in color. 



The 'flowers are from one to two inches in 

 diameter, and are always found drooping down- 

 wards. 



The follicles or seed-pods are very large, often 

 an inch anil over long, of a green color 

 and from two to five in^number; these, surround- 

 ed as they are by the numerous yellow stamens, 

 give an additional beauty to the flower. 



Pseonia Brownii, though enduring a great 

 range of station and climate, is never met with 

 in large numbers, a dozen, perhaps, will be found 

 together, and then you might go for fifty miles 

 and not find another. That it will do well in 

 any locality is evident from how it grows wild, 

 being found on the hot plains of Los Angeles 

 and San Diego, and also near the limits of per- 

 petual snow on the Sierra Nevadas. It shows 

 no preference for wet or dry soil, blooming 

 eq'ually well in both. 



One of our rarest natives, and one which 

 cultivation will change wonderfully. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



New Cemetery at Toledo, O. — One hundred 

 and sixty acres near this beautiful city has been 

 secured for a cemetery on the "lawn plan," that 

 is, no fences or divisions between lots but survey- 

 ors' marks. The plan adopted has been drawn 

 by Swagerl & Co., of Philadelphia, one of the 

 members of which is Mr. H. J. Swartznian, well- 

 known in connectioti with Fairmount Park and 

 the Horticultural Hall of the Centennial Ex- 

 hibition, 



Roses in Winter. — The Tea and China roses 

 are too tender for some parts of the Union to 

 leave out unprotected in the Winter season. 



