278 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



ISeplember, 



ATURAL MISTORY AND fSCIENCE. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



PRAIRIE FLOWERS. 



15Y I.. J. TKM rUN. 



Sensitive rose {Schrankia uncinata). 



Among the many floral treasures that hedeck 

 the plains and valleys of this land of floral 

 richness, there are none that possess more 

 unique beauty and delicacy than the "Sensitive 

 Rose." It grows in profusion in this valley ; 

 being so thick in places as to form almost a 

 continuous carpet of bloom, of considerable 

 extent during the blooming season. It is a 

 perennial, forming a cluster of long, slender, 

 and very tough roots. The stems start, in con- 

 siderable numbers, from the crown of the root, 

 and radiate in all directions, lying prostrate on 

 the ground. They grow to the length of three 

 or four feet at times, but always die back to the 

 roots in the Fall. The stem is ridged or striate, 

 with numerous short, sharp, recurved prickles. 

 The leaves are compound ; having from twelve 

 to twenty, or more, leaflets. They are sensitive 

 to the touch, folding up under rough handling, 

 similar to the real Sensitive plant (Mimosa). 



The flowers are borne on axillary peduncles 

 from one to four or five inches in length. The 

 flowers are quite small, growing in a head one- 

 fourth to one-third inch in diameter. But this 

 is not what is seen when one looks at one of 

 these heads of bloom, for from this there stand 

 out, in every direction, a thick cluster of thread- 

 like filaments about one- third of an inch long. 

 These form a ball, almost perfectly globular in 

 form, three-fourths to one inch in diameter, and of 

 a rich rose-color. On the end of each of these 

 filaments is a minute, gold-colored anther, that 

 gives it a very unique, but delicately beautiful 

 appearance. The seeds grow in a striate silicle, 

 or pod, one and a half to two and a half inches 

 in length. I have not tried transplanting this 

 plant, but those who have tried it about here 

 have, so far as I have been able to learn, 

 invariably failed. Why this should be the case 

 I cannot tell, for I frequently see it growing in 

 grounds that have been in cultivation for two 



or three years. It can, doubtless, l)e readily 

 propagated from seed, of which it produces 

 abundance, and it is not very difficult to gather. 

 I do not know how this plant would succeed at 

 the East, but if furnished with a rich, moist, 

 sandy loam, 1 know no reason why it may not 

 thrive there as well as here; and if it did, 

 there is nothing more attractive to the lovers 

 of the delicate and refined among floral produc- 

 tions, as it is not excelled in these qualities by 

 any of the hundreds of beautiful flowers that 

 adorn these lovely plains. 



ABIES ENGELMANNI AND A. MENZIESII. 



BY R. DOUGLAS, WAUKEGAN, ILL. 



I infer from your remarks on page 165 June 

 number of Gardener's Monthly, that you are 

 inclined to think that A. Engelmanni, and 

 A Menziesii of Colorado, are identical. I pro- 

 cured the seeds collected by Dr. Parry, crop 

 of 1874. We sowed the two above-named, side 

 by side; the A. Menziesii grew well ; a few seeds 

 of Engelmanni germinated, but we could not 

 carry one plant of the latter through the first 

 Summer, but this does not prove anything, for 

 Dr. Parry wrote us that he gathered them at 

 such an elevation that, although early in the 

 Fall, there was a severe frost at the time, so you 

 see that, even if they were A. Menziesii, the 

 seeds would not be matured so as to grow as 

 well as the same kind gathered at a lower 

 elevation. Now, if you botanists cannot find 

 any distinctive feature in which they diflfer, 

 except in the length and size of the leaves and 

 cones, I think they will turn out to be one and 

 the same thing. The diff'erence of 2000 or 3000 

 feet of altitude will not only make a difference 

 in the size of the cones and leaves, but also in 

 the general appearance of the tree. 



That noble group of Spruces you and ladmired 

 so much up in the P. flexilis and aristata region, 

 according to elevation, must have been Engel- 

 manni, and yet they hugged the water-course, 

 just like Menziesii, had the same glaucous hue, 

 and the same general form and outline. I in- 

 ferred, from some descriptions, that the Engel- 



