370 



THE GAHDENEWS MONTHLY 



[December, 



can slu-ub or tree — fine Autumn colors— is seldom 

 •.Mven in plates of Anieiican plants. 



In rcirard to our tirst jioint, wc can scarcely 

 do Justice to its graceful l)eauty wlien in its prime 

 of flowering, and in its native places. The wri- 

 ter's tirst acquaintance with it in a wild condi- 

 tion was in Kentucky, now luauy years jigo, 

 and the image of the beautiful scene is as fresh 

 now as the reality was wlien tirst enjoyed. The 

 writer, with a fellow traveller (Mr. William 

 M. Canby, of Wilmington, Del.) had journeyed 

 some miles through the woods, before breakfast, 

 till we came on a piece of open ground, of some 

 acres in extent, that was comparatively treeless. 

 It was grown up with the "Sedge Grass" of 

 the Southt>rn farmer, (which it is not, but an 

 Andropo^ron) and Blackberries, Huckleberries 

 and similar material made up the undergrowth. 

 The Andromeda arborea, scattered about so that 

 each had plenty of room to grow, constituted all 

 the larger arborescent growth, and these were 

 of all sizes from say three and four feet to per- 

 haps twenty feet. They branched from the 

 ground, and generally had one straight leading 

 stem, while the main branches were mostly 

 horizontal, the lowest of course the largest, 

 tapering to the top, and making perfect cones in 

 outline. The tlowers were then expanded, of a 

 beautiful clear waxy white, and on long racemes 

 which bent down, but yet curved upwards 

 again at the apex, much as the specimen 

 in fruit now figured does. The brow of the hill was 

 covered with them, and far down the sides they 

 extended till lost in the shadows formed by the 

 rising sun. We were anxious to get to the next 

 village for breakfast, but even hunger, tyrannical 

 as he is, could scarcely expect us to beg pardon 

 for stopping awhile to admire that beautiful 

 sight. There are, however, some who know 

 and admire it as we do, but when they ask for 

 it at nurseries, they fail of the promised reward 

 and do not find it. Regarding our tliird point, 

 we fancy our readers, as they go through all the 

 parts of the seed-vessels and branches, analyzing 

 the lines and proportions with their relations 

 under recognized laws of beauty, will see at least 

 as much to admire as in many flowers ; and this 

 especially in relation to om- fourth point — its 

 autumn colors. Oui- specimen, kindly sent us 

 by Mr. R. J. Black, of Bremen, Ohio, is just on 

 the turn. There is yet some green left, and the 

 winey-rose Avhich it finally acquires has not yet 

 been achieved. But we go back to our Kentucky 

 wild land, and can imaijiue how beautiful these 



wild trees must now be, covered by these slen- 

 der irrey drooping branchlets of seed-vessels, 

 with their background of Orange; brown leaves. 

 We may well a.sk with Thomson, "Who can 

 paint like nature ? " and fancy the answer would 

 be, perhaps, "■ only your artist, and then only 

 when, as now, he truly copies her." 



Our i)ublishcr's idea in getting up this chromo 

 is, that it is a gift to those of his readers who do, 

 pv may get him some new subscribers. The 

 editor's idea is to take advantage of this liberal- 

 ity to make a good point for the reader, and he 

 trusts the opportunity he gives them to be well 

 ac(iuainted with this beautiful little tree will be 

 duly appreciated. For it often is a little tree. 

 Though it blooms when quite small — and this we 

 take to be the rule for deciding whether a woody 

 plant should be classed as a tree or shrub — it will 

 often reach the height of forty feet. 



We have adopted the name Andromeda ar- 

 borea, the name used by Linna'us, because it 

 is so known in all popular horticultural works. 

 But DeCandolle saw reasons to make a genus, 

 and separated it under the name of Oxydendrum. 

 and as Oxydendrum it appears in Dr. Gray's 

 Manual, and other standard modern works. 

 The leaves have a slight Cranberry taste, and 

 the Cranberry is Oxycoccus, or a berry with a 

 sharp taste, and so we have its near relative. 

 Oxydendrum, or the sharp tree, in reference to 

 these acid leaves. In English it is " Sorrel 

 Tree," and all from the same idea. 



We really think that the Southern nurseryman, 

 in accessible locations, would do a good service 

 to horticulture by taking under culture a fair 

 stock of healty wild plants, and possibly serve 

 his purse at the same time. 



Structure of the Stapelia. — Some re- 

 markable discoveries have been made conjointly 

 by Messrs. Isaac Burk, Edward Potts and 

 Dr. J. Gibbons Hunt, of the Philadelphia Aca- 

 demy of Natural Sciences, and which have re- 

 cently been communicated to that body. That 

 Asclepiadaceous flowers catch insects is well 

 known. In the common milk-weed and other 

 allied plants portions of legs, antennae, and 

 tongues may very often be found in the flowers. 

 These have generally been supposed to be caught 

 as it were by accident, through the limbs being 

 ! drawn through the narrowing clefts of some of 

 the seyraents. But from observations made in 

 [the Stapelia, the well-known "toad-plant " or 

 ' "carrion flower" of our greenhouses, there seems 

 to be in this genus at least a peculiar trap, which. 



