1880.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



the plant with liquid manure ; this is undoubtedly 

 a remedy if the plant is not too far injured by the 

 disease. "VVe grow some hundred or more va- 

 rieties of Verbenas, and this Fall we found the 

 black rust affecting one variety only, which hap- 

 pened to be at the end of the house and was 

 probably at some time allowed to be starved by 

 drying. We tried on it the Cole's " insect exter- 

 minator, " which is death to every visible insect 

 that attacks greenhouse plants, with no appar- 

 ent effect. We then stimulated the plants with 

 liquid manure, and in 20 days every trace of the 

 living insect was gone, and the plants now show 

 no indication of ever havincr been efl'ected. 



is over twelve feet high, the plants will have to 

 become large before they flower to perfection, 

 and as it requires abundance of room for its 

 branches, it will on this account, never come 

 into general cultivation. The bark of the Port- 

 landia is said to possess similar powers of the 

 cinchona, but much weaker. I have never tried 

 to raise it from seed. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



PORTLANDiA CRAMDSFLORA. 



BY CHAS. E. PARNELL, GARDENER TO W. D. F. 

 MANICE, ESQ., QUEENS, L. I. 



The Portlandia grandiflora is a splendid stove 

 plant belonging to the natural order Rubiacefe. 

 As it is a plant to be found only in a few collec- 

 tions, I thought that it would be interesting to 

 some of the readers of the Monthly, to learn 

 that a fine specimen of the Portlandia has been 

 in blossom here for the past three weeks, and 

 I counted fifty flowers fully expanded on it at 

 one time. The Portlandia is a native of Ja- 

 maica, where it is said to grow among the rocks 

 at the foot of the mountains. It was introduced 

 Into England in 1775. The flowers are about 

 five inches long, one and a half inches broad, 

 and shaped like a Brugmansia, pure white except- 

 ing on the inside at the throat, where it is red- 

 dish. The flowers are produced in the greatest 

 -abundance and are quite fragrant at night. In 

 its native country it is said to grow ten to twelve 

 feet high, but I think that it would grow to the 

 -height of twenty feet or more. It is also de- 

 scribed as an evergreen shrub, but I find that 

 our plant must have support and that it shows 

 every indication of being a climbing plant after 

 the way of the Wistaria. As to its being ever- 

 green, I can only say that our plant gradually 

 commences to cast its leaves in Ma}', and by 

 •July there are no leaves on it. It commences 

 to grow in September and flowers in November. 

 Our plant occasionally ripens seed, and I think 

 that if the flowers were carefully fertilized, seed 

 would no doubt be produced in abundance. The 

 Portlandia can be propagated from cuttings, and 

 if the young plants are repotted as (.)ften as neces- 

 sary and liberally treated, flowering plants 

 will be produced in a few years. As our plant 



Upright Gloxinias.— In our last, Mr. Fyfe 

 gave some interesting accounts of the origin of 

 the upright Gloxinia. Some of the plants from 

 which pollen was taken are so widely separated 

 from gloxinia that it could hardly have had any- 

 thing to do with the result, but it is worthy of 

 note that among GesneraceiB, plants supposed to 

 be of distinct genera, have been certainly known 

 to hybridize together. An interesting field is 

 open for further experiment. But about these 

 upright flowers we may say that some years ago 

 the writer of this noticed on a plant of Gesueria 

 elongata, some half dozen of the first flowers 

 to open were upright and tubular, the many 

 hundreds of others succeeding having the usual 

 irregular form. It was the intention to save 

 seed from these naturally produced tubular 

 flowers, under the impression that they would 

 introduce a race like Mr. Fyfe's gloxinia, but an 

 accident to the plant prevented, and the same 

 opportunity never came again. 



Button-hole Bouquets. — Our dry climate 

 soon makes an end of the beauty of button-hole 

 bouquets, so they are not quite as much in use 

 as in the Old World. Very double Azaleas, 

 known as Balsam Azaleas, are popular for this 

 purpose in those countries. 



The Amaryllis.— It is wonderful how the 

 taste for these bulbous plants has grown. Eu- 

 ropeans have hybridized and crossed the species 

 and varieties, till they have become as numer- 

 ous as dahlias. The best are named and sold 

 at high figures, some as much as ten dollars a 

 root. In our own country some of the old kinds 

 are popular as window plants for early spring 

 admiration. Of Amaryllis Johnsonii Mr. W. K. 

 Harris, of Pbiladelphia, raises and sells many 

 hundreds annually. 



A Novelty in Roses. — Buds of the new 

 Striped Tea Rose "American Banner," were 

 worn for the first time in New York, by the la- 

 dies waiting on the tables at the srrand fair o 



