July 6, 1907 



HORTICULTU RE 



The Maidenhair Tree 



(gikkgo 

 The Maidenhair Tree, kuown botanically as Gink- 

 go biloba or, formerly, Salisburia adiantifolia, is at once 

 one of the rarest and most beautiful of our hardy trees. 

 Its former botanical name seemed particularly apt, as 

 the leaves, unique in form and alluring in their charm, 

 serve to at once remind one of tlie fronds of the maiden- 

 hair (Adiantum). I know of no tree comparable in 

 grace and symmetry and soft coloring to a specimen of 

 tliis ginkgo. The limbs and boughs are stifE and 

 straight, while tlie minor shoots are of spreading growth. 

 When the tree is in full leaf it is as though a mantle 

 of soft green had fallen and enveloped the tree boughs, 

 hanging in soft folds and causing tiie slenderer shoots 

 to droop gracefully. There are few fine trees of it in this 

 country, two of the best being tliose in the King's gar- 

 dens at Windsor, and in the Royal Gardens, Kew. 



The Maidenhair Tree is enually delightful in spring 

 when the young leaves unfold — a tender green : In sum- 

 mer when each fern-like leaf has reached its fullness of 

 form and color, and in autumn when, as each leaf turns, 

 some to light, some to deep yellow, others to red or 

 brown, the whole tree is clothed in a mass of brilliant 

 colors. Not only for its intrinsic charm is the Ginkgo 

 valued, for it has a history that is as remarkable as 

 it is full of interest. In the hrrt place it is monotypic, 

 that is to say, it is the sole representative of the genus. 

 It is also the sole representative of a type of vegetation 

 long since extinct. Some remarks in this connection in 

 Veitch's "Manual of Coniferae"' are well worth repro- 

 duction. 



"The existing species is tiie sole survivor of an un- 

 known number of others widely dispersed during geo- 

 logical ages over what is now the temperate and colder 

 part of the Northern Hemisphere. Fossil remains of 

 Ginkgo have been discovered in systems that were in 

 course of formation at a remote epoch of the earth's 

 history, and show conclusively that the genus is of 

 astonishing antiquity and that the first appearance of 

 its ancestral form antedates that of every other exist- 

 ing tree by aeons of time. The Ginkgo thus presents 

 to us at least one form of vegetation that flourished on 

 the earth when it was inhabited by unwieldy Icthyosauri, 

 gigantic toads and monster Deinotheriums, ages before 

 man entered upon his inheritance. If the association of 

 the Ginkgo with the remote past is of a kind to excite 

 wonder, its recent history is scarcely less a subject for 

 surprise, for the origin of the existing species is shrouded 

 in mystery as obscure as that of its remote ancestors. Its 

 habitat is practically unknown. No naturalist can say that 

 he has seen it in a wild state, and hypothesis alone sug- 

 gests that it may possibly be found in some unexplored 

 district in Eastern Mongolia. For centuries it has been 

 preserved alive by the Chinese and Japanese who, by asso- 

 ciating it with their religious worship and planting it near 

 their shrines and temples have invested it with a kind of 

 sanctity that has contributed immensely to its preserva- 

 tion amidst a dense population whose resources of fuel 

 and timber have always been restricted. Thus preserved, 

 it stands alone, a perfect stranger in the midst of recent 

 vegetable forms." 



In this country the Maidenhair Tree seems to be 

 little planted and it is of slow growth until well es- 

 tablished. Like many deciduous trees it will grow well 

 in the neighborhood of large towns. The leaves as 



mi.OBA) 



they fall in the autumn take the soqty deposit with them 

 and the tree starts the next year with fresh and clean 

 foliage. There are three well marked varieties in cul- 

 tivation, macrophylla with larger leaves than those of 

 the type, pendula which has a weeping habit of growth, 

 and variegata, whose leaves are blotched and streaked 

 with yellow. 



/fzViyU^ rf ' /fLCr-Kl-sA f 



London, England. 



Cattleya gigas 



(See Frontispiece) 



This summer-flowering orchid, native of Columbia, 

 is undoubtedly one of the finest cattleyas known, giving 

 tlie largest and the most beatitifuUy colored fiowers on 

 spikes bearing four to ten flowers each, of immense 

 size, sepals and petals pale rose and the lip dark, of 

 great width, having two conspicuous eyelike yellow 

 blotches in the throat. 



The type of Gigas slrown in the picture is what 

 is termed the Hardyana type and the photograph was 

 taken last year at the orchid nurseries of the Julius 

 Roehrs Co., at Rutherford, N. J., it being one of the re- 

 jnaining plants of an importation of sixty-two cases. 

 This particular variety must be grown as close to the 

 light as possible and in the warmest part of the house. 



