187.6.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



25 



Female Weeping Willow. — M., Newcastle, Del. 

 says : " I have heard that the willow in this coun- 

 try has but one sex. Is this correct, and how 

 is it?" 



[This probably refers to the common weeping 

 willow, which, up to quite recently, was repre- 

 sented only by the female form. The original 

 willow probably came from China, and as it is in- 

 creased by cuttings, the plants are all, both in 

 this country and in Europe, of the sex of that 

 original tree, which chanced to be female. Of 

 late years, however, the male form, under the 

 name of Salix japonica, has been introduced. We 

 have now the two sexes, but the male is not so 

 pendulous or so graceful as the old one. The fe- 

 male mil therefore continue to be the weeping 

 willow.— Ed. G. M.] 



Emblematic descriptiox of the Pas.sion Flow- 

 er. — Mrs. R. T. W. asks : " Can you inform me 

 where I may find the Emblematic description of 

 the 'Passion Flower,' and greatly oblige." 



[ An apology is due to this lady for overlooking 

 the question last month, for which it came to hand 

 quite in time. 



The Spaniards when they first entered Mexico, 

 associated everything possible with their religious 

 faith. This flower came in for its share of this 

 attention. It was taken to illustrate the passion 

 of Christ. The three nail-like pistilc were em- 

 blematical of the three nails by which he was 

 attached to the cross, and the five stamens the 

 five wounds, four on the hands and feet, and one 

 in the side. The singular narroAV processes which 

 characterize the passion flower, and form the 

 course below the stamens, is the crown of thorns 

 which covered the Saviour's head. The ten petals 

 and sepals are the ten apostles, two being 

 absent, one, Peter, being afraid and having run 

 away to hide himself; the other, Judas, ha\ang in 

 a spirit of remorse, gone and committed suicide. 

 The fancy is much more perfect than that which 

 identifies the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove 

 with the Peristeria elata, and is, perhaps one of 

 the best that the Spanish Americans have given 

 us.— Ed. G. M.] 



The Charter Oak.— We have the following let- 

 ter from Dr. G. W. Russell, of Hartford: "I sent 

 you last year some of the leaves of the Charter 

 Oak, which you thought to be those of the Quercus 

 discolor or Swamp White Oak. As controversy 

 has arisen lately as to the true name of the Char- 

 ter Oak, some contending that it was Q. alba, 

 others Q. discolor, I write again : 



" Genuine leaves of the Charter Oak taken from 



it after it was blown over, are very variable ; 

 those on the upper branches are like those usual- 

 ly delineated and described as the Q. alba. Those 

 which I sent you were probably from the lower 

 branches. 



Upon examining several trees of the Q. alba, I 

 find that universally the leaves upon the upper 

 branches are deeply lobed and of the usual form, 

 whilst those upon the lower, and near the trunk, 

 are quite difterent, being broader and not deeply 

 lobed. 



"Those which I sent you were genuine, and 

 probably from the lower branches, and were of 

 this description. 



" I am inclined to think that we made a mistake 

 in calling the Charter Oak tree Q. discolor, and 

 that it should be the Q. alba, as has always before 

 been supposed. 



" I send you specimens of leaves of an oak which 

 I think to be Q. discolor, very unlike those of the 

 Charter Oak in either form ; the tree is ragged in 

 its appearance, bark loose, in large plates, and 

 upon the whole presenting much the appearance 

 of a man ' out at the elbows.' " 



[The oak on the grounds of Mrs. Colt, shown to 

 the writer as a seedling from the Charter Oak, is 

 certainly ^. discolor. The leaves sent us from the 

 original tree, were very small, and on a cursory 

 examination we took them to be Q. discolor also. 

 Since receiving this letter of Dr. Russell we have 

 re-examined the little leaves critically, and with 

 numerous specimens of Quercus alba and Q. 

 discolor before us, and find that there are always 

 constant characters distinguishing the two kinds 

 quite independent of the outline of the leaf, 

 (which indeed is very variable) and which enables 

 one to fix the species even though only a portion 

 of the leaf should be under examination. We * 

 have now no hesitation whatever in deciding that 

 the original Charter Oak was of Quercus alba* 

 the common white oak.] 



Rocky Mountain Silver Spruce.— H., Quincy, 

 111., asks : "Will you be kind eriough to give us 

 the botanical name of the 'Rocky Mountain 

 Silver Spruce ?' We are often asked to give it, 

 and cannot do so. We enclose a paragraph 

 clipped from a description by a well-known 

 writer." 



" The Rocky Mountain Silver or Blue Spruce. — 

 This we consider the most beautiful evergreen of 

 America. A well-known writer speaks of it as 

 follows : 



. . ' But the Silver Spruce is the one gem of 

 the trees, a sort of first cousin of the evergreen 



