1876.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



183 



traveller, who stops at this place, leaves without 

 securing some of the peculiarly colored reeds. 

 The coloring the Japanese frequently declare to 

 be charactei-s of their own language, written as 

 they believe by their gods. 



In the hills near Otanunai there is a fern grow- 

 ing with variegated fronds. Variegated fronds 

 among ferns are very unusual, especially in 

 northern latitudes. 



At Sapporo, which I reached the 28th of July, 

 I remained for about two weeks. As it is the 

 Capital of the Island, I thought it important to 

 gain a knoAvledge of the plants and trees which 

 are more frequently to be met with there. The 

 town is situated in a large plain under a range of 

 mountains, and the soil consists of a deep yellow 

 loam, covered in most places with about a foot 

 of rich black mould, which I had no doubt, 

 judging from the vegetation, might be easily 

 worked to produce rich crops of grain, fi'uits and 

 T«getubles. 



[To continue in next number.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Nkw California Plants. — In the February 

 part of the proceedings of the American Acad- 

 emy, Mr. Sereno Watson gives us three articles ; 

 one on the Flora of Guadalupe — a small island 

 of the coast of Lower California ; another, a list 

 of plants collected on the same island by Dr. Ed. 

 Palmer; the third, descriptions of new plants, 

 chiefly Californian. The last contains many 

 things that cultivators will be on the look-out 

 for. There are three new Lupines, all blue 

 flowered. Four new species of clover gives Mr. 

 Watson a chance to revise the whole of North 

 American Trifoliums. He makes 39 species in 

 all. Sophora Arizonica and Parkinsonia Tor- 

 reyana should make valuable shrubs for the 

 Southern States. The beautiful family of an- 

 nuals, Mentzelia, receives a new addition in M. 

 dispersa. A new dogwood from California is 

 Comus Torreyi; it has loose cymes of white 

 berries, with the stones curiously crowned with 

 tubercles. Reference is also made to a curious 

 Palm, with leaves as thready as the well-known 

 Yucca filamentosa, and of which we have had 

 specimens sent us by Mr. Rock and others. Mr. 

 Watson says it is a Brahea and " introduced into 

 cultivation as B. filamentosa." He describes two 

 allied species — one from Guadalupe Island as B. 



edulis, the other, if a real Brahea, as B. armata, 

 from 80 miles below San Diego. A Cypripedium, 

 collected by many botanists in past years, and 

 near C. parviflorum, is now made C. occidentale. 



A small white-flowered shrub from Southern 

 Arizona, allied to spiraea, is made Vauquelinia 

 Torreyi. 



Guadalupe Island is 26 miles by 10, and is 100 

 miles west of the coast of Lower California. One 

 would suppose from its southern latitude that 

 the plants would be of a tender character, cor- 

 responding with that on the mainland, but a 

 glance at the list of 119 given here shows a com- 

 paratively hardy class. But this is accounted 

 for when we read that the island is in the midst 

 of the current, which on that side flows down 

 from the North seas ; and this should make the 

 flora of a somewhat similar character, as regards 

 hardiness, to that of England, which receives the 

 warmth of the northward flowing or gulf stream. 

 Still the winters are not quite as severe as the 

 English, and the summers are often hot and dry. 

 The Palm, Brahea edulis, grows 40 feet high. 

 Only six grasses are in the enumerated list. 



Nomenclature. — It has always been a mystery 

 what rule our English friends had for theif 

 choice of names. Mr. Barron, whose name is 

 closely associated with evergreens, says that in 

 that " old-fashioned country we have been taught 

 that the best name is one somewhat descriptive 

 of the plant." In this country we hold that the 

 best name is the one which was given with thie 

 first description in a recognized botanical work, 

 and we leave to the one authorized to name it 

 all consideration regarding the fitness of things. 

 By following this law of priority we avoid all 

 wrangling about " the proper name." 



Bees and Flowers. — ^The relation between 

 bees and flowers is one of increasing interest. A 

 London paper says : 



" An interesting experiment is being made in 

 the shipment of two nests of humble bees, which 

 have just left Plymouth for Canterbury, New 

 Zealand. The principal object aimed at in the 

 introduction of these insects into the antipodes 

 is the fertilization of the common clover, the 

 pollen of which the common bee is generally un- 

 able to collect, while the ' humble bee,' having 

 a larger proboscis and being much stronger, is 

 able to reach sufficiently deep into the flower to 

 collect the fertilizing dust. It is hoped that by 

 this means the plant will be more generally fer- 

 tilized, and its cultivation largely extended in th^ 



