1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



67 



ished ; it is of a clear bluish green color without 

 spots or cracks. The ramification is strong and 

 characteristic. The brilliant white of the lower 

 side of the leaves, which remains unchanged in 

 its purity throughout the summer, makes a 

 strong contrast with the dark green of the upper 

 side, producing a striking effect, and rendering 

 this tree visible at a long distance. The wood of 

 the fastigiate Poplar is of finer quality and more 

 highly esteemed here than that of the other pop- 

 lars. It is an ornamental tree of the first order, 

 find I cannot too highly i-ecommend it." 



ARUNDO CONSPICUA. 



BY MR. A. VEITCH, NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



Several years ago I was delighted to see a 

 cut of this fine grass in the Garden., accompained 

 with the statement that it was hardy in Great 

 Britain, and from the information thus received 

 two New England florists imported plants which 

 have repeatedly flowered with them since. Being 

 somewhat of an admirer of grasses, several 

 plants soon after came into my possession, which 

 have also flowered, and I find it fully up to the 

 high character with which its introduction was 

 heralded. 



From a later notice in the Garden I observe 

 that it is still known in England as Arundo con- 

 spicua, but for what reason does not very clearly 

 fippear, seeing that it differs in some important 

 particulars from Arundo — taking Donax as a 

 i:)roper representative of the genus. In Donax 

 the spikelets are three-flowered, flowers sessile 

 and perfect, silky-villous at their base ; styles, 

 two; stamens, three; glumes about equal in 

 length, and three-nerved ; palea, three-nerved, 

 slender, tricuspidate, and scarcely longer than 

 the hairs. 



Arundo conspicua. — Dioeceous. Spikelets on 

 female plants mostly five-flowered, pedicellate ; 

 glumes about equal in length and lanceolate 

 with conspicuous middle nerves and bicuspidate 

 tips ; upper palets shorter than the hairs ; the 

 lower three-nerved, their long bristle points ex- 

 ceeding the copious silky hairs in length and 

 thickness. Spikelets on male plant three- 

 flowered, pedicfllate, with clusters of short 

 hairs at their base ; glumes bicuspidate ; panicles 

 more contracted than those of the female, vary- 

 ing from white to rusty brown in color, and less 

 valuable for ornamental purposes. 



This description of the Arundo conspicua so 

 nearly corresponds with that of the Pampas 



Grass, Gynerium argenteum, that it applies 

 almost as well to the one as to the other ; and 

 yet there are differences betwixt the two which 

 should not be overlooked. The Pampas Grass 

 has the broadest and widest spreading foliage ; 

 the glumes not so generally cleft at the tips as 

 are those of the other, and perhaps the panicles 

 are clothed with a softer and more delicate wool. 

 But as both are strictly dioeceous and also pos- 

 sessed of several other features in common, we 

 are inclined to think they belong to the same 

 genus — and perhaps no violence would be done 

 to any rule of classification were the one to be 

 regarded as a species, the other as a variety. 

 Under this impression I exhibited a plant of the 

 Arundo conspicua, so-called, at a horticultural 

 meeting last Fall, bearing the name of Gyne- 

 rium argenteum Novse Zealandise, and will con- 

 tinue so to designate it until some one in 

 authority shows why it should receive another 

 name. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Art in Arboriculture. — We have frequent- 

 ly suggested to our reader how much more pleas- 

 ure they could derive from their gardens, if more 

 eff"ort were used in bringing out some of the pe- 

 culiar features of trees and shrubs. We are 

 again reminded of this by the following note of 

 Mr. Shirley Hibberd's in his Gardener'' s Magazine 

 in regard to the Pyracantha, which is applica- 

 ble to many parts of our country where the 

 plant grows as well as in England : 



"My standards have ripened their berries in 

 advance of trees trained to walls. From the 

 24th of August they were conspicuous for their 

 strong red color, although they have not yet ac- 

 quired the splendid fiery glow by which they will 

 soon be distinguished. There is a standard py- 

 racantha atKew, and I recommend lovers of har- 

 dy trees to see it, and thereby form an estimate 

 of the value of this fine evergeen when grown in 

 such a form. What a grand feature would a few 

 dozen standards make spread out with ample 

 sjjace between on the grass in some of the Lon- 

 don parks ! Would that some of our managers 

 would make the trial." 



Legacies for Tree Planting. — In the 

 past time Philadelphians have seen the value of 

 trees in cities. The legacy of Elliot Cresson, 

 which was bequeathed in 1857, provides as fol- 

 lows : "I give and bequeath to the Mayor and 



