1879.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



567 



nowhere find the cause. Since then, in gar- i dedicated to Eupatos Mithridates, who is said to 

 dening, I frequently have found these curious | have used a species of the genus in medicine, 

 fungi, always growing out of a sandy peat. \ Pursh describes twenty-seven as natives of North 



Like the fairy tales of old. some very interest- America; and others will be found extending 

 ing fungi suddenly grew up at the foot of a tall beyond the tropics as far as Peru and Paragua}'. 

 pine in our garden ; they were about eight inches The Bone-set, or Thoroughwort, is perhaps one 



high, and in form like an English snow drop, 

 each silvery stem bearing a delicate bell pendant, 

 slightly fringed, and lovely in the extreme ; they 

 grew in a little group. It was quite early on a 

 frosty morning when I discovered them. Later 

 in the day when my grandson came in from 

 school, I told him of the pretty things, and took 

 him to look at them; they had totally disap- 

 peared, and I Iiave not found any more like 

 them. 



AN ABNORMAL SNAP DRAGON. 



BY P. K. SUI.OFF, PHILADELPHIA. 



I noticed an article in a late number 

 of the Gardener's Monthly on abnormal 

 flowers which induced me to send you the en- 

 closed flower of the Linaria vulgaris which is a 

 very good specimen of the abnormous form. I 

 found it in one of the neglected portions of 

 Fairmouut Park. The two edges were joined, 

 forming a tubular flower. I thought it might be 

 a specimen of the variety Peloria described by 

 Darlington. I searched for others in different 

 parts of the park, but did not find any, so I con- 

 cluded this was an abnormal specimen. It has 

 one stamen and one spur more than the variety 

 Peloria, as described by Darlington. This you 

 will observe has six stamens and six spurs, only 

 one pistil and one ovary. I did not dissect the 

 ovary to learn whether it contained the normal 

 number of cells. The reflexed parts of the up- 

 per lip are only present, which I have pressed 

 down in fastening to the paper; there is no trace 

 of the lower lips, the calyx has the normal num- 

 ber of sepals, — one you will observe has abnor- 

 mal growth at its base resembling a part of the 

 corolla tube. I have secured it to paper in a 

 rather rude manner so as to preserve the parts 

 from being injured. 



of the most common of all the species inhabiting 

 our country; it is found in meadows, on the 

 margins of brooks and in damp woods. It is 

 peculiar to North America, and easily distin- 

 guished from all other species. Many of the 

 species are from five to seven feet high. The 

 red-flowered species bloom with the white Bone- 

 set, and decorate our autumnal land.scapes with 

 the profusion of their red and white flowers, and 

 by the al)undance in which they are everywhere 

 met with. These plants are all plain except the 

 E. coelestinum, the beautiful blue flowers of which 

 have given rise to the appropriate specific name; 

 it is never found much exceeding a foot in height, 

 but occasionally in very rich ground, rather 

 shaded from the sun, you will find a plant a foot 

 and a half high. 



Some months ago having seen the following 

 description of a plant in Mr. Vick's catalogue, I 

 supposed it was something entirely new : " A 

 Mexican flower of a brush-like appearance, not 

 showy in the garden, but prized b}' florists because 

 it bears a great many flowers and keeps in bloom 

 a long time, and is therefore desirable for bou- 

 quet-making. It is well to start the seeds under 

 glass, and transplant to the flowering bed." 

 This description was headed " Ageratum." I 

 purchased the seed, and to my astonishment 

 found myself the possessor of many young plants 

 of the E. coelestinum. Nevertheless I scat- 

 tered them around among my friends that we 

 might all have this wonderful Mexican flower, 

 and in March we had some rare heads of the 

 " Ageratum," for even an old flower seems 

 better when known by a new name. 



EUPATORIUM. 



BY MISS M. EVELYN HUNTER. 



There are many varieties of Eupatorium indi- 

 genous to America, but none rival the Eupator- 

 ium perfoliatum in its medicinal powers. The 

 plant which gave name to the very extensive 

 genus, of which the Bone-set is a species, are 



PENCILINCS FROM COLORADO. 



BY J. L, RUSSELL, DENVER. 



Taking a week's vacation the first of Sept., I 

 was only too glad to spend it among those roman- 

 tic hills and valleys of the Rocky Mountains, 

 where one's mind never tires of admiring the 

 endless variety of forms which nature presents- 

 in those hills. We take the train from Denver 

 and pass through a level tract of farming country 

 for about fifteen miles, when we enter the Platte 

 Canon, where mountains of rocks rise two and 

 three hundred feet on either side of us, and in 



