1883. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



341 



In distribution New York is the banner State, 52 

 species being found within its territory ; Pennsyl- 

 vania has 42; Vermont, 45; Michigan has 47; 

 and Florida, by the help of tropical forms, 46. 

 Only 2 species are found in Nevada, and 4 in 

 Wyoming, 4 in the Indian Territory, 3 in Idaho, 

 and but 9 in Iowa. Little Rhode Island has 34. 

 Vermont has the greatest number of species as 

 compared with territory, and may, on this account, 

 lay claim to be the great fern State. Asplenium 

 Trichomanes and Pteris aquilina have the widest 

 distribution, being found, the former in 35, and the 

 latter in 39 States. Polypodium vulgare has been 

 found in 33 States. Adiantum pedatum occurs in 

 35 States. The rarest fern is Schizaea pusilla, in 

 New Jersey. — Indepetident. 



The \'anilla Bean in the United States. — 

 Few things give a better idea of the immense ex- 

 tent of the United States, than the fact that al- 

 most any vegetable product of the world will grow 

 in some part of it. It now appears that we have 

 the vanilla ; not only growing, but native. Mr. 

 A. H. Curtiss, the well-known Florida botanist, in 

 a sketch of an exploration, furnished to the Flori- 

 da Dispatch, says : 



" During another cruise I penetrated the borders 

 of the Everglades, at a point about thirty miles 

 east of Cape Sable. The mainland shore was 

 there skirted with a light forest of mahogany and 

 other tropical trees. Following a creek which is- 

 sued from it, we soon emerged into a round, fresh- 

 water lagoon, about a mile in diameter, in the 

 center of which was a beautiful round island. A 

 creek emptying into it from the north I call Vanilla 

 Creek, because on its banks grows the only vanilla 

 ever found in the L-nited States. This species 

 (Vanilla planifolia) is a thick, fleshy, leafless vine, 

 which runs rampant among weeds and bushes, 

 simulating, as it were, a slender, green snake in its 

 color, form and curves. This little creek is one of 

 the small outlets of the Everglades ; it has cut a 

 channel through the underlying coral-rock, and is 

 bordered with a low growth of saw grass and 

 mangroves only a few feet in height." 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Wild Te.\. — To the great number of "substi- 

 tutes for Chinese tea " already on the lists, a Flori- 

 da correspondent sends us a common weed of that 

 section for name, which proves to be one of the 

 mallows — Sida stipulata. 



The Dwarf Almond. — Mr. L. B. Case, Rich- 

 mond, Ind., writes: " During the past year or two 

 I have often mused over the too-common (?) forms 

 of double-flowering dwarf almonds in common 



cultivation ; viz., the rose-colored and white varie- 

 ties. Professor Gray, in his Field Botany, says : 

 ' prunus nana, ,,, ^ ^ handsqme rose-colored 

 (or by variation white), usually full-double 

 flowers,' etc. — seemingly acknowledging only one 

 species. Wood says, * Prunus nana, dwarf single- 

 flowering almond, and Prunus lanceolata, dwarf 

 double-flowering almond, both from Russia.' Sir 

 Joseph Paxton says, 'Amygdalus nana, flowers 

 red, 2 feet high, from Russia,' and ' Amygdalus Si- 

 berica, flowers red, 6 feet, from Russia ; ' also, 

 ' Armeniaca Siberica, flowers pink, 6 feet, from 

 Siberia.' Again, the Treasury of Botany says, 

 ' Prunus Siberica is like a small apricot, only 

 smaller, and Prunus sinensis a small greenhouse 

 shrub, with double white flowers.' Now some of 

 our best-informed and most experienced nursery- 

 men off'er Prunus Japonica multiplex, a double 

 dwarf rose almond, and Prunus sinensis, the 

 double dwarf white almond, and perhaps many 

 others name other varieties or synonyms. 1 have 

 on my lawn an ordinary double-flowering rose- 

 colored variety, probably Prunus nana, and also a 

 form of the white variety, with double white 

 flowers — a little later to bloom in the spring, and 

 the flowers set closely together along the branches, 

 producing at least one-third more bloom than the 

 old variety. Again, it seems to ripen its foliage 

 soonest in fall, turning to a dark, bronzy crimson. 

 I enclose a small branch with this. Do you 

 think, from this imperfect description, the two 

 forms are of the same species (P. nana)? Of 

 course Sir Joseph Paxton's Amygdalus nana and 

 Siberica should read, according to our nomencla- 

 ture, Prunus nana and Siberica ; but what is his 

 Armeniaca Siberica? Is it under cultivation in 

 America, and where can I get it? I should also 

 be very glad to get Wood's single-flowering form, 

 as I have never seen it ; but I do not find it offered 

 by any nurseryman. How many of these forms 

 can be reduced to a few ? I know that many of 

 the readers of the Monthly would be very much 

 pleased to know the synonyms, and also to know 

 just what we are growing. For myself, I most 

 sincerely wish you would do so, and then I hope 



; that anyone having the scarcer varieties will offer 

 them in the advertising department of the Month- 

 ly, so that we all can know where to procure au- 

 thentic specimens; for they are certainly a most 

 welcome and meritorious class of shrubs for a 

 large lawn, cemetery or park, to mass with other 



\ shrubs. True, the old red variety suckers very 

 badly (the white one in my yard does not), but no 

 one can expect anything in the shrub or plant 



