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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



(OF AMERICA) ,_,,,,^. 



Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture rotanscal 



vJAkUUN 



I Vol. XXV 



JANUARY, 1921 



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No. 1 ■ 



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Things and Thoughts of the Garden 



MONTAGUE FREE 



IT oftimes happens when looking over collections such 

 a.-- may be found in botanic gardens, that one be- 

 comes acquainted with plants, or groups of plants, 

 whose beauty and usefulness are so pronounced, but yet 

 so unrecognized by cultivators in general, that they are 

 entitled to be called the Cinderellas of the plant world. 

 Belonging in this category is the plant family Brome- 

 liacece. Here is a group that is practically unused by 

 the commercial florists, poorly represented, if at all, in 

 the collections of tropical plants maintained on some 

 private estates, and it is only in botanic gardens that 

 anything like a fair representation of this interesting fam- 

 ily can be found. And yet it possesses horticultural pos- 

 sibilities that are practically unbounded. 



The beauty of many of the Bromeliads is unquestioned 

 by those who have seen them grown to perfection. The 

 coloring to be found in their flowers, bracts and leaves 

 is unique and incomparable with any other group of 

 plants. The orchids are often cited as being of wonder- 

 ful coloration, but many Bromeliads are equally worthy 

 of notice in this respect and have a distinct advantage 

 in being attractive even when not in bloom, and are 

 wortliy of an honored position in any collection of trop- 

 ical plants for their foliage alone. They are amongst 

 the easiest plants to grow well, and many of them adapt 

 themselves admiralilv to dwelling house conditions. 



It has been hinted that the coloring both of their in- 

 florescences and leaves is unique. • Let us examine, for 

 example. Billhergia Leopoldii. Its leaves on the upper 

 side are pale green, with plentiful mottlings of a creamy 

 color. The undersides are red-brown, with perhaps a 

 tinge of purple, and the mottlings are suffused with pink. 

 The effect is remarkable when the plant is grown in a 

 hanging pot or basket and seen suspended against the 

 light. But it is the inflorescence that is most striking 

 and bizarre. The large conspicuous bracts are bright 

 red, dusted with silvery furfuraceous scales, the flowers 

 have petals of green and violet blue, conspicuous golden 

 stamens, and a violet blue stigma curiously marked with 

 spiral ridges. Wliere in the plant world can we find 

 coloring to compare with this? Amitlier species. B. 

 r~ nutans, is similar, but rather more graceful in appear- 

 ■^ ance, with arching leaves and a drooping inflorescence 

 2 composed of red bracts and flowers with green petals 

 lO edged with blue. 



cvi One, perhaps mort' cotnnionly seen in cultivation than 

 ;^ any other, is I'ricsia carinata. which has thin, almost 

 < membranaceous, leaves of a pleasing pale green color. 



1 he flowers are yellow, arranged in a flat, paddle-shaped 

 spike with bracts of yellowish green changing at the base 

 to various tints of rose pink. Another, belonging in a 

 dift"erent genus, which has its flowers arranged in a 

 similar distichous spike, is Tillandsia lindeniana. In this 

 beautiful subject the bracts are of carmine and the 

 flowers, which are about two inches in diameter, of bluish 

 violet. As they open out in succession, one or two at a 

 time, the inflorescence remains attractive over a long 

 period, .\mongst many others that should be grown 

 for the brilliancy of their flowers are Pitcairnia Roezlii, 

 with flaming scarlet bracts and flowers, and Mchmea 

 fujsciis, which has a bright red, persistent calyx, tipped 

 with violet blue. 



* * * * 



Striking leaf coloration is to be found amongst many 

 of this family, but space will not admit the mention of 

 more than a few. The genus Cryptanthus, not note- 

 worthy so far as its flowers are concerned, contains sev- 

 eral species which exhibit remarkable leaf coloration. 

 C. zonatus, for example, has its leaves fantastically 

 barred in a zebra-like effect with buff colored scurfy 

 scales on a ground color of green and brown. The shape 

 and horizontal habit of growth of these leaves is almost 

 lizard-like. C. bcuckcri is a rather taller grower than 

 the preceding, with leaves of dark green mottled with 

 pale green or white. 



A favorite of mine in this family, because it combines 

 grace with its other attributes, is Guzmaiinia Zahnii. This 

 deserves to rank with the best of our foliage plants, and 

 vet it is seldom heard of. and still less often seen. Its 

 leaves, instead of being arranged in the rather tight 

 rosette common amongst the members of this family, are 

 long and beautifully recurved. They are semi-transpar- 

 ent, veined with red parallel lines on a groundwork of 

 green which is sometimes suffused with pink or brown, 

 and are entrancingly lovely when seen against the light. 



.Still more striking, but ])erhaps less beautiful, is Vriesia 

 splciidcns. which has broad strap-shaped leaves boldly 

 barred with transverse red-brown markings. Most in- 

 triguing are the curious markings to be seen on the 

 leaves of Gii:~mannia miisaica. These take the form of 

 broad, transverse bands made up of irregular pencillings 

 of dark green on a li.ght green ground. On the under- 

 side the markings are fainter and of a reddish color. 



Queer contrasts are to be seen in the coloring of 

 Nidiilarium iniioccntii. The leaves towards the base are 

 of a purple color which gradually merges into the green 



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