66 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Rambling Talks on Plants 



FLORUM AMATOR 



EPIG.^A REPEXS. Trailing- Arbutus, is by no 

 means our earbest Spring flower, but it is one of 

 the sweetest and prettiest. The flowers of Sympro- 

 carpus foetidus, the Skunk Cabbage, appears weeks before 

 those of the Traibng Arbutus are seen ; so do the tiny, 

 white flowers of Dralia verna. Whitlow grass ; the hill- 

 side ty])e of \'iola palmata. variety cucullata. and the 

 composite flowers of Antennaria plantaginifolia also above 

 their silky-woolly leaves. It is, however, when the Trail- 

 ing Arbutus, the dainty Anemones, the fuzzy-leaved 

 Hepaticas, Liver-worts, and the pearly flowered San- 

 guineas, Bloodroot, are in bloom that we feel Spring is 

 surely here again. 



Some people object to the botanical use of names, and 

 ; affirm that English names are good enough, but just note 

 two facts bearing on this discussion; firstly, you may 

 safely use the words Epigaea repens in talking or writing 

 to a man of any nationality. He will understand what 

 plant you mean, for the scientific botanical name of the 

 plant is the same in all languages, but the name, trailing 

 arbutus will be understood only by those who speak Eng- 

 lish. Secondly, the name Arbutus conveys to us no char- 

 acteristic of the plant, but Epigaea, from the Greek Epi, 

 upon and Ge, the earth, exactly describes the plant. It 

 grows not upright but upon the earth ; Repens, a Latin 

 word, is well translated by our English word trailing, 

 but as previously mentioned, all nationalities understand 

 repens, but not trailing. 



Not unfrequently those who go out in early Spring 

 to .search for Trailing Arbutus blooms, report on their 

 return that it is in bud. They could have truthfully made 

 the same report in the previous Deceml>er, for this plant 

 forms its flower buds in the Autumn of the previous 

 year, and they remain green and dormant till the next 

 Spring. If gathered in the early Spring and placed in 

 water, these buds rarely develop into flowers. But they 

 will expand, if placed either in a Wardian case or in a tin 

 •botanical case or tin lx)x imrtly filled with moss. The 

 stems of the arbutus should be stuck into the moss ; the 

 covers placed on the case or box, and the case put into a 

 rather warm room. The blooms brought out in this way 

 will be large, but will lack to a great extent the pink 

 tint which they have when they flower in their native 

 habitat. 



Of all iiur native flowering shrubs, none arc more at- 

 tractive by reason of the color, form, and fragrance of 

 their flowers than the Azaleas which through their pro- 

 fusion of blooms make our woodlands gay in Spring. 

 In our northern woods. Azalea nudiflora blooms in May. 

 The flowers of this species, which are pink, show a con- 

 siderable range of shade in that color from extremely 

 light to quite dark. It prefers a somewhat dry location 

 in a rather oi>en woodland. In its native habitat, .\zalea 

 nudiflora makes a rather irregular growth and attains a 

 height of four to six feet. When transplanted into the 

 shrubbery, and kejrt closely cut back for a year or more, 

 after l)eing moved, it makes a bu.shy growth and on this 

 lower growth flowers freely. In our somewhat moist 

 and even in our swam])y woodlands in the north, we have 

 another Azelea. which blooms in July. The s|)ccific name 

 of this is visco.sa. so namerl because its white flowers are 

 quite viscid or sticky. This sweet scented Azalea, found 

 often on the margins of swamps along with Magnolia 

 glauca and Clethra alnifolia, will thrive in a shrubl)ery 



which is not heavily shaded, and in a somewhat dry loca- 

 tion. Its adjustment to the change from a heavily to an 

 only partially shaded and from a wet to a rather dry 

 location: as has been ob$erved, is not a characteristic of 

 the Azalea viscosa only,- but belongs to other plants as 

 well : for example, to the beautiful pink flowered Hibiscus 

 moscheutos, which can be removed from its natural sur- 

 roundings in a wet marSh to a rich upland position and 

 will thrive there. As aVwle, however, it is much better 

 in transplanting native plants into cultivated shrubberies, 

 to give them as nearly as possible a location similar to 

 their native habitat. 



In Pennsylvania along the water courses in the moist 

 woods, the Azalea arborescens grows. This species blooms 

 in Alay ; its flowers are rose color, large and sweet scented 

 like those of viscosa, but not sticky ; they appear before the 

 leaves. 



In the mountainous regions from Ohio to Georgia, but 

 especially in North Carolina, grows Azalea calendulacea, 

 the flame colored azalea, or Flaming Pinxter, in masses 

 covering an acre or more. The normal color of this 

 flower is vellowish crimson, but it varies from a light to 

 a deep yelloAv and sometimes to red. The elTect of masses 

 of this azalea, which grows six to eight feet high, is ex- 

 tremely brilliant. Still another southern azalea is X'aseyi, 

 whose blooms are of a delicate pink color, and contrast 

 strikingly with the bold flame or orange colored flowers 

 of calendulacea. 



In April, in the North, appear only a little above the 

 surface of the ground between a pair (^f large velvety, 

 dark green leaves, which overtop them about six inches, 

 the purplish flowers of Asarum canadense. The common 

 name of this perennial herbaceous plant is Indian Ginger ; 

 it is also called Canadian Snake Root. Its rhizomes by 

 which it multiplies rapidly, have a medicinal value. From 

 Canada to Virginia, over a wide range of territory, it 

 grows wild in rocky, half-shaded situations. In cultiva- 

 tion it is quite useful in rockeries l>oth on account of its 

 soft green leaves and its odd shajjed flowers. 



Tn Virginia and southward there are two other species 

 of .\sarum, namely, Virginicum and arifolium, but they 

 are much like canadense, except that their flowers appear 

 in March. In California there is still another s])ecies called 

 caudatum, having brownish-red flowers, which are not so 

 much concealed by their foliage as those of the other 

 species. If you have a bare space, even if rather rocky, 

 which you would like to cover (|uickly with a mass of low, 

 soft, bright green foliage, you can depend ujxm one of the 

 several species of Asarum, suitable to vour latitude, to do 

 this. 



Ever since many years ago, in the last of May, we 

 found Aetata alba, I'aneberry, growing near the edge of 

 some ledges on a jKirtly shaded hillside, we have regarded 

 it as an interesting plant. Its attractiveness lies not so 

 much in its racemes of whitish flowers, as in its general 

 api>earance brought about by the ternately comjxjund 

 leaves with which its upright .stem alx>ut two feet high 

 is clothed, and its ])retty white lierries which follow its 

 flowers. This .\ct:ea is an excellent i>lant for naturaliz- 

 izing in shady woods or ]>lanling in ;i general cullectinn of 

 herbaceous perennials, .'\nother species of .\cta\-i, dilTcr- 

 ing very little from alba in general characteristics and 

 having the same kind of flowers, is spicata. which has red 

 l)erries. .Sf)me botanists consider :dba onlv a variety of 

 spicata. 



