42 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ July 17, 1873. 



seeds showed was throwing out two or three " tentacula," or 

 claws ; but this year one of the seeds has vegetated, and has now 

 thrown out sprouts of more than an inch long. It was ^uite 

 despaired of that the seeds would vegetate. This information 

 may he useful to anyone who may wish to propagate this 

 parasite in our, as in many other districts almost unknown. — 

 G. H. Cooke, The Gardens, Fmuartli, Merionetli. 



FLOWEES FOR OUR BORDERS.— No. 10. 



POTENTILLA MENZIESII.— Menzies' CiNQnEFulL. 



The order Eosaeeas, to which the genus Potentilla belongs, 

 may be regarded as one of the most important of the vegetable 

 kingdom ; for it includes within its hmit not only some of the 

 handsomest of our garden flowers, but also comprehends all 

 the most valuable of the fruits of the temperate regions, such 

 as the Apple and Pear, and the different varieties of the Peach, 

 Plum, Apricot, and Cherry. Leaving aside, as foreign to our 

 present purpose, the fruit-bearing genera, we may claim for the 

 PotentiUas a high rank among the ornamental plants of the 

 order. 



Of the 150 species and varieties known, all, with scarcely 

 any exceptions, are interesting plants, and a considerable 

 number of them are indeed scarcely inferior in beauty to any 

 of the hardy perennials. 



Most of the highly-coloured varieties now so common in 

 gardens are hybrids ; the flowers of the wild species being, 

 with very few exceptions, yellow or white. 



Among those species most deserving of cultivation may be 

 named P. rupestris, with pretty pure white flowers produced in 

 May ; P. pyrenaiea, also an early bloomer, of dwarf habit, yield- 

 ing bright yeUow blossoms in profusion ; P. mollissima, with 

 prinu'ose yellow flowers ; P. Eichardsonii, also yellow, with fo- 

 liage silvery beneath ; P. atrosanguinea and P. formosa, two 

 Nepaulese species, the former with deep purple, and the latter 

 with pale cherry-coloured flowers. These two species are not 

 only interesting for their intrinsic beauty, but also as being 

 the parents of many of the numerous hybrids which have 

 adorned our gardens for years past. As one of the earliest 

 and best of these we may name KusseUiaua, formerly a very 

 popular plant, but now superseded by varieties with greater 

 breadth of petal and brighter colours, of which P. Menziesii 

 may be regarded as the type. Equally desirable are the varie- 

 ties Hopwoodiana, Macnabiana, Smoutii, Striata multiflora, 

 all more or less distinct in colour. But beautiful as these are, 

 they are eclipsed by the numerous double and semi-double 

 varieties of recent introduction, which have the advantage of 

 not closing their flowers so completely as the single-flowered, 

 and their blossoms are also of longer duration. Some of the best 

 of these are Louis Van Houtte, large, deep crimson ; Belisaire, 

 bright vermilion ; WilUam Rollisson, reddish yellow and 

 orange ; Kosfcflora plena, rich velvety vermilion, edged with 

 yellow; .and Vase d'Or, canary yellow, all fivst-class plants, 

 worthy of being added to the most select collection of pe- 

 rennials. 



All the species and varieties we have enumerated are perfectly 

 hardy, and of the easiest cultivation, though it cannot be said 

 that they will flourish in any description of soil. They succeed 

 best in a good rich earth of some depth, and require, in summer, 

 a plentiful supply of water, especially about the time the flower 

 stems are thi-own up. We have never seen the Potentillas 

 grown iu beds, but we think that such an arrangement would 

 be exceedingly interesting, if a proper selection of plants were 

 made. For the centre of the bed one of the shrubby species, 

 such as fruticosa, or fioribunda, both with yellow flowers, and 

 growing about 4 feet high, would be well adapted ; and around 

 these might be grouped the erect-growing herbaceous species 

 and varieties, reserving the trailers, of which there is a fair 

 sprinkling, for the outer circle. 



They are all readily increased by dividing the roots early in 

 spring, and as these descend to a considerable depth, care 

 mast be taken that the fibres are not broken. Many of the 

 species ripen seeds, from which new varieties may often be 

 raised, and all the seedlings would flower the second season 

 after sowing. 



A wide field is here open to the amateur florist, and, with a 

 little care and attention, he could scarcely fail to originate 

 some valuable additions to this ornamental family. 



There is an allied genus, of which a few species are occasion- 

 ally found in gardens, and which fuUy equal in beauty the 

 Potentillas we have named ; we allude to the Geums. They 

 are distinguished from the CinquefoUs by their lyrate leaves, 



reflexed calyx when iu fruit, and more particularly, by the 

 style of the numerous little granular seed-vessels being jointed. 

 Geum cocciueum (theG. QueUyon or chiloense of some authors) , 

 is au extremely handsome plant. 



The properties both of Potentilla and Geum, as well as of 

 Tormeutilla, another allied genus, are very similar. Many of 

 the species of the three genera are astringent and aromatic, 

 and all are perfectly innocuous. The common Potentilla anse- 

 rina, or Silver Weed, has been used by tanners ; and P. reptans, 

 another English species, of which a pretty double-flowered 

 variety is sometimes met with in gardens, was formerly 

 employed as a febrifuge. 



Potentilla Meneie&ii 



The generic term, Potentilla, is derived by some authors 

 from 2>otens, powerful, or I'otcntia, power, in allusion to the 

 medicinal properties of the species ; but as these are un- 

 doubtedly very weak, we incline to agree with those who con- 

 sider the reference to be to the Latin diminutive, signifying 

 little power. 



The popular designation, Cinquefoil, alludes to the arrange- 

 ment of the leaflets, which are often in fives, but by no means 

 exclusively so ; for many of the species, including Menziesii, 

 have ternate foliage, and it is not rare to find on the same 

 plants, leaves with segments varying from three to six in num- 

 ber ; a few_species have even pinnate leaves. — W. Thompson, 

 Ipswich. 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWEES, AND 

 FRUITS. 



PiiiMULA VERTICILIJ.TA rar. SINENSIS. jY(!(. ortt, Primulacca!. 

 Linn., Pentandria Monogynia. — Native of Abyssinia. Flowers 

 primrose-yellow. " Primula verticillata has been long cul- 

 tivated in Europe, having been raised from seed brought, I 

 believe, from the Sinaitic Peninsula; but the Abyssinian va- 

 riety is of recent introduction into England by Messrs. Veilch. 

 It flowered in the Royal Gardens in March of the present year ; 

 it grows freely on rockwork." — (Bot. Mug., t. 6042.) 



Meninia turcica. Nat. ord., Acanthacenj. Linn., Dian- 

 dria. — Native of Cochin-China. Flowers wliite, reticulated 

 with pink nerves. It flowered at Kew in April. The plant is a 

 powerful febrifuge, called Thuong-son by the natives. — (Ibid., 

 t. 604.3.) 



Crassula phofusa. Nat. ord., Crassulaceaj. Linn., Pent- 

 andria Monogynia. — Native 'of South Africa. Flowers white 

 tinged with pink. " A free-flowering and remarkably ramous 

 species of Crassula, sent from the Graaf Keinett district of the 

 Cape Colony by Harry Bolus, I^.sq. The structure of the leaf 

 is very curious. The margin, which is quite entire, is edged 

 with a narrow band of chestnut-brown, within which is a series 

 of orbicular, slightly convex, puuctiform disks. These disks, 

 when highly magnified, are found to consist of a vcrj' dense 

 cellular tissue, that terminates downwards in a conical form, and 

 communicates with the peripheral ends of the nerves, in the 



