290 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 10, 18G5. 



three years old there are some that have the marking of 

 vermim, autl others of the same age without it, and if thev 

 produce the flowers of coum, how eau vernum be considered a 

 very ilistinct species ? I believe it to be a hybrid ; and if it be 

 possilile to bloom C. conm early enough, or'retard 0. ueapoH- 

 tanuui so that a imion of these coiikl be effected, I believe that 

 there would be more than one vernum among the offspring. 

 Cyclamen vernum is a frame perennial. 



C. Atkixsi is a hybrid between C. coum and C. persicum for 

 which we are indebted to the late Mr. J. Atkins. The leaves 

 are large, often from 2i to 3 inches by 2 to 2i inches, ovate 

 obtuse, cordate at the base, the lobes overlapping and having 

 a deep sinus, deep glossy green, with an irregular bamt 

 or pale zoue within the margin ; the under side is of a dull 

 reddish purple. The flowers are white with a crimson centre 

 or eye, and very beautiful. It blooms from .January to April 

 according to treatment. In C. Atkinsi roseum the flowers 

 are blush or pale rose with a dark centre. The varieties of 

 0. Atkinsi are endless, exhibiting many diiYerent shades of 

 colour. All of them are scentless. They are very ornamental 

 for greenhouses, and specimens caa be grown so as to have 

 nearly one hundred blooms expanded at one time. C. Atkinsi 

 and its varieties are frame perennials. 



C. AFRICANU.M is certainly nothing more -than C. neapolita- 

 num with more robust foliage. The flowers are the same, 

 though some are blush with rose markings. There are, too, 

 to my knowledge, nearly a dozen forms of C. neapolitauum 

 differing as regards the foliage. What are called C. africanum, 

 macrophyllnm, latifolium, and robustum are only dift'erentlv 

 marked forms of C. neapolitauum, and diffL'reiit shades of 

 the red and white Ivy-leaved Sowbread. The foliage, however, 

 is large and handsome. They bloom in autumn, and continue l 

 iu bloom a long time. They are half-hardy perennials. 



C. iBERictni, leaves flat and heart-shaped, open at the base, 

 or having an open sinus, and entire or very slightly cronated, 

 deep green on the upper surface, with an irregular baud of grey 

 about one-fourth the width of the leaf from the margin, dull 

 reddish purple on the under side ; the veins sunken on the | 

 upper side, prominent and green beneath. The flowers are of J 

 a pale rose colour with a tinge of purple, and have a deep j 

 crimson (also tinted with purple), spot or bar at the base of ; 

 the segments and extending to the mouth. It blooms in ' 

 November and throughout the winter, but more generally in ' 

 February and onwards, the temperature to which it is subjected | 

 making all the dilference. This is a vcrv questionable species 

 and much confounded with C. Atkinsi. The original species is, 

 I believe, very scarce, and the one that I had with flowers as 

 described, ha3 mucli smaller leaves, and the whole plant 

 is dwarfcr than those now sent out for it. The flowers vary 

 much; in some plants they are white with the same ovate 

 blotch at the base of each segment as in C. Atkinsi ; in others 

 the blooms have rosy or pale flesh-coloured segments with a pur- 

 ple base ; and in others, again, they are light or deep rose with 

 crimson or crimson-purple ovate blotches at the base of the 

 segments. Surely no true species is so sportive as this, nor 

 gives different-coloured seedlings from the same pod without 

 crossing, not one iu ten being exactly like the parent. The 

 original species, if it is one, is very scarce it not lost. 



C. PEESicuM has handsome foliage and fine flowers, some of 

 which are delightfully fragi-ant. Leaves variously heart-shaped, 

 toothed at the ec'ge, deep green with white or" grey marbling 

 on the ujiper surface, pale flesh on the under side. Flowers 

 variable iu colour, bcrue on erect slender stems, from (i to 

 9 inches in height, terminating individually with elegantly 

 recurved coronets of white, oblong, lanceolate petals, blotched 

 with violet crimson at the base; they are for thi most part 

 erect and close, but in other varieties assume a singular curved 

 outline. It flowers iu autumn, winter, auJ spring according 

 to tlie trr.aTraont. The varieties are — 



C ^jcraiftnii nihnim. piu"]^]i-.li crimson. 



C. pendciiiii piij-pnremn, ])urplish red. 



C. jieraicuiii ■stclUilnm, white with star-like spots in each petal. 



C. per.-iicum delicatiim, white with jiink centre. 



C. penicum alhnm, pure white. 



C 2}crt!icitm ro^ruiii, rosy red. 



C. 2ici:iu:um roseum cocchiciiw, rose with scarlet centre. 



C peysicviii Dilnratum, white with rcse eye. Delightfully 

 scented. 



C.pcTsicum otlorntmn rulinim, rosy red. Finely scented. 



C. pfisicum striatum, strijied and spotted rose on a w'.ille 

 gi'ound. 



C. pi'siciiin marginatum, shaded rose. 



There are many varieties of C. persicum, besides those 

 named ; but the above will be found the most desirable and 

 distinct. 



Iu adtlition to the Cyclamens already enumerated, there is 

 one, C. noljile, which is said to be fine, biit not baring seen it 

 I must content myself with naming it. C. odoratmn, if it is 

 the same that I had under that name, is only C. europffium 

 album. They are half-hardy perennials.— G. Abbey. 

 (Tu be continued.) 



VISITS TO GARDENS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. 



Messrs. Ivery & Son's, Douking. 



If a cool and shady bank, a deep and gloomy wood, or a 

 moist and dripping cavern, be associated with the'ideaof Ferns, 

 the delusion was dispelled on the day when I, at the latter end 

 of August, paid a visit to Messrs. Ivei^'s well-known establish- 

 ment, one of the special homes of our beautiful and elegant 

 uiitive varieties. The day was insufferably hot, the sky laden 

 with heavy thundery-looking clouds, and suggestive of storms 

 yet to break ; and as we stood at the various pits where the 

 treasures were placed, it required no small amount of zeal to 

 stand the broiling influences of the sun that streamed down 

 upon us. However, I was bent on seeing all the beauties and 

 novelties, and uiuler the skilful guidance of Mr. Ivery and Mr. 

 Appleby I managed to have a most interesting morning amongst 

 them. 



It may give some idea of the rapid increase of varieties 

 amongst our native Ferns to say, that when Messrs. Ivery 's last 

 catalogue was published it contained 158 species and varieties 

 of British Ferns ; their present catalogue contains 345, and this 

 number is exceeded by the catalogues of other growers. Of 

 some species the variations seem never-ending. Thus, of 

 Athyrium Filix-fcemina (the Lady Fern), there are 69 varieties ; 

 of Lastrea Filix-mas (Male Fern), 21 varieties ; of Polystichum 

 angulare (Short Prickly Shield Fern), 58 varieties; of Scolo- 

 pendrium vulgare (common Hart's-tongue), 70 varieties; and 

 even of the common Hard Fern, Bleclmum spicant, which 

 would seem to afford little scope for variation, there are 20. 

 Some of these many varieties were remarkable for their great 

 beauty, not exceeded, I think, by our choicest foreign Feras ; 

 and some, like a Skye terrier, remarkable for their ugliness and 

 monstrosity. What strange differences iu the same species ! 

 Here is the grand and stately Lastrea Filix-mas cristata, one 

 of the very finest of our British Ferns ; and here is his next 

 neighbour, crispa, a dwarfed and compact little thing, never 

 exceeding a foot in height; then, again, look at the AthjTium 

 Filix-foimina plmnosum, with its beautiful, light, feathery 

 appearance, and compare with that the curiously fan-shaped 

 pinna! of FrizeUhf, and they seem too diverse oven to belong 

 to the same household. 



Instead, however, of rambling at will over the different 

 classes, let me take them in onler, and enumerate what I saw 

 very noticeable in each. Amongst the Aspleniums, tricho- 

 manes cristatum and t. HaiTovii, the latter c^btained by Mr. 

 Holland, of Isleworth, were the prettiest that I chanced to 

 notice. The Athyrium Filix-foemiua piresents a wide field. Of 

 the more common and better-known varieties I would enume- 

 rate apuieforme, conioides, corymbiferum, crispum, dareoides, 

 diilissum, Ficldia;, very beautifrJ ; Frizellia;, gi'andiceps, plu- 

 mosum. depauperatum, and tbyssanotum as well worthy of a 

 1 lace in all collections. There were some exceedingly lieauliful 

 and curious newer varieties, such as Applebyauum, very like 

 Frizellia', the most remarkable difference being the manner in 

 which the fronds branch at the apex into a flat head of several 

 divisions. Then there were fi:isidente-exeurrens, more odd 

 than pretty; glomeiatum, which somewhat resembles muhi- 

 cep5, but the fronds terminate in an almost globular head; 

 .and mucronatum, which bears some analogy to Fieldia), but 

 has more of a fringed appearance. All these may be safely- 

 added to a collection ; and so may A. Filix-fcemina Vernoniaj 

 and VictoriiB, the former having a great likeness to conioides, 

 only more beautifully cut ; and the latter having the pinnae 

 forked at the base aud divergent, so that they crops one another 

 up the whole length of the frond. Of the JIale Fems, Lastrea 

 Filix-mas cristata, cristata angustata, Brlb-.ndia!, furcans, 

 and paleacea were the handsomest; while the cmious little 

 crispa. nhTady noticed, and pumila, are worthy of a place for 

 their odd character. The Polystichums include some of the 

 very finest aud most beautiful varieties we have, especially the 



