174 



years ago, and latterly its roots liave been attacked by a fungoid 

 parasite. This, together witb tbe softening of tlie eartb due to 

 the excessive rainfall in early March, reduced its hold of the 

 ground so much that when the storm reached its climax about 

 11.15 a.m., it fell with a crash, its great limbs snapping like 

 carrots. Its loss is a great one for Kew, for although not the 

 largest, it was one of the largest, trees in the British Isles, and, 

 from the position it occupied, the most famous. Its measure- 

 ments, taken as it lay on the ground, were: height, 80 feet; 

 spread of branches, 64 feet; girth of trimk at 5 feet from base, 

 10 feet. At 15 feet from the ground, just below the first branches, 

 the trunk girthed 15 feet 3 inches. Its age, computed from the 

 annual rings, was about 150 years. It was, therefore, planted in 

 the early years of the reign oi George III. It grcAV, of course, on 

 what were the Richmond Gardens, made so famous by Queen 

 Caroline, queen oi George II., and it was evidently planted during 

 the manj' alterations made by her grandson and Capability Brown 

 (including the formation of the Hollow Walk or Rhododendron 

 Dell) soon after his accession in 1760. There is a good engraving 

 of the tree in the Gardeners' Chronicle of August 23rd, 1890, 

 J). 219. Two good-sized Tulip trees and several smaller ones remain 

 in Kew. One of the former stands in the Azalea Garden, the other 

 in the garden of Cambridge Cottage. 



Botanical Magazine for May. — The plants figured are Ahles 

 vragnifica, A. Murray (t. 8552); Zephyranthes cardinalis, C. H. 

 Wright (t. 8553); Mazus reptans, N. E. Brown (t. 8554); Lonicera 

 Ledehciirii, Eschscholtz (t. 8555), and Pithecocienium cynan- 

 choides,J)C.{t. 8556). 



The Abies is a handsome species from the north-western United 

 States, where it is a dominant tree in the forest belt of the Sierra 

 Nevada, between 6000 and 9000 feet aboA^e sea level, extending 

 northwards into the Cascade Mountains in Oregon. It was first 

 introduced into the British Islands in 1851, and now some fine 

 specimens are met with, especially in Scotland. The figure was 

 prepared from material supplied by Mr. H. Clinton Baker, in 

 whose fine pinetum at Bayfordbury there is a tree over sixty feet 

 high, with a trunk about six feet in girth. From A. nobilis, 

 LindL, with which it has been very much confused, it may be 

 distinguished by the leaves, which are keeled on both surfaces, 

 whereas in A. nobtlis they are grooved on the upper surface, 



ZepliyrantJies cardinalis is an ornamental new species allied to 

 Z. concolor Benth. and Hook, f., differing from it in the shorter 



?edicels, shorter narrowly tubular spa the, and bright red perianth. 

 t is not known in what part of America the plant is indigenous - 

 A bulb reached Kew through Mr. J, G. Baker, who received it 

 from Mr. E. S. Miller, of Wading Elver, New York. Mr. Miller 

 obtained the plant from the Bahama Islands, where it is grown in 

 gardens. 



Mazxis, a new species from the H 



with M. Tugosx 

 tion last vear. 



Mr 



