HERACLEUM GIGANTEUM. 



Fifi. 1406. — Heracledm Gioanteum. 



OMPLYINCl with the request 

 of several members of the 

 Horticultural Society here, and 

 Chief Gardener Cameron of the N. F. 

 Park, I enclose to you a " Photo." of a 

 very attractive Herbaceous Pla?it now 

 flourishing in front of "All Saints' 

 Church " Sunday School House. 



The seed of the plant was brought by 

 Mrs. Bull about seven years ago from 

 Shropshire, England, where she had 

 noticed it growing vigorously on grounds 

 attached to the residence of a relative. 

 The plant which we have now has been 

 slow in its first stages of growth, but 

 since last spring its growth has been sur- 

 prising ; the measurement is correctly 

 given in Mr. Cameron's account. 



Geo. a. Bull. 

 Niagara Falls South, Otit., 

 July 5th, i8g8. 



I also enclose Mr. Cameron's note, as 

 follows : — 



Heracleum Giganteum, the old Greek 

 name of the plant ; so called in honour 

 of Heracles or Hercules. Cow Parsley; 

 or Cow Parsnip. Um belli fer^, or Pars- 

 ley Family. A genus comprising about 

 seventy species of strong coarse-growing 

 hardy biennial or perennial herbs, from 

 the mountains of Central and Southern 

 Europe and especially Asia, with a sin- 

 gle North America variety ; flowers 

 white, the petals of the outer ones of 

 each umbel larger. Leaves dissected with 

 large segments, although long known to 

 cultivation. Heracleums are not pos- 

 sessed of any great special recommend- 

 ations. They are best adapted for 

 growing in shrubberies, rough parts of 

 pleasure grounds or on the margins of 

 water, being too coarse for the flower 

 garden. They succeed in any kind of 

 soil Increased by seeds or by divisions. 

 The specimen before us is a noble look- 

 ing plant, tropical in appearance, with 

 its large white umbels many rayed pin- 

 natified, deeply toothed. Stem eight 

 feet high ; length of leaf from the stem, 

 five feet four and a half inches ; width 

 of leaf, three feet nine inches ; width of 

 plant, eight feet ten inches ; circumfer- 

 ence of stem at base, ten inches ; cir- 

 cumference plant around the tips of the 

 leaves at the base of the plant, twenty- 

 seven feet. 



This species named above first came 

 from the Caucasus to England in 1820, 

 where it has of late years been very ex- 

 tensively cultivated on account of its 

 large size and commanding appearance. 



Roderick. Cameron. 



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