BAMBUSA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



BAPTISIA. 



3 6l 



species. The only plant of it I possess 

 has in its third year grown to a height of 

 8 feet, and promises to become very tall 

 and vigorous. The stem is a dark green, 

 shining like enamel ; the internodes at the 

 base are very close together, not more than 

 i^ inches to 2 inches. 



"P. FASTUOSA. A very stately and 

 beautiful plant, quite conspicuous among 

 its fellows. The leaves are from 5 inches 

 to 7 inches long by three-quarters of an 

 inch to i inch in width, tapering to a sharp 

 point, and markedly constricted at about 

 an inch from the end, which has the 

 appearance of a little tongue. Tall, 

 spreading, gracefully plumed with foliage, 

 which for richness and beauty of colour is 

 without a rival. 



P. AUREA. The distinctive name aurea 

 is not very happily chosen, for there is 

 nothing golden about the plant, unless it 

 be the yellow stems, and these are not 

 peculiar to the variety named. 



P. MITIS. This is the tallest, and in 

 that respect the noblest, of all the Bamboos 

 capable of being cultivated in this coun- 

 try. At Shrubland the culms of plants 

 imported seven years ago are 19 feet 



5 inches high and 4^ inches in circumfer- 

 ence. In China and Japan it grows to 

 60 feet high. The stems, some of which 

 spring out of the ground like spears, are, 

 when fully developed, beautifully arched. 



P. QUILIOI. A very distinct Bamboo, 

 introduced from the north of Japan. To 

 me it appears to have a character alto- 

 gether its own, and the many botanists 

 and gardeners to whom I have shown it 

 have without exception come round to my 

 opinion. Altogether a notable Bamboo, 

 growing at Shrubland to a height of 18 feet 



6 inches. Syn. Phyllostachys Mazeli. 



P. VIRIDI-GLAUCESCENS. A most ele- 

 gant and graceful Bamboo, growing to a 

 great height nearly 18 feet at Shrub- 

 land. The root-stock is very active, the 

 plant being a great runner, while many of 

 the culms come almost horizontally out 

 of the ground, giving the plant a very 

 wide spread. 



P. VIOLESCENS. This is sometimes said 

 to be a variety of P. viridi-glaucescens, but 

 quite different both in appearance and 

 behaviour. It is somewhat more tender, 

 the leaves being apt to be cut by frost, 

 which gives the plant an ugly appearance 

 in winter, but with the spring the culms 

 are clothed with new foliage, and after all 

 it is only those shoots which come into 

 existence in the late autumn which suffer. 



P. HENONIS. To my taste this is the 

 loveliest of all our Bamboos, and it is 

 perfectly hardy, bearing up bravely 

 against our coldest weather. The slender 

 tall stems are green at first, growing yel- 

 lower with age, slightly zigzagged. The 

 root-stock runs rather freely, but it is 

 to its habit that this Bamboo owes its 

 surpassing loveliness. The two-year-old 



culms, borne down by the weight of their 

 own foliage, bend almost to the earth in 

 graceful curves, forming a pretty ground- 

 work from which the stems of the year 

 spring up, arching and waving their 

 feathery fronds, the delicate green leaves 

 seeming to float in the air. 



P. BORYANA. One of the handsomest 

 and most vigorous of the hardy Bamboos, 

 very graceful in its habit. Like P. nigra, 

 the stems are green during their first year, 

 but change colour the second year to a 

 dull brown splashed with large deep purple 

 or black notches. 



P. CASTILLONIS. A most lovely plant. 

 The foliage is larger than it is in most of 

 the Bamboos, some of the leaves being as 

 much as between 8 inches and 9 inches 

 long by nearly 2 inches broad. When 

 they first appear they are striped with 

 bright orange-yellow, which in time fades 

 to a creamy white. As the sheaths of the 

 branchlets are of a very pretty pink, the 

 plant has a tricoloured effect. 



ARUNDINARIA ANCEPS. A very beau- 

 tiful Bamboo discovered by Mr Jordan, 

 superintendent of Regent's Park, in the 

 stock of a dead nursery gardener, whose 

 books being lost, it was impossible to 

 trace its origin. It is probably a Chinese 

 species. The culms are brown when ripe ; 

 the leaf-sheaths are hairy, and the petiole 

 of the leaf is yellow. 



A. NOBILIS. A grand Bamboo, probably 

 of Chinese origin, growing to a height of 

 24 feet at Menabilly, in Cornwall. It is 

 quite hardy, only losing its leaves in early 

 summer when the new ones are ready to 

 appear. The tall stems are yellowish in 

 colour, with very dark purplish nodes, of 

 which the lower rim is broadly marked 

 with grey. 



BAMBUSA DISTICHA. A pretty little 

 dwarf Bamboo. Stem about 2 feet high, 

 round, very slightly zigzagged ; branches 

 and leaves distichous ; leaves hairy, especi- 

 ally at the base, and serrated at the edges 

 about i inches long by three-quarters of 

 an inch broad, tapering to a point ; leaf- 

 sheaths hairy ; rhizome inclined to run. 

 A very distinct little plant, most useful 

 for a choice corner in a rock garden. 



BANKSIA. Handsome Australian 

 plants, shrubs, and trees, at one time 

 much grown under glass, some of them 

 brilliant in flower. A few kinds are 

 found to thrive in the open air in Devon 

 and Dorset. The kinds so far proved 

 to live in the south of England, at 

 Tresco and Abbotsbury, are grandis, 

 serrata, and quercifolia. They should 

 be given warm soil and the most favour- 

 able position. 



BAPTISIA (False Indigo}. A vigor- 

 ous Lupine-like group of perennials 

 from N. America, forming strong tufts 



