30 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and as a greenhouse plant it is rather curious than ornamental. Its holly- 

 like leaves are not pinnate, as in the Mahonias, nor simple and clustered, 

 as in true Barberries, but ternate. We raised it from seeds sent by Mr. 

 Lindheimer, of New Braunfels, a well known botanical collector, to whom 

 and to Mr. Charles Wight, we are indebted for most of the following 

 plants : — 



3. Erysimum Arkansanum, Nutt. A biennial, with orange yellow 

 flowers much larger than those of E. Perofskianum, and not unlike those 

 of the Wall-flower in a wild state. Kuttall discovered it in his Arkansas 

 journey long ago. It was described in the year 18-38, and first brought into 

 cultivation here, about ten years ago, from seeds supplied by Mr. Sullivant 

 of Columbus, Ohio. Darby Plains, in the central part of Ohio, is the most 

 northern and eastern known station of this species. 



4. Vesica RiA Engelmannii, (figured in Gray's Genera Illustrated,) V. 

 ANGUSTiFOLiA, V. RECURVATA, and V. STENOPHYLLA, Gray, are rather 

 pretty cruciferous plants from Texas, which were cultivated here for sev- 

 eral years. All but V. angustifolia, the least valuable, are now lost from 

 this establishment. 



5. Callirrhoe pedata, Gray. This beautiful biennial or annual (ac- 

 cording to circumstances) was first raised at this establishment, from Texan 

 seeds furnished by Mr. Lindheimer. Communicated to M. Vilmorin and to 

 other correspondents, it has now established its place in European gardens. 

 It is easily raised as a biennial; the young plants require the protection of 

 a frame through the winter, and, planted in the spring, they produce all 

 summer long a succession of their rich, mrtuve-crimson blossoms. In a 

 conservatory they are still more showy, and the plants often attain the 

 heij-ht of seven or eight feet. It is the handsomest of malvaceous plants. 



6. Callirrhoe digitata, Nutt.— the jYidtallia digitata of Barton- 

 had once been raised at Philadelphia from seeds collected in Arkansas by 

 Nuttall himself, but it was soon lost. It was cultivated here several years 

 ago, from Texan seeds, and young plants were distributed, some of which 

 may yet survive. It is a perennial, with a tuberous root. The flowers re- 

 semble those of the preceding species, although larger, and the truncate 

 summit of the broadly wedge-shaped petals is somewhat fringed or toothed. 

 But the flowers, although individually showy, are so few that this species 

 •will never compete with C. pedata. The same may be said of Callirrhoe 

 Papaver, of the Southern United States— also now lost from our garden, 

 but still preserved in some collections abroad. 



6. Callirrhoe involucrata, Nuttall, which on our western plains 

 extends north as far as to the Platte River, is a prostrate species, with a 

 conspicuous external calyx, the petals as large as those of the preceding 

 species, but not so brightly colored. It has the advantage of being per° 

 fectly hardy in this latitude. Its root acquires the size and the shape of a 

 turnip, and is filled with a pure starch, mingled with a sweet mucilage. It 

 is both pleasant-tasted and nutritious, and is one of the esculent roots used 



by the Indians, and called navel de prairie by the hunters and trappers. 



Among other new malvaceous plants of our wide western regions which 



