BIENNIALS 



BIFRENARIA 



501 



bells (Campanula Medium), steeple bellflower (Cam- 

 panula pyramidalis) , sweet william (Dianthus barbatus), 

 foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), horned poppy (Glaucium 

 luteum), French honej'suckle (Hedysarum coronarium), 

 morning campion (Lychnis dioica), evening campion 

 (Lychnis alba), rose campion (Lychnis Cormtaria), 

 honesty (Lunaria annua; L. biennis), pansy (Viola tri- 

 color x) tufted pansies (Viola cornuta x.) 



Every beginner desires to know what to do with the 

 seedlings that spring up in every border by the dozen 

 or hundred around sweet williams, foxgloves, lark- 

 spurs, hollyhocks, and the like. All that is necessary is 

 to thin the seedlings and transplant some at any con- 

 venient time before autumn to the positions in which 

 they are to bloom next year. This practice, however, 

 does not suit those who want only the finest varieties, 

 for these do not come true from seed. Therefore, they 

 must buy seeds every year of the best varieties of highly- 

 bred groups, such as sweet william, foxglove, English 

 daisy, Canterbury bells, and hollyhocks, or else buy 

 plants. If a very fine variety appears, it is desirable 

 to multiply it by methods other than seed-sowing if 

 possible, e.g., by offsets, cuttings or division. Named 

 larkspurs cannot be kept a long time, owing to disease, 

 unless propagated by cuttings every year. Double 

 hollyhocks can be maintained by division and by keep- 

 ing the leaves coated constantly with ammoniaeal 

 copper carbonate, which is less unsightly than bor- 

 deaux. A German cultivator avers that one should 

 save seeds from diseased hollyhock plants instead of 

 healthy ones, and declares that he has raised 1,500 

 such seedlings that proved immune. So far as known, 

 this has not been thoroughly tested in America. 



Those who do not want such expense and care, and 

 prefer lusty, many-flowered plants of ordinary varie- 

 ties to sickly specimens of high-bred types, will find it 

 cheaper and easier to collect seeds as they ripen and sow 

 them immediately. Color discords can be mitigated by 

 thinning out or transplanting offenders. This is the 

 way to secure gorgeous masses of blue delphiniums, if 

 one cares more for color than size and form. 



What to do with famous English spring flowers that 

 dislike our hot summers is another common problem. 

 The beginner finds that violets, pansies, daisies, prim- 

 roses, polyanthus, and auriculas, will not bloom all 

 summer, as they dp in the cool, moist climate of Eng- 

 land, unless in similar climates (e.g., at the seashore or 

 in the northern tier of states), and then only with special 

 care in seed-picking, cutting-back, fertilizing, water- 

 ing. At best the summer bloom is only intermittent, 

 rarely massive, and the common practice is to treat 

 these species frankly as spring bedding plants (April 15 

 to May 15 near New York), and when their glory is 

 past discard them or move them to some moist, shady 

 spot in which there is a better chance for casual sum- 

 mer bloom and a tolerable autumn show than in the 

 hot sunny border. 



Those who cannot afford greenhouses may easily 

 have larger and better flowers of the species just named 

 by the use of coldframes. They are particularly enjoy- 

 able while the snows of March are on the ground. 



In these days of cheap greenhouses, everyone wants 

 cut-flowers the year round, especially long-stemmed, 

 long-lasting kinds in many colors. Consequently snap- 

 dragons and ten-weeks stocks have become popular. 



The commonest way of raising biennials is to sow 

 the seeds in an outdoor seed-bed in summer, and in 

 autumn transplant the seedlings to their permanent 

 quarters. English books have always disappointed 

 Americans by advising that this be done in June. But 

 in America the best time is early August. Not only 

 does one save two months' care, but June-sown bien- 

 nials and perennials in our climate make plants that 

 are too targe to winter easily in coldframes, and they 

 often try to bloom just when the killing frost of 

 autumn comes. 



A much better way is to sow the seeds in flats in cold- 

 frames (for protection against summer showers) and 

 to winter the young plants in frames. This is the way 

 to secure the finest white foxgloves, Canterbury bells, 

 larkspurs, and steeple bellflowers. 



Professional gardeners often prefer to treat biennials 

 as half-hardy annuals, i.e., they sow the seeds in green- 

 houses in March and set the young plants outdoors in 

 May. On new places this saves a year; it is especially 

 worth doing with snapdragons and intermediate stocks. 



Many of the flowers named above are technically 

 perennial, but in practice they are so short-lived that 

 it usually pays to raise a fresh batch from seed every 

 y ear - WILHELM MILLER. 



BIFRENARIA (Latin for twice and strap, referring to 

 the two stalks of the pollinia). Orchidacex. Epiphytic 

 plants, with pseudobulbs, plicate- 

 veined Ivs., and lateral infl.: fls. 

 sometimes single and large, or more 

 frequently smaller and several to 

 many in a raceme; sepals about 

 equal, spread- 

 ing, the lateral 

 adnate to the 

 foot of the col- 

 umn; petals 

 similar to the 

 dorsal sepal; lip 

 articulated to 

 the apex of the 

 column-foot, 3- 

 lobed; pollinia 4, 

 on 2 stalks. 

 About 25 species in 

 Trop. Amer. 



A. Foot of column or 

 mentum short and 

 broad: fls. deep yel- 

 low with golden pur- 

 ple spots. 

 aurantiaca, Lindl. 



Pseudobulbs ovoid, up 



to 1^2 in. long: Ivs. up 



to 8 in. long and 2 in. 



broad : raceme few- to several-fld. ; fls. about 1 in. across, 



deep yellow and spotted with golden purple. Guiana 



and Trinidad. B.M. 3597. B.R. 1875. 



AA. Foot long, acute: fls. not colored as above. 



B. Fls. large, 1-3. 



c. Lip purple, darker-veined: fls. ivory-white. 

 Harrisonias, Reichb. f. Fig. 552. Pseudobulbs 

 broadly ovoid, up to 2^ in. long, 1-lvd.: Ivs. up to 1 ft. 

 long and 4 in. broad : peduncle with 1 or 2 ivory-white 

 large fls. about 3 in. across, the lip purple with darker 

 veins. Brazil. Lind. 5:239. B.R. 897. B.M. 2927 (as 

 Maxillaria). 



cc. Lip white, yellow or rose: fls. apple-green. 

 inoddra, Lindl. Resembles B. Harrisonix in pseudo- 

 bulbs, Ivs., infl. and size of fls.: sepals apple-green; 

 petals of the same color but brighter, smaller; lip white, 

 yellow or rose; spur half as long as ovary. Brazil. 



BB. Fls. small, several. 



vitellina, Lindl. Pseudobulbs ovoid, up to 1% in. 

 long, 1-lvd.: Ivs. up to 1 ft. long and \]4 in. broad: 

 fls. about 1 in. across, orange-yellow, with a purple spot 

 on the lip; lip cordate. Brazil. B.R. 25:12. (As 

 Maxillaria.) 



B. bicornAna, Reichb. Allied to B. aurantiaca. Ha. orange- 

 colored. Brazil. B. Fwrstenbergidna, Schlecht. Fls. yellow Bra- 

 . B. melancipoda, Klotzsch. Sepals and petals light green, lip 

 fringi-il, white. Brazil. B. tetrigiina, Hort. Us. wax-like with 

 greenuh Kpau anil petals. Brazil. B. tyrianthina vur. Gootlsimx 

 Re,chb. Fls. light purple. GEORGE V. 



552. Bifrenaria Harrisonix. ( X M) 



