HEBENSTREITIA 



HEDERA 



1437 



olla yellow or white, with an orange-red blotch on the 

 limb; tube slender; lobes oblong, inner pair much 

 narrower and scarcely longer than the outer. B.M. 

 7895. May be safely sown outdoors in April. Fls. 

 fragrant. L. h. B. 



HECHTIA (J. G. H. Hecht, who died in 1837). B'ro- 

 meliaceie. Mexican succulent plants, one species of 

 which is perhaps cult, in a very few fanciers' collec- 

 tions of tender plants for its dense rosettes or recurved 

 spiny Ivs., which are purple above from the middle to 

 the tip and silvery beneath. The genus is distinguished 

 by having dioecious fls. The fls. have no decorative 

 value, being J sin. across, white, in small sessile, axil- 

 lary, yellow-bracted heads, borne at intervals of an 

 inch or so on a very slender scape 2 ft. long. — Fifteen 

 species. Give perforated pots and high temperature. 



glomerata, Zucc. {H. Ghieshreghtii, Lem.). Lvs. 

 10- IS in. long, rigid, leathery, 9-12 Unes wide at base, 

 narrowed gi-adually to the sharp-pointed apex: bracts 

 sheathing, acuminate: corolla 3-lobed nearly to the 

 base; stamens 6; ovarj' 3-celled. B.M. 5842. I.H. 

 10:378. — Soil of chopped moss, old manure and 

 charcoal. 



argentea. Baker. Lvs. about 1 ft. long, stiff and 

 spiny, more or less shining silverj': infl. many-fid.; fls. 

 subsessile; petals elliptic, wliite, concave; style want- 

 ing. Habitat doubtful, perhaps Mex. — Well worth 

 growing as a foUage plant in choice collections. 



L. H. B. 



HECKERIA (named for a German botanist). Piper- 

 acese. About 8 S. American and 1 Old World woody 

 plants, distinguished in Piper (with which it is often 

 united) by the many more or less umbellate elongated 

 dense spikes, perfect sessile fls., 2-3 stamens, smaU 

 anthers with confluent 2-valved cells, obtuse ovary, 3 

 stigmas: lvs. large, sometimes peltate. H. umbellata, 

 Kunth" (Piper umbdlatum, Linn. Pothomorphe umbel- 

 lata, Miq.), is probably not now in the trade. It is a 

 shrub with roundish-reniform not peltate 11-13- 

 nerved petioled lvs., and 4-7 spikes in an umbel; it 

 occurs from Cuba to Brazil. G.W. 9, p. 445. 



L. H. B. 



HEDEOMA (Greek, sweet smell). Labiatx. Ameri- 

 can PENNYROYAii. SmaU aromatic annuals, not of 

 horticultural importance. 



Leaves opposite, small: fls. very small, blue or purple, 

 in loose clusters in the axils, the clusters becoming 

 terminal; calyx tubular or ovoid, 13-nerved, the mouth 

 contracted in £r. ; coroUa 2-hpped, the upper lip erect 

 and entire or lobed ; perfect stamens 2, ascending under 

 the upper lip ; staminodia 2 or 0. — The genus has about 

 16 species, all American. The pennyroyal of the Old 

 World is Mentha Pulegium, sometimes cult, for its lvs. 

 and tops, which are used as cuhnary herbs. 



pulegioides, Pers. American Pennyroyal. Annual, 

 6-18 in, high: st. very slender, much branched, pubes- 

 cent: lvs. opposite, ovate to oblong-obovate, sparingly 

 serrate in the upper portion, mostly obtuse at the apex 

 and narrowed at the base, !^-13-2 in- long: fls. in axil- 

 lary clusters; corolla purple, 2-lipped, the lower one 

 with 3 large lobes. July-Sept. B.B. 3:106.— This is 

 of no ornamental value, but the seeds are offered by 

 dealers to those who desire to cult, the plant for its 

 medicinal oil, which is sold in drugstores. It is said to be 

 offensive to mosquitos. The plant can be easily natu- 

 rahzed in dry, sandy spots. It is common in woods and 

 along roads. L. H. B. 



HEDERA (ancient Latin name of the ivy). Aralid- 

 cese. Ivy. Ornamental woody root-climbing vines 

 grown for their handsopie persistent fohage. 



Evergreen shrubs, climbing by aerial rootlets: lvs. 

 alternate, long-petioled, entire or coarsely dentate or 

 3-7-lobed: fls. perfect, pedicelled, in umbels arranged in 



terminal racemes or panicles; calyx 5-toothed; petals 

 and stamens 5; ovary 5-celled; style short, cyUndric: 

 fr. a 3-5-seeded berry. — Five species (or 6, if H. helix 

 chrysocarpa is considered a distinct species) in Eu., N. 

 Afr. and from W. Asia through Cent. Asia to Japan. 

 Monograph by Fr. Tobler, Die Gattung Hedera (1912); 

 a good popular monograph is Shirley Hibberd's "The 

 Ivy: A monograph, comprising the history, uses, char- 

 acteristics, and affinities of the plant, and a descriptive 

 hst of all the garden ivies in cultivation." London, 

 1872. Many araUads have been described formerly 

 as species of Hedera which are now referred to other 

 genera. 



The ivies are chmbing shrubs, with inconspicuous 

 greenish flowers appearing in faU, and black, rarely 

 yellow, red or whitish berries ripening the following 

 spring. Hedera helix is hardy in sheltered places as 

 far north as Massachusetts; at the Arnold Arboretum 

 a form introduced from the Baltic provinces, Russia, 

 under the name H. helix haltica has proved hardier 

 than any other form. All other species, also most of 

 the variegated forms of H. helix and its var. hibernica, 

 are tender, but the Japanese species has not yet been 

 sufficiently tested. -' 



The ivy is a very valuable plant for covering walls, 

 rocks, trunks of trees and trellis-work, and sometimes 

 chmbs very high. It may also be used for covering 

 walls in cool greenhouses, for screens in drawing- 

 rooms and for hanging-baskets. It is a popular win- 

 dow-garden plant, enduring many uncongenial con- 

 ditions and thriving without bright sunlight. In shady 

 places under trees it makes a hand.some evergreen car- 

 pet, and is also often used for borders of shrubberies or 

 flower-beds. 



It grows in almost any soil, but best in a somewhat 

 moist and rich one, and in shaded positions. The 

 climbing or creeping branches do not flower; flowers 

 are produced on erect, bushy branches, appearing on 

 old, high-cUmbing plants only. Propagation is by 

 cuttings of half-ripened wood at any time of the year 

 in the greenhouse or in frames, or, in more temperate 

 regions, in the open ground in fall; gentle bottom heat 

 will hasten the development of roots considerably; also 

 increased by layers and by seeds which must be sown 

 soon after ripening and germinate slowly, usually not 

 until the second year. The slow-growing forms, espe- 

 cially the shrubby ones, are often grafted on cuttings 

 of strong-growing varieties, as they do not grow readily 

 from cuttings. 



A. Pubescence of the infl. and the young growth grayish, 

 stellate. 



helix, Linn. Ivy. English Ivy. Fig. 1789. High 

 climbing or creeping: lvs. usually 3-5-lobed, dark green 

 above, pale or yellowish green beneath, — those of the 

 flowering branches entire, generally ovate: calyx with 

 minute teeth; calyx, pedicels and tips of young branches 

 covered with grayish white stellate hairs with 5or6 rays: 

 fr. black, sometimes yellow. Eu., Canaries, N. Afr., Asia. 

 — .\ very variable species, of which more than 60 varie- 

 ties are cult, in European gardens. The first 3 varieties 

 enumerated below are geograpliical varieties found 

 growing wUd, while the others are merely horticultural 

 forms of garden origin. Var. hibernica, Kirchn. (var. 

 scoticn, Hort., var. irldndica, Hort.). Lvs. larger and 

 broader, of lighter color and thinner texture, with 

 short and broad lobes, often subcordate at the base: 

 umbels and frs. larger; stellate hairs more often with 

 8 or occasionally 12 rays. Ireland. Var. chrysocarpa, 

 Tenore (//. poetarum, Bertol. H. chrysociirpa, Walsh). 

 Lvs. less deeply lobed, bright or yellowish green, often 

 undulate, those of the flowering branches narrower: 

 fr. yellow. Turkey, Greece, .\sia Minor. Var. taOrica, 

 Rehd. (//. poetarum var. laitrica, Tobler. //. taiirica, 

 Hort.). Lvs. narrower, usually undulate, bright green, 

 those of the sterile shoots usually sagittate, with elon- 



