ALOE 



ALPINE PLANTS 



261 



upward: infl. 1-3 ft. high; fls. 114-2 in. long, red, 

 with segnis. scarcely cquahng the tube. Cape. B.M. 

 4.57. DC, PL Gr. 7.5, Jacq., Schoenbr. 423. Sakn, 

 Aloe §28, f. 2. Medic. 4. Berger 139, 140. 



A. Cdmeronii, Hems! Fls. almost cinnabar-red. passing into yel- 

 low toward the top. E. Trop. Afr. B.M. 7915. — A. Campylo- 

 siphon, A. Berger. Pale yellow fls. E. Trop. Afr, — ,4. Chabaudii, 

 Schoenl. Allied to A. stricta. Lvs. bordered with small prickles; 

 outer segms. of fls. pale brick-red with whitish wings at apex. 

 Trop. Afr. G.C. III. 38:102.— .-l. decdra, Schoenl. A dwarf spe- 

 cies having red fls. tipped with green. S. Afr. G.C. III. 38:3865. — 

 ,4. /-ds^' J, Baker. Fls. pale yellow, greenish at top. Zanzibar. — A. 

 laxifldra, Hort. Von,' lax arrangement of fls. w'hicli are orange-red 

 in lower part and yellow at apex. Cape Colony. G.C. III. 39: 

 130, desc- — .4. Marldthii, A. Berger. Extremely spiny lvs. and 

 nearly horizontally spreading fi. -spikes. British Bechuanaland. — 

 .4. Orp6nx, Schoeal. Lva. lined with white spots and markings 

 on both surfaces: fls. red, tipped with white. S. Afr. G.C. III. 

 38:3865. — ^4. palUdifldra, A. Berger. A stemless plant: lvs. 

 armed on margins with sharp spines: fls. pale flesh-color. S. Afr. 

 B.M. S122. — ,4. pendens. A shrubby species: fls. drooping, dull 

 yellowish red. S. Arabia. B.M. 7837. — ,4. rubroliUea, Schinz. Un- 

 branched st. 8 ft. high or more: lvs. armed or margins with brown 

 deltoid and somewhat hooked spines: fls. bright red. Trop. S. W. 

 Afr. B.M.8263. WiLLIAM TrELEASE. 



ALONSOA (Alonzo Zanoni, Spanish official at 

 Bogota). Scrophulariacesp. Alonsoa. Tropical Ameri- 

 can plants, cultivated as annuals in the open, or 

 grown for the attractive winter bloom in pots. 



Flowers showy: 

 plant of good habit: 

 corolla very irreg- 

 ular and turned 

 upside down by the 

 twisting of the 

 pedicel, bringing 

 the larger lobe up- 

 permost ; stamens 4 : 

 lvs. (at least below) 

 opposite or in 3's. 

 — About adozen 

 species, many of 

 which have been in 

 gardens at one time 

 or another. 



Alonsoas are ten- 

 der, and need pro- 

 tection from frost. 

 Seeds are usually 

 started under glass 

 in the North, 

 although plants 

 bloom well from 

 seeds sown directly 

 in the open. Use 

 only finely prepared 

 soil. For winter 

 bloom, plants are 

 propagated by cut- 

 tings or .seeds, the 

 latter being sown in 

 late summer. 



173. Alonsoa inclsifolia. iXli) 



incisifdlia, Ruiz & Pav. {A. urticsefblia, Steud. 

 ('ihia urticsefoliu, Sims, B.M. 417). Fig. 173. About 

 2 ft. high, erect: lvs. ovate to -6val-lanceolate, long- 

 stalked, deeply cut-toothed: fls. nearly }-im. across, 

 very irregular (somewhat hood-shaped), scarlet, with 

 protruding organs, tin slender axillary peduncles; 

 upper hmb of corolla 2-4 times longer than calyx; 

 ant'iers 2-3 times shorter than filaments. Also a white- 

 fld. variety. Peru. — A greenhouse shrub. 



Warscewiczii, Regel (A . inci.nfolia var. WarsceuAczii, 

 Hoiss. .4. grandiflbrn, Hort. A. compdcla, Hort.). Fls. 

 large, the jilant herbaceous or nearly so and treated a-s 

 a garden annual: lvs. cordate or cordate-lanceolate, 

 double-toothed: calyx-lobes blunt; upper lobes of 

 corolla 4-.5 times as long as calyx, and anthers 3-4 times 

 shorter than the crooked filaments, the fls. light cinna- 

 bar-red or scarlet -red (and a white variety). Peru. — 



Apparently the commonest alonsoa in gardens, 2-3 ft., 

 readily grown from seeds as a hall-hardy subject; July 

 till autumn; useful also for winter bloom. Plant very 

 bushy, with mostly reddish brown branches. 



acutif61ia, Ruiz & Pav. (.4. myrtifblia, Roezl). Plant 

 stout but bushy, 20-30 in.: lvs. broad-lanceolate, 

 sharply simple-toothed: pedicels single, glandular 

 hairy (as also the calyx) ; fls. larger than A. Warsceioicni, 

 the Umb or hp 3-4 times as long as the calj'x; anthers 

 long, several times exceeding the filaments; color of fls. 

 cinnabar-red. Peru. Var. Candida, Voss (.4. albijlora, 

 Hort.), fls. white. Grown as a garden annual, and also 

 in pots for winter bloom. 



linearis, Ruiz & Pav. (A. linearifblia, Steud. A. lini- 

 flbra, Hort.). Plant bushy and much branched, 12-20 

 in.: lvs. linear, pointed, entire or finely toothed, often 

 fascicled or crowded: fls. scarlet. Peru. Var. gracilis, 

 Hort. (A. piimila, Hort.), is a smaller graceful form. 

 Cult, as garden annual and also in pots indoors. 



A. caulialdta, Ruiz & Pav. Lvs. less cut than in A. incisifolia: 

 fls. smaller: st. 4-angIed. Peru. — A. intermedia, L.B.C. 1456^A. 

 linearis. — A. linifdtia. Roez.l. Plant 1 H ft. or less high: lvs. lanceo- 

 late or narrower, entire: fls. bright scarlet. Peru. — .4. Mdthewsii, 

 Benth. Lvs. lanceolate, toothed: fla. scarlet, in terminal racemes. 

 Peru. Greenhouse. T H R 



ALCfSIA: Lippia. 



ALPINE PLANTS. In gardening, a term used to 

 desigiiate th(.ise plants that thrive in imitated alpine 

 conditions, — in cool places of short-growing season and 

 abundant cold-water supply in the growing and bloom- 

 ing period, and soil conditions approacljing those of 

 mountains; in practice, alpine-gardening is a form of 

 rock-gardening. 



The cultivation of alpine plants in some parts of 

 the United States must always be attended with dif- 

 ficulty. Wherever, as in the coastal plain region of the 

 Atlantic seaboard, the summers are long, dry and hot, 

 it is almost impossible to cultivate many of the most 

 desirable alpines. 



A study of the natural environmental habitats of 

 alpines is the very best way to arrive at really valuable 

 ideas upon their cultivation. Excluding all those alpines 

 of apparentlj' little definite habitat preference, such as 

 the snowdrop, daffodil, poet's narcissus, trailing myrtle, 

 Christmas rose, and Scotch pink, all of which are true 

 alpines, but also tolerant of quite ordinary garden con- 

 ditions, there is a large class, some hundreds of species, 

 that will grow only in situations approximating their 

 native habitat. These plants, some of which are per- 

 haps the most beautiful flowers in cultivation, grow 

 usually in a region having long, rigorous winters, a 

 growing season averaging 100 to 120 days, and a 

 constant supply of moisture which, on account of its 

 source in the snow above the vegetation-line, is always 

 nearly ice-cold. 



It is true of most of these alpines that the}- grow 

 among the rocks, and, as we shall see presently, this is a 

 factor that must be reckoned with. Many of them 

 grow in the open sun and are exposed to violent , often 

 bitter, winds. Others again are on north-facing slopes, 

 where the sun rarely, if ever, reaches them. A partial 

 list of alpines given below will show the preference of 

 some of the more common species with regard to the 

 exposure to sunlight. 



Localities in the United States and Canada where alpine 

 gardens may be tried xmlh a fair measure of siiccess. 

 One of the basic requirements of most true alpines is 

 a short growing season. The Atlantic seaboard from 

 Nova Scotia southward, east of the "fall Hne" (the 

 flat, usually somewhat Bandy, regions between the 

 eastern fringe of the AUeghanies and the sea, such as 

 southern Long Island, southern New Jersey and all 

 south of it except parts of Virginia, North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, and Georgia), has an active growing 



