ALPINE PLANTS 



ALSINE 



265 



works on the flora of the Alps, — will aid in the way of 

 suggesting new species that may be grown. A good but 

 rather out-of-date book on the making and culture of 

 alpine gardens is A. Kerner's "Die Cultur der Alpen- 

 pflanzen." A useful work containing many cultural 

 hints is H. S. Thompson's "Alpine Plants of Europe, 

 with Cultural Hints." The first International Congress 

 of Alpine Gardens met at Naye, Switzerland, in 1904. 

 As yet nothing except administrative reports of this 

 convocation has been pubhshed. N. Taylor. 



ALPINIA (Prosper Alpinus, an Italian botanist). 

 Zingiberaces'. Stove herbs, cultivated both for leaves 

 and the racemes or panicles of flowers. 



JVIany-std. leafy plants, with ginger-like rhizomes: fls. 

 in spikes or panicles terminating the leafy sts., often 

 showy; calyx wide-tubular or nearly bell-form, the tube 

 short and the 3 points or parts erect; corolla of 3 parts; 

 stamens reduced to 1 pollen-bearing organ, and 1 or 

 more staminodia, one of the staminodia being showy and 

 longer than corolla and notched or toothed: fr. a 3- 

 celled caps. — About 150 species in Polynesia, Japan, 



■'.'.vt,.,, " . ■ ' ,,,:■■ '^-i' ■ '"■ 

 176. Alpinia mutica. 



and E. India. Some of the cult, forms have undoubt- 

 edly been referred to Alpinia without knowledge of the 

 botanical characters, and their botanical position is 

 therefore doubtful. Monogr. in Engler, Pflanzen- 

 reich, hft. 20 (1904). 



Alpinia contains many handsome species, but only 

 a few are common in cultivation. They are tropical 

 plants and require a moist air and a temperature of 

 5o° to 60° F. A mixture of two parts loam, one part 

 leaf-mold, and one part dried cow-manure forms an 

 excellent compost. While growing, they need an abun- 

 dance of water, and the large-growing kinds require 

 large pots or tubs. After flowering, allow them to rest 

 in heat, but do not dry them off. The plants are propa- 

 gated by division in the spring. A. nutana is grown for 

 its handsome flowers and attains a height of 12 or 13 

 feet. A . vittata is popular on account of its variegated fo- 

 liage. A. mutica has very showy flowers, but is appa- 

 rently little known in the trade. (Robert Cameron.) 



A. Foliage striped: plants of doubtful botanical position. 



vittata, Bull {Ambmum viltatum, Hort.). Lower: 

 Ivs. distichous, lanceolate, with pale green or creamy 

 yellow bars or stripes between the nerves: fls. red, in 

 axillary spikes. S. Sea Isls. A. F. 8:787. Gn. 4, p. 25. 



albo-lineata, Hort. A plant 3-4 ft. high, with broad 

 bands of white and pale green on the elliptic-lanceolate 

 Ivs. 



Sanderae, Sand. St. ascending: Ivs. very short- 

 stalked and 5 in. or less long, 1 '4 in. or less broad, taper- 

 ing both ways, rich shining green, regularly and closely 

 striped in broad bands of white leading from the midrib 

 to the margin. Xew (Juinea. G.C. III. 33:248 (suppl. J. 

 1903. Probably a variegated form of A. Rafflesiana, 

 WaU. 



tricolor, Sand. St. erect: Ivs. oblong-acuminate, 10 

 in. long, lj<t in. wide, green with white or creamv vel- 

 low stripes. Solomon Isl. G.C. III. 33:249 (suppl.). 



AA. Foliage green, not striped. 



nfttans, Roseoe (Zenimbet specibsum, Wendl.). 

 Shell-flower. Striking plant, reaching 10-12 ft., 

 with long, lanceolate glabrous long-veined Ivs.: fls. 

 orchid-like, yellow with pink, sweet-scented, in a long, 

 drooping, terminal, spike-like raceme. E. Indies. G.C. 

 111.19:301. I. H. 43, p. 259. B.M. 1903. P.M. 13:125. 

 R.H. 1861:51. — Fine for foliage masses, and an old 

 favorite. Said to grow 20 ft. high in S. Calif, in rich soil 

 and with plenty of water, and to bloom continuously. 



m&tica, Roxbg. Fig. 176. A handsome strong spe- 

 cies: Ivs. very short -stalked or sessile, long-lanceolate 

 and pointed: fl. with large bright yellow lip veined 

 crimson, the outer segms. oblong and white. .4. mutica, 

 Hook, f., B.M. 6908, is probably not the A. mutica of 

 Ro.xburgh. E. Indies. Excellent free-flowering species. 



All&ghas, Roseoe. Strong, 3'/2-7 ft.: Ivs. sessile or 

 nearly so, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, short-acumi- 

 nate, IJ2 ft- or less long, 3-4 in. broad: fls. small, 

 crowded, greenish white, the lip cuneate, pink, emar- 

 ginate. India. Spring. 



calcarata, Roseoe. Slender, 3-5 ft.: Ivs. sessile, nar- 

 rowly linear-lanceolate and attenuate-acuminate: fls. 

 medium in size, greenish white, the lip variegated with 

 red and yellow on a lighter ground. India. Fall. 



Many kinds of these interesting ornamental plants are likely to 

 find their way into choice collections. Some of them are as follows: 

 .4. gigantia, Blume. reported in S. Calif., very tall, even to more than 

 20 ft., with very large nodding panicle. — -4. japonica, once cata- 

 logued in U. S., but not known whether it was the A. japonica of 

 Thunberg. — .4. longepeCioldla, coming from W. Trop. Afr.. of 

 robust habit, 6 ft.: Ivs. elliptic, the uppermost linear, wing-petioled: 

 fls. white or rose in terminal panicle, purple-spotted. — .4. magnifica, 

 Roscoe=Phaeomeria magnifica. — A. Nieuwenhiiizii, Valet. (A. 

 borneensis. Valet.), distinct species, 4-6 ft.: Ivs. 2 ft. or less long: fls. 

 purple-lipped, in panicles 12 in. long: fr. large. Borneo. — .4. officind' 

 Turn, Hance. Supplying the "radix Galangse minoris" of pharma- 

 cists, once used as an aromatic stimulant by Arabs and Greeks: 

 rhizome thick, creeping, the st. tuberous at base: Iva. narrowly 

 lanceolate, long-acuminate: fls. white in simple spike, the lip red- 

 nerved. China. B.M. 6995. — .4. pumila. Hook. f. Lvs. from root- 

 stock, 6 in. or less, on petioles 2-4 in.: fls. in short spike, 1 in. long, 

 pink, the lip recurved, on a very short scape. China. B.M. 6832. 

 .4. Schumannidna, Valet. (A. fimbriata, Gagn.). 3-5 ft.: Ivs. lanceo- 

 late, 18 in. long, 1 ^2 in. broad: fls. purple in spikes, handsome. 

 Formosa. — A. zingiberina. Hook. f. 4-5 ft.: Ivs. oblanceolate, ob- 

 long, cuspidate, 12 in. or less long, 3 in. broad: fls. greenish, the lip 

 white veined crimson, in panicles. Siam. B.M. 6944. 



L. H. B. 



ALSEUOSMIA {alsos, grove, and euosme, fragrance). 

 Caprifoliaceae. A group of 4 species of tender New 

 Zealand shrubs, usually glabrous. Lvs. alternate or 

 opposite, with minute tufts of hair in the axils of the 

 veins beneath: fls. fragrant, green or red, axillary, 

 solitary or in clusters; corolla tubular or funnelform: 

 fr. a purple, many-seeded berry. — Perhaps not cult, 

 outside botanic gardens. 



.4. macTophytla, A. Cunn. New Zealand Honetbuckle, 6-10 

 ft.: Ivs. 3-6 in. long, elliptic or oblanceolate, acute, serrate, or en- 

 tire, petiolate: fls. in small axillary clusters, drooping, 1 '2 in. long, 

 creamy with dull red streaks; corolla lobes recurved, toothed, the 

 tube cylindric. B.M. 6951. j^ TayLOR 



ALSIKE: Clover and Tri/olium. 



ALSINE (Greek for grove, where some species grow). 

 Caryophyllacese. A few species of Alsine are in the 

 market, mostly for rock-gardening. There is much dif- 

 ference among botanists as to the standing of the genus 

 Alsine. Some persons reier it to Arenaria, others make 

 it a tenable name to replace Stellaria, and Pax in 

 Engler and Prantl's Pflanzenfamilien retains it for 

 about sixty species, mostly in the temperate and cold 

 parts of the northern hemisphere, and distinguishes 

 both Arenaria and Stellaria; for the purposes of this 

 Cyclopedia it seems to be desirable to follow the Index 

 Kewensis disposition; and the few cultivated species 

 are therefore accounted for under Arenaria. 



