1028 



MONSTERA 



MONTANA 



banana. The fruit grows about 6-8 in. long, and looks 

 like a long pine cone, the rind being composed of hexa- 

 gonal plates, as shown in Fig. 1417. The Monstera is a 

 satisfactory greenhouse subject, even in a young stage, 

 and being a great curiosity, excites much comment from 

 visitors. It is generally kept in a hothouse, but succeeds 

 in a coolhouse also. It is commonly allowed to grow in 

 a spreading rather than climbing fashion ; a noble 



1417. Monstera deliciosa, climbing on a tree. 



specimen of this kind cultivated in Pittsburg is figured 

 by Wm. Falconer in A.F. 7:253. 



As a conservatory plant it does best when planted out 

 in a bed of rich soil, where it can be kept within bounds 

 by judicious pruning. It is not particular as to soil, as 

 it fills the pots in which it is planted with thick, succu- 

 lent roots in a very short time. It is one of the best 

 plants for enduring the varying conditions of tempera- 

 ture in a dwelling house, as nothing short of a freeze 

 seems to hurt it. Propagated by division of the stem, 

 with part of the leaf attached while rooting. 



In the American tropics Monstera deliciosa requires 

 a very warm, moist climate for the production of fruit. 

 Although it naturally grows by attaching itself to trees 

 and creeping up, it appears to be more fruitful if com- 

 pelled to grow on the ground without climbing. The 

 fruit is green in color until it ripens, when there is just 

 a tinge of yellow, and the outer rind comes off in bits at 

 a touch. 



Monstera acuminata is the correct name of the as- 

 tonishing plant known to the trade as Marcgravia para- 

 doxa. The adult Ivs. are something like those of M. 

 deliciosa, being now and then perforated, but generally 

 pinnately cut. The young Ivs. are utterly different, be- 

 ing much smaller, entire and heart-shaped. This is one 

 of the most striking cases of dimorphism celebrated in 

 horticultural annals, though that of Ficus repens is 

 more familiar, and similar ones occur in Philodendron. 

 In its young stage M. acuminata is a very handsome 

 hothouse climber, with thick, roundish, waxy Ivs., which 



grow in two ranks and overlap one another. When the 

 plant was introduced by Bull, it was shown growing on 

 a board apparently in parasitic fashion, and emitting 

 aerial roots. It seemed most like a Marcgravia, but 

 when it flowered and fruited the first name was found 

 to be one of the wildest possible guesses. Marcgravia 

 is a dicotyledon and Monstera a monocotyledon, and the 

 two genera are as far apart as is a Camellia from a Jack- 

 in-the-pulpit. The Monstera-like Ivs. are likely to be 

 developed when the plant reaches 15 ft. In the young 

 stage the plant is generally allowed to clamber over a 

 dead log or tree-fern trunk, in the manner of Philoden- 

 dron, which see for culture. Monstera is a genus of 13 

 tropical American climbers, with Ivs. more or less 

 densely 2-ranked. Engler in DC. Mon. Phan. Vol. 2. 

 (1879). 



delicidsa, Liebm. CERIMAN. Figs. 1416, 1417. Young 

 Ivs. 1-2 ft. long, leathery, pinnately cut, perforated. A.F. 

 7:253. G.M. 41:329. Gn. 21, p. 39 (poor). 



acuminata, C. Koch (M. ttnuis, C. Koch. Marcgra- 

 viaparaddxa, Bull). SHINGLE PLANT. Young Ivs. a few 

 in. long, waxy, entire. Gn. 29, p. 290 (both kinds of 

 Ivs.). G.C. II. 8:13. 



WM. FAWCETT, G. W. OLIVER and W. M. 



MONTANA, HORTICULTURE OF. Fig. 1418. Mon- 

 tana, from all standpoints, is nothing if not unique. 

 The third largest state in the Union (Texas and Califor- 

 nia being first and second respectively), there is added 

 to the natural capacity for great local variation found 

 in a state covering 145,310 square miles, the additional 

 feature of its being traversed by the main range of the 

 Rockies. The eastern portion of the state is plains 

 country, with a mean average altitude of 2,800 feet above 

 sea level. 



Along the southern boundary, perhaps 125 miles west 

 of the state line, are the Wolf mountains, west of these 

 the Rosebud and the Pryor mountains, toward the north- 

 ern boundary and 175 miles west of the state line are the 

 Little Rockies, west of these the Bear Paws, while dot- 

 ted over the eastern central portion of the state are the 

 Moccasins, the Big and Little Snowies, the Belts, the 

 Highwoods and the Crazies. These, with the exception 

 of the Belts, are isolated from other mountains, or 

 detached spurs from the main range, and abound in the 

 exceptional advantages which arise from good soil, 

 favorable exposure and convenient means for irrigation. 



About the center of the southern state line the main 

 range of the Rockies is encountered. This range tra- 

 verses the state from this point in a .northwesterly 

 direction, and after entering this range and proceeding 

 westward one is never out of sight of mountains until 

 reaching the western confines of the state. 



The summits of the main range vary from 7,500 to 

 10,000 feet above sea level, and present mighty barriers 

 to the winter storms which sweep madly over the coun- 

 try to the east and south of Montana, often bringing 

 intensely cold weather in their wake. Then, too, the 

 climate of the state is sensibly affected by chinooks, 

 those much misunderstood currents of warm air which 

 rob winter of all its terrors in regions visited by them. 

 The botanist and horticulturist have much to learn, as 

 yet, concerning the effect of altitude upon plant growth. 

 In a general way, it is supposed that 9,000 feet is the so- 

 called limit of timber, though, as a matter of fact, it often 

 happens that above this point the crowns of the moun- 

 tains are composed of living rock devoid of soil and 

 other needed adjuncts to tree growth. Illustrations of 

 the unwillingness of plant growth to be circumscribed 

 by altitudinal lines are found in the city of Denver, 

 which lies 5,000 feet above sea level. There many trees 

 have been successfully transplanted from their natural 

 habitat at sea level along the shores of Puget Sound to 

 a point nearly a mile aloft, and into a climate as natur- 

 ally dissimilar as could well be found. In Cheyenne, 

 Wyo., there is a luxuriant development of the black 

 locust at an elevation of 6,100 feet. This is a tree that 

 needs to be most carefully handled to avoid winter-kill- 

 ing in Minnesota, 5,500 feet nearer to sea level. Another 

 point in instance is found in the sugar beet chart of the 

 Department of Agriculture. This is designed to show 

 the belt of country in the United States best adapted to 



