AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



195 



HUM 



Huma'ta. Meaning unknown. Nat. Ord. Poly- 

 podiacece. 



A. small genus of dwarf evergreen ferns, 

 allied to Davallia.under which genus they are 

 now included by some authors. 



Humble Plant. A name given to Mimosa pu- 

 dica. 



Hu'm^a. Named after Lady Hume. Nat. Ord. 

 Composite. 



H. elegans, the only species, is an elegant 

 biennial plant, which should be sown on a 

 slight hot-bed in spring, then potted off and 

 kept in the open air during summer, and in 

 the green-house during winter, to be finally 

 planted in the open border in May the second 

 year. If the plants are repotted once or 

 twice during the course of the first summer, 

 always into only a little larger pots, they will 

 become so much stronger before they are 

 finally planted out as amply to repay the ad- 

 ditional trouble. It is a very ornamental plant 

 lor the lawn or sub-tropical garden. It grows 

 from four to six feet high, its brownish-red, 

 pink, or crimson minute flower-heads being 

 disposed in a large, loosely-branched terminal 

 fountain-like panicle, which has a peculiar but 

 delightful odor. It was introduced from New 

 South Wales in 1800. Syn. Agathomeria. 



Humming Bird Bush. ^SUschynomene Montevi- 

 densis. 



Humming Bird's Trumpet. See Zauschneria. 



Hu'mulus. The Hop. From humus, the ground ; 

 creeping on the ground if not supported. Nat. 

 Ord. Urticucece. 



H. lupulus, the common garden Hop, has 

 been under cultivation in Europe from a very 

 arly period. It was well known by the 

 Romans, and is mentioned by Pliny under the 

 name of Lupus salictarius. It was introduced 

 from Flanders into England in 1524. Its culti- 

 vation, however, met with violent opposition ; 

 Setitions to Parliament were presented against 

 ;, in which it was stigmatized as "a wicked 

 weed that would spoil the drink and endanger 

 the people." The Hop, like all the dioecious 

 family, bears its flowers on separate plants ; 

 the female plant, therefore, is alone culti- 

 vated. The Hop is increased by cuttings 

 from the most healthy of the old shoots ; two 

 buds are required, one beneath the ground, 

 from which will spring the roots, and from the 

 other the stalk. H. Japonicus, the Japan Hop, 

 is a rapid-growing climber, similar in appear- 

 ance to the common Hop. Neither heat, 

 drought, nor insects seem to trouble it, render- 

 ing it a valuable plant for covering trellises, 

 verandas, etc. Introduced from Japan in 1886. 



Hungarian Millet, or Hungarian Grass. Pani- 

 cum Germanicum. This is a very valuable 

 grass for light soils, and is very early, with 

 abundant foliage, two to three feet in height. 

 It stands drought well, and is very popular 

 with those who are clearing timber lands. 



Hunnema'nnia. Named in honor of J. Hunne- 

 mann, a zealous botanist and botanical collec- 

 tor. Nat. Ord. Papaveracece. 



An erect-growing herbaceous, tender peren- 

 nial, allied to Eschscholtzia. H. fumaricefolia, 

 the only species, is a native of Mexico; it 

 grows to the height of two or three feet, with 

 glaucous leaves, resembling those of the 

 Fumatories, and bears large, solitary terminal 

 flowers, like those of the Eschscholtzia. 



HYA 



Although a perennial, it can be successfully 

 grown as an annual by starting the seeds 

 early in spring, in the green-house or hot-bed. 



Huntley'a. Named after the Rev. Mr. Huntley, 

 a zealous collecter of plants. Nat. Ord. 

 Orchidacece. 



A small genus of epiphytal Orchids, natives 

 of South America. The genus is closely 

 related to Zygopetalum. H. violacea, from 

 Demerara, is a very handsome species, its 

 flowers being large and of an intense violet 

 color, which is quite uncommon among 

 Orchids. This species is also known as 

 Bollea violacea and Pescatoria violacm. It is 

 evergreen, and requires but a short season of 

 rest, and should be grown in the shade and 

 never allowed to become wholly dry. It 

 is increased by division ; introduced in 1831. 



Huntsman's Cup. One of the popular names 

 of Sarracenia purpurea, from a fancied resem- 

 blance. 



Hu'ra. Sand-box Tree. The name of the tree 

 in South America. Nat. Ord. Euphorbiaceaz. 



A small genus of tropical evergreen trees, 

 with whitish-yellow flowers. H. crepitans, the 

 only species, is the sand-box tree of tropical 

 America. It is a branching tree of thin.y to 

 forty feet high, often planted for the sake of 

 its shade, for which it is well adapted, having 

 a great ' abundance of glossy, poplar-like 

 leaves. The flowers are inconspicuous, and are 

 succeeded by curious rounded, hard-shelled 

 fruit about the size of an orange, which is 

 divided into deep furrows, in each of which is 

 a cell containing a single flattened seed. 

 When the fruit is ripe and exposed to the 

 action of a dry atmosphere, it bursts with 

 great force, accompanied by a loud, sharp 

 crack, like the report of a pistol, for which 

 reason it has often been called the Monkey's 

 Dinner-bell. The seeds are much used in 

 medicine, and the timber in the mechanic 

 arts. 



Hyacinth Bean. A common name for Dolichos 

 lablab. 



Hyaci'nthus. The Hyacinth. The name of this 

 genus originated with the fabulists of an- 

 tiquity. It was pretended that Hyacinthus, 

 a beautiful boy, was the son of a Spartan 

 king, and the favorite of Apollo. Zephyrus, 

 being envious of the attachment of Apollo 

 and Hyacinthus, so turned the direction of a 

 quoit which Apollo had pitched while at play, 

 that it struck the head of Hyacinthus and 

 slew him. The fable concludes by making 

 Apollo transform 1 he body of his favorite into 

 the flower that bears his name. Nat. Ord. 

 LiliacecB. 



This genus comprises about thirty species 

 of bulbous plants, the majority of which are 

 natives of the Mediterranean region, and the 

 East. H. orv-ntalis, from which species the 

 numerous cultivated varieties have originated, 

 is a native of the Levant, and was first intro- 

 duced into England in 1596, but it was known 

 to Dioscorides, who wrote about the time 

 of Vespasian. Gerarde, in his Herbal, pub- 

 lished at the close of the sixteenth century, 

 enumerates four varieties, the single and 

 double blue, the purple and the violet. In 

 that valuable old book on gardening, " Para- 

 disi in Sole Paradisus terrestris," published 

 by John Parkinson in 1629, there are men- 



