THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



173 



our Cudbear, in the 



r 



a genus extending from Italy to India 



fcglbh wmt< 



^ fckbest ground 



rf Ltcanora 



-edition called Iridium coralhnum by botanists, 



Shlpproacbing the Armenian Manna, or Lecanora 



2LJ f formerly figured in our columns (see 1849, 



(jjgV He also finds near the soldiers' huts in 



mi abundance a little land-shell which our friend 



AVs-rwooD refers to Bulimns tauricus or 



jQl these bits 01 evidence lena 10 snow mat tne 

 juration of the Chersonese and adjacent country 

 fr\yh as indicates a Southdown climate at the 

 mjmyd. Of course on the plateau above Sebastopol 

 fa cold is very trying to the troops, and so it would 

 kg if the works of the Allies were constructed upon 

 the bills round Folkestone. We may add that the 

 other information contained in Professor Koch's 

 took, to which we must refer the reader, wholly con- 

 armi the statements already made in this journal. 



In our columns for 1854, p. 299, we gave a full 

 acount of the manner of cultivating that stubborn 

 hedge plant called in the United States the Osage 

 Oiakce (Madura aurantiaca). But it turned out 

 thit the supply of seed which was then expected 

 after anived, and those who desired to try the shrub 

 where an impenetrable live fence is wanted, were 

 ^appointed. We are now able to announce the 

 actual arrival of a considerable quantity, which is 

 held by Messrs. Cha&lwood & Co., Seedsmen, 

 Covent Garden, of whom it may be procured. The 

 articleabove referred tois too long for re-insertion, and 

 therefore we are obliged to refer the reader to its place. 



It is now officially announced that the Imperial 

 and Central Horticultural Society of Paris will 

 hold a permanent exhibition in that city, in connec- 

 tion with the Exhibition of all Nations, from May 1 

 to Oct 31. Rules and regulations are not yet issued, 

 tat are promised very shortly. As soon as we 

 receive them we shall make them known. In the 

 leanwhile communications should be addressed to 

 "Mons. Leon le Guay, Inspector of Imperial Parks 

 and Gardens 



Secretary 



Calabrian Ash, of which importations are made for 

 medical purposes. A variety, of which little is known, 

 has also been brought from Botany Bay in the form of 

 snow white globules, collected from the ground iu large 

 quantities, identical probably, or nearly so, with the 

 manna tears produced in our own country in very hot 

 summers from the Elm and other trees, from which it 



SEEDLING RHODODENDRONS. 



Ix the matter of seedling Rhododendrons " J. R " ig 

 certainly behind his time. He would have us go back 

 a quarter of a century, and repeat labours now almost 

 forgotten ; labours, nevertheless, in themselves of the 



highest value, and from which the hybridizer of the 



occasionally falls in such quantities as to be capable of P re sent day has reaped, and is still reaping, the greatest 

 being swept up like little hailstones where there is a assistance, but which it would only be a waste of time 

 smooth area beneath the branches. In countries where it to re P ea *. 



is abundant manna is collected as an article of food, for 

 its purgative qualities seem to be slight when it is freshly 

 gathered, and to increase with age, and are at any rate 

 not such as greatly to interfere with its use. The 

 Bedouin Arabs in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai 

 collect it for food from Hedysarum Alhagi, and it is well 

 known that a variety of Tamarix gallica produces the 

 same substance in those districts. In the latter case, 

 and probably in some others, the production of manna 

 is due to the agency of an insect, Coccus manniferus, and 

 it has been asserted also that Cicada orni produces the 

 same result in the Calabrian Ash. 



Seedling Rhododendrons but 

 arboreum are, as 



once removed from 



general rule, wholly valueless for 

 vmiruuur cuiuvaiion. In the first place they are generally 

 from 20 to 25 years old before they flower; and 

 from the fact of such flowers, when they are produced 

 expanding very early in the year, it is only in the most 

 favoured seasons, and in a few localities, that they come 

 to perfection without artificial protection ; not that the 

 plants themselves are not hardy, but the flowers, in 

 which, of course, the chief attraction of the plants lie 

 are destroyed. ■**-•• » 



New Plants. 



119. CCELOGYNE MICRANTHA. 



C Ofiiferae) paeudobulbis oblotigis angustis diphyllis, folill 

 O^n-ianceolatis racemo sessili (?) basi imbricate longioribus, 

 &rK-? v ^ ua ]! bu8 ' Petalia filiformibus brevioribus 



■Efenq in filt nv edl ? s 4 ubrotund ° emarginato, disco lamellis 

 PRmbus m fimbnlhs solutis apice bilamellato basi bidentato. 



We owe our knowledge of this curiosity to Mr. A. Dick, 

 PJtlener at Dale Park, where it had been received from 

 the East Indies." It is probably from some Malay 

 ■ma, unce it approaches nearly the C. miniata of Java, 

 SS ' h ° wev *r, a lip with a pair of elevated lines. 

 «Mua,on the contrary, the whole face of the lip is 

 ■wn up into fringes, except at the point where two 



ffift • u tend a P art > and at the base * *hich is 

 ™*& with two teeth and an intermediate ridze. 



w flowers are very small, pale brown, with the back 



m£lZT T e^ Wllh the soot y brown stain3 so charac- 

 ™ottnenhferousCoelogynes. Notworth cultivation. 



n ° S0QUERIA rev °luta, Num. D. C. Prodr. iv. 376. 

 iji beautiful Brasilian stove shrub was exhibited a 



J*toight si 

 V Messrs 



4 m*tx* nf ~"T\ x * ,ms 1Illt} ^ au rei-iiKe leaves, and 

 2JJ [<* graceful snow white flowers, the tube of 



ZZ*V than . 3 inches *»«• The' specific name 



has fine Laurel-like leaves, and 



ft* 



rj 1 * as to cause n 

 ■** * more eharact 



ight 



0F manna. 



^tl XfI ABLE . PATHOL °GY.-No. LXIII. 



Constitutional or Accidental. 5. Dis- 



•SDblin<r R n»r""* * Ianna "» a aweet substance, re- 

 l^tJlv in % m . ch * mical constitution, but differing 

 fti&LS disposition to fermentation, and 

 *• C °* ^Mactic as well as oxalic acid 

 *MeJ in i ™ Dl . t, ? c acld - An «anna is not, however, 

 ^*JLT P ° S1Uon - The manna Produced as men- 



ia fa 77 ,°y * variety 

 rf^aT m8 S gar P° sai 



^natuffi f ° Se 0f g ]ucose > or ^ape sugar. It 

 ***■> «r in™ y ° m mai) y different trees in warm coun- 

 ^w^Jr 1 " 6 , tem P er ate regions during: unusually 



Itoducti 



!**» ooziiir! duc ? d P rinci Pally from 



The manna of 

 Fraxinus onras, 



-^ — (SntuJZ'' """' uie DarK > or from art 'ficial 

 Iz**' 'n all n-T u-f e8 are much more productive than 

 ?' * general 7 ay * M Me ? en believes, because the 

 Si* *« 'n thoi i? u°* descend so rapidly in grafted 

 U?* *i»ch7ril f° h " e left m a 8tate of nature - The 



b^ U IvnmEj™^ the Larch in the form of »ttle 

 y* 1 h iw«ver TpJrr ^e name of Manna cf Brian 5 on; 



2? * Wee „7. ln . fer '°r >« consequence of its con- 

 ^^ P&ST* ° f tur P«tine. Eucalyptus 



UCes muui » wry similar to that of the 



283. It appears then that the discharge of manna may 

 take place naturally without any organic lesion, as from 

 the stomates, having first oozed through the walls of the 

 cells ; it may accumulate beneath the bark in such 

 quantities as to find a vent by rupturing the superin- 

 cumbent tissues ; or it may be due to pure accident or 

 to the agency of insects. As in other cases of Apostaxis 

 the urgency of the case depends entirely on the extent 

 of the symptoms, and it is probable that the discharge 

 is never so great naturally as to prove really injurious. 

 Where it is separated from the leaves in hot weather, 

 it is doubtless a relief of a plethoric state of the system 

 which might prove fatal without some outlet, and in 

 other cases, except possibly in some instances where it is 

 due to insects, it is quite harmless. 



284. It has been attempted to show that the supply of 

 manna to the people of Israel in the wilderness, may 

 have been derived from the Tamarix ; but a very slight 

 degree of reflection would show that this notion is entirely 

 inconsistent with the scriptural account, the very essence 

 of which is that its origin was miraculous. It may be 

 mentioned also that a species of Lichen (Lichen esculen- 

 tus, Pallas and some other species) has been supposed 

 to be the manna of Scripture. It is found in Armenia, 

 Algiers, and other districts, lying in dense masses on the 

 ground, and there are accounts worthy of credit, which 

 show that it is sometimes taken up from the surface in 

 whirlwinds and deposited again after a journey of many 

 miles. This substance has not, however, any of the 

 properties cf manna. It is used in times of scarcity to 

 grind^ with Wheat, and whatever nutritive matter it 

 contains must depend almost entirely upon the Lichen 

 starch which enters into the composition of its cellular 

 tissue. At best it is a very poor article of food, 

 dangerous to some constitutions from the immense 

 quantity which it contains of oxalate of lime, and 

 could only be used where there was a great deficiency 

 of better commodities.* 



285. A very curious affection has occurred for many 

 years past on the leaves of Stenocarpus salignus and of 

 several Myrtaceee in one of the houses at Kew. At first 

 there is a rather copious exusion of transparent sugary 

 matter both from the upper and under surface of the 

 leaves. This spreads in little round patches, on which 

 pure white byssoid radiating lines soon make their appear- 

 ance, but little elevated above the surface, and interrupted 

 once or twice in their growth, after the manner of the 

 mycelia of many of the higher Fungi. At this stage, 

 the white matter is found to consist of moniliform 

 threads, whose articulations are oblong from 

 inch long, and containing two nuclei. They "resemble, 

 in fact, very closely the reproductive bodies of 

 Ergotetia arbortifaciens, Queckett. In some cases, in 

 addition to these bodies, there are others far more 

 minute," and sometimes the whole substance consists 

 of these lesser granules. A change now takes place, 

 which gives the production an appearance very similar 

 to that of manna. The bjssoid lines become gradually 

 confluent, and lose their filamentous aspect. The 

 edges of the little mass become swollen and granulated, 

 till at last small, more or less orbicular, pellets are 

 formed, still of a pure white, easily separable from the 

 leaf, and having much the appearance of the sugary 

 efflorescence which occurs on large seaweeds. Under 

 the microscope, however, the mass consists of a multi- 

 tude of acicular crystals, mixed with a few of the 

 original granules. The exact nature of these crystals^ 

 have not been able to ascertain, but they do not consist 

 of carbonate of lime, and therefore are not due merely 

 to the water with which the plants are syringed.f The 

 secretion is confined to a certain number of plants ; and 

 since some change has taken place in their position, it 

 is not produced in so many species as it was for- 

 merly.ij: M. J. B. 



* An interesting account of this will be found in this Journal, 

 1819, p. 612. 



t Since the above was written, the substance has been kindly 

 examined at ray request by Dr. G. Owen Rees. The quantity 

 submitted to his inspection was necessarily very small, and insuf- 

 ficient for any very extended chemical analysis. The crystals 

 are soluble in water; little, if at all so, in alcohol; they yield an 

 alkaline ash on incineration. The probability is, then, that they 

 are some salt arising from a vegetable acid combined with potash 

 or soda, most likely the former. Their solubility n water forbids 

 their being oxalate of lime. 



X It has occurred on Stenocarpus salignus for more than 20 

 years. Mr. Smith informs me that he has observed it on Calli- 

 stemon speciosum and several other Myrtace«, but never in the 

 same abundance as on the Stenocarpus. At the present moment 

 it is confined to that species. The Myrtacese, it Bhould be ob- 

 served, are now in a different house from the Stenocarpus. 





J500 



to 



£(XH> 



YY e could name many gardens where 

 there are fine specimens of such early flowering kinds, 

 and where, in the majority of seasons, they never expand 

 a flower. We recollect one in particular on the south 

 coast, where the Myrtle hardly requires protection, but 

 where, nevertheless, these early flowering Rhododen- 

 drons rarely perfect a head of bloom. The plants, re- 

 taining too much of the constitution of arboreum, are 

 excited by a few prematurely warm days in February to 

 lose, as a natural result, by the first severe frost afterwards, 

 their expanding blossoms. The qualities that Rhododen- 

 drons for cultivating in the open air should possess are, 

 hardiness of constitution, handsomeness of foliage, 

 freedom of growth, richness and variety of colour, pre- 

 cocity and abundance of flower, and the power of 

 remaining inactive in growth till the danger from spring 

 frosts is over. All who are acquainted with even a 

 small part of the hybrids in cultivation know well enough 

 that plants possessing these qualities are abundant. 



Now, although it is found desirable, both as a means 

 of inducing rapidity of growth and earliness of bloom 

 (by earliness we here refer to the age of the plants) as 



well as by its affording a ready means of propagation, 

 to graft seedlings, even though they possess the above 

 desirable qualities ; they are, nevertheless, very pre- 

 cocious in the production of flowers without grafting. 

 How " J. R." can give to such plants as he very justly 

 observes are often 20 years old before producing a 

 flower, the preference over those we have been describ- 

 ing, we are at a loss to understand. But there is no 

 accounting for tastes, and every one has an undoubted 

 right to entertain and to advocate his own ideas upon 

 any subject, however eccentric they may be. 



As we have before observed, seedlings from Rhodo- 

 dendron arboreum do not usually flower before they 

 are 20 or 25 years old; yet these are the plants 

 that "J. R. " wishes to see in place of the hybrids 

 now so generally cultivated. If to produce a mass of 

 evergreen be the result sought, there are very many 

 other shrubs much better suited for general cultivation 

 by which such may be attained ; and if flower be the 

 object, we dp not see how a preference can, even in a 

 remote degree, be claimed for them. This we do know, 

 that among a pretty extensive connection, we never yet 

 found the purchaser who would order them for cultiva- 

 tion in the open borders. Plants that will flower abun- 

 dantly and at an early age are invariably stipulated for ; 

 and in good truth it would be a folly in any one to pur- 

 chase a plant that would require 10 years to produce a 

 scanty crop of flowers, when for the same money he 

 could purchase one that would abundantly reward him 

 in one year. 



The most abundant as well as the most precocious 

 bloomers as species are the following, which are placed 

 in the order in which they are entitled to priority, viz., 

 ciliatum, glaucum, caucasicum, catawbien^e, ponticum, 

 and purpureum ; while arboreum and its varieties 

 possess the opposite qualities, but which, as regards 

 season, are the earliest to produce their flowers. The 

 latest bloomers in the season are maximum, catawbiense, 

 ponticum, and purpureum. The hardiest are cataw- 

 biense and maximum, the former standing first in this 

 respect. 



From what has been said it will readily be seen that 

 if free-blooming qualities are desired in a hybrid Rho- 

 dodendron, it must be removed as far as possible from 

 maximum and arboreum ; while the nearer its parentage 

 is to ciliatum or either of the six following named above, 

 the more will it partake of that desirable quality. For 

 late-blooming qualities the hybridiser must employ 

 catawbiense, maximum, ponticum, and purpureum ; 

 while arboreum and maximum will afford him the 

 richest as well as the most delicate tints. 



The primary defect, as hardy plants, of all the first 

 hybrids from catawbiense, caucasicum, and ponticum 

 by arboreum, is their early blooming propensity, the 

 consequences of which we have before alluded to • 

 and in those from maximum by arboreum their 

 extreme shyness in producing flowers detracts very 

 much from their usefulness ; for when you do get a 

 head of bloom from them, it is indeed extremelv 

 beautiful, but it occupies almost a life-time to realise 

 such a result. As an instance we may mention that 

 some years since we were admiring a solitary head 

 of bloom in a large bed of Rhododendrons at High- 

 clere, when the gardener informed us that the whole 

 of the plants were hybrids between maximum and 

 arboreum, that they were 26 years old, and that the 

 head of flowers we were then admiring was the first 



