August 18, 1888.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



179 



quarters of an inch long, light buff, paler towards base 

 of dorsal sepal, becoming orange on the same portion 

 of the lateral ones, nerves green. Lateral sepals 

 connate for 2} lines, somewhat falcate, almost 

 parallel, a little narrower than dorsal one. Petals 

 narrowly linear, obtuse, slightly falcate, 2J- lines 

 long, chestnut-brown, the central nerve darker than 

 the rest. Lip 1J line broad at base, gradually 

 narrowing from apex of side lobes to an acute point ; 

 flat behind, sharply recurved from the apex of the side 

 lobes, at which point a pair of acute keels leave the 

 margin, and run parallel with it to near apex, the 

 keels themselves gradually approaching each other; 

 light yellowish-brown, inclining towards reddish, 

 the central nerve, and the lateral pair which run into 

 the keels, being of a slightly darker shade. Column 

 green, with a pair of broad rounded wings, which 

 are buff on the margin. Pollen masses two, pre- 

 cisely as in the genus. The lip of this remarkable 

 plant is attached by a delicate hinge and oscillates 

 up and down with the slightest movement. The 

 flowers open about three-quarters of an inch from 

 apex of dorsal sepal to that of the lateral ones. The 

 singular aspect of the plant will be at once apparent 

 from the above details, there being no single species 

 with which it can be compared, either in structure 

 or colour. I am not aware if any other plants are in 

 existence in the country, if. A. Rolfc. 



LILACS. 



The following notes from the pen of Professor 

 Sargent are extracted from Garden and Forest : — 



Syringa vulgaris is a native of the mountainous 

 region of Central Europe from Piedmont to Hun- 

 gary. It has been a favourite garden plant for three 

 centuries, and has produced in cultivation a great 

 number of varieties with more or less dense inflores- 

 cence, and with flowers varying from purplish-red 

 to pure white. Double-flowered and blotched-leaved 

 varieties are cultivated. The leaves of this species 

 and of all the varieties are often greatly disfigured 

 in the United States during the summer and autumn 

 months by the attack of a white mildew. 



Syringa oblata is not known in a wild state ; it 

 was first discovered by Fortune in a garden at 

 Shanghai, and, later, by the Abbe David, in gardens 

 near Pekin. Its perfect hardiness in this climate 

 indicates its northern origin. S. oblata diners but 

 slightly in botanical characters from some forms of 

 S. vulgaris, a geographical variety of which it should, 

 perhaps, be considered, although, from a garden point 

 of view, quite distinct. Here it flowers ten or twelve 

 days earlier than the earliest varieties of S. vulgaris, 

 and its thick, leathery leaves, which are never 

 attacked by mildew, turu in the autumn to a rich 

 dark russet-red colour — a character which should be 

 taken advantage of by hybridisers to secure a new 

 race of Lilacs with the large inflorescence of S. vul- 

 garis and the foliage of this Chinese plant. S. oblata 

 is a stout spreading shrub here, now 8 or 10 feet 

 high, flowering profusely every year. There is a 

 white-flowered variety which has not flowered here. 



Syringa ckinensis. — This plant, although long culti- 

 vated, is not known in a wild state. It is believed to be 

 of Chinese origin, and it is not uncommon in the gar- 

 dens of Pekin. In general appearance, in the shape 

 of the leaves, the size of the flowers, and in the 

 period ot blooming, it is intermediate between S. 

 vulgaris and S. persica. This is one of the hardiest 

 and handsomest shrubs in cultivation, producing its 

 enormous rather lax clusters of flowers in the 

 greatest profusion. There are varieties with rosy- 

 purple and with white flowers. 



Syringa persica has long been an inhabitant of the 

 gardens of Persia and India, whence it was intro- 

 duced into Europe and America. Its native country, 

 however, was long unknown until it was met with 

 by Dr. Aitchison, of the Afghan Boundary Survey. 

 who found it " a very common shrub on the low and 

 outer hills near Shalizan up to nearly 7500 feet."* 

 Varieties with lilac and with white flowers are 



common. S. pteridifolia is a variety in which the 

 leaves are deeply laciniate . 



Syringa villosa was discovered near Pekin about the 

 middle of the last century by the French missionary, 

 d'Incarville. It was found in the same region by 

 David, and plants raised from seed sent to the Arnold 

 Arboretum from Pekin by Dr. Bretschneider are now 

 growing there. To this species should perhaps be 

 referred, as M. Franchet hints in his paper upon the 

 Chinese Lilacs,* S. Josikiea and S. Emodi, which, as 

 he points out, cannot be separated from d'Incarville's 

 plant either by the shape of the leaves, the character 

 of the inflorescence, or by the shape or size of the 

 flowers. In the Himalaya plant (S. Emodi), however, 

 the long white hairs which cover the under side of 

 the leaves of S. villosa are replaced by a minute 

 puberulence on the midrib, which is even less 

 developed on the leaves of S. Josik;ea. The bark, 

 colour and markings of the young shoots, and the 

 habit of these three plants are identical, although 

 in S. Josiksea the leaves are narrower than in the 

 Chinese plant, but not narrower than those of many 

 Himalayan specimens. The plants of S. Josiksea, 

 now widely distributed in gardens, have all been 

 propagated from a single plant discovered in a 

 Hungarian garden, but not known to be wild in 

 Europe, and probably of Asiatic origin. 



Syringa peiincnsis is a native of the mountains of 

 Northern China, where it was discovered by David. 

 It is growing in the Arnold Arboretum, where it 

 was raised from seed sent by Dr. Bretschneider from 

 Pekin, but as yet has shown no disposition to flower. 

 It is a slender tree-like shrub, perfectly hardy, and 

 already 10 to 12 feet high, with long, graceful, 

 flexuous branches, covered with smooth yellow-brown 

 bark, not very unlike that of a Cherry tree. A 

 plant with distinctly weeping branches appeared 

 among the seedlings raised in the arboretum. 



Joum. Linn. Sec, xviii 



Orchid Notes and Gleanings. 



DENDROBIUM SPHEGIDOGLOSSUM, Uahb.f. 

 This scarce species has recently been sent to the Kew 

 Herbarium by Major-General E. S. Berkeley, who 

 obtained it from the hills on the frontier of Siam ; 

 it was also collected by Parish in Burmah. The 

 steins grow to about 9 inches in height, they are 

 spindle-shaped, and not very thick. The leaves are 

 narrow, oblong obtuse, and marked on the upper 

 surface with numerous impressed dots. The flowers 

 are of rather small size, about k inch long, and are 

 produced from the old stems in short 2 — 3 flowered 

 racemes, with oblong obtuse, complicate, yellowish- 

 green bracts. The upper sepal is lanceolate acute, 

 the lateral sepals elongate, triangular, acute, 

 keeled down the back ; the petals are lanceolate 

 obtuse, and the rather narrow lip is three-lobed 

 with narrow triangular side-lobes, and an oblong 

 middle lobe, all three lobes being fringed with curled 

 hairs. The colour of the flower is yellowish-white, 

 with some very delicate red veins on the sides of the 

 lip and the tip of the lip marked with orange-red. 

 N. E. Brown. 



Orchids at Messrs. Seeger & Tropp's. 



In their new establishment at Lordship Lane many 

 fine and curious Orchids are now got together, as 

 well as good importations of the showy species, and 

 notablyagrand lotofLrcliapurpurata, which curiously 

 enough are now sending up their spikes. Many 

 superb masses are among them, the largest, which 

 has over 200 pseudobulbs and twenty flower-sheaths, 

 being probably the largest single mass ever got over. 



The Cypripedium collection which has just pro- 

 duced the singular C. Stonei acrosepalum has now 

 another new hybrid in bloom, the result of a cross 

 between C. Spicerianum and C. Harrisianum. Its 

 flowers are very handsome, and much like the beau- 

 tiful C. Tautzianum, it having the same rosy flush 



* " bbservationa srur les Syringa du Xord dp la Chine," ft"!!. 

 Sx. PhUnmntiqn' its Pnri', July, 1885. 



over them ; the form of the dorsal sepal, however, is 

 that of C. Leeanum. The leaves are handsome, like 

 a strong C. Spicerianum, with a slightly darker vein- 

 ing — certainly an acceptable variety. 



On the tank beneath the rockery in the interme- 

 diate-house are growing in great luxuriance some 

 rare Sobralias, which seem to like the situation. A 

 grand specimen of the noble S. Cattleyoe has stems 

 8 feet in height with very stout and vigorous young 

 growths which will doubtless flower when mature. A 

 good lot of Vaudas have some in bloom, also a fair 

 sprinkling of flowers on Cattleya Gaskelliana, C. 

 velutina, C. bicolor Wrigleyana, Angrajcum Scotti- 

 anum, Saccolabium gemmatum. many Cypripediums, 

 Masdevallias, and Oncidiums, and a grand strain of 

 Oucidium Papilio majus of great size, fine colour, and 

 handsome marking. Some of the flowers measure 

 7 inches from the top of the upper sepal to the front 

 of the labellum. 



SOBRALIA LEUCOXANTHA. 



Were it not for the short time — in most cases a 

 single day — during which the flowers of Sobralias 

 last, the genus would occupy a place in the very first 

 rank of beautiful Orchids. As it is, they are not 

 grown by any means so extensively as they deserve 

 to be, for what the flowers lack in duration they 

 make up in numbers. The old S. macrantha is rarely 

 without bloom when the flowering season has once 

 commenced, and few plants grow with greater free- 

 dom, if treated liberally. We find that during active 

 growth occasional waterings with a weak solution of 

 cow manure are very beneficial. 



S. leucoxantha, a new and at present rare species, 

 proves to be a most beautiful addition to the genus. 

 The flowers are 3 to 4 inches in diameter, with sepals 

 and petals of pure white, the latter differing only in 

 being somewhat shorter and broader. The outer 

 side of the lip is white, as is also the frilled edge on 

 the inner side, but the colour gradually deepens into 

 a beautiful golden-yellow in the throat. This species 

 is not so strong a grower as some others, the slender 

 stems measuring from a foot to 18 inches in height. 

 It should be grown in the East Indian-house in a 

 pot of fibrous peat. Like its congeners it requires 

 copious supplies of water when growing, aud at no 

 time should be allowed to become dry. A plant is 

 flowering at intervals in the Kew collection, from 

 which a figure has been prepared for the Botanical 

 Magazine. If". B. 



Cultural Memoranda. 



BROWALLIA ELATA. 



If a pinch of seed of this pretty blue-flowered, 

 half-hardy annual be sown forthwith in shallow pans 

 filled to the rim with light, sandy mould, and covered 

 lightly with the same compost, placed in heat and 

 watered with a fine rose, young plants will soon 

 appear. These should be kept near the glass to pre- 

 vent them making a weakly growth, and as soon as 

 large enough they should be pricked out into shallow 

 boxes, about 2 inches apart, in a compost consisting 

 of three parts light sandy loam and one of sweet 

 leaf-mould, watered, and returned to heat as before. 

 Subsequently pot them into 3-inch and 41-inch pots. 

 These plants are very useful for conservatory and 

 greenhouse decoration during the winter and spring 

 months. H. W. W. 



Aquilegias — Vmtch's New Hybrids. 

 There has been a great improvement effected in 

 the Columbine within the last few years by Messrs. 

 James Veitch & Sons. Their new hybrids comprise 

 many new combinations of colours in the same 

 the colours ranging through all shades of 

 lavsnder, blue, mauve, white, yellow, orange, scarlet, 

 and bright rose-pink. The Aquilegia is a very useful 

 and effective hardy perennial, treated either as a 

 border plant or potted up for the embellishment of 

 greenhouse and conservatory during the spring 

 months. A good stock may be easily worked up 



