210 



THE GABDENEBS' CHRONICLE. 



I A i gust 23 IF*?. 



is noteworthy chiefly as a rarity, and as a species 

 seldom met with outside botanical gardens and the 

 best private collections, and that fact must be 

 accepted as my reason for alluding to it here. As 

 compared with William Eollisson and others of our 

 hybrid varieties it is far from being attractive or 

 showy in appearance. The plant grows from 3 to 4 feet 

 high, and is exceedingly fioriferous. Stems slightly 

 pilose. Stipules long and pointed, distinct from the 

 enlarged base of the leaf-stalk. Leaflets five, oblong, 

 toothed and scabrous. Flowers are produced in the 

 form of a rather large, loose terminal corymb, and 

 are pale yellow in colour, being, when fully expanded, 

 % inch across, petals free or separate from each other, 

 and rather shorter than the calyx. Will grow 

 luxuriantly in a calcareous soil, and may be in- 

 creased by division in spring or autumn. In flower 

 July and August. 



(Enothera Toungii. 

 An evening Primrose, and decidedly one of the 

 best we have in our gardens at the present time, and 

 which ought to be cultivated in all collections of 

 hardy plants where space can be afforded. Its bright 

 golden-yellow flowers give a charm and splendour to 

 a mixed border just now that cannot be equalled or 

 surpassed by any other plant that I am acquainted 

 with. Taking a single flower, it will be found to 

 closely resemble CE. Fraseri in colour, but in all 

 other respects it is quite distinct from that well- 

 known and widely-grown plant, the stems being 

 more branched and of a deep reddish tinge, leaves 

 not so broad or long, flowers more numerous, larger, 

 and on longer footstalks than CE. Fraseri. The 

 plant grows about 3 feet high, and delights in a good 

 sandy loam or peaty soil or even a chalky compost, 

 providing the border is well drained. Flowers in 

 July and August ; may be increased by division 

 early in spring. 



CoRYDALIS LUTEA. 



A British species, belonging to the Fumitory 

 family, and being an erect spreading plant of from 6 

 to 9 inches high, it is eminently adapted for growing 

 on rockeries. The plant forms a tufted rootstock. 

 Although they will live and produce flowers for 

 four or five successive years, the plants cannot 

 strictly speaking be regarded as truly perennial, and 

 it will be found best to raise plants from seed every 

 third or fourth year. Leaves of a beautiful pale 

 green, much divided, the segments wedge-shaped. 

 Flowers in racemes, pale yellow, from 4 to 6 inches 

 long, each flower having a short and rather broad 

 spur. To succeed with this species, and ensure its 

 living through severe winters, it must be grown in 

 rather a poor sandy loam ; and where this does not 

 exist it will be found a good plan to mix a few small 

 stones or broken pieces of cinder along with the soil 

 to secure ample drainage. 



Veratruh nigrum. 

 This is quite 'a remarkable and noteworthy her- 

 baceous perennial, said to have been introduced into 

 this country from Siberia so long ago as 1596 — a cir- 

 cumstance that justifies one in expressing surprise 

 that it is so seldom met with, comparatively speaking, 

 in private gardens. It is proof against our severest 

 winters without any protection whatever, and is not 

 over-particular as to soil or situation ; add to this 

 the fact of its flowers being a nearer approach to 

 black in colour than any other of our hardy flowers, 

 and we have here a species that ought to be found 

 in all gardens where hardy perennials are made a 

 special feature of the place. In one of the mixed 

 borders here there was a plant j ust coming into flower 

 at the time of writing, and it promises to be the most 

 conspicuous in the gardens we shall have during the 

 next two or three weeks, the spike being fully 6 feet 

 high with every prospect of its lengthening another foot 

 or 18 inches. What a picture it will present when at 

 its best, may, by those who are acquainted with the 

 species, be more easily imagined than described. 

 The plant will also be found an interesting and 

 attractive object for many weeks previous to flower- 

 ing, chiefly by reason of its handsome coriaceous 



foliage, which in shape is broadly ovoid, accumi- 

 nate, from S — 10 inches wide and 12—15 inches 

 long, more or less corrugated. Root-stock may be 

 divided in spring as soon as growth begins. Flowers 

 in August. J. Horsefield. Heytesbury. 



Cultural Memoranda. 



ALSTROMERIAS. 



These stand almost unrivalled among herbaceous 

 plants, as they are exceedingly fioriferous, and endure 

 a long time when cut. They are not hardy enough 

 to succeed in all places, but will do well in any- 

 ordinary favoured spot in most gardens, the best 

 situation for them being on a sloping south border, 

 or under the foot of a sunny wall, where, with the 

 slightest surface protection, they will stand the 

 winter. The most suitable soil is a light sandy one, 

 and if not naturally well drained, the bed or border 

 intended for them should be dug out a yard or so 

 deep and have 6 inches of brick rubbish placed at the 

 bottom, and over this some half-rotten leaves or 

 strawy manure, to keep the interstices open and 

 clear. This done the soil may be returned, and in 

 doing this it will be advisable to mix in with it some 

 leaf-mould and road-scrapings, as the plants like a 

 loose run, that they may be able to send their fibrous 

 roots down freely ; and unless they can strike deep 

 the frost kills the crowns. To prevent this, at 

 starting it is necessary to plant well below the 

 surface, or it is a good plan to sow seed where the 

 plants are to remain and grow, which saves trans- 

 planting ; and this is a difficult matter with AlstrS- 

 merias. The best time to sow is as soon as the seed 

 is ripe, as though it does not germinate then it lies 

 safe in the ground, and will come up the following 

 spi ing, and by the end of summer the plants will be 

 fully established. To render them safe for the 

 winter cover with cocoa-nut fibre or rough leaf- 

 mould. J. S. 



Layering Causations. 



There is no readier or surer way of raising a stock 

 of Pinks and Carnations than layering in prepared 

 soil having a surfacing of sand. Put 2 or 3 inches 

 of this mould around each plant, remove a couple of 

 the grasses from the base of each shoot, make a 

 clean cut half way through and 1 inch long, in an 

 upward direction from the bottom joint ; bend the 

 shoot, pressing the tongue thereby formed into the 

 sandy soil, and secure it there by a small crook, 

 giving water through a fine rose to settle the soil. 

 This should be done as soon as the bulk of the bloom 

 is over — usually early in August. 



EpiPHYLLUM SALMONEUM. 



The large salmon-sulphury coloured flowers of 

 this plant are very sweet and delicate looking, and 

 are useful decorative plants, not only in the green- 

 house and conservatory, but also for rooms. Cuttings 

 put in singly at the end of autumn, in 3-inch pots 

 filled with a mixture of three-parts light loam 

 and one of leaf s'oil, with a surfacing of silver-sand, 

 and plunged in a hand-light containing 4 or 5 inches 

 deep of sawdust in a stove, will soon root. They do 

 not require much water at the roots, but when the 

 soil becomes dry, sufficient water to thoroughly 

 moisten it should be given. Standards, pyramids, 

 and large plants of any desired shape may be ob- 

 tained more quickly by grafting on to the Pereskia, 

 and growing on heat and moisture ; the moss round 

 the graft and stock being kept moist until the union 

 is completed. H. W. W. 



Phaoelia campanulata. 

 Among thenumerous meritorious plants introduced 

 by Mr. Thomson, of Ipswich, this is one of the most 

 beautiful, as the richness of its lovely blue flowers is 

 unrivalled. Some few years ago, when seed was first 

 received, great care and pains were taken in raising 

 plants, as it was thought to be what gardeners term 

 " miffy," and a bad doer. It is, however, one of the 

 best annuals, as it comes up outdoors from self-sown 



seed, and grows freely if in suitable soil. No garden 

 should be without some plants in the borders, where 

 it may be sown either in patches in the ordinary way, 

 and thinned out, or raised in pots in frames, and 

 planted out after. The flowers are bell-shaped, 

 about half an inch across, and are held erect. J. S. 



Orchid Notes and Gleanings. 



AERANTHTJS CURNOWIANUS. 

 This is a valuable addition to the set of small but 

 lovely Orchids, chiefly represented by Angracums, 

 which have been introduced in recent years from 

 Madagascar. It is well worth the small space it 

 occupies in the Orchid-house. The distichous leaves 

 are only 2k inches long by £ inch broad, bilobed 

 at the apex, slightly scabrous, and of leathery tex- 

 ture. The comparatively large flowers are solitary 

 on short peduncles, and measure nearly 2 inches in 

 diameter. The sepals and petals are lanceolate ; the 

 lip is broadly ovate, with a slender tapering spur, 

 4 inches long. The whole of the flower is a pure 

 glistening white, except the lower part of the spur, 

 which changes to green. This species was described 

 by Reichenbaeh in the Gardeners' Chronicle for 

 March 10, 1883. A plant is now flowering at Kew, 

 which grows well in sphagnum, suspended near the 

 glass in the warm-house. 



Obnithochilus fuscus. 

 A plant of this, sent to Kew from Burmah by the 

 Rev. Mr. Parish, two or three years ago, is now in 

 flower. It is an uncommon species (sometimes 

 known as Aerides difforme), with small flowers, 

 having a lip of very singular structure. The pendent 

 racemes of forty or more flowers are produced from 

 the axils of the fleshy oblong leaves, which are 

 4 inches long, and unequally bilobed at the tips. 

 The sepals and petals are brownish-yellow, marked 

 with purple lines. The curiously formed lip has a 

 short conical spur, and is three-lobed ; the promi- 

 nent middle lobe is erect, horse-shoe shaped, and 

 fringed, being of a reddish-purple colour. This plant 

 requires the same treatment as Aerides. 



Stenoglottis fihbriata. 

 Either with or without flowers, tbis is a very dis- 

 tinct and attractive little Orchid, and being of easy 

 culture it deserves to be seen oftener than it is at 

 present. Being a native of South Africa — a part of 

 the globe which does not yet appear to have many 

 attractions for Orchid collectors — is a fact which 

 perhaps accounts for its rarity in this country. 

 Several plants brought by Mr. Watson from the 

 Cape are in flower now at Kew. The leaves are 

 very ornamental, being deep green, with several 

 longitudinal rows of black spots ; they are 4 inches 

 long, have a wavy outline, and spread horizontally 

 near the surface of the soil. The rosy-pink flowers 

 are densely produced on scapes 6 inches high, and 

 have a three-lobed lip spotted with purple. These 

 plants are, in their native state, found growing on 

 boulders near the banks of the Buffalo River. The 

 Kew plants grow in the cool-house, and, in imitation 

 of their natural conditions, are fastened on apiece 

 of limestone, with sufficient sphagnum to cover the 

 fleshy roots. To this treatment they have adapted 

 themselves perfectly, and now form a pretty picture. 

 They may also be grown in pots in a compost of 

 leaf-mould and fibry peat, with a surfacing of 

 sphagnum. W. B. 



Ljelia elegans at The Woodlands, Streatham. 



In the fine collection of Orchids belonging to R. 

 II. Measures, Esq., the numerous beautiful and dis- 

 similar varieties of Laslia elegans are now making 

 a very fine show, the still rare L. Turneri 

 being the handsomest and most stately in growth 

 and flower. Some of the plants have stout pseudo- 

 bulbs, over 3 feet in height, many of them furnished 

 with very strong flower-spikes of eight to ten flowers. 

 Of the "beautiful collection the most beautiful is 



