502 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Novejibke 3 1888. 



to arise from the other. The flowers are numerous, 

 and borne in long, more or less arching, or pendulous 

 racemes from the base of the pseudobulbs. Five 

 species have been described, from Costa Rica, New 

 Granada, and British Guiana, and all of them have 

 been in cultivation at one time or another. P. 

 vittata was the earliest known species, having been 

 described by Lindley in 1841, under the name of 

 Houllettia vittata, from a specimen collected in the 

 Acaray Mountains, in British Guiana, by Schom- 

 burgk, and which flowered in the nursery of the 

 Messrs. Loddiges at Hackney. 



Eight years later a second species appeared, and 

 was described by Lindley as Cycnoches barbatum, 

 from a specimen sent by Linden. It also flowered 

 the same year in the rich collection of Mrs. Lawrence 

 at Ealing Park, this plant being the one represented 

 in the Botanical Magazine. About three years later 

 a third species flowered with the Messrs. Rollissons, 

 having been introduced by Linden from Columbia. 

 This was described by Lindley as Cycnoches musci- 

 ferum, in allusion to the flowers bearing a resem- 

 blance to some kinds of flies. The genus Polycycnis 

 was established for the two last-named species in 

 1855, and a few years later Houlletia vittata was 

 added. In 1869 a fourth species, P. lepida, was 

 described in these columns, having been found by 

 Wallis in New Granada, at an elevation of 6000 — 

 7000 feet above sea-level. Two years later a fifth 

 species was added to the list, namely, P. gratiosa, 

 which was introduced from Costa Rica by Endres, 

 and flowered in the nursery of Messrs. James Veitch 

 & Sons, at Chelsea. It would be interesting to 

 know what has become of the last-named plant, as I 

 have never come across a specimen of it. Appended 

 is an enumeration of the species, with their 

 synonymy, &c. 



1. Polycycnis vittata, Rchb. f., in Walp. Ann., Bot. 

 Syst., vi., p. 618 ; Houlletia vittata, Lindl. ; Bot. Beg., 

 xxvii., itfr.sc,, p. 47, t. 69. — Native of British Guiana. 

 Flowers yellow striped with chocolate. 



2. P. barbata, Rchb. f., in Bonplandia, iii., p. 21S. 

 Cycnoches barbatum, Lindl., in Jour. Hort. Soc, iv., 

 p. 268; Bot. Mag. t. 4-179. — Native of New Granada. 

 Flowers light yellow, copiously spotted and freckled 

 with brown. 



3. P. musciferum, Rchb. f., in Bonplandia, iii., 

 p. 218. Cynoches musciferum, Lindl., in Lindl. and 

 Paxt. Fl. Gard., iii., p. 28, fig. 248.— Native of New 

 Granada. Flowers very similar to the preceding in 

 colour, but much smaller. 



4. P. lepida, Linden and Rchb. f., in Gard. Chron., 

 1869, p. 1038 ; Illustration Horticole, n. ser., p. 100, 

 1. 19. — Native of New Granada. Much resembling 

 the preceding, but with the auricles at the base of 

 the lip more developed, but straight, not curved as in 

 that species. 



5. P. gratiosa, Rchb. f., in Gard. Chron., 1871, 

 p. 1451. — Native of Costa Rica. Said to be in the 

 way of P. lepida, yet very distinct by the very short 

 claw of the lip, and the anterior part of the same 

 organ, Elowers brownish-purple. B. A. Bolfe. 



Cattleya poephykophlebia x, Bchb.f. 



I am indebted to Messrs. James Veitch & Sons for 

 a two-flowered peduncle of this lovely hybrid, from a 

 plant which has just flowered in their nursery. It is 

 derived from two singularly pure and distinct species, 

 C. intermedia and C. superba, which unfortunately 

 have the character of being both bad growers. The 

 offspring is said to have a singularly good constitu- 

 tion, one of those seemingly inexplicable but fortu- 

 nate features which has been before observed in 

 similar instances. The sepals and petals are of a 

 beautiful and delicate lilac, the front lobe of the lip 

 rich amethyst-purple striated with paler purple ; 

 below this are two pale sulphur blotches, which are 

 separated by a purple band that extends to the base 

 of the lip. The name alludes to the rich purple 

 veining of the lip. B. A. B. 



Trade Notice. 



Mb. A. H. Johnson, formerly of H. & P. Sharpe 

 and G. & W. Yates, and for the past six years with 

 Messrs. Carter, Page & Co., London Wall, E.C., has 

 been appointed Manager to Mr. S. P. Armitage, 

 seed merchant, Nottingham. 



PLANTING SAND-HILLS. 



On p. 447 of your issue for October 20, Mr. R. C. 

 Townsend gives the results of his experience in the 

 planting of sand-hills on the north-west coast, and 

 calls in question some remarks of mine on the 

 same subject in the previous issue which I sent to 

 you in reply to a question by " Doubtful " in that of 

 September 29. It appears to be Mr. Townsend's 

 opinion that it is useless to endeavour to establish 

 anything but the grasses I named on the sand-hills 

 of the north-west, and even to do that he considers 

 it is necessary to take much greater precautions than 

 on the east coast, because the gales, he says, are ten 

 times as numerous and twice as severe on the north- 

 west as on the east coasts ; also that " it is a very 

 common occurrence to find chimney-pots, slates, 

 tiles, and squares of glass smashed up in all direc- 

 tions." 



Now, something of thi3 kind occasionally happens 

 many miles inland, and yet trees survive, and though 

 it is a " very common occurrence " in Mr. T.'s dis- 

 trict, yet, mirabile dictu, there were trees "just out 

 in their first young leaf and looking well " at the 

 beginning of June this year. A terrific gale then 

 arose, and made them look " like a Scarlet Runner 

 Bean which has had 10 c of frost." I do not, how- 

 ever, gather from his remarks that the trees were 

 killed, or even permanently injured, nor that they 

 remained long in the frosted Scarlet Runner condi- 

 tion. He also savs that the grass was turned by the 

 same gale "as black as your hat;" but assuming 

 that every blade of visible grass was killed, which is 

 very unlikely, it by no means follows that the roots 

 were hurt, or that the grass did not in the course 

 of a very few days again become as green as 

 grass ought to be. I imagine very many pos- 

 sessors of sand-hills would be very glad to get 

 them covered with trees, shrubs, and grass, even 

 though occasionally, and for short periods, the trees 

 might look like Scarlet Runner Beans after 10° of 

 frost, and the grass as black as the blackest hat that 

 ever had a bead inside it. No ; it is not the wind 

 that prevents the successful planting of sand-hills 

 when once the shifting of the sand has been over- 

 come, and to this extent at least I understand Mr. 

 Townsend has succeeded. There are many plants 

 that will thrive, though exposed to these sea breezes, 

 that do not succeed inland at all. Mr. Townsend's 

 failure to get vegetation to grow other than the 

 maritime grasses before alluded to, and the common 

 Willow, about as high as the grasses, is much more 

 likely to be due to a want of plant-food in the sand 

 to give the young plants a start. This want, how- 

 ever, in these days of concentrated and complete 

 artificial manures, is one very easily supplied, even 

 where it is almost practically impossible (and such 

 places are rare indeed) to make use of any natural 

 manures. Let " Doubtful " not be disheartened, and 

 Mr. Townsend try again. I would by no means, 

 however, advise either of them to put up walls to 

 protect their young plantations on shifting sand- 

 hills. 



The first and greatest difficulty in successfully 

 planting sand-hills has been overcome when the 

 shifting of the sand has been prevented, and I admit 

 that in some places this may be impossible, or, at 

 least, impracticable. Mr. Townsend has, however, 

 accomplished that in his district. What he has not 

 been successful in accomplishing is in inducing a 

 varied shrub and tree growth to thrive on his sand- 

 hills. His letter supplies evidence that trees are not 

 destroyed by the numerous and severe gales to which 

 they are subjected, and that in early June of this 

 year they looked well. 



Where I am now writing — a little inland from the 

 south coast — Japanese Euonymuses in exposed places 

 suffered somewhat from severe frost last winter, but 

 on Southsea Common, close to the sea, and fully 

 exposed to the " dreaded sou'-westers," it is hardly 

 too much to say that on the numerous specimens of 

 this Bhrub planted there hardly a leaf was injured. 

 In some parts of Norfolk the Japanese Euonymus is 

 only half hardy, but on the beach at Yarmouth and 

 the cliff at Hunstanton and Cromer it survives the 



winters without injury, although unprotected in any 

 way. In the wind-swept Orkneys and Shetlands we 

 are told evergreens survive the winters which 

 succumb to frost in the Midlands of England. 

 Clearly it is not the winds from any quarter that we 

 have to fear in planting sand-hills, always pro- 

 viding that the shifting of the sand can be prevented. 

 Why, all round the coasts of Britain, even, I have 

 no doubt, in Mr. Townsend's own district, evidences 

 exist that many plants and shrubs, and even trees, 

 thrive, in spite of the winds, better in the coast 

 districts than elsewhere. Plants, however, will not 

 grow in pure sand either near the sea or inland, and 

 the sand-hills of the seacoast are, for the mo6t part, 

 nearly pure sand. On such it is necessary, just as it 

 is on poor sandy soils inland, to provide plant food ; 

 this done, there are plants and shrubs specially 

 designed by Nature for thriving on them. J. E. E. 



THE MITCHAM PEPPEBMINT 

 AND LAVENDER CROPS. 



Mitcham, as is well known, has long been asso- 

 ciated with the growth of perfume-yielding plants, a 

 large extent of ground in that part of the county of 

 Surrey being under cultivation of plants valued 

 either as perfumes or for their medicinal properties. 



Our contemporary, the Chemist and Druggist, in a 

 recent issue, stated that the Peppermint plants this 

 season were mowed instead of reaped, and some 

 growers were using reaping-machines for the first 

 time. Comparing the present with last year's crop 

 after cutting, it is estimated that 1888 will prove to 

 be a good season, but the distillers, notwithstanding, 

 predict small yields of the stills, estimating about 

 7 lb. against about 9 lb. to 11 lb. last year, " But 

 too much attention should not be paid to this fact ; 

 for although individual stills are yielding less than 

 last season, the deficiency will, to a certain extent, 

 be made up in the extra bulk of crop to be distilled ; 

 but this will, of course, entail some extra expense on 

 the growers for distillation, at the same time the 

 nett results after the whole crop has been distilled 

 will equal last season." In the meantime higher 

 prices are asked, namely, 30s. to 32s. 6d. per pound 

 for the best new oil. 



Lavender — the Mitcham produce of which is cele- 

 brated all the world over, the oil being of the finest 

 quality, and fetching the highest price of any in the 

 market — is described as bearing the largest and 

 finest blossoms ever seen — almost, indeed, giant in 

 size. The bloom in many parts was three times the 

 size it was last vear. 



PLANT-NAMES A THOUSAND 

 YEARS AGO. 



The following list of old English plant-names is 

 taken from the Epinal Glossary. This Glossary is 

 supposed to be of the beginning of the eighth cen- 

 tury, so that the list of plant names is earlier in 

 date than those already printed in Professor Earle's 

 excellent little book on English Plant-Names, in 

 which the earliest is of the tenth century. 



It should be remembered that the list does not 

 pretend to be a complete list of English plant-names 

 of that period. The plant-names are only a small 

 portion (about an eighth) of the entire Glossary, and 

 the business of the compiler was, not to give the 

 Latin for all English words, but to give the English 

 translation of certain Latin words which he met 

 with in his reading, of which the greater part seems 

 to be taken from Pliny ; so that, unless he found a 

 plant name in his Latin author, it would not come 

 into his Glossary. 



Of the philological value of such lists I need say 

 nothing, as Professor Earle has said all that is neces- 

 sary. I give the list as a matter of interest for 

 botanical students. 



I have, of course, generally given the exact words 

 of the old writer, but in a few cases I have not 

 thought it necessary to follow him so exactly as to 

 give his evident mistakes. In these few cases I give 



