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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[December 1, 1888. 



ties of St. Audries, Sir Alexander Hood pos- 

 sesses a singular memento of a most remarkable 

 experience in the married life of one of its 

 former owners. The relic explains the business 

 precisely and concisely. It consists of a glass 

 case containing the garments of three babies 

 which on three successive Sundays were pre- 

 sented to Mr. Palmer, of St. Audries, by his 

 prolifio spouse, whom he had married rather late 

 in life. The case stands beneath the portrait of 

 the thrice made happy gentleman, and an in- 

 scription sets forth the dates of the three births, 

 June 5, 12, and 19, 1489. It should further be 

 stated that all these children were boys, and 

 lived to be men, two of them becoming persons 

 of some distinction. 



There are both red and fallow deer in the 

 park at St. Audries. The latter were gathered 

 in groups around the house ; the former seemed 

 to prefer the high ridge of the Quan- 

 tocks, which rises here abruptly above this 

 well-sheltered domain. As I passed through 

 the park, leaving the house on my left, I 

 could see them on the hill above, tall, stately 

 fellows, their figures showing large against 

 the sky-line. There were several stags in 

 close company, tossing their heads defiantly, for 

 the period of the year (October 20) is the 

 season of their rivalry. At the time I have 

 just mentioned there had been 12 D of frost in 

 the neighbourhood of London, and the beauty of 

 the gardens had been sadly marred by the 

 destruction of many of the more tender bedding 

 plants, and of Fuchsias and Pelargoniums. Here 

 on the west coast the same plants which home 

 reports spoke of as having been already de- 

 stroyed, were not in the least injured. The 

 gardens attached to the entrance lodges of the 

 park were particularly smart, and I ought to add 

 that the lodges themselves are models of sub- 

 stantial, comfortable, and ornamental buildings. 



I have mentioned that the mansion is placed 

 immediately under the south-west front of the 

 Quantocks. A little winding valley, enclosing 

 most of the park, and about a mile long, runs 

 down from the house to the sea. The sides of 

 this " vast lawn of vivid green " are covered with 

 timber and " rich piles of foliage." Some of the 

 most stately of the trees stand near the house at 

 the upper end of the valley, and beneath these the 

 deer were gathered. I noticed that the Arbutus 

 unedo — a very beautiful shrub when well grown — 

 is particularly flourishing about here, and attains 

 a great size. The Laurustinus is another charac- 

 teristic shrub at St. Audries, and the Euonymus is 

 plentiful, finding, in a park bounded on one side 

 by the sea, exactly the situation that suits it. 

 The church, as I have said, stands near the 

 house, within the park. It is an exceedingly 

 handsome building, large enough for the parish, 

 though small, and appropriately though highly 

 decorated, " all marble within," I was told. 



The natural beauties of this site would have 

 baen concealed by any considerable expansion of 

 the ground devoted to shrubberies and gardens. 

 St. Audries is exceedingly well kept up, and you 

 cannot approach its precincts without perceiviug 

 in the tasteful beltings, handsome lodges and 

 excellent cottages, that you are nearing the 

 grounds of some great country house whose 

 owner understands the duties of his station. 



Mr. McCulloch, the head gardener, was not at 

 home, but his foreman, Henry Martin, who seeks 

 and deserves a better place, for which his charac- 

 ter and knowledge well fit him, showed me 

 through the grounds and hothouses, and through 

 the conservatories opening into the living rooms. 

 The gardening is well done. I was particularly 

 pleased with the Chrysanthemums Mrs. Halli- 

 burton and Peter the Great, representing the 

 whites and yellows, with many others. Some of 

 these stood 9 feet high, in 18 inch pots, having 

 been specially grown for a position in the hall. 

 Another thing, most pleasing to reflect upon, I 

 would gratefully refer to— the kind and liberal 

 spirit which gives admittance to chance callers 

 like myself, H, £. 



New or Noteworthy Plants. Orchid Notes and Gleanings. 



EUCHARIS GRANDIFLORA (Planch.) var. 

 MOOREI, Baker* 



This is a new variety of Eucharis, for our know- 

 ledge of which we are indebted to Mr. W. Moore, of 

 Glasnevin, who received it from Messrs. Sander & Co., 

 of St. Albans. It differs from E. grandiflora by its 

 much smaller leaves, abruptly rounded at the base, 

 and by its staminal cup being pure white inside, 

 only markedj by a fine yellow line where the six fila- 

 ments run down, and by the teeth between the fila- 

 ments being larger and more acute. For the present 

 I prefer to consider it a variety, and not a distinct 

 species. J. G. Baker. 



Masdevallia nidifica, Bchb.f. 



This lovely little gem flowered on the Continent 

 with M. Ortgies, of Zurich, I believe, and with Herr 

 Oberhofga rtner Wendland, of Herrenhausen. Now it 

 lias made its English debut with Mr. S. Courtauld, 

 Booking Place, Braintree, Essex. It is a very elegant, 

 tiny plant, with leaves which have a very thin 

 petiole and a cuneate, oblong, apiculate blade with 

 a reddish hue, scarcely reaching 2 inches in height, 

 usually shorter. Some wild-grown specimens of 

 Consul Lehmann's are taller. The very thin, hard 

 peduncles are reddish, with dark, purple spots. The 

 cucullate bract exceeds the winged, purple ovary, 

 has a purple keel on the back, and is whitish. The 

 outer perigone, excepting the purple upper tail, is 

 yellow, with five very conspicuous, indian-purple, 

 longitudinal stripes. The lateral tails are yellow, 

 longer than the body of the perigone, terete, very 

 thin, the one ascending, the two descending. The 

 body of the sepals forms a curved, sub-cylindrical 

 mass, constricted between the chin and the free 

 parts of the lateral sepals. Petals with a descending 

 angular tooth, ligulate, with an oblique keel terminat- 

 ing in an apex of the denticulate, blunt, superior parts. 

 Lateral lacinia; of the lip half oblong, acute in front, 

 covering with their apices the base of the median 

 lacinia, which is very variable, varying from ligulate- 

 acute to rhombic, and is often microscopically 

 toothed in front; mid-lacinia light yellow, side- 

 lacinias and disc white ; column rosy, with purple 

 spots. 



This appears to have been met with since Pro- 

 fessor Jameson by Consul Lehmann only, and I have 

 no doubt that Mr. S. Courtauld's plant is of Leh- 

 mannian origin. It is exceedingly difficult to find 

 this species, as this excellent collector informed me. 

 H. G. Bchb. f. 



AEUNDINA BAMBUS^FOLIA. 



Although the Arundina bambustefolia has the 

 making of an elegant plant in it, even when not in 

 flower, it is seldom met with in good condition in col- 

 lections, probably, because it is usually not supplied 

 with nearly enough water when growing, and is also, 

 in many instances, placed in sunny situations, which, 

 as a shade-loving plant, it resents. Those who have 

 grown it best find that it succeeds admirably when 

 placed in well-drained pans, a proportion of loam fibre 

 being added to the peat and sand in which it is 

 potted, and an unrestricted supply of rain-water given 

 to it while growing. Even after the production of 

 the handsome rosy-petalled and crimson-lipped 

 flowers announces the termination of the growths, 

 the plants, being terrestrial, should not be dried off. 

 A shady corner in the intermediate-house suits it 

 best. It is a native of Tropical Asia, and is allied to 

 Bletia. We are indebted to Mr. Weathers, Kew, for 

 the sketch. (See fig. 87.) 



* Eitcharis grandiflora. (Planch.) var, Moorei. Baker. — 

 Petiole 7—8 inches long, fiat on the face in the lower half. 

 Blade' pale green, obtusely cuspidate, 6—7 inches long by 

 nbout 6 inches broad, abruptly rounded at the base. Flowers 

 about 6 inches an umbel ; pedicels very short ; ovary \ — J inch 

 long ; perianth pure white ; tube covered, under 2 inches long, 

 cylindrical in the lower two-thirds, funnel-shaped in the upper 

 third ; expanded limb 3 inches in diameter ; segments oblong, 

 i— 1 inch broad. Staminal cupi inch deep, ^ inch in diameter, 

 not at all green inside, faintly streaked with yellow along 

 the decurreut filameDts ; marginal teeth lanceolate-deltoid, 

 i inch long ; free filaments J- inch long. J. G. Baker. 



ARACHNANTHE LOWEI. 



I am indebted to Mr. B. S. Williams, of the Vic- 

 toria and Paradise Nurseries, Upper Holloway, N., 

 for a fair raceme of this splendid plant, or rather 

 one of the branches of the raceme. It measures 

 6} feet in length, and bears thirty-two flowers ; the 

 three basal ones being orange, the remainder of the 

 other kind. 



I carefully examined each kind of flower, but 

 found the pollen-masses and other organs equally 

 perfect in each. The raison d'etre of the two 

 kinds of flowers on this remarkable plant seems 

 as much of a mystery as ever. The floral envelopes 

 are, of course, the parts of the flower which serve to 

 attract insects for its fertilisation, and as the differ- 

 ence in the two kinds seems to be confined to these 

 parts, the possibility suggests itself of some curious 

 relation which may exist between the plant and its 

 insect fertilisers, but this does not help matters much. 

 The question seems one for investigation on the 

 spot, if anyone should be fortunate enough to have 

 that opportunity. 



Masdevallia platyrhachis. 

 This very remarkable Masdevallia, described by 

 me at p. 178, August 18 last, still continues to 

 flower in the Kew collection, though the racemes 

 are now nearly, exhausted. Its remarkable flattened 

 peduncles, in fact the whole structure of the flower, 

 is remarkable, while the colour is quite dis- 

 tinct from any other I have seen. Its history, as 

 already pointed out, is rather curious, and I have 

 not yet heard of any other plant being in the country, 

 or whether it appeared accidentally in a batch of 

 other species from Costa Rica. I should like to 

 point out that the name wss incorrectly spelt at the 

 page above cited through the accidental omission of 

 a letter in the type. It should be as given above. 



Cattleya Dowiana acrea. 

 Two specimens which I have received through 

 Messrs. James Veitch & Sons will illustrate the 

 variability in colour of this charming plant, which 

 is now classed as a variety of C.labiata. The first is 

 from the collection of Baron Schroder, The Dell, 

 'near Egham. The segments are of a very deep 

 yellow, while the markings on the lip, which extend 

 quite to the apex, are also of a very deep shade ; the 

 whole coloration being very brilliant. The second 

 specimen came from the collection of Lord Roths- 

 child, Tring Park, Herts. Here the segments are 

 unusually pale, almost sulphur-yellow, the markings 

 at the apex of the lip being also of a very pale tint. 

 Behind this they run into light orange near the 

 middle, and into reddish-purple near the base. This 

 unusual paleness of the lip is believed not to be due 

 to any weather influence, and is probably, like the 

 former one, simply another instance of colour 

 variation ; not of much importance from a botanical 

 point of view, perhaps, but a point which often 

 enhances their value considerably as garden plants. 



SOPHRONITIS CERNUA. 



This compact little plant, which is the species on 

 which the genus was founded by Lindley, in 1827, is 

 now flowering in the Kew collection, the plant being 

 established on a block. It grows but a few inches high, 

 the pseudobulbs measuring but about half an inch 

 and the leathery oval-oblong leaves about twice this 

 length. The peduncles are few-flowered, the flowers 

 being of a light cinnabar-red, with the base of lip 

 and the column orange-yellow. 



It is figured in the Botanical Register, t. 1129, also 

 in the Botanical Magazine, t. 3677. The species is a 

 native of Brazil, and was originally discovered by 

 Mr. William Harrison, a Liverpool and Brazilian 

 merchant, growing upon trees at Botafogo, near Rio 

 de Janeiro. By him it was sent to his sister, Mrs. 

 Arnold Harrison, of Aigburth, near Liverpool, in 

 whose stove it first flowered, in 1826. B, A. B. 



