732 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[December 22, 1888. 



Advertisers are specially requested to note, that, 

 under no circumstances whatever, can any 

 particular position in the paper be guaran- 

 teed for advertisements occupying less space 

 than an entire column. 



APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



SALES. 

 DEC. 27 {«£ 



( Fruit Trees, Shrubs, Border Plants, 



Dec. 



and Bulbs, at Stevens' Rooms. 



\* OUR ALMANAC. — Secretaries of societies 

 and others would greatly oblige by forwarding im- 

 mediately to the Editor notices of fixtures for the 

 ensuing year, for insertion in the Almanac to be 

 published in the first number of the new year. 

 Communications should reach us not later than the 

 29th inst. 



The figure of General Gobdon 



The F r l u«! dden stands out as one of the noblest 

 and most self-sacrificing of our race. 



Eound his name will gather, and have already 

 gathered, traditions and myths, such as are now 

 almost inseparably mixed up with the history of 

 the world's greatest men ; but, so far as we know 

 at least, no one has assigned him a place among 

 the botanists. That he was no mean observer, 

 however, and that he was well able to appreciate 

 the facts of Nature, is apparent from an article 

 in the current number of the Universal JRevieiv, 

 attributed on the cover to " James Britten and 

 General Gordon," and having for its subject 

 " The Forbidden Fruit and the Garden of Eden." 

 The Forbidden Fruit, in the opinion of General 

 Gobdon, was none other than the double Cocoa- 

 nut (Lodoicea seychellarum), whilst the Garden 

 of Eden was conterminous with the Seychelles 

 Islands. 



In this almost grotesquely absurd conclusion, 

 it might naturally be supposed that the learned 

 Editor of the Journal of Botany supplied the 

 facts, and the late General the — well, we will not 

 say fiction, as that might be taken offensively — 

 the fancy. This would not be wholly correct. 

 The botanical details are of course correctly 

 given by Mr. Britten, who takes care not to 

 identify himself with the General's fancies ; but 

 the rough outline sketches of the details of the 

 flower and fruit made by General Gordon show 

 that, however fanciful might be his interpreta- 

 tion of the facts, he had an eye to seize on, and 

 a hand to represent, the leading features of this 

 extraordinary tree. 



Some of these drawings are reproduced in the 

 article before us, while a series of them may be 

 seen in No. 1 Museum at Kew, together with 

 specimens of the wood and other portions of the 

 tree collected by the General. 



Myths of all sorts have gradually accreted 

 round this extraordinary tree, but verily this — 

 the latest— is the most fantastic of all. In 

 olden times the curious shape of the fruits, 

 their frequent discovery floating on the surface 

 of the Indian Ocean, and the ignorance of 

 their source, naturally gave rise to superstitious 

 fables, and invested the nuts with a price that 

 vies with those formerly given for a Tulip bulb, 

 or shall we say for a rare Orchid now-a-days ! 

 Even Rumphius, an acute naturalist, could only 

 conceive that they were the product of a tree 

 growing at the bottom of the sea. 



However interesting the myths and legends 

 collected by Rumphius may be to students of folk- 

 lore and ethnology, they have lost their interest 

 since the discovery of the real nature and origin 



of these singular nuts. To botanists they must 

 always remain subjects of great interest, from 

 their peculiar structure, and from the fact that 

 they are natives of the Seychelles Islands, and no- 

 where else, and therefore afford basis for theories 

 and speculations which are more or less in 

 accordance with the scientific knowledge of 

 the day, but some of which are doubtless destined 

 to be proved as fantastic as we believe General 

 Gordon's notions to have been. The Palm pro- 

 ducing these nuts was figured by the late Sir 

 William Hooker in the Botanical Magazine, 

 t. 2734 — 8, and the botanical history is now pretty 

 well known. A summary of it may be found 

 in the Treasury of Botany and other text-books. 

 Those who want to see what the tree is like 

 should visit the Marianne North Gallery at Kew, 

 and inspect the various articles made from the 

 Palm in question in that establishment. 



It may be of interest now to repeat the figure 

 already given in our columns (fig. 102) repre- 

 senting the mode of germination of this Palm 



FIG. 102. — GERMINATION OF THE DOUBLE COCOA-NUT, 

 LODOICEA SEYCHELLARUM, AND BOWL-SHAPED BASE OF 

 THE STEM (LEAF) THROUGH WHICH THE ROOTS PRO- 

 TRUDE ; BOTH MUCH REDUCED IN SIZE. 



and the huge bowl at the base of the stem through 

 which the roots protrude. On botanical grounds 

 we feel disposed to say that the identification of 

 the double Cocoa-nut with the Forbidden Fruit is, 

 after all, supported by as good evidence as in the 

 case of any of the other alleged sources of the 

 sin and misery of the human race. Poor Eve 

 must have been dreadfully disappointed with the 

 flavour of the nut unless it was better in Paradise 

 than it is said to be now. Probably as much, 

 or really as little, may be said in behalf of the 

 General's conclusions by the botanist as can be 

 adduced by the geographer in favour of the view 

 that the Seychelles Islands were the scene of the 

 event which had such direful consequences : — 



" Through 300 years one wild superstition after 

 another has twined itself about this fruit, and now, 

 towards the end of the nineteenth century on the 

 very summit of progress and civilisation, there comes 

 a plain God-fearing soldier, and sees in it the un- 



conscious instrument of ' man's first disobedience. 

 Some had sought for the seat of Eden by geography, 

 and had failed ; some had interpreted by allegory ; 

 some, alas ! had disbelieved it altogether ; but he 

 would seek it by the plainest of all evidence, the 

 evidence of the Maker himself, as embodied in His 

 work. In the rumoured uses of the fruit, in its mystic 

 shape, its duplication of form, its methods of life and 

 propagation, in one and all of these Gobdon saw, or 

 thought he saw, an occult meaning only to be in- 

 terpreted in one way. He even went so far as to 

 draw out a chart to overcome the geographical 

 difficulties of the question, and prove that the 

 Pison and Gihon were to be identified with the 

 waters surrounding the Seychelles Islands ! " 



A New Passion-Flower (fig. 103).— Those 



who have had the advantage of visiting the rich'y 

 stocked and interesting garden of Mr. T. B. Hay- 

 wood at Reigate, especially during the autumn 

 months, must have been struck with the beauty ar.d 

 free-flowering property of a hybrid Passion-flower 

 raised in that establishment. Trained fan-wise 

 under the rafters of a greenhouse, the plant affords 

 testimony alike of its own decorative merits and to 

 the skill of Mr. Ridout, the gardener. We leain 

 that the hybrid in question, which we propose to 

 call the woodhatch hybrid, was raised between 

 Passiflora racemosa (the P. princeps of gardens), 

 and P. quadrangularis. The foliage, as will be 

 seen from our illustration, partakes more of the 

 character of P. racemosa, but the leaves being inter- 

 spersed among the flowers, the plants have not tl e 

 racemose character which is so remarkable in P. 

 racemosa. The colour of the flowers is different from 

 either of the parents. The sepals are remarkable fc r 

 the very deep [wing, like that of princeps, prolonged 

 at the apex into a curved horn. In colour they are 

 of a dull purple, while the petals are of a pale rosy- 

 purple hue. The outermost threads of the corona 

 are about half the length of the petals, white, with a 

 purple base. The succeeding filaments are much 

 shorter, also deep purple in colour, and slightly 

 capitate at the tips. The ovary is oblong and 

 glaucescent. 



The Royal Horticultural Society.— The 

 following communication has been received by 

 us ; " With a view to retrenchment of office ex- 

 penditure, and with the hope of being able to 

 devote more money to Chiswick, the Council of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society have decided to 

 leave the position of Assistant Secretary vacant for 

 the present. Mr. Charles J. Gbahame, who has so 

 well filled that office during the past year, fully con- 

 curs in the propriety of this step, and having the 

 Society's welfare at heart, is in entire accord with 

 the Council's decision. The Hon. Secretary, tl e 

 Rev. W. Wilks, has most kindly undertaken to be 

 responsible for all official correspondence ; and, con- 

 sidering the main objects he has in view — viz., tie 

 rehabilitation of Chiswick, and the resuscitation of 

 the Society's Journal — we are sure that he will meet 

 with every indulgence at the hands of Fellows and 

 others if sometimes he finds it impossible to keep 

 the correspondence quite up to date." 



Rev. G. Henslow. — We learn that the Council 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society have nomi- 

 nated this gentleman as an Honorary Eellow, in 

 acknowledgment of his long services as Secretary of 

 the Scientific Committee. This is a compliment 

 that has been more than earned, as any one who 

 examines the "Frost Report" — the preparation cf 

 which fell to his share — will admit ; and this is only 

 one of the many services rendered by its author to 

 scientific horticulture during many years. 



"All Known Ferns."— Dr. Lohenzo Tates, 

 Santa Barbara, California, proposes, if a sufficient 

 number of subscribers be forthcoming, to publish a 

 work under the above title, in which the name, 

 synonym, habitat, affinity, bibliography, Sec, of all 

 the known species of Fern will be enumerated, 

 including more than 600 which have been published 



