12 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[January 6, 1912. 



Brazil, as long ago as 1838. It grows in dense 

 patches about 6 inches high, recalling Cerato- 

 phyllum, or Myriophyllum ; but the exceedingly 

 slender leaves are very numerous in each whorl. 

 The flowers are very minute and monandrous, 

 differing in this respect from all other Ponte- 

 deriaceae. Discussing its affinities, the author 

 enters into the general question of the classifica- 

 tion of aberrant genera, and enunciates the view 

 that monotypic and polytypic aberrant genera 

 should be treated differently, while admitting 

 that it is, after all, a matter of convenience or 

 expedience. Thus : M Were Clematis monotypic, 

 it might be better considered as an aberrant 

 Ranunculaceous genus ; but whereas it contains 

 many species distributed over all the continents, 

 and these form a very considerable proportion of 

 that Order, its claims are irresistible to be re- 

 garded either as a tribe or as a separate Order." 





British Botany 



The Student's Flora of the British Islands, 

 ed. 1, 1870; ed. 2, 1878; ed. 3, 1884. The 

 author's opening words of his preface are : u The 

 object of this work is to supply students and 

 field-botanists with a fuller account of the plants 

 of the British Isles than the manuals hitherto in 

 use aim in giving." The general distribution of 

 the Orders, genera and species, is given; also the 

 approximate total numbers of the genera and 

 species ; the derivation of generic names, &c. 



Hooker also edited the fifth edition of 

 Bentham's Handbook of the British Flora, in 

 1887. What is now needed is a new flora, some- 

 thing on the same lines as the Student's Flora, 

 and brought up to date in classification, nomen- 

 clature, and terminology. 



Unclassified Publications. 



A geographical arrangement having been 

 adopted for works easily so classified, leaves a 

 considerable number, of more or less importance, 

 which may follow here in chronological order, 

 and mostly without comment. 



" On the Functions and Structure of the Ros- 

 tellum of Listera ovata," Philosophical Transac- 

 tions, 1854, pp. 259-264. 



"On the Structure and Affinities of the Ba- 

 lanophoraceae," Trtmsactions of the Linnean So- 

 ciety, vol. xxii. (1856), pp. 1-68, tt. 1-16. This 

 is one of Hooker's most elaborate papers, and it 

 is splendidly illustrated in colour by W. H. 

 Fitch. The genera Dactylanthus, New Zealand, 

 and Corynsea, Andes of Peru and Columbia, were 

 here first made known. 



Hooker contributed an earlier account of the 

 Balanophoraceae to Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom, 

 1845, p. 88, under Lindley's class Rhizogens. 



Among Hooker's detailed critical reviews of 

 the work of other botanists, that of Alphonse de 



Candolle's Geographic Botanique Raisonnee 



(Hooker's Journal of Botany, vol. viii., 1856) 

 is, perhaps, the most noteworthy. While fully 

 acknowledging the merits of this great work, he 

 questions many of the details, as being opposed 

 to his experience in the field. 



"On the Growth and Composition of the 

 Ovarium of Siphonodon celastrineus, &?•," Lin- 

 nean Society's Transactions, vol. xxii. (1857), 

 pp. 133-141. 



11 On the Origin and Development of the 

 Pitchers of Nepenthes," Transactions of the Lin- 

 nean Society, vol. xxii. (1859), pp. 415-424, tt. 

 69-74. This essay includes descriptions and 

 figures of several of the most remarkable species 

 of the genus, among them N. rajah, N. villosa, 

 N. Edwardsiana, and N. Lowii. 



"On the Floras of Malaya and Tropical 

 Africa/' Transactions of the Linnean Society, 

 vol. xxiii. (1860), pp. 155 172, plates 20-28. This 

 paper includes descriptions and figures of a num- 

 ber of new plants, including the following mostly 

 very striking genera : — Disepalum and Sphsero- 

 thalamus (Anonaceae), Pachynocarpus (Diptero- 

 carpacea?), Irvingia (Simarubacese), Pentaspa- 

 don, Hsematostaphis, and Parishia (Anacardi- 

 ace*e), Trigonochlamys (Burseracese), and Hemi- 

 andrina (Connaracese). 



" Note on the Replacement of Species in the 

 Colonies and Elsewhere," Natural History Re- 

 view, 1864, pp. 123-127. 



"On the Struggle for Existence among 

 Plants," Popular Science Review, vol. vi., 1867, 

 pp. 131-139. 



Illustrations of the Genus Carex," by Francis 

 Booth, four vols., folio, 1858-1867. The fourth 

 volume edited by Sir J. D. Hooker. 



"A Monograph of the Nepenthaceae," De 

 Candolle's Prodromus, vol. xvii. (1873), pp. 190- 

 216. Noteworthy among the remarkable new 

 species of Nepenthes described here for the first 

 time are N. bicalcarata, N. tentaculata, and N. 

 echinostoma. 



"The Production of Honeydew," Entomolo- 

 gist, vol. vi. (1873), pp. 463-464. 



"Science Primers/' Botany, 1876. A booklet 

 of elementary botany, of which there are several 

 editions. There is a Portuguese translation of 

 the third edition by J. A. Henriques. This is 

 not one of Hooker's best productions. 



Admiralty Manual, ed. v., 1886. Botany by 

 Sir Joseph D. Hooker. 



Director of Kew, 1865 to 1835. 



A glance through the annual official reports 

 during the period that Sir William and Sir Joseph 

 were successively Director of Kew affords 

 some insight into the immense amount of 

 work connected with the position. Previous 

 to 1855 Sir Joseph held no definite salaried 

 post, but he was the recipient of various 

 Government grants to enable him to pub- 

 lish some of the results of the Antarctic and 

 Indian expeditions. On account of the ever-in- 

 creasing duties of the Director, he was that year 

 appointed Assistant Director. A few notable 

 events in the development of Kew are extracted 

 from the Reports. The museum building oppo- 

 site the Palm-house, now known as No. 1 

 museum, was finished in 1857, and it was filled 

 and opened to the public the same year. In 

 1860-61 the octagons of the temperate house 

 were built and filled with Australian and other 

 plants, and the large central division was erected 

 in 1862 ; but in spite of the repeated efforts of 

 successive Directors it was not until 1897-98 that 

 the north and south wings were added and the 

 structure completed. The rearing of the flagstaff 

 of Douglas Pine in the arboretum was a notable 

 event of the year 1861, after a failure the pre- 

 vious year. The death of Sir William Hooker in 

 1865 was promptly followed by the promotion of 

 his son to the post of Director, though in the 

 meantime he was almost on the point of death 

 from an attack of rheumatic fever, developed 

 while nursing his father. During the 25 years the 

 gardens were under his direction Sir William had 

 the satisfaction of seeing most of his projects 

 realised, in part at least ; and although much 

 remained for his successors to accomplish, there 

 was little room for origination, except in details. 

 Of the Colonial Floras, Bentham's Flora Austra- 

 liensis and Harvey and Sonder's Flora C a pen- 

 sis had each reached the third volume ; Oliver's 

 Flora of Tropical Africa was begun, and two 

 parts of Bentham and Hooker's Genera Plan- 

 tarum had appeared — Ranunculacese to Myr- 

 tacesB. 



Lindley's almost priceless Orchid Herbarium 

 was acquired for Kew the same year. Two years 

 later (1867) the Government purchased the un- 

 rivalled private Hookerian Herbarium, Librar; 



id Correspondence, with which were soon in- 

 corporated the Benthamian Herbarium and 

 Library, besides a number of smaller gifts, form- 

 ing, together with the Museums, the richest 

 botanical equipment in the world. In the Report 

 for the year 1872 it is recorded that the tree 

 skirting the Kew Road on the gardens side, fror 

 the Cumberland Gate to the Lion Gate, wer 

 planted ; a record of considerable interest. In 

 1875 the post of Assistant Director w T as revived, 

 and Mr. W. T. Thiselton-Dyer was appointed. 

 The Report for that year records the number of 

 plants cultivated in pots, tubs, &c, the total 

 being approximately 47,500, of which 20,500 were 

 in the permanent collections and the rest in the 

 propagating departments, showing an increase of 

 about 5,000 on the census of 1871. In this con- 

 nection it may be mentioned that John Smith, in 

 his Records of Kew (1880) states that the number 

 of different species of plants cultivated in the 

 gardens between 1822 and 1864 was about 11,700. 

 The annual Reports from 1876 onwards contain 

 more detail ; paragraphs on economic plants being 

 a special and valuable feature. The Report fo 

 1877 contains a list of the Araceae cultivated at 

 Kew at that date, numbering 243 species, belong- 

 ing to 47 genera. There w r ere 64 species of An- 

 thurium and 42 of Philodendron. The Jodrell 

 Phvsioloffical Laboratorv was built and equipped 







in 1876, and a new wing, now known as the north 

 wing, was added to the Herbaiium in 1877. In 

 this Report it is recorded that there were 14 

 miles of roads and walks in Kew Gardens at that 

 period. A list of the Bromeliaceae cultivated at 

 Kew is given in the Report for 1878. Concerning 

 the destructive hailstorm of August 3, 1879, it is 

 reported that 38,649 panes of glass were broken 

 at Kew, representing a total weight of 18 tons. 

 The " Marianne North " Gallery was opened in 

 1880, and the Report for that year includes a list 

 of the Aloineae, the Yuccoideae, and the Agaves 

 cultivated at Kew, and a list of the exotic econo- 

 mic and medicinal plants cultivated under glass 

 appears in the Report for 1881. A description of 

 the newly-formed rock garden is given in the 

 Report of 1882, where there is also a list of 420 

 kinds of Palm cultivated at Kew. 



Until 1871 the Director of Kew had been per- 

 mitted to perform his onerous duties in peace, tut 

 the appointment of Mr. Ayrton to the office of 

 First Commissioner of Works was the beginning 

 of trouble, which, but for the intervention of the 

 public generally and scientific men particularly, 

 would have ended in Hooker's resignation. 

 Ayrton, addressing his constituents on present- 

 ing himself for re-election, went out of his way 

 to insult "architects, sculptors, and gardeners," 

 and one of the earliest of his official acts was to 

 send a reprimand to the Director of Kew, based, 

 as it turned out, on a misconception. This was 

 followed by various arbitrary and wholly in- 

 excusable acts by which the First Commissioner 

 secretly deprived the Director of certain 

 branches of his authority, and offered his Curator 

 a position in which the Curator would have had 

 control in some matters over the Director. Thus 

 the Director's position was made intolerable, and 

 after a fruitless struggle with Ministers for jus- 

 tice, he demanded a strict definition of his 

 authority, stating that if this were not con- 

 ceded he would proceed to resignation. It is 

 undesirable to enter here into particulars of this 

 deplorable episode in the history of Kew. Let 

 it be sufficient to say that the Press, represent- 

 ing all shades of political opinion, " unanimously 

 pronounced a verdict in favour of Dr. Hooker 

 and against Mr. Ayrton." This was followed 

 by an appeal to Mr. Gladstone, signed by the 

 leading scientific men of the countrv, in which 

 the petitioners briefly sketched the history of 

 Kew and Hooker's services to the Government 

 and the public. They condemned the unwar- 

 rantable interferences of the First Commissioner 

 in language as strong as circumstances permitted, 

 and appraised the loss to the country the 

 Director's resignation would entail. Finally the 

 affair was brought before both Houses of Parlia- 

 ment, with the result that the Director was re- 

 instated in his functions, but not before the 

 anxieties of the situation had caused him a seri- 

 ous attack of illness. 



Sir Joseph resigned the post of Director of 

 Kew in 1885, and was succeeded by the Assistant 

 Director (Mr. Thiselton-Dyer), who started the 

 Kew Bulletin in 1887. W. Sotting Hemsley. 



(To be continued.) 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 



SCABIOUS. 



Among many charming flowers which have 

 within recent years been brought to a high 

 standard of perfection, the sweet Scabious or 

 Pin-cushion flower is prominent. Though not, 

 strictly speaking, an annual, it can be most suc- 

 cessfully grown as annuals are cultivated, and 

 this is my excuse for calling special attention to 

 the plant so early in the year. There are numer- 

 ous strains offered for sale named after the height 

 or habit of the plants or the size of the flowers, 

 e.g., Dwarf Double, large -flowered Double, Tom 

 Thumb Double, Compacta Double. For the pur- 

 pose of growing for cut flowers a good stock of 

 the tall, large-flowered Double should be pro- 

 cured. This type gives a wide range o* colour, 

 embracing . white, flesh, Cherry-red, scarlet- 

 purple, black-purple or pompadour, and azure- 

 blue. There is a yellow 7 -flowered variety, but 

 the flowers of this variety are not large. 

 The flowers in the various colours named 

 grow from 2 inches to 3 inches in diameter 

 with ordinary culture, and good strains give 



