114 



THE GARDENERS' 



CHRONICLE. 



[February 24, 1912. 



a ton when three tons are dealt with in the 24 

 hours. As the calculated fuel requirement for 

 100 per cent, efficiency is only Id. per ton of soil, 

 it is ob\ ious that there is considerable possibility 

 of reducing the piesent cost. 



Chemical treatment is, however, much the 

 simplest in principle, and has obvious advantages 

 in that it requires no special apparatus and no 

 carrying out of the soil. The two liquids used by 

 the authors, toluol and carbon disulphide, are not 

 suitable for commercial work, although they have 



The 



given good results in small glasshouses, 

 authors' are at present investigating a number of 

 commercial waste products which would be avail- 

 able to the grower in case they gave satisfactory 



ults. E. J. Bueadl. 



NEW OR NOTEWORTHY 



PLANTS. 



ing in two or three sheaths. 



EPIDENDRUM BTALLFORTHIANUM 



KRANZ. (§ EUEPIDENDRUM.)* 



Epidendrum Stallforthianum is most nearly 

 related to E. exasperatum Reich., a native of 

 Costa Rica, a species that has never been intro- 

 duced to cultivation. As will be seen on refer- 

 ence to fig. 49, E. Stallforthianum has the habit 

 of E. nutans, and can be grown in the same con- 

 ditions as that species. It is, however, easily dis- 

 tinguishable from E. nutans and its affinities 

 by the rough rhachis of the panicle, rough 

 ovaries, and the characteristic flower-stalks. 

 Moreover, the sepals show some small external 

 protuberances, but these are not so marked as 

 Reichenbach would seem to indicate in E. ex- 

 asperatum. The flowers in both species are 

 brown and white, the sepals being of a dull 

 brown; the thin, narrow petals and the lip are 

 pale brown, and contrast pleasingly with the 

 column, which is ivory-white. The colours dis- 

 played by this species are somewhat rare among 

 Epidendrums, which adds much to its interest. 



The flowers have, unfortunately, a rather dis- 

 agreeable odour, difficult to describe and very 

 peculiar. The inflorescence branches at the base, 

 and thereafter is simple to the top, a character 

 of some botanical interest. In one or two speci- 

 mens which I have seen the principal rhachis was 

 more or less abortive, and the two side branches 

 seemed to spring laterally from a stem terminat- 



Reichenbach, in 

 describing E. exasperatum, draws attention to 

 the peculiarities of the inflorescence in this 

 species, which differed more or less in all the 

 three specimens which he had under observation. 

 E. Stallforthianum is a plant of considerable 

 interest, though perhaps hardly a M thing of 

 beauty," and is no less worthy of notice than E. 

 nutans and E. floribundum. It has a slender, 

 graceful stem, and produces its long, showy 

 leaves in plenty. 



The species was sent to me by Herr Ehinger, 

 gardener to Mr. Stallforth, of Wiesbaden. Mr. 

 Stallforth discovered it at the foot of the Ori- 

 zaba, in Mexico, and brought it over to Europe 

 with a collection of other Orchids. F. Krdnzlin. 



•Epidendrum Stallforthianum, Kranz. (§Euepiden- 

 drum.)— Caules £0 ad 70 cm. alti, infra teretes supra sub- 

 anoipites, foliati infra cataphyllorum vaginis albidis tecti ; 

 internodia inferiora cauli adpressa, lineari-lanceolata v. lan- 

 ceolata, acuminata, laete viridia, subtus carinata, supra 

 sulcata, ad 15 cm. longa, ad 2 cm. lata, folium supremum 

 pedunculum vaginans, vagina propria basin pedunculi arete 

 ringens, brunnea, acuminata, panicula nutans v. deflexa 

 oligoclada, uniramosa v. ram is 2 taninno, rhachis ceterum 

 plus minus abortiva, rhachis ut etiam ovaria scaberrima. 

 bracteae brevissimae v. subnullae, quam ovaria multo 

 breviores. Sepala oblonga obtuse acuta, dorsale rectum, 

 lateralia subobliqua, 1 cm. longa, 2 mm. lata, sub anthesi 

 convexa, extus sparse et minute papulosa, brunnea. Petala 

 filiformia, apice paulum dilatata. Labelli basi subcordati 

 lobi laterales valde varii, plerumque crenulati, interdum 

 trilobuli v. tridentati, lobo intermedio lineari, antice 

 in lobulos 2 triangulos acutos exiente ; calli per discum S 

 intermedins humiiior, latior ad apicem (rectius sinum 

 labulorum) decurrens, laterales basi altiores quam inter- 

 medins, sensim decrescentes, totum labellum 8 ad 9 mm. 

 longum, pallide brunneum, cum gynostemio albo, semilongo 

 arete connatum, androcliniei margo non denticulatus. 

 Flores maleolentes. 



Mexico— the Environs of Orizaba (Mr. Stallforth, of Wies- 

 baden, Germany). 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Types of British Vegetation.* 



British botanists are indebted to Mr. Tansley 

 and to the members of the " Central Committee 

 for the Survey of British Vegetation " for a first 

 attempt to present a comprehensive account of 

 the types of vegetation met with in the British 



Isles. 

 Although the work of observing and describing 



these vegetation-units is far from complete, 

 yet, as the editor observes, enough is known to 

 justify the attempt at a preliminary sketch of 

 the subject, which, it is believed, will interest 

 botanists and lovers of nature, as well as stu- 

 dents of scientific geography. 



The book is not a work on ecology, but a de 

 Bcription of vegetation from the ecological point 



- 



FlG. 4Q. — EPIDENDRUM STALLFORTHIANUM 



FLOWERS WHITE AND BROWN. 



of view, in so far as detailed surveys of detached 

 areas make a complete account possible. 



The study of vegetation from this point of view 

 leads inevitablv to a studv of the relations of the 

 individual plant to its environment, a branch of 

 botany which evidently comes into close touch 

 with plant physiology. 



In this country the work of observing, analys- 

 ing and recording the vegetation is making rapid 

 progress, but very little work has yet been done 

 in the domain cf experimental ecology. Obvious 

 difficulties arise in describing the vegetation of a 

 country such as this, in which a large propor- 

 tion of the surface is under cultivation and onlv 

 comparatively small areas exist under natural or 

 even semi-natural conditions. Taking this into 



* Types of British Vegetation, by members of the Central 



Committee for the Survey and Study of British Vegetation. 



Edited by A. G. Tansley, M.A. (Cambridge: University 

 Press). 



account, and also the amount cf exact informa- 

 tion available, the analysis of vegetation ex- 

 pressed in the diagram at the end of the book 

 serves a most useful purpose in showing, not only 

 the chief types of vegetation which occur, but 

 their affinities and possible relationships. 



As knowledge increases, modifications will no 

 doubt be introduced into this scheme, and it is 

 apparent that nothing so complex as the natural 

 vegetation of a country will yield analytical re- 

 sults so precise that they can be fully expressed 

 in a diagram ; yet it seems clear that it is only 

 by applying the conception of vegetation in 

 relation to habitat that any scheme of classifica- 

 tion is possible. 



The objection that it is premature to generalise 



about plant-communities until a fairly complete 

 knowledge of the relations of the individual plant 

 to its environment is available hardly appears 

 to be valid, since a classification of vegetation 

 forms a natural framework into which the results 

 of experimental work can be fitted, and affords a 

 starting point from which problems may be at- 

 tacked. 



Much discussion has taken place as to the 

 nomenclature to be adopted in describing the 

 plant-groups which can be recognised in a phyio- 

 geographical survey. The plan adopted in this 

 book has the great merit of logical simplicity and 

 the terms employed are used with a definite 



meaning. 



Ecological botany has been heavily handi- 

 capped by the cumbrous nomenclature employed 

 and by the confusion resulting from lack of pre- 

 cision and uniformity in the terms " formation," 

 " association," &c, employed by authors. 



In the present work " plant-formation." 

 "plant-association," and "plant-society" are 

 used to describe units of vegetation in a descend- 

 ing series, and are defined provisionally as fol- 

 low : — 



The " plant-formation " is the natural vege- 

 tation occupying a habitat with constant natural 

 characters. Some formations, e.g., that of a 

 . salt marsh, are easily determined ; others are less 



well defined. 



The " plant-association " is the unit next be- 

 low the formation. If a given formation in- 

 cluded woodland, grassland, and scrub, for in- 

 stance, each of the latter forms a definite asso- 

 ciation. . 



The " plant-society " is a group of P lant * °* 

 one species or of small groups of species wtoen 

 cccur sometimes as local developments ot the 

 plant-association. . 



The subject-matter of the book is arranged in 



two parts. 



Part I. deals with the conditions of vegetation 

 in the British Isles and gives a summary of tne 

 chief climatic and soil factors concerned. 



Part II., comprising the main part of the boo*, 

 gives an account of the existing vegetation. 

 Fourteen formations are recognised and arc clabSi 

 fied according to the soil conditions with wtti 

 they are correlated. A summarised account 

 given of the natural features and distribution ^ 

 each formation and the characteristic s P €Cie * 

 its plant-associations, and, where informal ; • 

 is available, a mere-detailed description is gi 

 of special cases. . j. 



The book is illustrated with 36 plates 01 ex 

 lent photographs and 21 text figures and is 

 tremely well indexed. M. C. R- 



A FINE WEEPING BEECH. 



The accompanying illustration (fig- 50) J s ° ing 

 a remarkably fine specimen of the > e P .* 

 Beech (Fagus pendula), which may be se ^, 

 the home section of Messrs. John W aterer ^ 



nursery at Bagshot, Surrey. This tree if > I > 

 bly 60 to 70 years old, and is still g ? 

 vigorously. Its height is from 45 feet to ou^ 

 its main leader having recurved until it f 



within 12 feet of the ground. An annU ^ g ever . 

 ance of other growth has to be made tor ^ ^ e 



expanding needs. 



; 



tree at the present time 



The space occupied ty _ 

 ime has a diameter of 8U 



