174 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[March 16, 1912. 



limestone hill near Hyeres, where in places it is 

 abundant; and in ono spot by the roadside at 

 the foot of limestone cliffs in ascending the dusty 

 d toward San Dalmazzo di Tenda from Ven- 



unugu. X mm Col de Tenda road). Mt. Coudon 

 is well worth a visit by botanical visitors to 

 H vires. Many interesting lime-loving plants 

 grow there, some of which are not often found 

 further north; and an Oriental shrub, the beau- 

 tiful St \ rax officinalis, probably reaches its 

 western "limit on that mountain, at the foot of 

 which it grows in several glades. Aphyllanthes 

 has onlv one known species. Intermediate in 

 structure between the Lily and Rush families, it 

 was referred by Parlatore to a separate family 

 (Aphvllar.thace*), where it was associated with 

 arions Australian genera. It is now placed in 

 Liliaceae. The absence of gi n leaves, or rather 

 the reduction of them to sheaths at the base of 

 each flowering stem, is the chief characteristic 

 of this pretty plant. Thus the green flower-stalks 

 and the young sheaths are the only organs of 

 assimilation. Illustrations are to be found in the 



following books:— Bert. Mag., t. 1132 (1808), Mog- 

 gridge Fl. Mevtone, t. 89, Reichenbach Ic. Fl. 

 Germ., t. 418, Salisbury Par ad. Lond., t. 9 (as 

 A. juncea). The Botanical Magazine gives 

 " shores in the vicinity of the Dardanelles " as a 

 station for this plant. H. Stuart Thompson. 



Anthemis Cupaniana (see p. 117).— It may 

 interest Mr. Fairer to learn that this plant has 

 withstood the rigours of our northern climate in 

 an exposed part of the rockery here this winter, 



although the thermometer registered 26° upon 



two occasions. Saxifraga oppositifolia major 

 and S. apiculata are now in full bloom, whilst 

 some of the rarer Primulas are showing signs of 



starting into growth. J. Middfrton, CaUendar 

 Gardens, Falkirk. 



SAXIFRAGA LANTOSGANA AND 



S. COCHLEARIS. 



In July, 1911, I found the true Saxifraga lan- 

 toecana, though not of the smallest kind, in the 



M.erim Valley la nil to the Cairo* (in northern 

 exposures only), and on the ridge between the 

 Rio Kreddo and Levenza (or Briga) Valley*. As 



I .xpected, I found it also last June growing 



in profusion around C beltane, in the Ver- 



don Valley; but here all the specimens, with the 

 exception of a very young and small one, had the 



talk more or less' covered with glandular hairs, 



which Burnat statefl to be exceptional in the case 

 nf specimens on the Maritime Alps. I did not 

 find plants with hairs in the Vesubie or Roya 

 basin. On a rock near Castellane. I found a re- 

 markable plant, having poor flowers and the 

 general aspect of an Aizoon, but with larger and 

 white flowers. The stalk was thin, very glandu- 

 lar, upright and over 20 centimetres high, the 



foliage being arranged in dense rosettes. The 



leaves measured from 10 to 25 millimetres, and 

 5 millimetres in breadth towards the apex, which 

 is not obtuse as in S. cochlearis (see fig. 73), but 

 distinctly sulcate ; the crustaceous margin is very 

 large, this may prove to be a distinct variety. 

 The colour of the stalks (generally of a pale grey- 

 ish-green on large fresh stalks) and the characters 



t the petals are very inconstant in this group of 

 Saxifrages. The leaves of S. Lantoscana are 

 often not at all sulcata, or even convex on the 

 upper side, but in S. lingulata they are, when 

 hanging over, convex in the outer halves. The 

 supposed hybrids of Saxifraga cochlearis and lin- 

 gulata are only large specimens of the former 



pecies. I found them growing luxuriantly in the 

 upper gorge of the Cairos Valley, one with an in- 

 florescence measuring 43 centimetres (or 47 centi- 

 metres with the rosette). It is true that the 

 locality is near to the upper limit of the habitat 

 of the species, but as the altitude is not a great 

 one (600 to 800 metres), the greater development 

 of the plants in those moist, shady and very 

 sheltered spots is not surprising. In the same 

 regions may be seen also luxuriant plants of Cam- 

 panula macrorrhiza and Hieracium lanatum. All 

 the specimens of that giant form of Saxifraga 

 cochlearis I could find this year are distin- 

 guished by their lax rosettes, greater leaves and 

 somewhat narrow petals with reddish dots, but 

 they have thin and hairy, though hanging stalks. 

 The differences between S. lingulata and S. coch- 

 learis are not great, but they are quite sufficient 

 to distinguish them as two good species. F. 

 Madtr, Tenda, Italy. 



SOCIETIE 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL. 



Scientific Committee. 



March 5.— Present : Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., 

 F.L.S. (in the Chair) ; Sir J. T. D. Llewelyn, Dr. 

 A. B. Rendle, Prof. Boulger, Messrs. A. W. Hill, 

 C. E. Shea, J. Fraser, W. Ledger, A. Worsley, 

 J. W. Odell, J. T. JBennett-Poe, S. Pickering, 

 W. Hales, W. Bateson, A. Rolfe, J. T. O'Brien, 

 \Y. Fawcett, F. J. Chittenden (hon. secretary), 

 and W. Backhouse (visitor). 



Diseased Tulips.— Mr. Massee reported that 

 the Tulips referred to him at the last meeting as 

 making poor growth and showing brown spots 

 on the foliage and brown flecks in the tissues of 

 the stem had been attacked by the fungus Botry- 

 tis cinerea, which had apparently infected the 

 foliage from the air in the first place, not from 

 sclerotia in the eoil, as is frequently the case. 



specific type, though seedlings may vary from the 

 parent type. Sir John Llewelyn showed 

 flowers of wild plants from S. Wales, including 

 N. obvallaris and a large, deep-coloured form 

 with something of the coloration of N. " Golden 

 Spur." The plants occurring wild in S. Wales 

 showed a good many variations in form and 

 colour of flower, but there were two types of 

 foliage only which never seem to interi td< 

 Canon Fowler wrote that he sometimes found 

 forms among such varieties as Emperor pro- 

 ducing finer flowers than the majority, and he 

 believed these variations to be constant; one 

 plant was found among " Weardale Perfection " 

 last year having two flowers of only a fourth the 

 size of that variety, and something like John- 

 stonii in form. Mr. Malcolm, of Duns, also 

 alluded to a sport which he had found in his 

 garden. Sporting appears to be rather frequent. 

 Some discussion arose as to varieties that com- 

 monly produce seed, and Mr. Williams, of 



..■ 







[Photographed by Dr. F. Madm 



* 



Fig. 73— s\xifraga cochlearis grwin* on rocks near tenda. 



Disa sagittalis. — Messrs. Veitch showed this 

 species from S. Africa under the name D. caules- 

 ens, to which it is allied. It received a Botani- 

 cal Certificate in 1890. Messrs. Veitch also 

 showed a malformed Cypripedium Fairrieanum, 

 in which the scape was almost entirely sup- 

 pressed. 



Galls on OaTc. — Mr. Aldersey sent a branch 

 of Oak having roundish swellings of considerable 

 size at intervals along the branches. A fungus, 

 Dichlaena quenina, w T as probably the cause of 

 these growths, which occur with considerable fre 

 quency on young Oaks, but rarely upon old ones. 



Grapes tilled by fog. — Some small flowering 

 shoots of Grapes were sent to illustrate the 

 damage done by London fogs, which had caused 

 the growths to turn quite brown and shrivel. 



Narcissus seedlings, Jbc. — Mr. Worsley made 

 some remarks upon the growth of Narcissi in 

 gardens. It was the general opinion that Nar- 

 cissi, when allowed to grow untended, may be- 

 come smaller, but never, in spite of a somewhat 

 general opinion to the contrary, revert to the 



Lanarth, said N. cyclamineus reproduced lfee II 

 by seed quite freely, but seedlings died ow 

 rapidly in the grass; N. Pseudo-Narci^us also 

 reproduced itself freely from seed in the grj" 

 and reached flowering size. In Mr. 150 v - 

 garden, N. pallidus priecox is the most abunaan 

 seeder, but the seedlings rarely give ^ he PfL 

 form, though thev retain the early-flo^eiiu|s 

 habit ; Pseudo-Narcissus seeds freely, as do i 

 andrus albus, variiformis, and cyclamineus. - ■ 

 Chittenden said that N. cyclamineus «* 

 very freelv at Wislev, as do N. bulbocodiurn a- 

 N. Triandrus albus ; other forms rarely P r ^ IEA 

 more than a stray capsule or so. M** 



had onlv found Sir Watkin with a seed pod o i 

 t ^ * _i j^j %.„* tvv.h.0 Wines diu 



Weath 



so frequentlv with him. Weatner cuim*** ~- * t 

 peared to determine to a large extent the an ' n(j 

 of seeding that occurred, for in 1910 ne ^ 

 only nine varieties produce seed, but in 

 21 seeded. Possibly bees were required to « ^ 

 pollination satisfactorilv. Mr. P. J*. _j eD 

 found that self -fertilised seedlings oi h c ^ it 

 varieties of Daffodils tend to revert to 



