•7 



IS 



THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 



[April 6, 1912 



NEW OR NOTEWORTHY 



PLANTS. 



HYBRID REHMANNIAS. 



Rehmannia, a small genus of Scrophularia- 

 ceae peculiar to China and Japan, is likely to be- 

 come popular in gardens. It is a near relation 



the Botanical Magazine, t. 8177 (1908) and 

 Gardeners' Chronicle. It forms a handsome 

 plant, from 4 to 6 feet high, in about two 

 years from seeds, and has large, mauve-pink 

 flowers, with a yellow, red -spotted throat. The 

 species shows considerable variation, in which 



it is like the Foxglove. In 1910 



This is one of 



respect it is 



R. Henryi flowered at Kew. 







btirtjc h 



{Photograph by C. P. Raffili. 



Fig. g7.— rehmannia kewensis (r. henryi x r. glutinosa) : flowers creamy-yellow 



WITH CRIMSON BLOTCHES. 



of the Foxglove ; but in habit it is more like a 

 Tvdaea : indeed some botanists include it in Ges- 

 neracese. Several new species have been dis- 

 covered in China by Henry, Wilson, and others 

 in recent years, and they, or some of them, have 

 been introduced into European gardens. The 

 most imposing of these is R. elata, generally 

 known as R. angulata, and figured as such in 



Henry's discoveries in Ichang, but it was intro- 

 duced later by Wilson. It forms a cluster of 

 upright stems 1 foot to 18 inches high, with 

 hairy stems and leaves, the latter grey-green, 

 and crenately toothed ; its flowers are nearly as 

 large as those of R. elata, with less acute calyx 

 and lobes, and a remarkably contracted corolla, 

 the " two-keeled palate partially occluding the 



mouth ' ; the tube is yellow, spotted with red 

 and the lobes are white. 



A hybrid has been raised from R. Henryi and 

 R. elata, and named R. Briscoei. It is" fairly 

 intermediate between the two parents, but just 

 misses being of the quality that catches the eve 

 of the gardener. A cross between it and R. 

 Henryi again has been raised at Kew, and has 

 nearly white flowers. A better than either of 

 these, however, is a hybrid between R. Henryi 

 and R. glutinosa (chinensis), which is now flower- 

 ing at Kew (see fig. 97). It was a happy in- 

 spiration of Mr. Coutts to make this cross be- 

 cause R. glutinosa supplies the colour that is 

 wanting in R. Henryi. Introduced from China 

 in 1831 by Dr. Bunge, who found it growing 

 on walls and waste mountainous places about 

 Pekin, R. glutinosa has never found favour 



botanical gardens. It has 



outside 



stems about 1 



gardens, 

 foot 



slender 



high, lanceolate toothed 



leaves and nodding flowers, after the size and 

 shape of those of Mimulus luteus, but their colour 

 is dull-brown purple and creamy -yellow, a plan 

 of no account, except as a breeder. R. kewensis 

 (Henryi x glutinosa) is a really good decorative 

 plant. The cross was made in August, 1910, 

 only five plants being raised from the few seeds 

 obtained, and they are now in flower in House 

 No. 5 at Kew. Each plant of R. kewensis con- 

 sists of some half-a-dozen stems, leafy to the 

 base, and nearly 2 feet high; the leaves are 

 petiolate, ovate, glossy-green, irregularly 

 toothed. The flowers are 2 inches long, 1£ inch 

 'across, and the segments are broad, ahaoi 

 square in outline, and toothed ; the pose of the 

 flowers just right for effect, and their colour 

 creamy-yellow with a dark-crimson blotch on the 

 upper segments. There is variety in the shade 

 and in the blend of the crimson with the yellow. 

 In this hybrid we have a beginning for a race of 

 first-rate biennials for greenhouse cultivation, 

 probably for summer bedding also, the plants 

 being quite easy to grow, and they appear to 

 seed freely. W. W. 



THE MARKET FRUIT GARDEN. 



■ 



It was a fortunate circumstance that no ram 

 fell on seven of the last eight days of March, and 

 sunshine prevailed except on two days. Such 

 a respite has only once before occurred in the 

 six months ending with March, and that was 

 during the only prolonged spell of frost that the 

 winter gave us. On no other occasion before 

 last week were there as many as six coiisecutne 

 days and nights free from rain in my district. 

 There were 183 days in the period, and rain was 

 measured on 107 of them, the total amount being 

 26.68 inches, or only 1.64 inch less than ttte 

 annual average in this district for the last i 

 years. Work is seriously in arrear, as we we 

 planting during the only times when the lan^ 

 was not too wet for doing anything with it, a 

 no digging at all was done in my orchards beto^ 

 last week. Fortunately, most of the trees a 

 not too old to allow of horse cultivation, tor 

 would be impossible to obtain labour enough ^ 

 dig the ground before the season is too tar a 

 vanced for the operation. Even now it is 

 desirably late. 



Premature Blossoming- 

 It is a source of serious anxiety to see ^ro 

 trees and bushes coming into blossom dange ^ 

 early. Black Diamond Plum was in full Jj eaU - 

 March 24, and Monarch and Coe's Golden i 

 on the 30th. President, a late variety w 

 like Monarch, is one of the earliest bl0O ^ hUe 

 was in nearly full blow on the 30th also. ^.^ 

 a few blossoms were open on Early e 



Czar, Victoria, Pond's Seedling, and .™ re £ ^e 



Full bio 



ssoming among Plums 



