386 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[June 15, 1912. 



"white," I should mention that this is the colour 

 given in Mr. Elwes' Monograph of the genus 

 Lilium, and this is the colour which I have always 

 seen in cultivated bulbs of this species, and in the 

 wild type and its varieties in China, though, 

 occasionally, in the wildling, when a bulb gets 

 exposed, the apices of the scales become pinkish. 

 IF. W., in Garden, 1895, toI. 47, p. 97, under 

 var. odorum, says : " In Brownii type the bulb 

 is brown." In his paper read before the Lily 

 Conference, and published in Journal Royal 

 Hort. Soc, 1901-1902, p. 338, Mr. Baker seeme 

 to infer that the bulb of Brownii type is brown.) 



The nectariferous furrow in L. Sargentise is 

 glabrous ; in L. Brownii it is pubescent. The 

 foliage in the two species is different, and there 

 are other minor variations. 



The red-purple exterior to the perianth is 

 common to several Chinese Lilies, and occurs 

 also in the Burmese L. sulphureum. The 

 pubescent stamen-filaments also occur in general 

 species. In the Journ. de Bot., vol. vi. (1892), 

 pp. 305-321, there is an article on the " Lilies of 



of a warm, temperate character. The flowers SPRING FLOWERS IN THE SOUTH WEST. 



Camellias have never been so fine as this year 

 the plants being smothered in blossom, and in 



range from greenish-white to dark-red-purple 

 without, and from pure white to primrose-yellow 

 within : they vary considerably in size and even 

 in shape, as witness var. " chloraster." The 

 leaves also are variable. The bulb, however, is 

 always practically pure white and flattened on 

 top, sometimes being even depressed in the 

 centre : the nectariferous furrow is always 

 pubescent. The bulbs of " Brownii M seldom at- 

 tain to any great size, and the plant is by no 

 means as vigorous as certain allied species. 

 In cultivation, it is readily affected by disease, 

 and, speaking for the wildling and its forms 

 from Central and Western China, it is not 

 really hardy. If treated as a tender species, and 

 grown in loam in a shady but not moist position, 

 better results would probably be obtained. 



Apart from L. Brownii and its forms. L. tigri- 

 num and L. concolor, all the Chinese Lilies I am 

 familiar with are very local in their distribution. 

 It is true that L. sutchuenense and L. Duchar- 



FlG. 1 84. — LASTREA PATENS VAR. MAYI, SHOWN BY MESSRS. H. B. MAY AND SONS, 



(Received R.H.S. Award of Merit. See p. xvi. of Exhibition Supplement in the issue for May 25.) 



China and Thibet," by the late Mons. A. 

 Franchet. In it, this esteemed botanist points 

 out some excellent characters whereby species 

 may readily be distinguished. He also deals 

 thoroughly with the synonymy and distribution 

 of L. Brownii. 



A paper by Mr. A. Henry on Chinese Lilies, 

 in the Journal R.H.S., 1901-1902, pp. 346-350, 

 also contains much information on L. Brownii 

 and its varieties. My own observations are in 

 accord with what Mons. Franchet and A. Henry 

 have written. 



Undoubtedly, L. Brownii is the common wild 

 Lily of its class in Central, Western, and South- 

 western China. I have found it growing wild 

 from near Kiukiang, through Hupeh and Sze- 

 chuan, to the extreme west of China, and again 

 in • Yunnan. It is the low-level Lily of these 

 regions, not ascending in Hupeh and Szechuan 

 above 3,000 feet. Around Kiukiang, which is a 

 little south, it ascends somewhat above this alti- 

 tude . and in Yunnan, further south still, it 

 reaches to 4,500 feet, or perhaps more, but re- 



trei extend sparingly throughout the high moun- 

 tains of Szechuan, but most of the species are 

 confined to a narrow altitudinal range in their 

 own particular river-valley. Lilium Henryi, the 

 best-known and most deservedly popular of 

 Lilies from the interior of China, is confined to 

 a comparatively few square miles of country 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of Ichang. 



Lilium Sargentise is confined to the valley of 

 the Tung river and its tributary, the Ya, in the 

 extreme west of Szechuan, between 3,000 feet to 

 5,000 feet altitude. In this restricted altitu- 

 dinal zone it is extraordinarily abundant, grow- 

 ing amongst rank grass and scrub on granitic 

 and other old rocks. It is a hater of peat ; a 

 lover of loam and sunshine. A vigorous grower, 

 robust in constitution, and perfectly hardy, 

 this new Lily is destined to become one of the 

 most widely-cultivated and appreciated of its 

 family. It is named in compliment to Mrs. 

 Sargent, wife of the distinguished dendrologist, 

 Professor Charles Sprague Sargent, by its dis- 

 coverer and introducer, as a token of esteem. 



mains in companionship with shrubs and herbs E. H. Wilson, Arnold Arboretum, Mass 



Cornwall huge bushes of delicate shell-pink and 

 crimson blooms were to be seen, with every 

 branchlet drooping under the weight of the 

 flowers. Rhododendrons were exceptionally fine 

 and very early. A great bush, about 8 feet in 

 height, of the variety Gill's Triumph, at Tre- 

 mough, entirely covered with large flower-trusses, 

 was a splendid sight. All the buds of R. Dal- 

 housiae, however, had been killed by the severe 

 frost. Arctotis aureola, which, in 1907 and 1908, 

 was cut to the ground and only threw up again 

 from the base the following spring, has, this win- 

 ter, been killed outright. Semele (Ruscus) andro- 

 gyna had every shoot above the ground killed, but 

 has since sent up two fresh shoots, which are 

 already almost 18 feet in length. 



Clethra arborea was very badly cut, but is 

 now breaking well again on many of the 

 branches. Correa cardinalis was in flower before 

 Christmas, and in February, just after the 

 severe frost, which did not harm it, was scarlet 

 with blossom. The beautiful and scarce Romulea 

 pylea, with satin-white, golden-centred, Crocus- 

 like flowers, bore numbers of blooms, and was 

 a charming sight in the early spring, as was the 

 larger R. nivalis, with white flowers, delicately 

 pencilled with blue. Curiously enough, the New 

 Zealand Arthropodium cirrhatum, although en- 

 tirely unprotected, was uninjured, and is now 

 throwing up 15 flower-heads. 



la a certain garden in the neighbourhood of 

 Truro, the American Erythroniums succeed to 

 perfection, several hundreds of splendid plants 

 being at their best during the month of April, 

 many of them with flower-stems 18 inches or 

 more in height and crowded with blossom. 

 The majority of these are said to be self-sown 

 seedlings. They are growing in pure leaf -mould, 

 collected from beneath a rookery. Here, 

 although they live in pure leaf -mould, they never 

 attain the vigour of their Cornish relatives. The 

 crimson and white varieties of Clianthus puniceus 

 have, in sheltered situations, flowered well, but 

 in numbers of cases, even in southern Cornwall, 

 large plants have been killed. Jasminum primu- 

 ' linum was, in March, a sheet of gold. Olearia 

 nitida has been so completely covered with its 

 countless clusters of white, Hawthorn-like blos- 

 soms that scarcely a leaf has been visible, and 

 Olearia insignis is bearing seven buds, while 0. 

 rami Josa, which flowered in October, is in good 

 health, though, in some gardens, it has been 

 killed. 



Diervilla (Weigelia) Conquete is a fine variety, 

 with large, pale-pink flowers, fully 2 inches in 

 diameter, and has been a lovely sight. A big 

 plant of Solanum aviculare has been killed, 

 although well protected, and is evidently much 

 more tender than many other New Zealand 

 plants. Edwardsia (Sophora) Macnabiana was 

 quite unharmed, and, in March, bore a profusion 

 of flowers on its branchlets. The rare New Zea- 

 land Convolvulus tuguriorum. though nearly 

 killed by the drought last summer, replenished its 

 foliage after the coming of the rains, and is now 

 bearing the first of its pure-white flowers, which 

 are rather over 2^ inches across. Wulfenia 

 Amherstiana has been in the garden for six 

 years without flowering, but this spring it sent 

 up five blue flower-spikes, about a foot in height. 

 Calceolaria Burbidgei was killed, but C. violacea 

 is in flower. The latter plant was nearly killed in 

 many gardens. DimGrphotheca Ecklonis, in the 

 open, was destroyed, but plants kept under glass 

 and put out in April are now in flower. 



Gladiolus tristis concolor, with pale-sulphur 

 blossoms, was very beautiful in April, and per- 

 fumed the night air with its fragrance. It in- 

 creases rapidly by bulblets, and also by seed, 

 which is very freely produced.' Hundreds 01 

 self-sown seedlings may often be seen springing 

 up around the parent clumps. Nurserymen do 

 not appear to possess this sulphur-coloured form.- 



