786 THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE 
(Dzcemsze 21, 1595, 
the impossibility of assigning to any particular word 
a specific interpretation. The names are often used 
in a broad generic sense, and although we are told 
that Solomon ‘ he crues of trees from the 
is i even unto the hyssop that 
that is intended. It isin Lebanon still; but what 
was the hyssop? and what was “the thistle that 
was in Lebanon and sent to the Cedar that was in 
Lebanon”? The words in the last citation are 
doubtless used in a metaphorical sense; but with 
reference to Hyssop, some eighteen aromatic Labiates 
one Caper have been mentioned, as in the 
opinion of divers commentators representing what is 
translated Hyssop ! 
In the present little treatise, we have first an 
introduction, and th 
cinal purposer, fragrant perfum 
treer, timber trees, desert amd mr aquatic plants, 
To show how mistakes may arise, and be per- 
petuate’, we may mention how Gerarde, following 
De L'Obe!, figures pitchers of the North American 
Sarracenia as the leaves of ind 4 J tree ! 
The mistake is the more intere 
first kera of the Sarracenia ikat, ici. The whole 
vede in our € Jan. 7, 1893, p.11, and 
forme, we venture вау, оп е most curious 
instances cat “jamping at Кер дее that could be 
cited. The origin of the Sarracenia “Де was 
forgotten, their nature undetected, and so, by mis- 
t AMAT Ta APR for the мтр 4 the Frank- 
needless to say, Professor 
Henio pins "Ie tee blunder, but similar errors 
e determination of other Biblical plants might 
reer Guido depicts the crown of thorns 
as composed “не йм» of the 
ike Sarracenis, American plant. Others 
more reasonably, — the Paliurus, which is 
common in Palestine, or the dwarf Poterium 
spinosum 
The “ Willow” by the rivers of Babylon was 
presumably not, as Professor Henslow supposer, a 
Willow, but 8 we now know as Populus euphra- 
comment suggested by Mr. Henslow’s 
book. are far too numerous he us | £o dilate upon 
= we cordially recommend all those ANN 
the tame who is not ?—to Pc themselvesthe 
possessors of this suggestive little book, 
CHRISTMAS ROSES. 
y and 
о the gardener and cultivator immi thé rad 
pad present no great difficulty, if only a few essen- 
tials rece receire attention. ken n ad manu- 
чырын the plants 
here 
у. 
depth, and fairly rich, 
In Middlesex, on a light soil, which in 
ortunity is given them, and the benefit they 
us obtain is equally marked. Hellebores, and those 
е niger section in particular, are impatient of 
frequent removal, and care should be taken to treat 
them well when W piansing $ is rendered necessary, 
best time in the year for dividing and 
replanting beni is in early autumn, Of course, to 
split up large plants at this time incurs a sacrifice of 
flowers, and for this reason only a limited number 
should be broken up at one time, "t carefully done, 
however, one large specimen may readily be broken 
into а dozen and often a score of pieces. Those who 
do not care to break up plants in es autumn vill 
find the next best time to be n flo 
broken into smaller pieces, and replanted, and on no 
account let them be planted back in the old clump, as 
when this is done they invariably decline in vigour. 
Beside planting them in а variety of positions, it 
good plan, if cut flowers are largely in demand, 
— 
= 
ven tubs, plunging и. their full 
und during su aup- 
plying them plentifully with water 21 liquid- manure 
throughout the growing season, In this way their 
handsome foliage would be for the most part re- 
tained, and it would add greatly to the general 
effect. J. 
THE FLORA OF BOURBON.* 
в. ConpEMOY's new book on the flora of this 
beautiful island fils a gap in botanical literature, 
and is one of the most ME contributions to 
systematic and geograp 
Baker's Flora of Мань and Seychelles appeared 
nearly twenty years ago, and the botany of Madagascar 
is now fairly well known, although there is no con- 
solidated descriptive account of the 5000, or there- 
abouts, species of plants, published and unpublished, 
known to etn that country. 
Commers tanised Bourbon about the middle 
of the — cen itio: and made very extensive collec- 
tions, o menor by copious notes and drawin 
but he died befor had completed his work for 
undisturbed in the rich national herbarium at 
Paris, Aubert du Petit-Thouars wen to Bourbon 
remained years. ares his 
in W and three 
Paris, he published several important 
vali on acd botany of this and the neighbouring 
islands, ineluding Madagascar, notably his Histoire 
Particuliére des Plantes Orchidées recueillies sur les 
trois Iles Australes a PAfrique: de Frange, de 
Bourbon, et de M. 
Gaudichaud, another French botanist of eminence, 
visited the island in 1818, but his тилчи жеге 
lost in the loe of th d 
ds, 
‚ and "Sübesquantly 
voyage. This is incomplete, yet it is one of the 
most interesting of the earlier contributions to 
insular floras, 
im vine de РУТА im ee [Bourbon], par E. Jacob de 
Several other botanists have visited the island, 
- many of the peculiar plants have been described 
figured in Mese publications, For the first 
inn an attem as been made to give the world as 
complete an t eres of the plants as the author 
could, under the circumstances in which he is placed, 
rre Dr. Cordemoy had to work as best 
e could, on the spot, or not at all; consequently 
— very extensive old collections in the herbaria of 
Europe could not be utilised, or only to a s 
extent by friends at home comparing odd specimens 
for him. He therefore does not pretend to com- 
pleteness; and as the greater part of the original 
forests have disappeared in Bourbon, just as they 
ave done in Mauritius, it is probable that many 
species that formerly inhabited the island, no longer 
exist. Nevertheless, a comparatively rich flora is 
described in the book under notice. 
the same size as Mauritius, 
three times the height of the highest summits in 
Mauritius, and the island presents a great variety 
of elimatal conditions, Rain is abundant during the 
summer months—November to April, and the mean 
temperature at St. Denis, on the coast, during this 
season is about 26?:5 (80° Fahr. J — rising 
90? "5 
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Formerly nearly the whole island was covered 
with forest from the seashore up to an altitude of 
about 6500 feet. Bat for half a century all the 
available land in the lower region has we cleared 
for cultivation, and the native vegetation is replaced, 
where not actually under cultivation, ъа foreign 
weeds, At the present day the forest region com- 
mences at 600 to 2500 feet, 
Most of the prominent and useful forest trees are 
common to the Mauritius, = are all of the Palms. 
But what is more w of them are found 
elsewhere, though many of id genera of the region 
tend to Madagascar. In fact, there are very few 
genera peculiar to either Bourbon or Mauritius, but 
several restricted to the two, indicating that these 
islands are separated remnants of а formerly more 
extensive area of land, On the other hand, peculiar 
species are very numerous in both islands, Dr. Cor- 
demoy &nd his collaborators, for he has not worked 
out all the orders himself, describe upwards of 200 
inconspicuous, e 
short duration. Indeed, as it is, the number of 
species of Orchids en i , or more than 
double the number of any other order of flowering 
bere The island is also exceedingly rich in Ferns 
which number together about 220 
Maso, It is true that the author takes a narrower 
view of species than he probably would do if he were 
dealing with the Ferns of the whole world; but even 
after deducting 20 per cent, on this — there 
remain nearly а third more than there the 
Fern-flora of New Zealand. Not only are the species 
numerous, bu 
represented. Tree and Filmy Ferns ar 
though they do not abound to the extent aa do in 
the о far-away : meet county. Moe 
Заб inhvtal a 
Й r 
a 1 жс 43 4 bh i 0 latter 
— numerically as to species ; yet, as on 
exceedingly small and rare, they nene 7 
the former. Among epiphytes the Angraecum 
stands first, e about dee саж including 
Ris tni eias 
————— BM ч 
