64 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 416. 



species are represented there. D. glomeratum, a recent 

 introduction, had slender pseudo-bulbs two feet long bear- 

 ing clusters of flowers one and a half inches wide, remark- 

 able for their small infolded labellum and rich glistening: 

 mauve-crimson color. D. cymbridioides, with the habit of 

 Ccelogyne and slender racemes of pale yellow flowers, 

 lined with red-brown on the lip, was in flower. I have not 

 seen this plant elsewhere. A very fine example of D Fal- 

 coneri was suspended in the corridor, where it hangs all the 

 year, and grows and blooms freely. Hybrid Dendrobiums 

 of many kinds, not yet flowered, and, from their parentage, 

 likely to be useful additions, were noted in one of the warm 

 houses. A similar number of undowered hybrid Cattleyas 

 and Lselias occupied a shelf in the Cattleya-house. Den- 

 drobium nobile nobilius, with a dozen pseudo-bulbs, each 

 a yard long and as thick as a man's thumb ; grand exam- 

 ples of D. Wardianum, D. crassinode, the rare D. Lowi- 

 anum and such popular hybrids as splendidissimum, 

 Cassiope, etc., were noted either in flower or in bud. 



Miltonia vexillaria and M. Roezlii are exceptionally well 

 grown at Highbury, and in the same house with the latter 

 I noticed a good example of the miffy Phajus tuberculosus. 

 A house filled with forms of Cattleya gigas and Ccelogyne 

 cristata ; another with good varieties of Odontoglossum 

 crispum and allies, and another with Masdevallias revealed 

 careful and skilled management. 



Cool Orchids generally are well represented at High- 

 bury, and in the middle of January the display of bloom 

 was rich and varied. Odontoglossum coronarium is grown 

 there astonishingly well in a cold house on a turf of fibrous 

 peat resting on a wood-raft and placed close to the roof 

 glass in a shaded position. Here it has formed a mass 

 two feet through of healthy pseudo-bulbs and leaves, and a 

 short time ago it bore seven strong spikes of flowers. Epi- 

 dendrum vitellinum is also an exceptional plant under Mr. 

 Burberry's care. Odontoglossum citrosmum, O. Cervantesii, 

 Oncidium macranthum, O. Leopoldii, O. Andersonianum 

 and many others were remarkable either for their flowers 

 or healthy vigorous growth. 



Mexican Orchids are well grown, the secret of success 

 being, no doubt, the light houses in which they are accom- 

 modated and which are never shaded. A house partly 

 filled with Phatenopsis was a source of anxiety to Mr. 

 Burberry, who finds what many others have found in the 

 continued cultivation of this genus, namely, that the plants 

 are apt to go wrong without any apparent cause. 



Tea Roses and Carnations are largely grown under glass, 

 these being the favorite flowers of Mrs. Chamberlain. 



A novel feature of the houses at Highbury is the posses- 

 sion of electric light, which is so fixed that at night by 

 touching a button Mr. Chamberlain can transform his 

 houses into a veritable fairyland, which can be inspected 

 by his guests with comfort and without any risk of catch- 

 ing cold. 



London. 



W. Watson. 



New or Little-known Plants. 



Rhododendron mucronulatum. 



THIS deciduous-leaved shrub, raised in the Arnold 

 Arboretum from seed gathered on the mountains near 

 Pekin, and sent in 1S83 by Dr. Bretschneider, at that time 

 surgeon of the Russian Embassy in the Chinese capital, is 

 closely related to the Siberian and Manchurian Rhododen- 

 dron Dauricum, although, for garden purposes at least, it 

 will, perhaps, be well to consider it distinct. In American 

 gardens it is now a robust shrub from three to four feet in 

 height, with slender stems, and branches clothed during 

 their first year with smooth, rather light yellow bark. The 

 leaves, which do not unfold until after the flowers have 

 begun to fade, are oblong, gradually narrowed to both 

 ends, and mucronate at the apex, very finely serrate, thin 

 and firm, dark green above, pale and pubescent below, 

 from two to two and a half inches long, about an inch 

 wide and short-stalked, turning in the autumn, before fall- 



ing, bright scarlet. The flowers are broadly campanulate, 

 about an inch across, and light clear rose-color, with broad 

 rounded corolla lobes, and are produced in two to four- 

 flowered clusters; they appear in eastern Massachusetts 

 during the last week in April, before those of any other 

 plant of this class, and at a time when comparatively few 

 other shrubs are in bloom. Their brilliancy and cheerful- 

 ness and the splendid color the leaves assume late in the 

 autumn make this little Rhododendron, which is very hardy, 

 a most desirable inhabitant of northern gardens. 



Rhododendron mucronulatum * (see illustration on page 

 65 of this issue), which the Russian botanist Maximowicz, 

 who made a special study of these plants, considered 

 merely a geographical variety of Rhododendron Dauricum, 

 inhabits south-eastern Siberia, Russian Manchuria and 

 northern China. C. S. S. 



Plant Notes. 



Begonia Socotrana. — Plants that produce abundant crops 

 of flowers in northern gardens during the short sunless 

 days of November and December are not very numerous, 

 and every addition to their number is eagerly welcomed by 

 gardeners. Last year we spoke of the value of the winter- 

 blooming tuberous-rooted Begonia Socotrana, and the sight 

 of a house in December filled with plants of this Begonia 

 in the neighborhood of Boston has served to confirm the 

 good opinion of it we have already expressed. The bulbs 

 begin to grow and are potted in July, and the first flowers 

 appear at the very end of October and continue to open for 

 six or seven weeks, the plants being well covered until 

 after Christmas. The flowers are large, of a beautiful clear 

 pink color, borne in ample open clusters and raised well 

 above the large bright green, lustrous, peltate leaves. 

 Flowering plants stand well in conservatories, and are 

 admirably suited for the decoration of dinner-tables ; and 

 cut flowers remain in good condition for nearly a week in 

 the temperature of an ordinary living-room. B. Soco- 

 trana is so easy to cultivate, and increases so rapidly by the 

 development of new tubers, giving such large results for a 

 small outlay, that it will probably become a popular florist 

 plant as soon as it is better known and its value for late 

 autumn and early winter decoration is understood. 



Ulmus racemosa. — The American Elm, or White Elm, as 

 it is sometimes called, has so long been a favorite tree for 

 ornamental planting and has been used so universally 

 along country roads and city streets, by lonely farm cot- 

 tages as well as in urban parks and the grounds about 

 stately villas, that our other native Elms have been quite 

 overlooked. There is an excuse for excluding the Slippery 

 Elm from public grounds and streets because it is difficult 

 to save it from the predatory small boy, whose appetite is 

 tempted by its fragrant and mucilaginous inner bark. Nev- 

 ertheless, this tree transplants easily, grows rapidly into a 

 beautiful shape, and is worth a place in any private collec- 

 tion. The beautiful Cedar Elm, Ulmus crassifolia, ranges 

 too far south for our climate, although in Texas it is one of 

 the most graceful of our forest-trees. The Wahoo, too, U. 

 elata, another attractive tree, is also doubtfully hardy north 

 of Washington, but there is little excuse for neglecting to 

 plant the Cork Elm, U. racemosa, also locally called the 

 Hickory Elm and Rock Elm. It is a useful tree with hard 

 close-grained wood that polishes well and is valuable for 

 every purpose where strength, toughness and flexibility are 

 required, so that it is well worth planting as a timber-tree. 

 But it is also attractive as a shade-tree for its distinct and 

 handsome appearance. At its best it is a hundred feet high, 

 with a trunk three feet through, a narrow rounded head, and 

 leaves which are deep green and glossy above, paler and 

 covered with a soft pubescence below. In autumn these 

 turn to a clear bright yellow. It does not grow as rapidly 

 as the White Elm, but it is a vigorous thrifty tree, and 



* Rhododendron mucronulatum, Turczaninow, Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc, x., 155 

 (18^7) ; Fl. Baicalcnsi-Dahurica, ii., 208.— De Candolle, Frorfr., vii., pt. ii., 327. 



Rhododendron Dauricum. fj mucronulatum, Maximowicz, Mdm. Acad Set. St. 

 Petersburg, s<'r. 7, xvi., 43 iRhododendra.' Asia? Orientalis). 



