ArRiL 8, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



H7 



Barnum, of Harpoot, only a few weeks before the troubles 

 broke over the American Mission. 



The forerunner of the Daffodils is Narcissus minimus, which 

 is as bright as it is dainty. It is a very miniature Ajax, quite 

 small enough to serve in the corsage of a fairy. 

 Elizabeth, n.j. J.N.Gerard. 



Orchids at Langwater Gardens. 



pLEUROTHALLIS ROEZLII was among many new and 

 -*■ rare Orchids in bloom recently at the gardens of Mrs. F. 

 L. Ames, North Easton, Massachusetts. It is really more 

 curious than beautiful, and valuable rather on account of its 

 rarity. The Langwater plant is probably the finest specimen 

 in cultivation. It bears eighteen spreading scapes of pendent, 

 irregularly globose flowers of deep wine-color. It is here grown 

 in a basket in the Masdevallia house, and, apparently, is quite 

 at home. It has also been noted by Mr. Watson, in his Lon- 

 don letter (Garden and Forest, No. 420). 



The Masdevallias in this collection have frequently been 

 referred to in Garden and Forest. Seedlings and hybrids 

 multiply with great spontaneity. A small specimen of the 

 strangely curious M. muscosa is in a six-inch pan, the plant 

 being not more than ten inches in diameter and six inches 

 high, but it carries thirty-six hairy scapes of yellow flowers. It 

 is chiefly interesting on account of the sensitive character of 

 the lip. Watson, in his book on Orchids, says: " At Kew, in 

 1887, a small plant of M. muscosa flowered for the first time 

 in England. It had short thick leaves, erect, hairy flower- 

 scapes and flowers half an inch across ; the lip was hinged 

 and had a concave blade one-fourth of an inch long, in the 

 middle of which was a raised yellow disk. On touching this 

 disk the lip moved upward and closed with a jerk, and it was 

 found that any small insect on alighting on the lip was at once 

 trapped and held for twenty minutes, when the lip opened 

 again. Charles Darwin, who regretted never having seen a 

 sensitive Orchid, would have been delighted had he seen this." 



It is difficult to trace the parentage of many of the natural 

 hybrids originating here. What they are may be generally 

 surmised. The majority are evidently between M. Lindeni, 

 M. ignea and M. Harryana. Rebecca, named in honor of Miss 

 Ames, is a brilliant orange, shaded with crimson. Another 

 unnamed kind is a most beautiful violet-purple. M. Lowii is 

 very rare. It is remarkable for the violet papillae covering 

 three-fourths of the length of the sepals, their bases being 

 bronzy, and tips, or tails, white. In M. Hincksiana the sepals 

 are yellow, deepening toward the tips ; the centre of the flower 

 is white. This lovely hybrid is a cross between M. ignea and 

 M. Tovariensis. The flowers of M. bella are most curiously 

 formed; the long tails cross over the triangular-shaped flowers 

 in such a way as to suggest some large insects ; and flowering 

 as they do, from willow baskets suspended above one's head, 

 the effect is heightened. The specific title would suggest 

 beauty, but in this respect the flowers were not to be compared 

 with many others. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Bomareas. 



'"PHESE remarkable twining plants are nearly related to the 

 *■ Alstrcemerias. They are natives of the mountain regions 

 of Central America, Colombia and Peru, and have been known 

 in gardens some twenty years or more. As yet they are rare 

 in America, although especially adapted to a bright, sunny 

 climate like ours. They thrive well in moderately warm green- 

 houses in the north, and are probably quite hardy farther 

 south. All are very floriferous and deserve to be grown for 

 the sake of their large, gorgeously spotted flowers, which are 

 generally very brightly colored. Some flower in early spring, 

 others throughout the summer, the flowers being produced in 

 large umbels or cymes on terminal or lateral shoots. The 

 leaves are more or less lanceolate, with parallel veins. The 

 stem is slender and grows from a fleshy root to a height of 

 twelve or fifteen feet, and even higher under favorable condi- 

 tions. Among the several species cultivated the most com- 

 mon, as well as the most attractive, are the following : Boma- 

 rea Carderi, a magnificent Colombian species, with broadly 

 lanceolate leaves six or eight inches long and very large bell- 

 shaped flowers on long peduncles, collected in loose, many- 

 flowered pendulous cymes. The three outer segments of the 

 perianth are rose-colored and three inner ones paler, and all 

 spotted near the apex with numerous dark purple spots ; 

 B. Schuttleworthii, another very showy species, with flowers 

 two inches long in drooping umbels, with the outer segments 

 orange- scarlet and inner ones yellow, all greenish and 

 spotted near the apex ; B. oligantha, with very much smaller 



but very attractive flowers, about an inch long, funnel-shaped, 

 with the three outer segments sepal-like, reddish green and 

 smaller than the inner ones, which are broader, tawny yellow 

 and but faintly spotted. 



The Bomareas delight in a rich, fibrous soil and require 

 plenty of water during the growing season, which commences 

 early in spring. Late in fall the stems are cut down to the 

 ground and the roots are kept in the soil in a dry state. They 

 do best planted out in an open and sunny position in a cool con- 

 servatory or greenhouse where they may have plenty of air in 

 summer. The propagation is best effected by means of seeds, 

 which germinate quite easily when fresh, and if sown in shal- 

 low pans in a warm propagation-house, but as this method is 

 somewhat slow they may also be increased by a careful 

 division of the fleshy roots. 



Newark, N. J. N. J. Rose. 



Seasonable Flowers in the Cool Greenhouse. 



TT is not difficult to have cool greenhouses attractive at this 

 *■ season, even where but few rare and expensive plants are 

 available. Just now our own houses are gay with Cinerarias, 

 and the individual blooms seem to increase in size each vear, 

 some of them being three and a half inches across. Primula 

 Sinensis is nearly over, having been flowering since the second 

 week in December. P. obconica is at its best, and our largest 

 plants, in eight-inch pots, each carry from fifty to seventy 

 flower-scapes. P. floribunda, a pretty little yellow species from 

 the western Himalayas, deserves to be grown more extensively. 

 We sow our Primula seed early in April, and as soon as the 

 seedlings are large enough they are pricked off into boxes four 

 inches deep, with a soil composed principally of leaf-mold. 

 They remain in these boxes in the greenhouse, or in a well- 

 shaded frame, till August, when they are potted. They grow 

 very rapidly during the fall and are shifted on as they require 

 it into larger pots. Treated in this way they are very little 

 trouble and very satisfactory. The later species of Narcissus 

 are now in flower, and one of the very best is the variety of 

 N. bicolor, commonly called Grandee. The perianth segments 

 are a pale sulphur color, which contrasts beautifully with the 

 rich golden corona. The flowers are about three and a half 

 inches in diameter, and each bulb produces two and often 

 three. Of course, the fragrant Poet's Narcissus is good for 

 late bloom. Ixias and Ornithogalums are just coming into 

 flower. English Daisies, in four-inch pots, are useful for 

 the front edge of the stages. The varieties Longfellow (pink) 

 and Snowball (white) are very good when they come double, 

 but a great many seedlings are apt to come single or semi- 

 double. Myosotis alpestris, besides being a good spring- 

 bedding plant, does well in a cool greenhouse. Schi- 

 zanthus pinnatus has been flowering profusely for the last two 

 months ; its beautiful sprays of white and lavender-colored 

 flowers last a long time when cut. Calendula pluvialis, the 

 Cape Marigold, is another annual which does well in the green- 

 house, but it unfortunately closes its flowers early in the after- 

 noon. Aquilegias are useful where a varied supply of flowers 

 has to be kept up. Last September we lifted some clumps of 

 A. Canadensis and A. atrata ; these were potted and kept in a 

 cold frame till the end of January, when they were brought 

 into the greenhouse, where for the past three weeks they have 

 made a fine show. The double-flowered pink Lychnis flos- 

 cuculi is just now at its best. 



In the warm temperate greenhouse stocky plants of Fuschia 

 speciosa and Rose of Castile, in five-inch pots, are flowering 

 profusely. Torenia Fournieri and Impatiens Sultani have 

 been flowering all winter and are very beautiful, though of no 

 use for cutting. Swainsonia galegifolia, with its beautiful 

 sprays of pea-shaped flowers and pinnate foliage, is one of the 

 best winter-flowering plants we have, and Abutilon, Golden 

 Bells, is proving an excellent free-blooming variety. Some 

 cuttings of a double-flowered form of Tropreolum Lob- 

 bianum, received here last fall, are now in flower, and though 

 to many the flowers are not as atlractive as the single kind, it 

 is the most profuse blooming Tropa'olum I have ever met 



wim - c- 1 j o- /- 



Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass. Edward f,'La?l>ltng. 



Clianthus Dampieri. — It is thirty years since this plant was 

 first brought from the deserts of Australia, ami, though ex- 

 tremely beautiful as well as interesting, many persons have 

 never seen it in flower. Its common name, the Glory Pi 

 a translation of its generic name, and since it belongs to the 

 Pea family and bears flowers of the brightest scarlet it well 

 deserves the title. It is also called at times the Parrot's 1 

 from its sharply curved and pointed keel. The lower part of 



