April 15, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



153 



attention of the horticulturist. To many gardeners Arundo 

 Donax, Miscanthus Sinensis (Eulalia Japonica) and Pampas- 

 Grass, all foreigners, represent the sum total of what is 

 beautiful among these plants. Ribbon-Grass, Phalaris 

 arundinacea picta, is occasionally seen in old gardens. 

 Hair-Grass, a species of Aira ; Quaking-Grass, a species of 

 .Briza ; Sea Oats, Uniola paniculata, and Hare's-tail, Lagu- 

 rus, are still sometimes grown for "winter bouquets." 

 Some small grasses are now and then used for edgings. 

 With these the list of widely cultivated ornamental grasses 

 is practically closed. But any one who keeps his eyes 

 open may find about him, in field and swamp and wood- 

 land, species quite as handsome as any of these and as 

 worthy of a place in garden and lawn. 



There are some strikingly ornamental species of Crown- 

 beard or Broomsedge, Andropogon. The Silvery Broom- 

 sedge, A. argyraeus, common in dry fields in the south- 

 eastern states, is one of these. With its heads of silvery 

 white bearded spikes, it is a very showy grass. Indian- 

 Grass, or Wood-Grass, A. nutans, is another species that 

 might, with cultivation, lend itself to decorative purposes. 

 It is often met with in glades and along the edges of woods. 

 In autumn the tall, straight stems bear handsome open 

 panicles of silky brown spikelets. These grasses are rela- 

 tives of the Indian A. squarrosus, whose root-stocks furnish 

 the aromatic perfume, vitivert. None of our native Broom- 

 sedges appear to have this quality, although a member of 

 a related genus, Elionurus tripsacoides, found in low Pine- 

 barrens along the Gulf coast, has the vitivert fragrance. 

 Another species of Elionurus, E. barbiculmus, is a pretty 

 grass, native of the arid uplands of the far south-west. It 

 has fine thread-like leaves in tufts and slender bright white 

 hairy spikes. 



Nearly all the species of Erianthus — a group related to 

 the sugar-cane— are handsome plants. The Old World 

 Erianthus Ravennse is sometimes seen in cultivation. 

 There are several in the south Atlantic and Gulf states, 

 growing mostly in swamps. E. alopecuroides is the largest 

 of these, while E. contortus — so named from its twisted 

 awn or beard — is, perhaps, the most beautiful. It is a tall 

 grass with a dense, pinkish panicle, which has a silky lustre 

 due to the soft hairs on the spikelets. 



Gama-Grass, Tripsacum, is a large plant of the eastern 

 United States, more common southward. It has tall culms 

 or stems and broad, ribbon-like dark green leaves resem- 

 bling those of Indian Corn, to which it is close akin. It was 

 formerly much esteemed as a forage-producer. The " head " 

 is rather curious than beautiful, consisting of one to three 

 spikes, which are very hard when ripe and break up into 

 several joints. In the southern states it is often planted in 

 cemeteries. 



Indian or Tuscarora Rice, Zizania aquatica, sometimes 

 known as Water Oats, is common on the muddy banks of 

 tidal rivers near the Atlantic and about lakes and ponds in 

 the north-west. The fruits are much relished by water- 

 fowl of various sorts, and the seeds are on that account 

 often sown. As it is a large showy grass, and of a decid- 

 edly odd appearance, it is very suitable for planting about 

 artificial lakes. Another grass worth cultivating in such 

 places is the Catch-fly Grass, Leersia lenticularis, a near 

 relative of rice. It is a native of deep swamps in the south- 

 eastern states. The broad leaves are often striped with 

 white, as in Ribbon-Grass. The round, flattened spikelets 

 are fringed with stiff bristles like those on the leaves of 

 Venus' Catchfly. To this resemblance, rather than to any 

 ability of its own to capture insects, it doubtless owes its 

 popular name. Carolina Water-Grass, Hydrochloa, inhabits 

 pools and streams in the Pine-barren region of the south 

 Atlantic and Gulf spates. The slender stems root in the 

 mud at the bottom, while the short leaves, purplish under- 

 neath, float on the surface. At flowering time the whitish 

 spikelets are thrust above the water. This grass has flow- 

 ered in the ponds of the Fish Commission at Washington 

 and might be grown in ornamental pieces of water, though 

 it would probably not prove hardy much farther northward. 



As one of the few purely aquatic grasses it is something of 

 an oddity. 



The Triple-awn Grasses, Aristida, are often of very 

 attractive appearance. One of the showiest is A. spici- 

 formis, a denizen of Pine-barren swamps near the coast 

 from North Carolina to Florida. It has a conspicuous 

 spike-like head, densely bearded with pale green awns. 

 A. purpurea, abundant in the prairie region, is a handsome 

 plant with very long purple awns. The related Feather- 

 Grasses, species of Stipa, are nearly all of them ornamental. 

 In New Mexico and Arizona occurs a variety of the Old 

 World Stipa pennata, the true Feather-Grass, which has its 

 long bent awns beautifully plumed, like the tails to the 

 fruits of Clematis. S. Kingii is a singularly delicate little 

 grass, and S. Richardsoni is remarkable for the grace of its 

 panicles. The best known of the Feather-Grasses is the 

 Porcupine-Grass, S. spartea, whose long-awned, sharp- 

 pointed seeds do great injury by working into the flesh of 

 sheep. S. viridula robusta, a tall plant with a long green- 

 ish panicle, is widely known in the west as Sleepy Grass, 

 and is said to act as a narcotic poison upon stock eating it. 



Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 1 ■ H. Kearney, Jr. 



Alpine Plants and some of their Peculiarities. 



THE vegetation which thrives on higli altitudes, whether on 

 *■ the Swiss Alps, the American Andes, the Himalayas or 

 on the mountains of Oceanica, shows a distinct personal char- 

 acter, noticeable even to the most indifferent of travelers. 

 There plants are usually stunted, short stemmed or stemless, 

 with flowers relatively exaggerated in size, whereas on the plains, 

 tall herbs with highly developed and luxuriant foliage bear 

 insignificant blossoms, generally smaller than the leaves. On 

 the mountain tops everything is different, the large flowers 

 are almost sessile, with scarcely apparent and only slightly 

 developed foliage, which at a very high level is often clothed 

 with a fine close down, so as to better withstand the effects of 

 cold nights. In many cases the foliage is glabrous, when it is 

 also usually coriaceous (with tissues especially adapted to resist 

 the frosts of alpine climates), and the leaf of a firm, close, thick 

 texture is provided with a solid epidermis and covered with a 

 waxy coating which enables it to withstand the effects of the 

 sun as well as those of an excess of humidity. 



Species that grow in the shade and in well-protected spots 

 show neither the one nor the other of these characters. Their 

 foliage is soft and delicate, whereas such woolly plants as the 

 Edelweiss, several species of Senecio, Artemisia, etc., as well 

 as species having smooth, generally thick and glossy leaves, 

 as, for example, the Alpine Azalea, Azalea procumbens, and the 

 Alpine Rose, Rhododendron ferrugineum, are usually encoun- 

 tered on arid, unsheltered slopes. Another fact soon noticed 

 is, that while the flora of altitudes exposed to the heat of the 

 sun generally produces large, brilliantly colored flowers, that 

 of shady situations on the contrary shows very small, pale 

 blossoms, often entirely out of proportion to the size of the 

 plant. The influence of the sun and its effect on vegetation is 

 here more striking than elsewhere. 



Annual species, so abundant at lower levels, are but rarely 

 met with on alpine zones. There the very short summer 

 granted to them will not permit of their accomplishing the 

 complete cycle of their existence in a single season. The only 

 alpine species that are not perennial are a few species of Pedi- 

 cularis and some of the Gentianaceas. 



Alpine plants are always branched from the base, with 

 perennial root-stock and stems spreading on the ground, from 

 which the plant seems to seek the much required protection 

 against the inclemency of the nights and the severe days that 

 are but too frequent during the short sunnier that is accorded 

 to them. Species that on the plains form shrubs, and even 

 majestic trees, are represented on the mountains by dwarfed 

 ones, which decumbently spread, often rise only a lew inches 

 above the ground. Salix, Azalea procumbens and Betula 

 nana are good illustrations of the stunting effect of alpine 

 climate. The presence of curiously constructed little plants 

 is often noticed along the fissures of rocks, small round cush- 

 ions, composed of a multitude of tiny rosettes closely crowded 

 together and covered with minute imbricated leaves that 

 perish through the winter, and during the flowering se 

 are so densely covered with a profusion of sessile corollas that 

 the foliage entirely disappears under the wealth of flowers. In 

 the clear light of our Alps these tufts of brilliant blossoms pro- 

 duce a marvelous effect, enlivening the rocks and arid sands 



