August 12, 



5-] 



Garden and Forest. 



323 



for. Now that the change has been made its restoration to 

 generic rank may not be advisable. Both species are so 

 diminutive when growing among other plants that they 

 may easily be overlooked. Later I found larger specimens 

 of M. Cerviana growing commonly on the mesa between 

 the city and "Little Mountain." Two handsome small 

 species of Phlox grow abundantly on the mountain sides, 

 while Janusia and other El Paso plants are not uncommon 

 in the ravines. 



I have met few localities where as many interesting and 

 handsome Ferns may be found as these mountains afford. 

 Gymnogramme Ehrenbergiana is not uncommon on shaded 

 moist rocks. In company with it grew Notholama ferru- 

 ginea, N. sinuata and the peculiar N. Hookeri. Several 

 species of Pellaea, including P. Wrightiana, abound. This 

 species grows northward to Saline River and " Rock City " 

 in Kansas, and eastward in that state to the bluffs of Marias 

 de Cygne River, in Morris County, its most eastward 

 reported station. We were in the mountains to find these 

 and other Ferns in their best development, and we enlarged 

 and enriched our collections with fine specimens of them. 



Ipomcea incana, a widely distributed species in one of 

 its many forms, is here ; so are Dalea formosa, Linum 

 rigidum, Erigeron flagellaris, Dryopetalon runcinatum, 

 Aster ericsefolius, Lesquerella purpurea, Solarium tuberosum, 

 var. Krameria parviflora, Oxalis Vespertilionis, Clematis 

 ligustrina, Heuchera rubescens, Perezia nana, Gaura parvi- 

 flora, which is almost everywhere; G. coccinea, also com- 

 mon ; Gossypianthus rigidiflorus, taking its generic name 

 from its cottony flowers ; Portulaca lanceolata, P. stellaria 

 and many common and rare plants. 



As we rode home a full moon was shining on the banks 

 of the irrigating ditches. The old river bed, the sand hills 

 near the river, the elevated plains and " Little Mountain " 

 each furnished additions to our botanical knowledge and 

 collection of plants. Oenothera Jamesii, a lofty Evening 

 Primrose, is abundant along the ditches. CE. coronapifolia 

 I saw in the sand hills ; it extends far northward. Mau- 

 randia Barclayana and Antirrhinum maurandioides are 

 ornamental climbing plants, and are often seen in cultiva- 

 tion ; they are very dissimilar in habit, and it is strange 

 that they should be confounded, as they often are. 



Near the water several species of Willow grow. The 

 whitened form of Salix fluviatilis is very common, and we 

 shall see it as far north as we go. Along the bank of a 

 ditch a grove of Ash-trees were loaded to bending with 

 immense clusters of nearly ripe fruit, and this was a revela- 

 tion to me. Lepidium intermedium, Tribulus maximus 

 and rarely T. grandiflorus grow along the railway, while 

 Secuvium, Trianthema, Bigelovia Rusbyi, Helianthus cili- 

 osa, several Chenopods and Amaranths and species of 

 Atriplex are abundant in alkaline soils. Near the river 

 Eclipta alba grows, a queer, rayless and usually spreading 

 composite ; near it are Equisetums, a Flaveria and Pluchea 

 borealis. Dalea scoparia, an exclusively western species, 

 begins to appear in western Texas ; it is on the sand hills 

 near the river. We shall often see it as we go up the Rio 

 Grande. It is a strong woody species, forming large 

 clumps and often becoming four feet tall. D. lanata is a 

 common western species, delighting to grow on river sand. 

 It has followed the Red River through Texas and the In- 

 dian Territory to Arkansas. It is also common in Kansas 

 from Medicine Lodge River, near where it leaves that state, 

 westward to Colorado. Sometimes it spreads into broad 

 patches three to four feet across. D. fruticosa is a very 

 handsome species, to be seen from central Texas to Mexico 

 and westward and northward to Colorado. It becomes a 

 handsome bush or a miniature tree, and is well worthy of 

 cultivation, as most of the species also are. 



In the arid regions of central United States numerous 

 species of Artemesia, Wormwood, make their home. They 

 are not anthelmintics, but the officinal Wormwood of 

 Europe and of old gardens in this country was supposed 

 to be a mind strengthener and a curative for so-called men- 

 tal diseases. All of the species are coarse, rayless, usually 



shrubby, and sometimes viscid plants. They are generally 

 known as Sage and Sage-brush. That common name, and 

 the general lack of accurate botanical knowledge amoni; 

 the people, has led some persons to use the leaves of 

 various species as seasoning for their sausages. Some of 

 the species, too, are used in domestic practice as a remedy 

 for colds and chills and fevers, and rarely infused as a table 

 drink. In all of those ways the harmlessness, if not the 

 efficacy, of the species is shown. Artemesia filifolia, which 

 is common around the city, without plant egotism, may 

 claim as much beauty as any of the species. A species of 

 grouse, common in all the mountain region, is said to feed 

 so much upon the buds and seeds of those plants as to 

 render its flesh unpalatable from its bitterness. The birds 

 are known as sage hens. 



This rainy year has brought out the grasses of New 

 Mexico in great profusion of species as well as of their 

 individuals. The vigor of their growth is as great in pro- 

 portion as the number of the individuals present. About a 

 half dozen species of Boutelona are here ; among them 

 peculiar B. eriopoda. That it may be distinct from all other 

 members of the genus, and always able to know itself, this 

 species has developed a densely woolly band around its 

 culm below each node, an effectual, but an odd, spe 

 character for an uneducated grass to plan and make for 

 itself. 



Seiglingia (Triodia) pulchella is very abundant through- 

 out all of this region. This year specimens of it are un- 

 commonly large and fine. The handsomer S. acuminata is 

 more rarely to be seen. This species has a wider range 

 than has before been given to it. During my botanical 

 rambles in Kansas I found it quite abundant over that state 

 west of the ninety-ninth meridian — near Hays, Ellis Count)-. 

 Twin Mounds, Rooks County, in Cheyenne County and in 

 the upper Arkansas valley so common as to give character 

 to the vegetation there. Panicum sanguinale is almost 

 everywhere. Here also are P. lachnanthum, P. obtusum, 

 P. colonum, Buffalo Grass (Bulbilis), Bermuda Grass (Capri- 

 ola), several species of Chloris, Trichloris, Andropogon and 

 of other genera. 



Las Cruces and the Organ Mountains are only a feu- 

 miles distant from the Mexican border. They are also 

 near the boundary of Texas. Botanizing in the vicinity of 

 this city is, therefore, to become acquainted with the flora 

 of northern Mexico and of extreme western Texas as well 

 as to know the plants of southern New Mexico. Las 

 Cruces is west of the one hundred and sixth meridian and 

 also west of the north-south centre of the territory. 



North Platte, Neb. E- "• Plonk. 



Foreign Correspondence 

 London Letter. 



Lycoris squamigera. — Plants of this Japanese Amaryllid 

 are now flowering in the open air at Kew for the first time. 

 They are established in a south border against a trop 

 fernery, conditions which suit the Belladonna Lily, and 

 which are evidently suitable for the Lycoris. The scapes 

 are from two to three feet high, solid, and bearing from 

 six to eight flowers, which in size, form and general charac- 

 ters are very similar to those of the Belladonna, the mosl 

 marked difference being in the minute stigma and bluish 

 tinge of the Lycoris. Plants of Amaryllis Belladonna, var. 

 blanda, are also in flower, this variety being about a month 

 earlier than the type. The Lycoris is not a success as a 

 pot-plant, but in a warm sunny border against a south wall 

 it gives no trouble, growing freely, and every bulb pushing 

 up a scape. If it were not lor the difference in tin' si 

 between Lycoris and Amaryllis one might doubt the wis- 

 dom of keeping the two genera separate. L squamigera 

 was distributed a few years ago under the name of Ama 

 lis Ilallii (see vol. iii., p. 176, ti^. 32, and vol. viii., p. S4). 



ORNITHOGALUM REVOLUTUM. This is one of the lew species 

 of Ornithogalum which deserve to rank as first-rate garden 



