October 14, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



415 



New or Little-known Plants. 



Berberis Nevinii. 



OUR figure of this shrub, which is presented below, 

 will, perhaps, serve to call attention to an exceed- 

 ingly rare and little-known plant of which the fruit has not 

 been collected, and which may be expected to be a most 

 desirable inhabitant of the gardens of temperate countries. 

 Berberis Nevinii * belongs to the section Mahonia of the 

 genus, and is described by Mr. Nevin, who discovered it 

 several years ago on a sandy plain. near Los Angeles, Cali- 

 fornia, as a shrub seven or eight feet tall. The leaves are 

 composed of from three to seven oblong-lanceolate, spinu- 

 lose-serrate, obscurely reticulated leaflets, often nearly an 

 inch long, and are rather shorter than the loose racemes of 

 yellow flowers. Information with regard to this very hand- 

 some and distinct plant and a supply of ripe fruit are 

 especially desired by the director of the Arnold Arboretum. 



Iris Japonica. —This plant, generally known as Iris Sinensis 

 or I. fimbriata, is an Asiatic species which has been in cul- 

 tivation many years in greenhouses. It may possibly be 

 hardy, but as it flowers in the late autumn and winter it 

 should be grown under protection and where slight heat 

 may be given when it flowers. This is a crested Iris, and is 

 classed in the same subgenus, Evansia, as our native spe- 

 cies, I. lacustris and I. cristata. It has thin, sword-shaped 

 leaves, one foot or more long, an inch broad and some- 

 what lax. Strong plants produce stems furnished with 

 many flowers, which make a true raceme. The flowers 

 appear in succession, and are some three or more inches in 

 diameter. In color they are a beautiful delicate mauve, 

 very similar in tone to those of I. cristata. They have a 

 distinct crest and yellow markings at the throat, and the 

 falls are finely crisped. It is altogether a charming plant 

 and worthy of a place in the choicest private collections. 

 It does not seem to be always successfully grown, but Mr. 

 Gerard has recently sent to this office some per- 

 fect flowers. His method of culture is simple. 

 It is repotted after flowering in good sound loam, 

 rather light, but rich, and well supplied with water 

 as it makes growth. He gives it moderate shade, 

 as its habit seems to indicate. 



N< 



Fig. 54. — Berberis Nevinii. 



Plant Notes. 



Baccharis halimifolia. — A large vase filled with flowering 

 sprays of the Groundsel-tree, Baccharis halimifolia, was an 

 interesting feature at the American Institute flower show 

 last week. On the New Jersey seacoast this shrub 

 becomes a real tree, ten or fifteen feet high, and with a 

 trunk three or four inches through, being the only member 

 of the great family of Compositse which attains to this dis- 

 tinction in our flora. The flower-heads are not large or 

 showy, for they have not the conspicuous ray florets which 

 distinguish our Asters, Sunflowers and other members of 

 the family, but they are very abundant, and since they 

 appear in early October, when no other shrub is in bloom, 

 B. halimifolia has distinct merits as a flowering plant. This 

 is especially true of the pistillate plants, for the fertile and 

 sterile flowers are borne on separate individuals. The fertile 

 flowers are much the more showy with their white tufts of 

 long thread-like corollas, and as late as December the 

 plants are covered with a gray pappus which is quite as 

 showy as the flowers. The Groundsel-tree takes well to 

 cultivation, and with attention it becomes a better plant 

 than it is in the wild state. In good soil it becomes a com- 

 pact bush or low tree, and its green leaves persist until 

 winter fairly begins. 



* Robinson, Syri. FI. N. Am., i., pt. i., 69 (1S95). 



Cultural Department. 

 Notes on New Roses. 



O Rose in recent years has been so widely adver- 

 tised and and so highly praised as the Crimson 

 Rambler. It has been offered for sale in every hamlet 

 in this part of Massachusetts by the agent of some 

 nursery firm, and every cottager has had the chance 

 to plant the new f; vorite in his garden. Owing to 

 skillful advertising and brilliant pictures it has had 

 an unusual sale. Many who purchased it were led 

 to believe that it would produce bouquets of a hun- 

 dred or more blossoms to a shoot the first season, 

 and they were naturally disappointed when it did not 

 bear a solitary flower. Crimson Rambler is certainly 

 a valuable introduction, but, like all new plants of 

 merit, it has been too highly lauded. With us it has 

 proved perfectly hardy, and a temperature of ten 

 degrees below zero did not kill it back in the least 

 last winter. Plants set out last year bloomed satis- 

 factorily in June and have made excellent growth 

 during the present season. Young plants set out in 

 three-inch pots at the end of May now have stout 

 shoots from three to five feet in length and ought to 

 do well next year. Last July I saw a splendid stock 

 of this Rose at the nurseries of the introducer, Mr. Charles 

 Turner, of Slough, England. Two hedges of it five feet 

 in height and of proportionate thickness were a magnifi- 

 cent sight. I counted shoots carrying from one hundred 

 and fifty to two hundred and fifty flowers each, and this 

 was in a dry season. Some growers in England have 

 found it makes an excellent climber. At a large private 

 place in one of the northern counties a wall twelve feet 

 in height was for some distance covered with it and it was 

 blooming profusely. It makes a good companion for such 

 old favorites as William Allen Richardson, Gloire de Dijon, 

 Reine Marie Henriette, Devoniensis, Marechal Niel 

 Lamarque. The capabilities of this Rose as a pot plant were 

 well demonstrated by the superb specimens shown by Mr. Jack- 

 son Dawson, of the Arnold Arboretum, at the spring show of 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society last March, (hie or 

 two florists of my acquaintance have' grown batches in pots 

 and will endeavor to have them in flower for next Easter. 

 Nicely flowered plants ought to be in demand for that season. 

 Lord Penzance's hybrid Sweetbriers have had a large sale, 

 both in America and Great Britain. They are apparently even 

 more vigorous than Ciimson Rambler, and the foliage of all 

 the kinds I have grown is quite as sweet-scented as that of the 

 old Sweetbrier. They appear to he perfectly hardy in this 

 section, and a friend in Minnesota says they survived a tem- 

 perature there of twenty-five .low zero. Occasional 

 complaints were heard in England about their not flowering 

 freely. In the south of Scotland I saw, toward the end of July, 

 shoots of the current season's growth from six to nine feet in 

 height, so there can be no question aboul their vigor. The 



