454 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 455. 



g-randiflora, are more showy than those of our native spe- 

 cies — a statement which surprised me. since the foreign 

 species certainly is less brilliant in color than the native 

 flower with which I am most familiar, and to which I wish 

 to call attention. The fact is, we have two very distinct 

 native varieties, if not species. The smaller and duller- 

 colored form is, perhaps, the more common one in cultiva- 

 tion, or possibly the only one cultivated at the north ; and 

 if comparison is made between this and the Chinese spe- 

 cies it will undoubtedly be to the advantage of the latter. 

 Both the native varieties have flowered on my place this year, 

 and the differences between the two are so numerous and 

 conspicuous that I cannot help thinking that one of them 

 must be unknown to horticulturists. 



My specimen of the variety with smaller and duller- 

 colored flowers was obtained from Thomas Meehan & Sons, 

 Germantown. Pennsylvania; those (I have several) of the 

 large-flowered variety I dug up myself in the bottoms of 

 the Northwest Branch, Prince George County, Maryland, 

 just outside the north-east boundary of the District of Co- 

 lumbia. The latter bloomed some two weeks earlier than 

 the former, but is still in flower, the other being also now 

 in bloom ; and as I have had the opportunity of compar- 

 ing them carefully, I am convinced they are at least varie- 

 tally distinct, the principal points of difference being as 

 follows : 



Small-Flowered variety (true T. radicans ?) : Flowers, 

 2-2)4 inches long, i'+-i}4 inches broad; tubular portion 

 straight, not longer than stamens. Color : Front, dull flame- 

 scarlet;" tube cadmium-orange on top, slightly paler orange 

 on under side ; back of rerlexed portion, salmon-color, not dis- 

 tinctly different from color of tube ; calyx, tawny olive above, 

 gallstone yellow, tinged with olive beneath. Foliage: Leaflets, 

 7-13; dark green, distinctly glossy above, gra)ish green (be- 

 tween pea-green and malachite) beneath, with fewer, coarser 

 teeth. 



Large-flowered variety : Flowers, 3-3)2 inches long, 2)' 2 

 inches broad ; tubular portion strongly curved, much longer 

 than stamens. Color : Front, deep and pure red (between 

 poppy-red and carmine) ; tube, poppy-red on top, orange-ver- 

 milion on under side ; back of rerlexed lips, deep salmon color, 

 distinctly paler and duller than color of tube, even of under 

 side ; calyx, rich reddish brown (approaching claret-brown). 

 Foliage: Leaflets, 7-13, yellowish green (dull parrot green) 

 and not at all glossy above, pale yellowish green (bice greenj 

 beneath ; teeth smaller and much more numerous. 



Both forms are found in the District of Columbia, but 

 which is the more common one I am not at present pre- 

 pared to state. The two localities where, in my experi- 

 ence, the Trumpet-flower is most abundant, are in lower 

 Maryland, near Point Lookout, and in the bottoms of the 

 Embarras River, in Jasper County, Illinois. At the former 

 place it was rampant everywhere along the roadsides, 

 clambering over fences, shrubbery and low trees, while in 

 the latter it bedecked practically every tree throughout the 

 woods. Although in full bloom during my visit to both 

 places, I paid no particular attention to the flowers, the 

 question of two forms not having then occurred to me. 

 But my impression is that the Point Lookout flowers were 

 all of the small orange-colored type, and those of the 

 Embarras bottom of the large red type ; but this is no more 

 than a vague impression, which maybe erroneous. 



kland, D. c. Robert Ridgivay. 



New or Little-known Plants. 

 Vitis Doaniana. 



\7ITIS DOANIANA, a wild Grape, native of the Texas 

 ' Panhandle country, described and named by T. V. 

 Munson, of Denison, Texas, has shown itself in the ex- 

 perimental vineyard here to be hardy beyond almost any 

 other Vine. It is a rampant grower, encroaching on its 

 neighbors every year, and often in a single season making 

 a growth of from fifteen to twenty feet. The vines do not 



branch as much as they do in most other species, and the 

 young canes as they ripen in the fall become a rich dark 

 brown. The upper surface of the leaves and the young 

 canes are covered with a white, cottony pubescence, which 

 adheres more or less to the leaves until they fall in the 

 autumn, and to the canes until they are a year old. In the 

 younger parts this is sufficiently abundant to give them 

 quite a whitish appearance. The lower surface of the 

 leaves is still more abundantly covered with a more villous 

 pubescence, which, being less exposed to the action of the 

 weather, remains intact till autumn. The leaves them- 

 selves are of a light bluish green, and the whole effect (see 

 firv 59' P- 455) ' s peculiar and quite characteristic. 



The bunch is rather loose, irregular in shape and often 

 shouldered. The berries on different vines vary greatly in 

 size, ranging from fully as large as Catawba down to the 

 size of a pea. They are jet-black and covered with a thick 

 bloom, and. for a wild grape, the flavoris by no means bad. 

 The seeds, in size and general outline, resemble somewhat 

 those of Vitis labrusca, but the beak is not so long and the 

 chalaza much more distinct in outline. Another peculiarity 

 is a narrow, well-defined depression extending from the 

 chalaza to the beak, which, so far as I have been able to 

 observe, is found in no other species except V. Solonis. 



Its vigor of growth, general hardiness under adverse 

 climatic conditions, and its comparative immunity from all 

 fungous diseases should make it most valuable either for 

 stocks or for hybridizing with a view to continuing these 

 characteristics with the fruit characters of some of the 

 improved varieties. The fact that it is a vigorous grower, 

 bearing abundant foliage and retaining its leaves unim- 

 paired in color till frost comes in the fall, should commend 

 it for use on arbors or for covering unsightly places. 



Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas. JS Q Sears 



* Names of colors used here are those of the writer's Nomenclature of Colors 

 (Little, Brown&Co., Boston). 



Cultural Department. 



Notes on Gooseberries. 



THE native species of Currants and Gooseberries have as 

 yet but very few representatives among varieties which 

 are cultivated for their fruits. That this should be true of 

 Currants is not surprising, for the various red, white and black 

 fruited kinds of European origin have generally succeeded so 

 well in the older-settled portions of the northern states that no 

 great need has been felt in those sections for attempts to 

 introduce improved native varieties. In the south-west, where 

 the European varieties do not thrive, some attempts have been 

 made to supply their places with selected varieties of the native 

 species, Ribes aureum. This species is commonly known as 

 the Missouri, or Buffalo Currant. It bears spicy-scented long 

 yellow flowers and yellow or metallic blue-black fruit, and is 

 sometimes grown as an ornamental shrub. Crandall, Jellv, 

 Utah, Golden and other varieties of this species have been 

 introduced within the last fifteen years. While the best of 

 these are desirable in portions of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas 

 and other sections of the south-west, where a good substitute 

 for the European varieties is greatly needed, yet none has as 

 vet been extensively planted where the European kinds can 

 "be successfully grown. 



But with Gooseberries the case is different. European kinds 

 have usually proved unsuccessful in America on account of 

 the ravages of the mildew, Sphasrotheca Mors-uvae, so that 

 there has been more of a demand for the introduction of 

 selected varieties of native origin than there has been for the 

 introduction of native Currants. Although this demand has 

 long existed, the progress in this direction has been much less 

 rapid than it has been with either the native Grapes or the 

 native Plums. 



The number of cultivated Gooseberries which have de- 

 scended purely from native species is really very small ; in 

 fact, it is doubtful whether any of the well-known kinds are of 

 purely American origin, except Pale Red, also known as 

 Cluster, American, etc., which was introduced into cultivation 

 many years ago. It appears to belong purely to Ribes oxya- 

 canthoides, which species takes its name from the resem- 

 blance of its leaves to those of the English Hawthorn, a 

 resemblance that is more noticeable, however, in the leaves of 

 the Downing than in those of the Pale Red. 



Ribes oxycanthoides, to which most of the native culti- 



