474 



Garden and Forest. 



I Number 457. 



half as large again ; they are rosy lilac, with a purple 

 blotch on the front lobe of the lip. 



Aglaonema Curtisii. — This is another addition to the 

 garden representatives of this genus which is related to 

 the Alocasias and appears to have its headquarters in the 

 Malay Archipelago. Aglaonema Curtisii was exhibited by 

 Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons at a recent meeting of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society and was awarded a first-class certifi- 

 cate. It forms a tuft about two feet high, with erect fleshy 

 oblong leaves a foot long and five inches wide, colored 

 deep green, blotched and streaked with a pleasing gray- 

 white. It resembles all the other species in its preference 

 for hot moist treatment and a light rich soil. We find that 

 all these ornamental-leaved aroids are happiest when the 

 soil for them is renewed annually and the mixture used is 

 of such a nature as to afford them plenty of nourishment 

 and to permit of copious waterings almost daily through- 

 out the summer months. In Continental gardens, where 

 these plants are favorites, they are grown in large numbers 

 together in wide pans or shallow pots. 



Pteris Childsii. — This is one more of the numerous 

 seedling sports of Pteris serrulata, perhaps the most diver- 

 sified as well as the most popular of exotic Ferns. It was 

 shown as a new hybrid or sport by Mr. Childs, of New 

 Eltham, and received a first-class certificate from the Royal 

 Horticultural Society. It is of robust compact habit, the 

 fronds graceful and the pinnae broad, these being again 

 divided along the margins and crested at the tips in the 

 most extraordinary yet elegant plumose fashion. Appar- 

 ently it is barren, the exhibitor having not yet seen a frond 

 of it bearing sori. Fern experts, particularly growers of 

 market plants, looked upon it as a most valuable addition 

 to quick-growing decorative Ferns. There are already 

 dozens of well-known named varieties of P. serrulata, every 

 one of which would take front rank with the best of easily 

 grown useful Ferns. 



Lobelia Gerardi. — This is a garden hybrid of Continental 

 origin, its parents being Lobelia syphilitica and L. cardi- 

 nalis. It was first brought into notice in 1893 m * ne Revue 

 Horticole, p. 462, and it has since attracted considerable 

 attention on account of its free growth under ordinary 

 cultivation, and the attractions of its erect spikes of rich 

 blue flowers. It resembles L syphilitica in habit, forming 

 in a few months a mass of erect leafy stems, bearing spikes 

 from six inches to a foot long crowded with flowers. It has 

 not yet received much attention in this country, but I saw 

 a batch of it in flower at Chiswick in August, and at the 

 last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society some plants 

 of it were shown by Sir Trevor Lawrence and received an 

 award of merit. It is a distinct and useful addition to the 

 tall perennial Lobelias which are nowhere more at home 

 than when planted in wet ground near the margin of lakes 

 or streams. ... ... , 



London. W. WatSOIl. 



Plant Notes. 



Notes from the Santa Monica Forestry Station. 



Eucalyptus corymbosa. — Two specimens of this Eucalypt, 

 the Bloodwood-tree of Australia, are now in bloom here for 

 the first time. The better one is a handsome, symmetrical 

 tree thirty feet in height, with a spread of fourteen feet, and 

 a trunk diameter (one foot from ground) of eight inches, 

 representing a growth of eight years from the seed. The 

 leaves are ovate-lanceolate, slightly sickle-shaped, glabrous, 

 a rich dark green in color, paler beneath, with a conspicu- 

 ous white midrib. They resemble somewhat the leaves of 

 the Sugar Gum, E. corynocalyx, but are larger, more sym- 

 metrically shaped and differently and more finely veined. 

 The new leaves are light yellowish green, with dark green 

 veining, and very attractive; the leaf-stalks and young 

 branchlets are dull crimson. The few-flowered umbels of 

 conspicuous white blossoms are borne in large, showy, 

 rather loose, corymbose panicles on the ends of the 

 branches, giving the tree a most ornate appearance. The 



outer layer of the bark is ashy gray, and is deciduous in 

 small, thin flakes, exposing the under layer, which is red- 

 brown, smooth and finely fissured. As an ornamental tree 

 E. corymbosa ranks with the best of the Eucalypti. Eco- 

 nomically it is of especial value in southern California for 

 bee pasturage at this season of the year, when bee-feed is 

 scarce. Its timber, however, according to Australian 

 authority, is not of much value, owing to the amount of 

 kino it contains, whence the popular name of Bloodwood. 



Parkinsonia aculeata. — November finds a few flowers 

 and not a few buds still lingering on this strikingly attrac- 

 tive plant, after a blooming season lasting all through the 

 long Californian summer. Ours is a spreading, shrubby 

 specimen, about five feet in height. Its curious, bright 

 green, bipinnate leaves, with three pairs of long, needle- 

 like, winged pinnae from six to eighteen inches in length, 

 and numerous tiny, oblanceolate leaflets, give it a very 

 graceful, airy appearance. This effect is heightened by 

 the slender, loose racemes of bright yellow, stellate flowers 

 on slight, but rigid, yellowish green peduncles. Botanic- 

 ally remarkable are the short, thick petioles, each ending 

 in a stout, sharp spine, and with two smaller, stipular spines 

 at its base. When the pinnae have fallen away, the petiole 

 persists as a formidable spine, constituting, with the stipu- 

 lar spines, a horrent combination in striking contrast with 

 the airy elegance of the general effect of this charming plant. 



Hakea i.aurina. — On the high bluff overlooking the 

 station to the west is a fine, bushy specimen of this most 

 ornamental tree, at present in full bloom. The peculiar, 

 deep red and white, globular flower-heads, borne in lavish 

 profusion all over the tree, and well set off by the dull- 

 green foliage, produce a striking impression. This tree is 

 succeeding well on the adobe soil of the mesa lands. 

 Planted some ten years ago, it is now ten feet in height, 

 with a compact, bushy crown eight feet in diameter. It 

 has bloomed and borne seed for several years. 



Santa Monica, Calif. John H. Barber. 



New or Little-known Plants. 

 Nymphasa stellata, var. Eastoniensis. 



NYMPH.EA STELLATA.often catalogued as N. ccerulea, 

 is one of the best of the Water-lilies, bearing a clear, 

 light-blue flower, delicately scented, and from six to eight 

 inches across. The flower which we figure on page 475 

 is a seedling of this plant, raised in the gardens of Oakes 

 Ames, Esq., and named Eastoniensis. It was shown at an 

 exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 

 September last, where it received favorable mention. The 

 color of the flower is a steel-blue, and it differs from those 

 of the type in that it does not show so distinctly the stellate 

 form, the petals being broader and more rounded at the 

 end. The flower is somewhat larger than in the true N. 

 stellata ; the leaves are longer, oval in shape and more 

 deeply toothed. The new plant grows rather more vigor- 

 ously than the type and has longer and thicker flower stems. 

 The seeds of N. stellata were sown in December, 1895. an ^ 

 the seedlings were potted up late in January, or as soon 

 as they could be handled and grown in a tank where the 

 water was kept at a temperature of about sixty-five degrees, 

 Fahrenheit. About the middle of June the seedlings were 

 planted in a shallow pond with a bottom composed of good 

 turfy loam, enriched with some bone-meal and well-rotted 

 cow-manure. All the plants grew luxuriantly, and they 

 were generally of the regulation form, excepting two, one 

 of them being this variety, Eastoniensis. 



Cultural Department. 



A Fungous Disease of the Apple. 



IT is not uncommon in Delaware to see apples dotted 

 with little black spots not unlike fly-specks in general 

 appearance. The popular name given by fruit growers to 

 this condition is "Blackbirds," though the reasons for this 



