i6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 255. 



liking the waxy soils of the Trinity bottoms nor tlie finely com- 

 minuted chalky limestone of the higher lands, yet the Oak 

 genus is well represented in the county. The Bur Oak (Quer- 

 cus macrocarpa), Scarlet Oak (O. coccinea), Durand's Oak (Q. 

 Durandii), Shinii Oak, Post Oak (O. stehata). Black Jack (Q. 

 nigra), Chestnut Oak (O. Muhlenbergii)and Q. cinerea are here. 

 Ulmus, too, is well represented, White Elm (U. Americana), 

 Slippery Elm (U. fulva), Winged Elm (U. alata) and U. crassi- 

 folia being more or less common. Red Cedar is abundant on 

 the hills, and the common Juniper is often seen. In cultiva- 

 tion the last-named species becomes a handsome little tree. 



Of the smaller trees I noticed Ilex decidua. Viburnum pruni- 

 folium, Forstiera pubescens, F. acuminata and Sophora aflfinis, 

 which should be read for S. tomentosa in my notes from 

 Waco. My good friend, Mr. Julien Reverchon, to whom I am 

 indebted for a knowledge of plants of this county, which win- 

 ter and rainy weather have prevented me from seeing, invited 

 my attention to a way that this species has adopted in order to 

 keep on good terms with its larger neighbors, and under their 

 protection to rise higher in the world than it otherwise could 

 have done. It often grows within a few inches of another tree, 

 and rises among the branches of it thirty feet or more, with a 

 verysHm flexible stem, which of itself could hardly stand alone. 

 When standing by itself it is seldom twenty feet tail. It some- 

 times attains a diameter of six inches. 



Silphium laciniatum is common in centralTexas as far south 

 as Bastrop. It is the larger Roun-weed of the north, the Polar- 

 plant of the plains. It is the Compass-flower of Longfellow's 

 " Evangeline." The license of poetry is seen in his description 

 of the Compass-flower, as it also is in that of the country. At 

 the time when "Evangeline" was written I should hardly have 

 dared to trust myself alone on the prairies with no other guide 

 but a Compass-flower. It is certain that if our laureate poet 

 could have lived to look over now the beautiful prairies of this 

 western country, supplied with all the arts and appliances of 

 civilization, he would not have called it a desert. The little- 

 known S. albiflorum is also abundant here. It occupies the 

 higher limestone-lands, and much resembles in habit, though 

 less tall and more bushy, S. laciniatum, which likes better the 

 lower and richer soils. 



Nelumbo lutea grows abundantly in still waters over most 

 of Texas. It may readily be distinguished from species of 

 Castalia by its larger, centrally peltate, entire leaves. It bears 

 larger flowers than any other North American plant, excepting 

 one species of Magnolia. It is also remarkable for its large 

 top-shaped receptacle, holding in its cells the edible round 

 nuts, and for the great development of the embryonal bud be- 

 fore germination, it becoming foliaceous and green before it 

 leaves its shell. Leaves of it that I measured in BigSodusBay, 

 New York, were over three feet in diameter. The species is 

 easily queen of North American water-plants, and it belongs 

 to a family of plant-gods. Such extreme southern plants as 

 Parkinsonia aculeata and Cassia occidentalis still accompany 

 us northward. 



When at Victoria I saw a thriving West Indian, officinal 

 Cassia fistula, growing in a garden where it had been raised 

 from a seed. The large, woody pods of this species are some- 

 times two feet long. The pulp in which the seeds are im- 

 bedded is a well-known cathartic. Dallas County has quite a 

 number of native Ferns. Mr. Reverchon has collected here 

 large and handsome specimens of Woodsia obtusa, Pellaea 

 purpurea, Asplenium ebeneum, Pteris aquilina, and of Poly- 

 podium incanum. The last is sure of success in the struggle 

 for existence, for when its tastes or its plans prevent it from 

 growing on the ground, it grows on rocks, on logs, on trees 

 sometimes forty feet high, and near the coast it grows in pro- 

 fusion on roofs of buildings. 



Callicarpa Americana, French Mulberry, is abundant in this 

 region, extending westward to the San Antonio valley. It lav- 

 ishes all its beauty upon its fruit, which it makes very hand- 

 some, but barely edible. 



Homely Verbesina Virginica is very common over most of 

 Texas. It prefers rich, moist soils. It is the Ice Plant of Texas. 

 The cause of the phenomenon that gives to one species its 

 common name does not appear to be well understood. The 

 exudation from the lower part of the stem resembles pressed 

 snow on frost more than it does frozen water. In the speci- 

 mens which I examined the ice was in flakes, layers or plates, 

 very light, and when pressed in my hand little remained. 

 Roots of this plant are of reputed medicinal value as an 

 astringent. 



Liliaceous Androstephium violaceum is often to be met in 

 this region. It is worthy of cultivation. I was first introduced 

 to the species in Comanche County, Kansas. 

 Stillingia angustifolia is common in sterile places. This 



species is sometimes used instead of officinal S. sylvatica in the 

 preparation of proprietary medicines. Having heard of no 

 ill effects arising from its use in that way it may be presumed 

 that our plant is at least innocent. Innocency is the great 

 principle to be observed in the preparation of such medicines. 



Tall-climbing Cuscuta exaltata grows near Dallas ; also, 

 humble Marsilia vestita, floating Azolla Caroliniana, and rare 

 and curious Isoetes melanopoda. I have not observed Astra- 

 galus moUissimus, " Loco," in this county. It is, however, 

 abundant farther west. It has a very unsavory reputation ; 

 all manners of hard terms have been applied to it ; it has even 

 been accused of driving horses, cattle, and sometimes men 

 and women, to insanity and death, and states have paid boun- 

 ties for its extermination. But after a careful examination of 

 the subject from his own observation, and what he has learned 

 from the stories of cattlemen during extended tours through 

 the extensive region which it inhabits, the writer has reached 

 the conclusion tliat the common notion, that the use of our 

 plants by live stock produces insanity or other ill effects upon 

 them, must be relegated to the waste-basket of popular delu- 

 sions. Before an intelligent and honest court it would not be 

 convicted of such offenses, even upon an ex parte examina- 

 tion. The same holds in regard to Oxytropis and to all the 

 leguminous so-called " Locos." It may, however, be proper 

 to suggest that the ills upon stock that are attributed to these 

 " Locos " may be produced by species of Ergot (Claviceps), 

 which grow in great abundance upon many grasses through- 

 out the range of our species, Ergot being known to produce 

 insanity and other ills upon live stock and upon people. 



Jatrapha stimulosa. Bull Nettle, Tread Softly — the common 

 names of this species of extended southern range — indicate 

 somewhat its vicious character. But its large, white calycine 

 leaves are fragrant, and its seeds have none of the poisonous 

 qualities of Castor-beans, which they closely simulate. They 

 are edible and pleasant. In their season they are eagerly sought 

 by boys and by pigs. The boys, in dread of the stinging hairs 

 of the plant, use little sticks to get the seeds out of the pods ; 

 the pigs, more patient than the boys, wait for the seeds, of 

 their own will, to drop. The roots of the plant become very 

 large and are sometimes four or five feet long. Pigs feed also 

 upon them. 



Throughout central Texas, in early spring, the handsome 

 little Clover, Trifolium amphianthum, displays its red flowers. 

 They, indeed, make the show, but its rarely seen underground 

 flowers produce most of the seed, thus preserving the plant 

 from destruction and keeping it true to its specific character. 

 It seems as though nature was sometimes as bent on prevent- 

 ing cross-fertilization in some species of plants as she is in de- 

 vising ways to effect that result in others. 



Kansas City, Kansas. E. N. Plank. 



New or Little-known Plants. 



Aster turbinellus. 



THIS handsome Aster, although well worth a place in 

 any large collection pf plants, is rarely found in gar- 

 dens, and no portrait has ever been published of it pre- 

 viously to the one which is found on page 17 of this issue, 

 made by Mr. Faxon from a plant grown in Professor Sar- 

 gent's garden at Brookline, Massachusetts, where it was 

 sent many years ago by the late Dr. Engelmann.of St. Louis. 

 Aster turbinellus produces slender stems three feet or 

 more in height and diffusely panicled above, light green 

 oblong or narrowly lanceolate leaves two or three inches 

 in length, and showy heads of bright blue-violet flowers. 

 It inhabits uplands and prairies from Illinois and Missouri 

 to western Arkansas and Louisiana, and, like all the Ameri- 

 can Asters, is a plant which can be easily established in the 

 garden and readily increased by the division of the roots. 



Cultural Department. 



Irises and their Cultivation. — IV. 



'T'HERE are so many species, variefies and hybrids of 

 -*■ rhizomatous Irises in cultivation that it is impossible to 

 give within reasonable limits of space more than mere sugges- 

 tions as to those which seem most interesting for some reason, 

 or are of special value in the garden. Considering all points, 

 there is no group of Irises more satisfactory for general cul- 

 ture than the bearded ones, especially the taller forms, such as 



