226 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 274. 



copiously branched and crowded with flowers, each flower 

 being six inches across, and composed of spreading wavy- 

 segments colored yellow, with large red-purple spots. 

 Smaller plants of this Orchid have been in cultivation at 

 Kew for some years. 



Stanhopea Amesiana. — A plant of this new, distinct and 

 beautiful Orchid in flower was shown last week by Messrs. 

 Low & Co., who imported it among a batch of S. Lowiana, 

 • which it resembles in the size and form of its flowers, but 

 differs from in color, being pure white. The plant shown 

 bore two flowers, each of which measured five inches across, 

 the large fleshy hornless labellum suggesting a curiously 

 formed piece of white porcelain. The leaves of the plant 

 had petioles nine inches long and blades fifteen inches by 

 five inches ; the pseudo-bulbs were large, pear-shaped and 

 brownish green. Stanhopeas are not prime favorites in 

 this country, otherwise we might say of this new introduc- 

 tion that it would be certain to find general favor. The 

 flowers were deliciously fragrant. 



Phal.enopsis tetraspis. — Although introduced into English 

 gardens from the Andaman Islands by Major General Berke- 

 ley twelve years ago, and described at that time by Reich- 

 eiibach from a plant flowered by the late Mr. John Day as 

 " a very free-flowering species, bearing a rich panicle of 

 ivory-white flowers in the way of P. violacea, delightfully 

 fragrant," this Phalaenopsis is rarely heard of among 

 cultivators. There are several plants of it in flower at Kew 

 now. Each flower is one and a half inches across, with 

 broad, fleshy, pure white sepals and petals, and a narrow, 

 hairy labellum blotched with yellow. According to General 

 Berkeley, this species grows on Mangrove and other trees 

 in muddy swamps at the extreme end of the creeks, where 

 the water is fresh and where the plants hang from the 

 branches a few feet above the water, growing with extraor- 

 dinary luxuriance. It is a first-rate species of Phalaenopsis 

 for the garden. 



New Hybrid Orchids. — The following were shown in 

 flower last week, and received certificates : Laelia Latona, 

 a hybrid between L. purpurata and L. cinnabarina ; Laelio- 

 Cattleya Ascania, a hybrid between L. xanthina and C. 

 Trianoe (Veitch) ; Dendrobium Nestor, a hybrid between 

 D. Parishii and D. superbum (C. Winn). An award of 

 merit was given to Masdevallia Geleniana, a hybrid raised 

 by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. four years ago from M. Shuttle- 

 worthii and M. Wageneri. It is a pretty free-flowering plant 

 intermediate in character between the two parents. Lycaste 

 Pcelmani is a pretty species in the way of L. aromatica, 

 with tall, erect, single-flowered scapes, the flowers being 

 formed of three long lance-shaped outer segments colored 

 chocolate-brown, and two involute inner segments colored 

 citron-yellow, the lip being narrow and fleshy and clothed 

 with hairs suggesting a caterpillar. It was shown last 

 week by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. 



Veitchs' Manual of Orchidaceous Plants. — Part IX. of 

 this most valuable scientific work has lately been published. 

 It contains descriptions and figures of the cultivated spe- 

 cies of Cymbidium, Zygopetalum, Lycaste, Cycnoches, 

 Stanhopea, Maxillaria, Trichopilia, Grammatophyllum and 

 a few other allied genera. The descriptive and historical 

 information is of the same high standard as has character- 

 ized this work from the first. Its preparation must have 

 entailed an enormous amount of labor in research, etc. 

 Lovers of Orchids, both botanical and horticultural, are 

 fortunate in having such a thorough study of these plants 

 as they are known under cultivation. This last part con- 

 tains 190 pages, and is published by the authors, its price 

 being thirteen shillings and sixpence. 



Tuberous Aroids. — There has been an exceptionally in- 

 teresting display of flowers, and, Lam afraid I must also 

 add, foetid odor from the various species of tropical Amor- 

 phophallus and allied genera grown at Kew. A collection 

 of these plants, if wiltivated so as to get them to flower 

 simultaneously, v.'ould create a sensation. Remarkable In 

 form, large in size, attractive in color and powerful in odor, 

 the inflorescences of Amorphophallus, Godwinia, Zypho- 



nium, Arisoema, Sauromatum and several other genera are 

 unrivaled among Aroids for genuine interest. Besides the 

 older species, which have flowered freely at Kew this 

 spring, several new ones have bloomed for the first time. 

 Among others, Amorphophallus oncophyllus, an Indian spe- 

 cies with a large trumpet-shaped spathe colored yellow and 

 red, and an erect club-like white spadix. A new and as yet 

 unnamed genus introduced from Sierra Leone by Mr. Scott- 

 Elliott is at the present time a great attraction to visitors. 

 It has a large, inflated, hood-like spadix of various shades 

 of green, fantastic-looking and at the same time decidedly 

 ornamental. Amorphophallus Rex is about to develop its 

 flowers. It also is a new Indian discovery. 



Macaranga Porteana. — This handsome foliage-plant was 

 introduced a few years ago to Paris from the Philippines, 

 and has been distributed under the name of Mappa, a genus 

 now merged in Macaranga. A specimen of the plant is 

 now in flower in a stove at Kew, where a figure has been 

 prepared for publication in the Botanical Magazine. The 

 plant at Kew is four feet high, with numerous ovate peltate 

 leaf-blades nearly two feet in diameter, on stalks two feet 

 long ; when young their color is dull purple. The flowers 

 are small and of no ornament. There is a very handsome 

 specimen of this plant in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. 

 Macaranga belongs to Euphorbiaceae and consists of some 

 eighty species of tropical trees and shrubs. 



Rhodomyrtus tomentosa is a greenhouse shrub of more 

 than ordinary interest. I saw it last week in flower in 

 Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons' Nursery at Chelsea, a compact, 

 elegant little pyramid two feet high, with ovate gray-green 

 leaves, strongly nerved as in Melastomaceae, and bearing 

 on the ends of the branchlets loose clusters of pale mauve 

 flowers an inch and a half across, with a brush-like bunch 

 of stamens, characteristic of the Myrtles. Messrs. Veitch 

 call it by its old name, Myrtus tomentosa. It is an old garden 

 plant, but is scarcely known now. It is a native of various 

 parts of India, where it is known as Hill Gooseberry, its 

 fruit, about the size of cherries, being fleshy, sweet and 

 aromatic and colored dark purple. It is eaten raw or made 

 into jam called "Thaonty." This is a plant worth looking 

 after, both for its decorative value and for its fruit. 



London. W. WatSOtl. 



Cultural Department. 



Protection of Plants in Winter. 



IN the history of the introduction of exotic plants into culti- 

 vation a great deal has depended upon experiments, in ad- 

 dition to a knowledge of the surroundings of the species in 

 their native homes, in order to find the best conditions for 

 their development in a new soil and climate. It has taken 

 many tests and many failures to find the conditions under 

 which numerous Orchids will develop best in our greenhouses, 

 and the records of the introduction of hardy plants contain not 

 a few cases of a similar nature. When the Gingko was first 

 brought to England it was practically treated as a greenhouse 

 plant, although now it takes its place with the ordinary forest- 

 trees. 



With many of the new varieties of fruiting-plants orig-inafed 

 every year, and varieties of ornamental plants such as Rhodo- 

 dendrons, especially when the hardiness of the parent or pa- 

 rents is not well proved, it is necessary to subject them to the 

 rigors of our cold winters and hot summers to find out what 

 they will endure. In such a varied collection as that at the 

 Arnold Arboretum many experiments of this nature have 

 necessarily to be made, especially for winter protection, and 

 the results are often interesting. Three or four kinds of pro- 

 tection are usually employed. Some plants, like Rhododen- 

 drons, are sheltered from the direct rays of the sun and 

 sudden changes of temperature, by branches of ever- 

 greens set up around them ; others of smaller stature are 

 covered by leaves or straw and branches laid on top ; some, 

 which are sufficiently pliable, are bent over to the ground, 

 pegged down and covered with leaves, on the top of which 

 soil is thrown ; others have the soil piled directly on their 

 branches and stems without an intervening layer of leaves 

 or straw. 



Where the shrubs are pliable and can be bent to the ground, 



