3o6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 282. 



There are hundreds of seedlings in flower in the large 

 house devoted to Cacti, Agaves and other succulents at 

 Kew, where they are used as an edging to the bed 

 in the centre of the house, and make a pretty show all 

 through the summer. To any amateur interested in cross- 

 breeding, these Streptocarpi may be recommended as plas- 

 tic, responsive, improvable material, very easily manipu- 

 lated and soon showing results. 



MusA AND ALLIED Genera. — Mr. J. G. Baker, keeper 

 of the Herbarium at Kew, has recently prepared a 

 Sj'nopsis of the Genera and Species of Musecs, which was 

 published in the Annals of Botany, vol. vii., and which he 

 has had reprinted and published as a separate pamphlet of 

 thirty-three pages. It is of the same excellence as Mr. 

 Baker's many other works of the same character, and as it 

 is in English and deals with plants in which horticulturists 

 are interested it has a special value to readers of Gar- 

 den AND Forest. The genera treated upon are Heliconia, 

 Strelitzia, Ravenala and Musa. The first three are charac- 

 terized by hermaphrodite flowers ; the fourth, IMusa, by 

 unisexual flowers. Heliconias have erect stems, sheathed 

 by the petioles of the non-distichous leaves ; flowers in 

 panicles of several umbels in the axils of large bright-col- 

 ored branch-bracts, the flowers themselves various in color ; 

 fruit small, usually blue. Twenty-nine species are de- 

 scribed, all native of tropical America. H. Bihai, intro- 

 duced into cultivation from the West Indies in 1786 and 

 many times since under various names, is the commonest 

 and best-known in gardens. Mr. Baker refers to this spe- 

 cies the plants knovi^n in gardens under the following 

 names : H. Cariboea, H. aureo-striata, H. triumphans, H. 

 striata, H. Siemanni. Other species in cultivation here are 

 H. psittacorum, H. metallica, H. pulverulenta and H. au- 

 rantiaca. All the Heliconias known to me are handsome 

 foliage-plants for the stove, and when in flower they pre- 

 sent a singular and attractive appearance. 



Strelitzia contains only four species, all natives of south 

 Africa. They are all old garden plants in England and 

 are handsome, both in leaf and flower. They thrive 

 equally well in a stove or greenhouse, the large species 

 being as effective as Musas. S. parvifolia is remarkable 

 for its long slender petiole, like a stout rush bearing a small 

 oblong blade, the variety juncea having the blade reduced 

 to a mere flattened tip. This species rarely flowers with 

 us. S. Reginae, with its varieties, glauca, ovata and fari- 

 nosa, besides various others under garden names, is a first- 

 rate garden-plant, as it is only about a yard high and flow- 

 ers freely every year, the strange-looking orange and blue 

 flowers lasting for some weeks. S. Augusta and S. Nicolai 

 are tall species with stout woody stems and large flowers 

 borne on a thick horizontal branch produced from the base 

 of the leaves. 



Ravenala (Urania) consists of two species. R. Madagas- 

 cariensis is the well-known Traveler's Tree and one of the 

 noblest of all plants for large stoves. It is said to attain a 

 height of a hundred feet in the forests of Madagascar, where 

 it is called Ravin-ala (forest leaves) and Akondro-ala (forest 

 banana). There is a specimen of it in the Kew Palm-house 

 with leaf-blades twelve feet long. The other species, which, 

 singularly, is a native of Guiana and Para, is smaller, grow- 

 ing only to a height of thirty feet, with ovate leaf-blades 

 two feet broad. It is in cultivation at Kew. 



The genus Musa, I believe, gave Mr. Baker considerable 

 trouble. He admits thirty-two species, and divides them 

 into three sub-genera : (i) Physocaulis, with bottle-shaped 

 stems; example, M. Ensete. Seven species are included 

 here, but only one other besides M. Ensete is in culti- 

 vation — namely, M. superba. (2) Eumusa, with cylindri- 

 cal stems, many flowers to a bract, and ovate acuminate 

 petals ; example, M. Sapientum. Fourteen species belong 

 to this group, the most valuable of all, as it contains all 

 those species which have edible fruits and that which is 

 the source of Manilla hemp, M. textilis, the cultivation of 

 which is limited to the Philippines, from whence about 

 50,000 tons of the fibre are annually exported to Great 



Britain and the United States. The forms of M. Sapientum 

 are very numerous, some being comparatively worthless 

 for their fruit, while others are most delicious. We have 

 Bananas at Kew which, if grown in the tropics and sent to 

 the European markets, would be prime favorites with epi- 

 cures, for they are very greatly superior both in size and 

 flavor to those at present imported. The best are Regia, 

 known in India as Pissang Radji ; Champa, a large deli- 

 ciously flavored fruit ; Rubra, or Ram-Kela of the Indians, 

 larger than Champa, the fruit being sometimes eight inches 

 long and three inches in diameter, dull red-yellow when 

 ripe, and as luscious as a peach. There is a fortune in 

 these three kinds of Banana for the enterprising planter who 

 grows them in quantity for the European and American 

 markets. (3) Rhodochlamys, with cylindrical stems, few 

 flowers to a bract and linear petals ; example, M. rosacea. 

 The ten species included here are only of value as decora- 

 tive plants, their fruits being small and usually not fit to 

 eat. They are nearly all in cultivation at Kew, and M. 

 coccinea is not an uncommon stove-plant in England, its 

 stems being only two or three feet in height, the leaves 

 less than a yard long, and the inflorescence a conspicuous 

 erect terminal cluster of bright red boat-shaped bracts en- 

 closing yellow flowers. M. Sumatrana has elegant green 

 foliage, with large blotches of claret-brown. M. sanguinea, 

 M. rosacea and M. Mannii are also attractive when in 

 flower. 



It will be seen from the above that Mr. Baker's latest ad- 

 dition to systematic botany is a valuable contribution to 

 the literature of the garden also. 



The Index Ktwensis. This work is now rapidly ap- 

 proaching completion, part I., containing 728 pages quarto, 

 being just issued. The following communication from Sir 

 Joseph Hooker, published in the prospectus, explains the 

 origin, plan and purpose of this important and comprehen- 

 sive undertaking : " Shortly before his death, Mr. Darwin 

 informed me of his intention to devote a considerable sum 

 in aid or furtherance of some work of utility to biological J 

 science, and to provide for its completion should this not 1 

 be accomplished during his lifetime. He further informed 

 me that the difficulties he had experienced in accurately 

 designating the many plants which he had studied, and 

 ascertaining their native countries, had suggested to him 

 the compilation of an index to the names and authorities 

 of all known flowering plants and their countries, as a work 

 of supreme importance to students of systematic and geo- 

 graphical botany, and to horticulturalists, and as a fitting 

 object of the fulfillment of his intentions. I have only to 

 add that, at his request, I undertook to direct and super- 

 vise such a work ; and that it is being carried out at the 

 Herbarium of the Royal Gardens, Kew, with the aid of the 

 staff of that establishment." Asa reference- work regard- 

 ing the nomenclature of plants. Index Kewensis will stand 

 pre-eminent. Mr. Henry Froude, Oxford University Press 

 Warehouse, Amen Corner, London, E. C, is the publisher. 



London. W. WatSOU. 



Cultural Department. 



Spring Bulbs. — II. 



THE Narcissus family, the "Golden Host," comes to the 

 mind of every one when spring bulbs are mentioned. 

 They are all beautiful, all worthy of bemg grown, and nearly 

 all can be grown out-of-doors. Of about one hundred and 

 fifty species and varieties which I have tried, I can think of 

 only three which I should fear to trust out-of-doors over win- 

 ter with a light covering to shade the ground and keep it from 

 cracking with alternate freezing and thawing. These are the 

 beautiful white Narcissus Bulbocodium monophyllus of Algeria, 

 N. pachybulbus, also Algerian, and the true Chinese variety, 

 now so much recommended for house-culture in pebbles and 

 water. I emphasize "true," for many Tazetta varieties are 

 now sold, unwittingly, no doubt, as Chinese. These three varie- 

 ties I grow in pots or in a cold-frame, as well as the autumnal 

 species, N. Serotinus and N. serotinus elegans, which bloom 

 in October, but are not very desirable. I have never seen 



