486 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 300. 



leaves and erect scape of ]Kile flesh-colored flowers, as 

 large as those of Calanthe Veitchii, are very ornamental. 

 Strong plants produce scapes fifteen inches high, bearing 

 from six to ten flowers. 



Cynorchis grandiflora. — This is a beautiful little ground 

 Orchid from Madagascar, which promises to do well under 

 cultivation. It flowered at Kew last year, and it is now in 

 flower again, the scape being a foot high, with a flower two 

 inches across, of a rich crimson color, the lip being large 

 and flat, curiously lobed. Tropical terrestrial Orchids are, 

 as a rule, unsatisfactory, but there is some hope that this 

 new introduction from Madagascar will prove an exception. 



RiCHARDiA Rehmanni. — Auothcr new "Calla," this time a 

 rosy flowered one, is announced by a Dutch nurseryman. 

 Unless I am much mistaken, this is no other than R. Rehmanni, 

 described by Engler in 1883, introduced to the Cambridge 

 Botanical Garden in 1888, and recently sent to Kew from 

 Natal as "a pink-flowered Arum." It flowered at Cam- 

 bridge, and Mr. Lynch, the Curator, stated that although he 

 had received it under the name of R. ^^thiopica, var. rosea, 

 the spathe produced with him had but a very slight tint of 

 rose. The chief characteristic of R. Rehmanni is its long 

 lanceolate, not sagittate, leaf-blade, which measures about 

 a foot in length. The spathe may be described as that of 

 a small R. /Ethiopica, being about four inches long. The 

 spathes produced in Holland are described as white, tinted 

 with rose. It is evident, from the fact that this plant has 

 been sent from south Africa by three different collectors, 

 all describing it as rose-colored, that there is more color in 

 it in Africa than it has revealed here so far. 



Stapelia gigantea. — This truly wonderful species is now 

 flowering freely in a stove at Kew, some of the star-shaped 

 flowers measuring a foot in diameter. While it may be 

 taken, as a general rule, that Stapelias prefer a dry atmos- 

 phere with plenty of sunlight and warmth, there are excep- 

 tions, and 8. gigantea is one of them. Until this plant was 

 placed in a moist stove, along with Palms, Aroids, etc., 

 where it got shade in bright weather and plenty of water 

 at all times, except for a few weeks in midwinter, it never 

 flowered. There is something fascinating about the flow- 

 ers of Stapelias, dull though thiey are in color, as a rule, and 

 disagreeable, too, in odor, but when these flowers are a 

 foot across, tawny-red in color, hairy and not too disagree- 

 able in odor, they are worth a place in every stove collec- 

 tion. S. gigantea is as interesting in its way as Aristolo- 

 chia gigas Sturtevantii or Victoria regia. 



Begonia Gjloire de Lorraine. — This is a hybrid between 

 B. Socotrana and B. Dregii, the latter a Cape species in the 

 way of B. Caffra and B. Natalensis, with a tuberous root- 

 stock, annual stems, bearing soft green leaves and numer- 

 ous bunches of white flowers. The hybrid was raised by 

 Monsieur Lemoine, of Nancy, and exhibited in flower at 

 the Paris Exhibition. It has been flowering at Kew for 

 some time, and last week a few well-flowered examples of 

 it were exhibited from the garden of L. de Rothschild, Esq. 

 It is dwarf, rarely exceeding a foot in height, with numer- 

 ous short branches, which are literally smothered with 

 bright rose-pink flowers, which last a long time, a charac- 

 ter peculiar to B. Socotrana and all its progeny. This is 

 the seventh distinct hybrid of which B. Socotrana is one of 

 the parents, and every one of the seven is worth a place in 

 all good gardens. They flower very freely, usually in late 

 autumn or winter, and their flowers are always pretty in 

 color and last a long time. 



Kniphofia citrina. — This is a new species described in 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle this week by Mr. Baker from a 

 plant flowered by Herr Max Leichtlin, of Baden-Baden, who 

 introduced it from the mountains north of Grahamstown. 

 It is chiefly interesting in having pale yellow flowers, in 

 other respects being not unlike K. Macowani. Herr Max 

 Leichtlin says it is hardy and flowers in October. I have 

 lately called the attention of hybridizers and growers of 

 hardy plants to the varied, plastic and proniising material 

 of the genus Kniphofia. The species cross freely, and the 

 seedlings are not long ere they flower. Excej^t in the 



warmer parts of England, many of them are not absolutely 

 hardy, but there are many parts of the United States where 

 Kniphofias would grow like Thistles, and in such places 

 cross-breeding, with a view to improving the constitution 

 of the genus generally as well as obtaining more variety of 

 color, might be undertaken with advantage and ultimate 

 profit. 



Halesia v. Mohria (page 433). — If Mr. Britton's dates are 

 correct, it is difficult to understand why he proposes to sub- 

 stitute his new name Mohria for the old Halesia. The 

 question is, cannot a name once misapplied be used again.? 

 To put the matter plainly, I create a new genus, Brittonia, 

 in compliment to Mr. Britton, but Sir Joseph Hooker points 

 out that my genus is a bad one and cannot stand. Then 

 comes Professor Sargent with the desire to name a genus 

 in compliment to Mr. Britton ; is he to be precluded from 

 doing so because of my bad attempt } If not, then Halesia 

 must stand, but if by the principles of nomenclature adopted 

 by American botanists he cannot, then I am afraid practi- 

 cal men will say so much the worse for the principles. The 

 devotees of botany and its laws ought surely to show some 

 appreciation of and sympathy with the requirements of 

 horticulture. It is bad enough when a well-established 

 plant-name has to give way for good reasons, but do please 

 let there always be very good reasons for the change. I 

 can assure Mr. Britton that he will have to support his 

 change of the name Halesia with better arguments than 

 those given in Garden and Forest. Phonetics do not, of 

 course, count in these matters, otherwise it might be urged 

 that as we have already Morsea (Irid) and Moorea (Orchid), 

 a third name having exactly the same sound might as well 

 be avoided. „_ „, 



London. W. Wa/SOft. 



[Most of the working botanists of the United States have' 

 conformed to, and are governed by, the rules of nomen- 

 clature adopted by the Botanical Club of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, at the meet- 

 ing held in Rochester, New York, in August, 1892. The 

 fourth of these rules provides "that the publication of al 

 generic name or a binomial invalidates the use of the same 

 name for any subsequently published genus or species 

 respectively" (see Bu//. Torrey Bot. Club, xix., 290). Ac 

 cording to this rule, a name once misapplied, provided it; 

 has been published, cannot be used again. Its enforce 

 ment necessitates the change of some of the best-estab 

 lished and most familiar plant-names, like Halesia, one o 

 the few North American trees which, up to this time, have 

 escaped a heavy burden of synonyms. However much the 

 enforcement of such a rule is to be regretted from certain 

 points of view, from others it is really advantageous, and, so 

 far as America is concerned, it now appears inevitable. — Ed.] 



i 



Cultural Department. 



Diseases of Raspberries and Blackberries. 



'X'HE red rust is comparatively well understood since the De- 

 -^ partment of Agriculture has investigated it. This rust has 

 a perennial mycelium which lives over winter in the plant and 

 develops with the young canes the following spring. In the sum- 

 mer of 1892 a single Blackberry-bush was found on the station- 

 grounds affected with the disease. On June 23d all the canes 

 were cut close to theground.andnewones, apparently healthy, 

 sprang up. This spring, however, at the usual season, the 

 leaves and twigs were covered with the well-known orange- 

 red color, sliowing that the fungus had been continuing its 

 growth all the time within the tissues of the plant, and was ready 

 to develop its spores at the proper time. This one fact in the 

 life-history of the fungus being known, it is easy to see that a 

 plant once attacked is doomed, and that the only remedy is to 

 dig it up and burn it. Spraying may prevent the germination 

 of some of the spores which it scatters abroad, but it is far 

 cheaper to beginkat tlie source and prevent their production in 

 the first place by rooting out and burning every diseased plant 

 the moment it is discovered. It may be necessary to look after 

 the Wild Raspberry, Blackberry and Dewberry plants in the 

 vicinity, for, if they are numerous and badly affected, the dis- 



