534 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 305, 



macrosperma, from North America. Nothing at Kew lately 

 has attracted" more attention from earnest horticulturists 

 than this collection of hardy Bamboos. They are certain 

 to become universal favorites, especially in the warmer 

 parts of this country, where even the tenderest, T. Fal- 

 coneri, is perfectly hardy. The chief difficulty at present 

 is the names, which are in much confusion, owing partly 

 to carelessness or something worse on the part of dealers, but 

 chiefly to the difficulty of distinguishing many of them 

 until they flower. IMr. W. J. Bean, of the Kew Arboretum, 

 has prepared an excellent paper on the Kew collection, 

 which he read a few days ago before the Kew Society, and 

 which, when published, will help to elucidate matters re- 

 lating to the nomenclature, cultivation and usefulness of 

 hardy Bamboos. 



Akundinaria macrosperma and a. tecta. — Will some one 

 who knows tell us something about these two Bamboos, 

 which are said to be common in some parts of the United 

 States, but which are scarcely known in English gardens.? 

 There is a small tuft of A. macrosperma at Kew, and this 

 is probably the only representative of North American 

 Bamboos in this country. Information respecting the 

 character, behavior under cultivation and hardiness of your 

 native Bamboos, and also the sources whence plants can 

 be obtained, will be appreciated by all who are interested 

 in Bamboos here. 



Guevina Avellana, the Chilian Nut, is a plant that horti- 

 culturists in the southern United States are likely to be 

 interested in. It has been in cultivation in England since 

 1878, when Mr. W. Ball introduced and distributed it. In 1884 

 a figure of it was published in the Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 prepared from a plant grown in the open air in Cornwall, 

 and a few days ago a correspondent sent a specimen of it 

 to Kew, which had been taken from the plant then figured. 

 It forms a handsome evergreen bush or small tree, with 

 pinnate or bipinnate leaves, glossy, with rust-colored hairs 

 on the leaf-stalks and stems, the general appearance of the 

 plant being that of the tropical genus Rhopala, as repre- 

 sented in our stoves. In Gay's Flora Chilensis it is said to 

 be common in south Chili, where its nuts, known as Avel- 

 lans, are much esteemed. They are also collected and sent 

 to Peru and other places in South America. The flowers, 

 which are borne in axillary racemes, are half an inch wide, 

 white or rose colored, and the drupe-like fruits, which hang 

 for a very long time, are at first green, changing to violet 

 or black when ripe. The nuts are said to resemble Fil- 

 berts, Corylus Avellana, hence the name Avellans, and to 

 be of very good flavor, with slightly astringent properties. 

 In Chili this plant forms a tree thirty feet high. 



Guevina is a monotypic genus of Proteaceae and is closely 

 related to Rhopala. It is found wild only in Chili. I have 

 seen it cultivated in gardens hereunder the name of Quad- 

 ria heterophylla. If not already introduced into Florida, 

 California and other warm portions of the United States, it 

 is worth the experiment. If not of any value as a fruit- 

 tree, it has considerable claims as an ornamental tree for 

 the garden, its large rich green, glossy evergreen leaves 

 being decidedly handsome. 



Crocosmia aurea. — Perhaps American cultivators of this 

 plant know of the improved varieties now grown in Eng- 

 land. The type is well known as a useful plant for the 

 border or for cultivation in pots, growing and flowering 

 freely under ordinary treatment, and in gardens where the 

 winter temperature is not too severe becoming almost a 

 weed if planted in a sunny border. There are, however, 

 at least two varieties which are immensely superior to it, 

 the one called Maculata having flowers fully three inches 

 across, with broad overlapping segments of deep orange- 

 yellow color, blotched at the base with dark brown ; the 

 other is known as Imperialis, and I now learn that this 

 was raised by Herr Max Leichtlin at Baden-Baden, where 

 it was first distributed under the name of Macrantha in 

 1888. This has flowers even larger than those of Macu- 

 lata, and like it in substance and color, differing only in the 



absence of spots. Both varieties grow to a height of three 

 feet, and flower freely and continuously all the summer. A 

 third variety, grown at Kew as Imperialis, is evidently dis- 

 tinct from the true plant of that name, the flowers, although 

 as large, having narrower segments, colored clear yellow. 

 This might be well called Citrina. It is quite as tall as the 

 other two and as free-flowering. There are no plants of 

 the Tritonia section of Iridaceae more useful for producing 

 brilliant colors out-of-doors in summer than these Crocos- 

 mias. Of course, the hybrids between C. aurea and Tri- 

 tonia (Montbretia) Pottsii, obtained by Monsieur Lemoine, 

 have a similar value as border-plants. 



A Cactus Society. — Mr. Henry Cannell is making exer- 

 tions to promote an interest in Cacti among English horti- 

 culturists, and, with a view to showing how much has been 

 done, he proposes to get up an exhibition, if possible, un- 

 der the auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society, in 

 August next, and, if possible, form a Cactus Society. Mr. 

 Cannell is the only English nurseryman, so far as I know, 

 who possesses a collection of Cacti and other succulents. 

 It is somewhat remarkable that in ;this country, where hor- 

 ticultural taste is both comprehensive and diversified, there 

 is so little interest shown in Cactaceous plants. They are 

 not wanting in floral beauty, and for structural and other 

 peculiarities they have no equal among the families of 

 plants which find favor in gardens. I believe there are hun- 

 dreds of horticulturists who would grow these plants if they 

 knew them better. I hope they meet with higher appre- 

 ciation in America. 



Cypripedium Southgatense superbum is a new hybrid of 

 more than ordinary merit. It is from C. bellatulum, crossed 

 with C. Harrisianum, and it combines in a pleasing man- 

 ner the characteristics of both, the plant being dwarf, with 

 sturdy leaves and large flowers on short scapes ; the dor- 

 sal sepal is broad, flat, with brown longitudinal stripes on 

 a dull crimson ground; the petals are of the same color, 

 but spotted instead of striped, and the pouch is crimson, 

 becoming paler toward the apex. The plant was exhibited 

 a fortnight ago by Mr. T. Staffer and obtained a first-class 

 certificate. 



Cypripedium Minos. — This is another new Veitchian hy- 

 brid, the result of crossing C. Spicerianum with C. Fairie- 

 anum. It has the drooping petals characteristic of the last- 

 named species, a large white dorsal sepal marked with 

 red-purple at the base, and a pouch shaped like that of C. 

 Spicerianum and colored dull yellow, shaded with brown. 

 It obtained an award of merit this week. 



Cypripedium Fairieanum x Lawrencianum, is a new hy- 

 brid between the two species denoted by the name. It 

 was shown in flower a fortnight ago by Mr. T. Staffer, of 

 Manchester, and was awarded a certificate by the Royal 

 Horticultural Society. The flowers are as large as those 

 of an ordinary C. Lawrencianum ; the dorsal sepal is green 

 below, white above, lined and veined with claret-purple ; 

 the petals are drooping, green, with purple lines and spots, 

 and tufts of hairs on the wavy margins ; the lip is dull pur- 

 ple tinged with green. It is worthy of note that every 

 hybrid of which C. Fairieanum is one of the parents has 

 attractive characters. C. Fairieanum is perhaps the rarest 

 of all species in cultivation. It was introduced in 1857 

 from Assam, and has never been found wild since. Mean- 

 while, the breeders of hybrids have made much use of it, 

 but, so far as I know, only as a male parent, and we have 

 no hybrid of which C. Fairieanum is the mother. It would 

 pay to fertilize this species with its own pollen and raise a 

 Ijatch of seedlings of it. 



L^lia anceps var. Amesiana. — This beautiful variety of 

 one of the best of all Cattleyoid Orchids was shown last 

 week by Mr. Staffer, and was awarded a first-class certifi- 

 cate. It is not a new plant, as some of the papers have 

 inferred, having been described by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. 

 in 1888 from a plant flowered in their collection. It has 

 white sepals and petals, tinged at the tips with violet ; the 

 sepals are nearly as broad as in the variety Dawsoni, and 



