Garden and Forest. 



[January i, 1X90. 



A few data summarized from the catalogues mentioned 

 will give some' idea of the extent and interest of Mr. Han- 

 hury's collections. There are fifty-one Agaves, sixty-nine 

 Opuntias, thirty-nine Cereus, as many Mamillarias, forty 

 Aloes, twenty-seven Stapelias and nearly a hundred Mesem- 

 bryanthemums. To go on counting would be a somewhat 

 tedious task for the writer, and the results of his efforts, if 

 published to any extent, would probably prove as tedious to 

 the readers of Garden and Forest ; I therefore drop statis- 

 tics with the remark that Acacia occupies a page and a half 

 and Solanum nearly a page of the catalogue. 



Of course all the Palms mentioned in previous series of 

 notes, and many others besides, are to be seen at La Mortola, 

 but the general collections of plants are too vast to allow 

 space for large masses of each species. The most attractive 

 member of the genus Phoenix — I am speaking of those culti- 

 vated in the open ground along the Riviera — is P. Canariensis ; 

 it is a quick grower, and is now grown in enormous num- 

 bers. Instead of having somewhat scattered glaucous pinnae 

 and rather stiff habit like the common Date Palm, it has more 

 numerous glossy bright green pinnae and a graceful habit. 

 There seems to have been some doubt always as to the origin 

 of this species until Dr. Christ, of Basle, who studied some 

 year or two ago the flora of the Canary Islands on the 

 spot, found localities in which truly wild colonies of the 

 Phoenix were growing ; other evidence of an historical nature 

 collected by Dr. Christ, and his companion, Dr. Bolle, furnishes 

 additional proof that this handsome Palm is really a native of 

 the Canary Islands. Altogether forty-four Palm-names figure 

 in Mr. Hanbury's catalogue — some of these, however, will 

 have to be reduced when the plants flower and fruit. 



I select a small proportion of the plants in flower at the 

 time of our visit: Tecoma stans and T. capensis, the former 

 with yellow, the latter with scarlet flowers — both splendid 

 bushes. Carica Cundinamarcensis was both in flower and 

 fruit. Statice rosea, a south African plant with charming, 

 rose colored blossoms, was represented by a big, dense bush 

 clothed with flowers ; under cultivation in England it is rarely 

 satisfactory. Russellia juncea and Plumbago Capensis gave an 

 abundance of blossom, and in one or two spots the splendid 

 blue trumpets of Ipomoea Learii formed quite a dazzling 

 sheet of color ; never under glass in England had my com- 

 panion or myself seen this climber to such advantage. Correa 

 cardinalis, the most beautiful member of this Australian 

 genus, was noted as especially attractive ; not far from it 

 another Australian plant, Pimelea decussata, was also in 

 flower. Iochrotna Tonellianum, with purple blossoms ; I. 

 coccineum, with scarlet ones, and the Humming-bird's Trum- 

 pet, Zauschneria Californica, made an attractive trio. The 

 huge, white flowers of Cereus Napoleonis were especially 

 striking, and on a "pergola," or walk with a sort of flat, trel- 

 lised roof clothed with a bewildering array of climbers Passi- 

 Jlora Decaisneana, with its large, handsome flowers — in form 

 and color not unlike those of P. alata and P. quadrangularis 

 — was very conspicuous. On the low stone wall on one 

 side of this walk numerous species of Begonia, ^Eschynan- 

 thus, many Bromelias — some of these in flower — Cypripe- 

 dium insigne, etc., flourished in the shade. 



Mr. Hanbury has paid special attention to economic, par- 

 ticularly medicinal, plants. As most of these, however, are 

 not of value from an ornamental standpoint, I pass them over. 

 A large collection of Orange-trees, etc., gathered together 

 from all parts of the world where Oranges are cultivated, 

 affords means for studying and comparing the various forms 

 of this puzzling family which do not occur in every country. A 

 large bush or small tree of the curious Chilian Quillaja Sapo- 

 naria was laden with its woody carpels, which, at first sight, 

 by no means recall the order Rosaceae, to which the plant 

 belongs. The thick bark is rich in saponin, which can be pro- 

 cured from it purer and more plentifully than from any other 

 source ; up to the present the principal use has been in wash- 

 ing and cleansing fine stuffs and tissues ; but recently, how- 

 ever, the discovery of the action of saponin or a decoction or 

 infusion of Quillaja bark on hydrocarbon oils, has opened out 

 great possibilities for its use. Such extremely inflammable 

 oils as benzoline — the dangerous character of which rendered 

 the utmost care necessary in packing, carrying, etc. — can now 

 be solidified and shipped with little danger or trouble — the 

 liquid condition being readily restored on arrival by the 

 addition of a small quantity of citric acid. 



A covered way clothed with Ephedra altissima, a member 

 of the order Gnetacece, a family nearly allied to the conifers, 

 was gay with the numberless coral-red fruits which weighed 

 down the green, leafless, twiggy branches. Probably the Kaffir 

 Plum or Kei Apple, of south Africa, fruited for the first time 



in Europe in Mr. Hanbury's garden some years ago. At the 

 time of our visit the tree was laden with its yellow plum-like 

 fruits, somewhat acid in taste and astringent in character. 

 One of the most beautiful of all the fruiting herbaceous plants 

 was a Solanum received from Vilmorin, Andrieux & Co., 

 under the name of S. ciliatum macrocarpum. It had a spiny 

 stem and leaves, and spreading branches borne down by the 

 weight of the large, bright vermilion-red fruits ; on compar- 

 ing with herbarium specimens it appears to be identical with 

 the Brazilian S. aculeatissimum. 



A south African plant, a composite from the Karroo region, 

 though not in flower at the time of our visit, is interesting on 

 account of its having, more than any other at La Mortola, 

 won the admiration of Queen Victoria when she visited Mr. 

 Hanbury's garden in March, 1882. The plant in question, 

 Pteronia incana, forms a dense, twiggy shrub, and has small, 

 ashy gray leaves. The pretty yellow flower-heads so 

 charmed the Queen that she took away with her a quantity of 

 the flower-laden branches. Since then' the species has been 

 called in the neighborhood, "La pianta della reina" — the 

 Queen's plant. 



At Mentone, which is so near La Mortola that the climate of 

 the two places must be almost alike, the mean temperature of 

 November is fifty-four degrees Fahr., December forty de- 

 grees, February forty-nine degrees, and March fifty-three 

 degrees. Nearly the whole of the annual rainfall takes place 

 during the winter and spring months ; during summer only 

 an occasional thunder-storm comes to moisten the thirsty 

 ground. The storing of water, therefore, for use during the 

 hot, dry summer months is an absolute necessity, and entails 

 much labor and expense. George Nicholson. 



Kew. 



New or Little Known Plants. 

 Viburnum pauciflorum. 



THIS pretty species, which attains a height of three or 

 four feet only, might be described as a dwarf V. 

 Opulus, with small cymes, terminating short, two-leaved, 

 lateral branches, and without the showy neutral ray flow- 

 ers of that species. It is a widely distributed northern 

 plant, inhabiting cold, moist woods from Labrador to 

 Alaska, extending south to the high mountains of northern 

 New England, the Saskatchewan country, Washington, and 

 to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Viburnum pauciflorum 

 has recently been introduced into the Arnold Arboretum, 

 where it has not, however, flowered. The small figure of 

 a flowering branch from Alaska is Regel and Herder's 

 "Plantae Raddianae" (iii. /. 1, p. 3), is the only one pub- 

 lished previously to our illustration upon page 5, drawn 

 by Mr. Faxon from specimens gathered among the White 

 Mountains of New Hampshire. C. S. S. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



THE year 1889 ]S practically over, so far as public horticul- 

 -*■ ture is concerned. Exhibitions are at an end, the final 

 periodical meeting has been held, and the only remaining 

 attraction is a public dinner or so, at which hand-shaking and 

 general back-patting will be in order. English horticulturists 

 appear to be cultivating a love for public dinners in connec- 

 tion with their clubs, societies and shows ; at any rate, they 

 are much more frequent in recent years than they were 

 formerly. 



Next week I hope to be able to notice the principal addi- 

 tions that have been made this year to the list of good garden 

 plants in England. Speaking from memory, I do not think 

 there is anything remarkable to record in the way of new in- 

 troductions. On the other hand, some very fine hybrids, 

 crosses and varieties of garden origin have been added. Col- 

 lectors confine their work chiefly to Orchids, so that compara- 

 tively little is to be expected from them. Hybridization is the 

 great attraction of the time, and almost every man who has a 

 garden tries his hand at crossing one plant with another, in 

 the hope of getting something startling. 



The last of this year's bi-monthly meetings of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society was held on Tuesday, December 10th. 

 Circumstances are totally against anything approaching a suc- 

 cessful exhibition, or even a good muster of fellows in the 

 middle of December. Despite this there were several exhibits 



