6 



56 



Garden and Forest. 



[JULY 23, 189O. 



gravity 0.5503, 0.5647, average 0.5575; asn °-6i, 0.65, 

 average, 0.63; weight per eubic foot, 34.74 pounds; fuel 

 value, 05540. Collected by T. S. Brandcgec in Lake 

 County, California. 



Picea Breweriana. Wood much heavier than that of the 

 other North American species, soft, close-grained, com- 

 pact, satiny ; bands of small summer cells broad and con- 

 spicuous, resin passages broad, widely scattered, con- 

 spicuous; medullary rays thin, numerous; color very light 

 brown or nearly white, the sap-wood hardly distinguisha- 

 ble ; specific gravity, 0.5179,0.5103, average 0.5141 ; ash, 

 0.44, 0.53, average 0.49; weight per cubic foot, 32.04 

 pounds ; fuel value, 0.51 16. Collected by T. S. Brandegee 

 on the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon. 



Lari.x Lyallii. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, com- 

 pact, susceptible of a fine polish ; bands of small summer 

 cells broad, occupying from a third to a half of the layers 

 of annual growth, very resinous, dark colored, conspicu- 

 ous ; resin passages few, obscure ; medullary rays nu- 

 merous, thin ; color bright reddish brown, that of the sap- 

 wood nearly white; specific gravity, 0.6785, 0.7369, average 

 0.7077; ash, 0.30, 0.25, average 0.28 ; weight per cubic foot, 

 44. 10 pounds ; fuel value, 0.7057. Collected by T. S. Bran- 

 degee in Washington Territory. 



The wood of this species is intermediate in weight be- 

 tween that of the eastern Larch (L. larcind) and that of the 

 western Larch (L . occidentalis), which surpasses in weight and 

 strength the wood of any North American coniferous tree. 



Sabal species. Wood exceedingly light, soft, fibro-vas- 

 cular bundles broad, light colored, not very conspicuous ; 

 color light brown, tinged with red; specific gravity, 0.2679, 

 0.2534, average 0.2607; as h> 3- 74, 3-63, average 3.68; 

 weight per cubic foot, 16.25 pounds; fuel value, 0.2511; 

 used for piles, wharves, etc. Collected by C. G. Pringle 

 near the mouth of the Rio Grande in Texas. 



C. S. Sargent. 



New or Little Known Plants. 

 ^Esculus Parryi.* 



A DWARF Horse-chestnut detected on the shores of 

 Todos-Santos Bay in April, 1882, by a party of 

 botanists consisting of the late Dr. C. C. Parry, Mr. C. G. 

 Pringle and Mr. Marcus E. Jones, was described under 

 this name by Professor Asa Gray in the Proceedings of the 

 American Academy of Arts and Sciences (xvii., 200). He 

 pointed out the affinities of the plant, a low shrub, with the 

 familiar Buckeye of California, which in many respects it 

 closely resembles. The chief differences are found in the 

 character of the calyx, which in ^Esculus Californica is 

 deeply tvvo-lobed, the lobes being very slightly divided, 

 while in jEscidus Parryi the campanulate calyx has five 

 nearly equal lobes. These characters are constant in all 

 the species I have examined, and I fail to find any inter- 

 mediate form which would serve to connect the plant of 

 Lower California with the California Buckeye, from which 

 it differs also in its shorter inflorescence, its shorter pedi- 

 cels, smaller flowers and fruit, and in the dense pubescence 

 which covers the under surface of the small obovate leaf- 

 lets, which are sessile, or generally nearly so. The fruit is 

 unarmed, obovate, rather less than an inch long and broad, 

 in the specimens I have seen, which are from one to three- 

 seeded. The seed is a third of an inch in diameter. 



This interesting plant (see page 357) has not been intro- 

 duced yet into cultivation. C. S. S. 



The California Paeonias. 



OUR continent seems to be popularly credited with only 

 a single native species of Paeonia. In one of several 

 valuable paragraphs on the genus by Mr. Watson, of London, 

 published in a recent issue of Garden and Forest, I read 

 the following in relation to America: "In the latter country 

 P. Brownii is the only species that occurs wild." 



* " ^scui.us Parryi.— M. Californicce affinis, frutex humilis; foliis 3-5-foIiolatis; 

 foliolis obovatis obtusis subcoriaceis brevissime petiolulatis subtus cano-tomento- 

 sis; floribus brevipedicellatis; calyce campanulato ad medium usque tequaliter 

 5-fido petalUque extus tomentosis; filamentis validioribus minus exserlis." 



The truth is, that we have two easily distinguishable spe- 

 cies, both belonging to the Pacific slope of the continent, and 

 both found within the limits of the extensive commonwealth 

 of California, although inhabiting each its own peculiar cli- 

 matic region, neither one intruding upon or even nearly ap- 

 proaching the territory of the other species. Neither one is 

 of recent discovery ; but in the herbaria of eastern America, 

 as well as in those of Europe, if both species occur, authors 

 have apparently confounded them. The names of the two, as 

 well as their distinguishing marks, may be given thus : 



Pceonia Brownii, Dougl. (Hook., Fl. Br. Am., i. 27.) Herbage 

 glabrous and glaucous ; leaves of ovate general outline, ter- 

 nately divided into many short obtuse segments. 



Paonia Californica, Nutt. (Torr. & Gray, Fl., i.41). Glabrous, 

 but not glaucous ; leaves twice or thrice as large, of rounded 

 and pedate general outline — i. e., broader than long, divided 

 into few lanceolate or oblong-acute segments. 



P. Brownii inhabits the subalpine regions of the snowy 

 mountains, from middle California northward through Oregon 

 and Washington, flowering-in June and July, often near banks 

 of melting snow. 



P. Californica, at its northern limit, is separated by 200 or 

 300 miles at least from the nearest habitat of its congener, 

 flourishing in a climate almost as different as possible. It 

 belongs to the hill country of southern and sub-tropical Cali- 

 fornia near the sea, where snow never falls and where its 

 shoots appear above ground and push into bloom soon after 

 the first of the late autumnal rains. 



From some of the specimens in my herbarium I suspect 

 these plants will prove further distinguishable by different sub- 

 terranean characters. While the vegetating shoots of P. Cali- 

 fornica seem to arise immediately from the midst of a fascicle 

 of (tuberous ?) roots not deeply seated in the ground, those of 

 P. Brownii are attached to the summit of a thick, somewhat 

 ligneous root-stock, which may or may not be found to con- 

 nect with a deep-seated fascicle of roots. Since the time when 

 I learned to distinguish the two species at a glance in even the 

 poorest herbarium specimens, I have had no opportunity to 

 take up the subject of their vegetative characters. Neither 

 species is in cultivation anywhere so far as I know, and my 

 location is midway between the respective habitats of the two, 

 and far from that of either one. The flowers of both are 

 small, of a dark dull red, without beauty ; but the botanical in- 

 terest of these species should make them desirable wherever 

 the genus is extensively cultivated, whether for botanical 

 or horticultural purposes, though botany and horticulture 

 ought to go more hand-in-hand than they have done. 



University of California. Edward L. Greene. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 Botanical Gardens at Birmingham. 



T N some of the most important of English provincial towns 

 -*- there are pleasure gardens called botanical gardens, for 

 which a price of admission is charged and where a more or 

 less interesting collection of plants is included amongst the 

 attractions of the place. These attractions may vary from a 

 brass band to a company of performing minstrels or a bicycle 

 match. As a rule, the collection of plants scarcely justifies the 

 title of the gardens, and in some there are as few evidences of 

 good horticulture as of botany. 



The botanical gardens at Birmingham are, however, a strik- 

 ing exception — the plants, both in-doors and out, being partic- 

 ularly good, both in regard to their variety and cultivation. 

 The gardens are small, occupying only about twelve acres, but 

 their position is a well chosen one. They are on the side of a 

 slope, commanding a view of beautifully wooded country. 

 " On the right is to be seen the village of Harborne, backed 

 by the Warley Woods, and on the left the eye follows the little 

 valley of the Bourn, and beyond are the hills of Bromsgrove 

 Lickey. Harborne was long the residence of David Cox, the 

 painter, but it is strangely altered since the time when he was 

 laid to rest under the Elms in the old church-yard." 



The plan of the gardens was prepared by J. C. Loudon, 

 and they were opened to the public about sixty years ago, 

 under the auspices of the Botanical and Horticultural Society 

 of the town. There is a charge for admission, and a string 

 band performs in the afternoons during the summer. 



A students' garden is one of the features of the place, where 

 the plants are arranged in their natural orders for the con- 

 venience of the students of Mason College, in the town, and 

 others. A similar garden has long been provided at Kew. 

 Students are allowed to gather specimens of any of the plants 

 they wish to examine or preserve. This arrangement is greatly 



