428 



Garden and Forest. 



[September 3, 1890. 



New or Little Known Plants. 

 Prunus Allegheniensis. 



MANY years ago, during a visit to the late J. Roberts 

 Lowrie, Esq. , of Warriorsmark, Huntingdon County, 

 Pennsylvania, he called my attention to a strange Plum 

 growing along a fence-row in his neighborhood, and sup- 

 posed by him to have been sown there by birds. Speci- 

 mens of this Plum, which may have been in flower only, 

 and hence hard to distinguish, were sent to Dr. Gray, who 

 returned the name Primus insilitia. Thus the matter rested 

 until, on further investigation, it proved to be not an intro- 

 duced foreigner, but a new species, and was published in 

 the March number of the Botanical Gazelle for 1877. Recent 

 study of the plant in its native haunts and in cultivation 

 enables me to give the following amended description : 



A shrub with straggling branches, three to five feet high, 

 sometimes over twelve feet, and in port and form a small 

 tree, seldom thorny ; leaves obovate elliptical, acuminate, 

 finely and sharply serrate ; petioles three lines long, pu- 

 bescent, as well as the midrib and bases of the veins on 

 the lower side of the blade; flowers in umbel-like clusters 

 of two to five, from terminal and lateral buds, coetaneous 

 with the leaves ; pedicels filiform, hairy under a lens, or 

 smooth, a fourth to half an inch long ; calyx two to three 

 lines long, minutely pubescent, the tube obconical, the 

 teeth oblong-ovate, obtuse and shorter than the tube ; 

 petals round-obovate, three lines long; stamens very slen- 

 der, some of them as long as, or longer than, the petals ; 

 drupe globose, about four lines in diameter, dark purple, 

 covered with a bloom ; stone obliquely obovoid, with a 

 blunt point, the one suture capped by a strong ridge, 

 rounded and marked lengthwise by a shallow groove, the 

 other flatfish and furrowed by a deeper groove. 



The species, as far as yet traced, has a limited range, 

 occupying a territory for the most part of the wildest 

 character. Of frequent occurrence in the north-western 

 corner of Huntingdon County, it extends from the lime- 

 stone bluff's on the Little Juniata, near Birmingham (Miss 

 N. J. Davis), over the so-called "barrens " to Centre County 

 on the north and Spruce Creek on the east, and thence 

 westward over Bald Eagle Ridge and Bald Eagle Valley 

 and the Allegheny Mountain to Clearfield County and 

 Boon's Mountain, Elk County (McMinn). 



Even as a low shrub it bears a great abundance of fruit, 

 which seems to be exempt from the attacks of insects. 

 These little plums have a pleasant acid taste, and are 

 known as "sloes" by the inhabitants of the region, and 

 sometimes used by them for making pies and preserves. 



In the drawing made by Mr. C. E. Faxon to illustrate this 

 plant (see page 429), the flowering branch was taken from 

 a plant that bloomed this year in the Arnold Arboretum, 

 and the branch with mature leaves and fruit was furnished 

 by the writer. Thomas C. Porter. 



Easton, Pa. 



Lilium Henryi. 



AMONG the hosts of new and interesting plants collected 

 in western China by Dr. Henry were a series of speci- 

 mens of Lilies from Ichang, comprising L. giganteum, L. 

 tigrinum, L. longijlorum, L. Brownii, and a new one which 

 Mr. Baker named in compliment to its discoverer. Bulbs 

 of this new species were also collected and forwarded to 

 Kew through Mr. Ford of the Hong-Kong Botanic Gardens, 

 and one of these is now in flower at Kew. In habit it is not 

 unlike L. lancifolium, but the stem is thinner, three feet 

 high, the leaves from one to two inches apart, each six inches 

 long by an inch in width, the texture as in L. lancifolium. 

 Dried specimens show an inflorescence a foot in width, con- 

 sisting of a loose corymb of sometimes eight flowers, but the 

 Kew plant produced only two buds, and one of these fell off 

 before it developed. The individual flower is three inches 

 across, the segments recurved as in L. lancifolium, two and a 

 half inches long and an inch wide, channeled, very distinctly 

 papillose on the lower part, colored bright orange -yellow with 

 a few small spots of purple. The stamens are as long as the 

 perianth segments, green, with yellow anthers. 



Horticulturally, this Lily should prove at least as useful as 

 L. tigrinum and L. lancifolium. The smallness of the inflor- 

 escence on the Kew plant is accounted for by the fact that the 

 bulbs when received were small and partly decayed. Next 

 year the plants should be much better. 



Kew. W. 



New Orchids. 



Cvpripedium Elinor, N. E. Br. — A hybrid raised in the col- 

 lection of Mr. Drewett, of Mill-on-Tyne, between C. snperbiens 

 and C. x selligeruin majus, the latter being the seed-parent, to 

 which it bears a considerable resemblance. — Gardeners' Chron- 

 icle, July 1 2th, p. 38. 



Cvpripedium Youngianum. — A hybrid raised by Messrs. 

 F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, between C. super Mens and 

 C. Rcebeleni, the latter being the pollen parent. It is a deli- 

 cately colored flower and tolerably intermediate in character. 

 It received an award of merit from the Royal Horticultural 

 Society on July 8th last. — Gardeners' Chronicle, July 12th, p. 51; 

 July 19th, p. 81. 



Masdevallia Schroderiana. — Exhibited by Baron Schro- 

 der at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on July 8th 

 last, when it was awarded a first-class Certificate. The flow- 

 ers are described as rich crimson, the lower part, however, 

 being white. It is said to be allied to M. Roths childiana, a spe- 

 cies also unknown to me. — Gardeners' Chronicle, July 12th, p. 

 51 ; July 19th, p. 81. 



Zygopetalum crinito-maxillare. — A hybrid raised in the 

 collection of Lord Rothschild, of Tring. The lip is described 

 as violet, with a few white areas, the sepals and petals green, 

 with bold brown spots. It was exhibited at a meeting of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society on July 8th last, when it received 

 an award of merit. — Gardeners' Chronicle, July 12th, p. 51. 



Cypripedium Hookers, var. Volonteanum, Rolfe. — A 

 very pretty Bornean introduction, which has appeared both 

 with Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, and Messrs. 

 Hugh Low & Co., of Clapton. The lip is a little constricted 

 below the mouth, the staminode unnotched, and the broad 

 petals much spotted on the basal half. It received an award 

 of merit from the Royal Horticultural Society on May 28th 

 last, when it was exhibited by Messrs. Sander as C. Volontea- 

 num, though, botanically, I do not think it is more than a va- 

 riety of C. Hookerce. — Gardeners' Chronicle, July 19th, p. 66 ; 

 May 31st, pp. 684, 687. 



jErides J'ansoni, Rolfe. — A Burmese introduction of 

 Messrs. Hugh Low & Co., intermediate in character between 

 A. odoratum and A. expansum, and supposed to be a natural 

 hybrid between them. — Gardeners' Chro?iicle, July 19th, p. 66. 



Maxillaria longisepala, Rolfe. — A graceful and pretty 

 species, sentfrom Venezuela by Monsieur Bungeroth to Messrs. 

 Linden, L'Horticulture Internationale, Brussels. The flowers 

 are very large, the sepals and petals light purple-brown, 

 faintly striated with a darker shade, the lip much shorter and 

 greener. A plate will appear in the next issue of Lindenia.— 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, July 26th, p. 94. 



Masdevallia Rolfeana. — A very pretty little species, allied 

 to M. demissa, but with much larger flowers. These are 

 deep crimson-brown, with yellow tails. It was exhibited by 

 Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, at a meeting of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society on July 26th last, when it received 

 an award of merit. — Gardeners' Chronicle, July 26th, p. 106. 



Kew. R. A. Rolfe. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



New Nepenthes. — Conspicuous amongst the new plants of 

 last year was N. Burkei, introduced by the Messrs. Veitch, 

 from Borneo, through their collector, Burke. It is a remark- 

 able species in the absence of the vertical-toothed wings, which 

 form a conspicuous feature in the pitchers of Nepenthes 

 generally, and also in the form of the margin of the pitcher ; 

 moreover, it is a free grower, pitchers well and is very brightly 

 colored. Messrs. Veitch have now obtained first-class cer- 

 tificates for two varieties of N. Burkei, both of them very dis- 

 tinct from the type, though still possessing its main features. 

 The variety named Prolifica is certain to become a popular 

 garden plant from its compact habit and profuse production 

 of pitchers. The leaves are only about six inches long, by about 

 an inch in width, whilst the pitchers are five inches long, and 

 colored pale Apricot-yellow, with dark crimson blotches. The 

 plant certificated was only eight inches high, yet it bore seven- 

 teen fully developed pitchers. The other variety certificated is 

 named Excellens. In habit this is more like the type, differing 



