September io, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



439 



twenty-five or thirty showy flowers of a very dark rose-purple 

 color — sometimes lighter. Its Mexican name is Lavina. 



Lathyrus venustus is the very pretty wild Pea so abundant 

 through Southern and Lower California, in the canons and 

 valleys near the coast. The clusters of flowers are of a bright 

 magenta. It is frequently taken for our more magnificent 

 Latliyrus splendens, which has much larger flowers of a bril- 

 liant rose-red to crimson. 



Frasera Parryi is a tall, stately biennial, growing in the 

 mountains of San Uiego County, usually from two to four feet 

 in height. The first year the plant forms a cluster of broad 

 radical leaves, which makes a mat on the ground, and, as the 

 leaves are usually bordered with white, the plant is quite pretty 

 at that stage. The second season it sends up its tall panicle of 

 curious blossoms, with a deeply four-parted, rotate corolla, 

 each division with a glandular and fringed pit on the upper 

 side. The flower is scarcely an inch across, white (sometimes 

 of a slightly greenish cast), with an apple-green spot on both 

 sides of the hairy glands ; while the midveins from the glands 

 to the apex of the divisions are Heliotrope-purple. The corolla 

 is thickly dotted with fine spots of Heliotrope-purple. It is a 

 curious and striking plant, well worthy of cultivation, like 

 nearly all herewith mentioned — many of which, indeed, are in 

 cultivation in Europe, if not in America. 



The Mohave Desert, in San Bernardino County, yields a mul- 

 titude of beautiful flowers, none of which probably exceed in 

 brilliancy of coloring the orange Mariposa Tulip (jCalochortus 

 Ke7inedyi). I have only been able to compare dried specimens 

 of this lovely flower with Ridgeway's nomenclature, by which 

 I would describe its color as between a Chinese orange and an 

 orange-vermilion. If I may trust my memory through the 

 eight years since I collected this plant I should say that its 

 color when fresh is the same as when dry. The plant seldom 

 exceeds four to six inches in height, and produces several of 

 its showy flowers, which are about two inches across. 



A large plant of Cereus ScJtottii, from San Ouintin, Lower 

 California, is just blooming in the garden (July 7th, 1890). This 

 gray-headed "Old Man" Cactus, known by the Mexicans as the 

 Carambuya, called by some of them "the hombre viejo or 

 cabeza vieja, according to Brandegee, and in Sonora known as 

 the Zina, Sina or Sinita (Schott), is a tall, stately plant ten to 

 fifteen feet or more in height. The flower is of a delicate 

 shade between rose-pink and flesh color, an inch long and less 

 than an inch across, quite pretty, but very insignificant beside 

 the huge plant that produces it. 



Opuntia prolifera, the common Chollas Cactus so abundant 

 in the vicinity of San Diego, has fiovvers of a wine or pome- 

 granate purple, which are very pretty, but are so well guarded 

 by a multitude of formidable spines as to almost repel admira- 

 tion. The fruit is proliferous, the seeds almost invariably 

 abortive. The plant forms impenetrable thickets, covering 

 quite extensive tracts along dry water-courses, on hill-side and 

 mesa, attaining a height of four or Wve feet or more, and is 

 one of the most characteristic features in the vegetation of 

 Southern California near the coast. 

 Orcutt, California. C. R. Orcutt. 



Diseases of Chrysanthemums Caused by Insects. 



THE cultivation of Chrysanthemums has come to occupy 

 such a large place in floriculture that any disease which 

 affects their growth and beauty naturally causes annoyance if 

 not pecuniary loss to the growers of these popular flowers. 

 They have not been subject to many injuries in the past, the 

 best known beingcaused by Aphides commonly called green or 

 black "flies," and by a fungus or " mildew" which attacks the 

 leaves and affects their appearance and vitality. Gardeners have 

 learned how to avoid or combat these pests, but there is another 

 trouble which they have suffered from for years for which no 

 definite cause has been given. 



In describing this disease of the Chrysanthemums many 

 gardeners use the terms " blinding" or " disbudding," mean- 

 ing that the ends of the branches look as if stunted, the leaves 

 are crowded together and the internodes much shortened; and 

 worst of all, the flower buds become abortive and the expected 

 blossoms are not produced. It was thought that these effects 

 might be due to minute fungi, but expert fungologists were 

 unable to detect any fungus growth in badly affected speci- 

 mens submitted to them. 



It is generally the practice of gardeners to start the Chrysan- 

 themum cuttings in frames or under glass in spring, and after 

 danger of frost is over to transplant them to the open ground. 

 Aphides soon become abundant on the tender terminal shoots, 

 and these are followed by other insects of the bug family, 

 whose relation to the Chrysanthemum is little known. Few 



caterpillars or insects of other orders attack the plants. With 

 the object of discovering if possible the cause of this blight of 

 the flower buds, a careful examination of the Chrysanthemums 

 in different localities about Boston was made last year and have 

 been continued thepresentseason. The results although incom- 

 plete show conclusively that the distortions are due to the work of 

 bugs of one or more species, which, with their slender beaks, 

 pierce and suck the sap of the leaves and tender stems, caus- 

 ing the arrest of growth and giving them the familiar tufted 

 appearance. 



Probably the worst insect — one which is more abundant 

 on the plants than all the other species together— is a leaf-hop- 

 per (Cicadula quadrilineata) which was first described in 1884 

 by Professor S. A. Forbes in his Fourteenth Report as State 

 Entomologist of Illinois, and which is stated to have been 

 abundant in wheat fields and injurious to Indian corn in some 

 parts of that state. When at rest the general color of this little 

 insect is an iridescent light yellowish green. The head is pale 

 yellow with black eyes, and several distinguishing but variable 

 and small black spots in front of the head between the eyes. 

 It is very active, and on account of its color as well as diminu- 

 tive size is not easily seen either on the plants or when flying, 

 unless close and careful attention is given. 



One or two larger species of leaf-hoppers are occasionally 

 found about the plants, but they are usually rare and very 

 probably their presence is accidental. 



The common Tarnished Plant-bug (Lygus lineolaris) is 

 always present in considerable numbers and doubtless is very 

 mischievous. The Four-striped Plant-bug (Lygaus lineatus) 

 punctures the young leaves and causes brown spots in them, 

 which are often so numerous as to result in the drying and 

 withering of the foliage. This bug is bright yellow, about 

 three-tenths of an inch long, and has a broad and a narrow 

 black stripe down each wing cover. Both this and the 

 Tarnished Plant-bug feed upon a great variety of vegetation. 



The Insidious Flower-bug or False Chinch-bug {Tripthleps 

 insidiosus) is one of the smallest bugs found on Chrysanthe- 

 mums. The general color is black, but there is a broad yel- 

 lowish white or light reddish band across the front half of the 

 wing covers, while the ends appear colorless. 



This little bug has a favorable record as preying upon other 

 injurious insects, and whether it is injurious or beneficial to the 

 Chrysanthemum has not been clearly ascertained. It is usu- 

 ally present in considerable numbers, and may be found, in 

 various stages of growth, hidden in the crevices about the 

 buds and young leaf-stalks. 



Plagiognathns obscurus is common about the plants, but 

 whether it injures them or attacks other insects is not known, 

 as little seems to have been recorded of its habits. That it 

 may be a serious enemy of the plants may be inferred from 

 the fact that observation on three or four specimens of a 

 closely allied species of bug showed that they were capable of 

 keeping the young fronds of a Fern (Aspidiie///) in check and 

 causing them to become stunted and brown colored. Besides 

 these bugs several other species are occasionally found ; and 

 there are also many small flies noticeable about the plants. 

 The flies are often of bright or metallic colors and are harm- 

 less, probably being attracted to the plants by the sweet 

 " honey dew" from the Aphides. 



Gardeners usually care more for a means of destruction 

 than a description of an insect, so that only the names or most 

 obvious characters of the injurious bugs are given here. The 

 detailed and often lengthy descriptions may be found in 

 various writings on insects.* 



All of the insects named are true bugs, having no jaws, but 

 obtaining their food by sucking the juices of plants (or, as in 

 the case of T. insidiosus, the juices of other soft insects) by 

 means of their slender beaks, which they insert within the 

 tissue. They thus avoid taking any poison which may be 

 applied on the leaves and which would be effectual in destroy- 

 ing foliage-devouring larva;. Consequently, recourse must be 

 had to substances which compass their destruction by suffo- 

 cation. Fresh Buhach, or Pyrethrum Powder, is one of the 

 most effective remedies against many insects of this kind, and 

 it has the advantage of not being injurious to the plants. By 

 the use of a hand-bellows it may be dusted on dry; or, it may 

 be applied in a liquid form at the rate of a tablespoonful to a 

 gallon of water. It should be dusted or sprayed forcibly, so as 

 to come in contact with all the insects. This remedv is 



* Lygus (= Phylocoris) lineolaris, Harris' Insects Injurious to Vegetation, pp. 

 203-202. 



Tripthleps (= Reduvius or Anthocoris) insidiosus, in Description of llie Insects of 

 North America, by Thomas Say, edited by J. L. Leconte, vol. i.. p. 357. 



Plagiognathus obscurus, P. R. Uhler, in Hayden's Filth Annual Report of the 

 United States Geological Survey (1872), p. 418. 



