54o 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 5, 1890. 



branches well, and the many-flowered corymbs of Hawthorn- 

 like blossoms, Which are produced in the first or second 

 week of June, are quite showy. On well established plants the 

 fruit is produced in corymbs, but it is often borne singly or 

 not more than two or three together when the plants are 

 young or in poor condition, or when the flowers have suffered 

 injury. It does not ripen until the middle of October, when it 

 turns to a shining deep red or scarlet color, and remains in a 

 bright and showy condition for a considerable length of time. 

 When fully ripe it is of a sweet and pleasant, though some- 

 what insipid, flavor. It is of an oblong shape and about a 

 third of an inch in length, much resembling the drupe-like 

 pomes of some of the Hawthorns. The fruit itself, however, 

 is more like that of the Juneberry (Amelanchier), the pulp 

 being granular, soft and of a yellowish color, containing 

 commonly only one, but sometimes several, large, brown, 

 thin-coated seeds, enclosed in a very thin and fragile core. 



This is another fruit which might be made useful as food if 

 selected and improved by cultivation. 



The plant known as Pourthicca arguta, from the Himalayas 

 and other portions of Asia, which there is not sufficient 

 good reason to separate from the genus Photinia, produces 

 fruit having a very close resemblance to that of Photinia villosa 

 in form, color, flavor and texture. It ripens at the same 

 time, although the blossoms appear about a week earlier. The 

 color of the fruit is perhaps of a clearer, brighter scarlet than 

 that of Photinia villosa, but it has not as yet been pro- 

 duced so abundantly on plants here. The habit of the plant 

 is much lighter and less stiff and rigid in foliage and limb. 

 Both apparently become large shrubs or little trees, varying in 

 habit according to circumstances like our native Shad-bush or 

 Juneberry. 



Arnold Arboretum. 



7- G. J. 



Some Native Ferns. 



OF the four or five Spleenworts native to New England 

 which are useful for out-door culture, Asplenium thelyp- 

 teroides is an important member. Its average height is about 

 two and a half feet, and the fronds are six or eight inches wide 

 and twice divided. Several of these nearly erect fronds come 

 from a thick and usually forked root-stalk. It is often found 

 in moist, shaded ravines growing with the narrow-leaved 

 Spleenwort {A. angustifolium) and Aspidium Goldianum, but 

 is more common than either of these. It is sometimes found 

 in open sunlight, and in a soil which never becomes too dry 

 it might be grown in the sun. It likes a rich, peaty soil which 

 is always moist, but not too wet. In this it resembles many 

 other Ferns that require constant moisture about their roots, 

 but will not live in a wet place. The best time for transplant- 

 ing is early spring, or in autumn if slightly protected the first 

 winter. It may not make a good showing the first year, but it 

 will soon become well established if placed in a suitable loca- 

 tion. 



Aspidium Boottii grows two feet high, with narrow fronds, 

 on stems about half the length of the frond. It seems to grow 

 in a peaty or boggy soil in thickets. Transplanted into a fine 

 loam, with a mixture of peat added, it thrives finely. A heavy 

 soil would not suit, nor would it stand a dry location. It needs 

 shade, or partial shade, and may be transplanted in either 

 spring or autumn. 



We have in North America three species of Bladder Ferns, 

 two of which are native to New England. Both of these are 

 very useful for cultivation in certain localities and are among 

 the easiest kinds to transplant. The larger Cystopteris bulb- 

 ifera, which is common in shaded ravines, and also not rare 

 under low shaded cliffs, is a graceful plant in midsummer, 

 when the fronds are just matured. Its height is about two feet, 

 and the fronds are only three or four inches wide near their 

 base and taper to a point. But the fronds are not durable. 

 They turn brown earlier in autumn than in most species. It 

 propagates itself chiefly from little bulblets, which form on the 

 back side of the rachis of the frond. These fall, take root and 

 form new plants. A few plants set in a moist, shaded soil 

 soon form a dense bed. 



The other species, C. fragilis, is even more delicate and 

 slender than the first. It is one of the first Ferns to start in 

 spring, and its fronds die early. Even in August it is some- 

 times hard to find the roots, because the fronds have dried up 

 so that they are scarcely visible. It is a common Fern on 

 shaded cliffs and varies much. The fronds are oblong-lanceo- 

 late in shape, and grow from six to ten inches high. Both of 

 these Ferns grow in tufts, several fronds to a plant, and have 

 small roots for the size of their fronds. It is valuable for the 

 rock-garden or for planting on cliffs. 



The common Grape Fern, Botrychium Virginicum, may be 



found in almost any rich woods of New England. About half 

 way up its stem the plant divides into two segments. One, a 

 sterile frond, is sessile, somewhat triangular in outline, of a 

 thin and delicate texture and three or four times divided. The 

 other, which is the fertile portion, is long stalked, and is a 

 close, narrow panicle or frond two or three inches long by an 

 inch or so wide. When this fertile portion has just matured 

 it makes a pretty plant. The two parts, though quite unlike, 

 are both very handsome. But the fertile portion is of short 

 duration. It soon sheds its spores and withers, and even the 

 sterile frond, though lasting usually some time after the fertile 

 one has decayed, is of much shorter duration than that of most 

 Ferns, for by the last of August it has usually disappeared. It 

 is an easy Fern to grow in any ordinary rich soil in the shade, 

 and while it lasts is one of the handsomest. 

 Southwick, Mass. F. H. Horsford. 



Autumn Crocuses. 



HPHE Colchicums, usually known under this name, are too 

 ■*■ rarely seen in cultivation, as I was recently reminded by 

 seeing in a Massachusetts garden beautiful clumps of the 

 pure white variety of C. auticmnale, covered with dense masses 

 of snowy flowers. C. aittumnale itself is of a pretty pale 

 lilac purple, and contrasts well with the pure white variety. 

 These plants are also known as Meadow Saffrons, owing to the 

 fact that the anthers of the flowers of C. sativus furnish the 

 Saffron of commerce. The roots also (which would appear at 

 first sight to be bulbs, but are really corms), together with the 

 seeds when dried, produce the drug known as Colchicum, 

 which, though very poisonous, is a valuable medicine. C. 

 autumnale is common in some parts of Britain. I well remem- 

 ber seeing it covering acres of meadow land with a pretty 

 purple tinge in the autumn months, but it is probably exter- 

 minated there in that locality now, for an enterprising local 

 firm were busy collecting the corms. Besides the two single- 

 flowered forms of C. autumnale above noted, there are also 

 double forms of both which are very beautiful, but also rare 

 and seldom seen in catalogues, at least in America, where, 

 indeed, it is not an easy matter to find Colchicums, for 

 though I obtained not long ago a dozen bulbs of what were sup- 

 posed to be the type, half of them proved to be white flowered. 

 C. speciosum is a very fine species, but so far as I can learn 

 no one seems to have succeeded with it here in the eastern 

 states. This plant is much larger than those already named, 

 and of a crimson-purple color ; it is, in fact, the largest of a 

 very beautiful genus. I have never yet seen it in the bulb 

 lists, so it is hard to find out whether it is possible to grow 

 it or not. All the varieties of C. autumnale thrive well in a 

 good, well drained soil, but should the soil be of a retentive 

 nature they would require a liberal addition of sand. They 

 would thrive admirably on rock-work, where they could push 

 through other plants of a prostrate habit, for the Colchicums 

 flower in fall ; the leaves appear in spring, and about mid- 

 summer die off and the roots have a season of rest. Im- 

 ported roots usually commence to flower on the voyage, and 

 the flowers are very liable to get bruised. This, however, will 

 only affect this season's flower; and they will probably start 

 away all the stronger in spring for having been relieved 

 from producing and maturing the quantity of flowers that each 

 root produces when established. 

 South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet. 



Vanda Sandcriana. 

 A MONG the fifty species of Vanda that are known to botan- 

 ■**• ists V. Sanderiana may be considered as the king of 

 them all in many respects. Perhaps it has a close rival for 

 this honor in V. Hookeriana, a plant so completely distinct 

 from it in every way that one might easily be pardoned for 

 imagining that it did not belong to the same genus. Indeed, 

 the question whether V. Sanderiana was not really an Arach- 

 nanthe or an Esmeralda instead of a Vanda has been broached; 

 but as it is usually considered to belong to the latter genus I 

 cannot do better than conform to the general opinion. 



V. Sanderiana produces stems from one to four feet high, 

 and these are furnished with distichous, narrow, strap-shaped, 

 recurved leaves, leathery in texture, and more or less deeply 

 and obliquely cut at the apex. Plants which possess remark- 

 ably pretty flowers do not always produce them so freely nor 

 so often as one would like. This Vanda, however, when well 

 grown flowers very freely. The strong, stout peduncles are 

 developed from the axils of the leaves, and have been known 

 to bear as many as a dozen flowers at a time. In September 

 I saw a plant not more than nine inches high bearing eight 

 flowers on a peduncle ; and since the individual blooms often 

 measure four and five inches across vertically, and almost the 



