December io, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



595 



the surface structure than in that of the western part. The 

 hills are mostly held in position by a scattered growth of trees 

 and shrubs and plants characteristic of the sand dunes, ex- 

 cept near the shore, where the wind piles the sand into great 

 drifts, which often change their form and position. There is 

 a rich variety in the plants of the whole region, when we take 

 into account the entire season of growth, although the condi- 

 tions of soil and moisture, and the modifying influence of the 

 lake, are very variable. It is the autumnal flora of the west- 

 ern or more typical Pine-barrens which I purpose to notice 

 in its most striking feature, as seen in the month of Septem- 

 ber. From the eighty to one hundred plants whose season is 

 autumnal or reaches over into autumn, I have selected the 

 following as most characteristic. 



The Golden-rod claims more than a dozen species ; two of 

 these are the most abundant, each in the place most suited 

 to its growth. Solidago nemoralis grows throughout in the 

 dry grounds, its grayish stem and leaves according well with 

 the color of the ground beneath. S. Ohioensis takes the grassy 

 borders of the sloughs or the moist and open spaces, which it 

 clothes with stretches of yellow, often of great extent. It is a 

 smooth plant, about two feet high, with narrow leaves, the 

 radical pretty long; the stem is terminated by a showy corymb 

 from two to six inches in diameter. Close by the lake is a pe- 

 culiar species, S. humilis, or this species running into the variety 

 Gilmani. It is confined to the ridge of sand that skirts the 

 shore, and is very local in this respect. The flower-heads are 

 large, few in number and nearly sessile along the upper part 

 of the stem. Several stems, some of them three feet long at 

 times, usually spring from the same roots and rise obliquely 

 in different directions. One of the handsomest kinds is S. 

 speciosa or its variety angustata. They bear a long thyrse- 

 like panicle of bright flowers, with the smooth stems densely 

 covered by thick leaves, making a very sleek looking plant. 

 These occasionally branch at the top, forming a cluster of 

 thyreoid panicles. They are found in the driest situations, 

 and when massed, as they sometimes are, the effect is very 

 showy. S. Riddellii is a companion of S. Ohioensis, but is 

 much less seen in the barrens than in prairie regions. It has 

 a corymb much like that of the latter, but more compact. It 

 is very distinctly marked by its narrow, conduplicate leaves, 

 sheathing the stem at their insertion and gradually curving 

 away from it. Fine specimens of S. rugosa are also found 

 here, well distinguished by its peculiar rugose leaves from 

 the allied species, S. uhnifolia, seen also in the regions clothed 

 with Oaks and White Pines. 



The most showy plants upon the ridges are two species of 

 Liatris or Blazing Star, L. scariosa and L. cylindracea. Then 

 in the same localities as Solidago Ohioensis, L. spicata is abun- 

 dant. All bear very bright, bluish purple flowers, crowded 

 along the upper part of the stem. L. spicata has a dense spike 

 of heads, individually smaller than those of the others, but so 

 compact and covering the stem to such a length that its top is 

 a cylindrical mass of bloom, contrasting well with the yellow 

 of the more humble Golden-rods around it. L. scariosa bears 

 a similar spike, but it is not generally as long, though the 

 heads are larger, but less closely placed. L. cylindracea is the 

 smallest of the three, with a few but prominent heads, having 

 a long, cylindrical involucre. The most symmetrical of them 

 is L. spicata; its numerous linear leaves, long near the ground, 

 shorten so gradually that the plant tapers very evenly from the 

 base to the beginning of the spike. L. scariosa has the hand- 

 somest inflorescence, not only on account of its larger heads 

 and (lowers, but its buds, often furnished with bright reddish 

 purple scales. Their season of blooming does not agree 

 throughout. L. cylindracea and L. spicata begin to flower 

 about the same time, but the latter lasts considerably longer. 

 L. scariosa starts later and goes on into October. The first of 

 these is out of flower when the last is at its best, and when the 

 top of the spike of L. spicata wears a withered and rusty look. 

 This last feature detracts from the beauty of a Liatris, since the 

 mode of inflorescence being from above downward, the 

 withered flowers are more obtrusive than if the heads un- 

 folded the opposite way. This is specially remarked when the 

 spike is long, for a stem ending in buds is more attractive to 

 the eve than one ending in dead flowers, or, in most cases, in 

 fruit. An additional charm is provided for the flowers of 

 Liatris on sunny days in autumn, since they are selected 

 almost exclusively for the visits of the large Archippus Butter- 

 fly {Danais Archippus, Fabr.), hundreds of whom are seen 

 flying overhead or lighting on the flowers to sip their nectar, 

 gently opening and closing their many colored wings while 

 busied in this act. 



The principal Aster of the early fall is A. ptarmicoides. 

 It is exceedingly abundant, and everywhere specks the 



dry grounds with white corymbs. A few plants of Euphor- 

 bia corollata still linger upon the ridges to contribute 

 to this effect, just as earlier in the season they had been 

 equally numerous and effective in whitening the same ridges. 

 Sometimes A. linarifolius will be found a common plant on 

 some of the ridges. It reaches about the same height as the 

 former, but is more showy, its larger heads having violet 

 rays. Though each stem commonly bears but a single head, 

 they are apt to obviate their lack of effect in this regard by 

 producing several stems from the same root. Another deni- 

 zen of the dry grounds is A. sericeus. Its heads are large, 

 with rays of violet-blue. Its small but shapely leaves, covered 

 with a silky pubescence, making them as soft as mouse-ears, 

 and its silvery look, render it one of the most elegant of our 

 Asters, though it is a small plant. The three range from one 

 to two feet high. In early fall A. umbellatus is common in 

 wettish grounds. Its heads of white flowers, though few- 

 rayed, are quite large, and in sufficient number to make its 

 corymb prominent amid the clumps of low bushes where it 

 most delights to grow. Its elongated leaves, tapering and 

 finely shaped, help to make it an attractive plant. About 

 this time A. multiflorus is seen in the dry soils, with small but 

 profuse flowers, rendering it a mass of white. Its grayish 

 stem and leaves give it a well defined appearance. It is not 

 uncommon to find the stems two or three feet high at the time 

 of flowering, bare of leaves below and bushy-branched above, 

 showing little but flowers, the small and scale-like leaves upon 

 the branches buried in the profusion of blossoms. A. ericoides 

 has similar heads, but they are more scattered on the branches, 

 so that it is much less effective in appearance. Here it is gen- 

 erally not so stout a plant as A. multiflorus, its stems being 

 rarely more than twenty inches high and very slender. It fre- 

 quents damper and often more grassy situations. In the latter 

 part of the month of September, and on into October, A. 

 azureus is one of the most abundant as well as the finest 

 Aster in the Pine-barrens. Its range of ground is considera- 

 ble, being equally at home in that which is not too moist, as 

 well as in dry ground, in open places and also in those some- 

 what shaded. It adapts itself to prairies and open woods, 

 though more common in the former. The color of the flow- 

 ers is quite variable, and consists of all shades from azure blue 

 to violet-purple. In fact, the violet shades often predominate. 

 The stems frequently turn purple, and the leaves sometimes, 

 especially in the full sunlight. It is about three feet high, 

 branching freely and loosely above, bearing medium sized 

 heads, frequently in such quantities as to bend the rather slen- 

 der stems to one side, nor does it drop its lower leaves as 

 much as many Asters do at the time of flowering; these are 

 so variable in form as to make its identification quite puzzling 

 at times. There are several Asters along the margins of the 

 ponds common and characteristic, such as A. Tradescanti, A. 

 vimineus, A. junceus, flecking the coarse Grasses and Rushes, 

 and the changing leaves of the low shrubs, with spots of pale 

 purple and white. In the course of the fall the Asters will 

 equal or exceed the Golden-rods in variety, coming later into 

 bloom and lasting for a longer time. 



En^lewood, Chicago. E. J . Hill. 



Plant Notes. 



Some Recent Portraits. 



The Gardeners' Chronicle issued on November 15th con- 

 tains a figure of Chrysaniliemum Indicum, made from a 

 specimen collected by Dr. Augustine Henry "on rocks in a 

 mountain of coniferous wood at an elevation of 8,500 feet 

 above the sea-level at Yin-Yii-Ho in the Fang district of 

 Hupeh. The flowers are yellow. At this altitude the plant is 

 very graceful, delicate, and small in stature. It has quite a dif- 

 ferent aspect from the plant which occurs in ditches and valleys 

 along the banks of the Yang-tse, near Ichang, at levels of under 

 1,000 feet." This interesting plant is already in cultivation in 

 England from seed collected by Dr. Henry, and although the 

 seedlings have not yet flowered, specimens were exhibited by 

 Mr. Sutton at the Chrysanthemum Conference of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society held in London last month. It is of 

 special interest, inasmuch as it probably represents one of the 

 original wild forms from which the modern garden Chrysan- 

 themum has been derived. According to Dr. Henry's notes, 

 reproduced in the pages of our contemporary, " the Chrysan- 

 themum is known to the Chinese as the Chu-hua; and dried 

 flowers of certain cultivated kinds are much used in medicine 

 and form a considerable article of trade, there being an annual 

 export of eighteen tons from Tientsin, twenty-two tons from 

 Hankow and thirteen tons from Ningpo. The Ningpo variety, 



