620 



Garden and Forest. 



■■December 24, iJ 



toughness and flexibility of culms are the chief requirements, 

 but I have no knowledge of their having been used. 



In a study of the subject one first thinks of Osiers or Willows 

 as the ordinary and proper material, but it is well known that 

 our Willows do not possess the softness and pliability which 

 make several species of so much economic importance in 

 Europe ; even when cultivated in this country these species 

 become woody and hard. From all the information within my 

 reach, I am led to believe that the native Willow most used in 

 this country, at least west of the Rocky Mountains, is Salix sessi- 

 lifolia. From the region of the Hoopa and Klamath Indians of 

 northern California and southern Oregon, to that of the Papagos 

 of southern Arizona, this plant furnishes one of the best mate- 

 rials for the warp of basket-work. Young shoots two or three 

 feet long are cut in the spring or early summer, stripped of 

 their bark and dried ; they are soft and remarkably flexible, 

 sometimes quite tenuous, almost filiform. This species de- 

 serves attention as one most worthy of cultivation for the pro- 

 duction of valuable osier. In order to keep it well pruned 

 down and provoke new growths of young, tender shoots the 

 Indians of northern California set fire to the woods, an operation 

 likewise intended to improve the Hazel-nut, another highly 

 esteemed basket-plant. 



Other native species of Salix are, or have been, used, such as 

 S. cordata, S. sericea, S. petiolaris in the eastern and middle 

 states, the last two of real value ; .S. lasiandra, S. lasiolepis 

 and S. IcBvigata in the western and Pacific states. Of the last 

 named only the roots are used by the Hcopa and Klamath 

 Indians. 



Dr. E. Palmer states (Amer. Nat., 1878) that along the Colo- 

 rado River a Willow, not specified, yields an abundance of 

 long, soft bark from which the Indians make rope, twine, san- 

 dals and mats. Willow-bark is also used by the Tule-River 

 Indians of California. 



Most species of Poplar have soft, pliable and tolerably tough 

 rootlets well adapted to the requirements of basket-making. 

 Those of P. trichocarpa are much used, entire or split, by the 

 Indians of northern California for the brown work of the woof 

 of their hats and baskets. Whoever has seen the petticoats, 

 made of the inner bark of the Cottonwood (P.Fremontii), worn 

 by the squaws along the Colorado River, must have realized 

 the possibility of utilizing the same material, as well as that of 

 the allied species, P. monolifera, in the manufacture of many 

 household utensils. 



The rootlets of Alder (Alnus rhombifolid) and probably 

 others furnish brown threads much esteemed by the Indians 

 of California and Oregon. 



The young flexible twigs of the California Hazel-nut (Corylus 

 rostrata, var. Californica) are almost in as great demand by 

 the Indians of California and Oregon as the branches of Salix 

 sessilifolia, these two plants making up most of the warp of 

 their basket-work. Hazel-nut-twigs are also much used in 

 binding fish-dams. 



One of the best known basket-plants is the Trefoil Sumach 

 or Squawberry [Rhus aromatica, var. trilobatd), a shrub widely 

 distributed from the Missouri through the Rocky Mountains 

 to the Pacific. It is one of the chief materials of the Apaches, 

 Navajos and other tribes in southern California, Arizona, 

 Utah and New Mexico. The twigs are soaked in water, 

 scraped and then split. The baskets are built up by a suc- 

 cession of small rolls of grass, over which the twigs are firmly 

 and closely bound ; according to Dr. E. Palmer, they " are 

 very durable, will hold water, and are often used to cook in, 

 hot stones being dropped in until the food is done " {Amer. Nat., 

 1875). I am informed that the Poison Ivy of the Pacific coast 

 (P. diversiloba) is also a basket-plant, but it is quite possible 

 that this species is confounded with the preceding. 



The Indian Hemp {Apocynum cannabinum) has a strong 

 fibrous bast easily stripped off, and from which many tribes 

 from the Great Lakes to the Pacific, but specially those of the 

 Great Basin, have from time immemorial made rope, lariats 

 fishing lines, bags, mats, baskets, belts, etc. 



The Sioux Indians, I believe, never practiced the manufac- 

 ture of any but the coarsest kind of basket-work, and in this the 

 bark of the Elm {Ulmus Americana) takes a prominent part. 

 The Red-Osier Dogwood (Cornus stoloniferd), so abundant in 

 their country, is not used in basket-work so far as I know, not- 

 withstanding its pretty purple, osier-like shoots. It is, how- 

 ever, stated by B. S. Barton that the young shoots of an allied 

 species, C. 'sericea, were formerly used to make coarse baskets. 



Of vines, the California Grapevine ( Vitis Californica) should 

 be noted ; its stems, slender, flexible and strong, make good 

 ropes and may be twisted into various household articles. 

 The Supple-Jack (Berchemia volubilis) also suggests itself in 

 this connection. 



Fort Buford, N. Dak. - V. Havard. 



New or Little Known Plants. 



Clematis paniculata. 



THIS is a stout, vigorous plant with long, climbing, 

 woody stems, which is widely distributed and very 

 common in nearly all parts of Japan, and occurs also in 

 central and northern China. It is allied to our common 

 Virgin's Bower and to the European Clematis Flammula. 

 The leaves are long-petioled and are composed of three 

 ovate, pointed leaflets, obliquely cordate at the base, with 

 entire margins and prominent veins. The flowers are pro- 

 duced in long axillary panicles ; they are white, fragrant, 

 one and a half inches across, with narrow, obovate, acute 

 sepals. They begin to open toward the end of August and 

 continue to appear for nearly a month, being succeeded 

 by heads of fruits furnished with long, plumose, silvery 

 tails which are almost as ornamental as the flowers. 



Clematis paniculata * was discovered by Thunberg, the 

 Swedish botanist, who resided in Japan from 1773 to 1779, 

 It is stated by Nicholson in "The Dictionary of Garden- 

 ing," on what authority I do not know, as this species is 

 not mentioned in the second edition of Aiton's " Hortus 

 Kewensis," that it was introduced into England in 1796. 

 Its early introduction is possible, as, according to Maxi- 

 mowicz, it was figured by Houltyn, a Dutch author, whose 

 work on woody plants, to which I have not access, was 

 published toward the end of the last century. But whether 

 this Japanese plant was introduced early into European 

 gardens or not, it has certainly never made any great 

 figure in them, and I can find no portrait of it in any of the 

 principal horticultural or botanical periods. It was in- 

 cluded, however, in the catalogue of plants cultivated by 

 Monsieur Lavallee in his Arboretum at Segrez, and three 

 years ago I found it in the garden of the Paris Museum. * 



Clematis paniculata was probably introduced into the 

 United States by Thomas Hogg through the Flushing 

 nurseries, as it was received at the Arboretum thirteen 

 years ago from Mr. Parsons. It has also been sent by the 

 Agricultural College at Sapparo and by James Veitch & 

 Son, of London, under the name of C. Flammula robusta, 

 and by Spath, of Berlin. The credit of making this fine 

 plant known in American gardens is due, however, to Mr. 

 Edward O. Orpet, at one time foreman of the Hardy Plant 

 Department in the nurseries of Woolson & Co., of Passaic, 

 New Jersey. "When I came to Passaic," Mr. Orpet 

 writes, " there was an old plant there which had been 

 brought originally from Japan among other plants, and 

 every September it was a grand sight. It did not always 

 ripen seed, and cuttings would not root unless taken in 

 heat in the spring. I at once thought that grafting might 

 be tried, and as C Virginiana grew wild in quantities in 

 the neighborhood, this suggested itself to me as a substi- 

 tute for C. Vilalba, used by the English growers as a stock 

 for the garden varieties of Clematis. I tried a few ; the 

 plants took easily, were potted in six-inch pots, planted out 

 in May, and by September had grown ten feet high, with 

 numerous shoots which flowered right down to the ground- 

 level. 



" So much for C. Virginiana as a stock, but I soon found 

 that it was hard work taking out the roots from the swamps 

 where it grows, and as we had a number of plants of C. 

 Slans in the garden I tried this, and the stock (root only) 

 united with the cion in two weeks ; and the plants made 

 far better growth from the first. Even the large-flowered 

 Clematises do much better when grafted on C Stans, the 

 callus being much more readily formed than when C. Vit- 

 alba is used. Roots the thickness of a Wheat-straw are the 

 best, and when grafted the plants should be planted in 

 small pots and plunged in sand in a grafting-case or a 

 frame. " 



* Clematis paniculata, Thunberg, Trans. Linn. Soc , ii., 337. — Miquel, "Pro!. Fl. 

 Jap.," 139. — Franchet & Savatier, "Enum. PI. Jap.," i., 1. — Maximowicz, "Me'l. 

 Biul.," ix., 595. — Franchet, " PI. David.," 12. — Forbes & Hemsley, Jour. Linn. Soc, 

 xxiii., 6. 



C. crispa and C. Virginica, Thunberg, "Fl.Jap.," 239 and 240. " C. Vitalba e. 

 Japonica, Houltyn, ' Houtkunde,' t. 55, f. 2." 



