January 2, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



phere crisp and bracing, but in spite of tlie liglit frost tlie 

 plants were in all their perfection of height and color, and I 

 wondered at the great number of large and brilliant butterflies 

 hovering over and alighting on the purple spikes. The thickly 

 crowded purple blooms, the hovering insects, the sparkling 

 river fringed with Live Oak and Palmetto, and overhead the 

 autumn sky — all these producing a sense of exhilaration and 

 happiness, the recollection of which at this day even is most 

 pleasant. 



Of Golden-rod I see niostly Soli dago tortifolia and S.retrorsa. 

 We now turn from the river, the road carrying us through a 

 damp, flat Pine-land of Saw Palmetto (6". serrulata), and the 

 first Pine to strike the attention of the botanist would probably 

 be P. Ciibensis, the P. Elliottii of Engelmann. But the turpen- 

 tlne-chippers and wood-cutters are in the land, and the Pines 

 are either scarred and mutilated for the still, or cut down for 

 timber, and thus it happens that few large and handsome trees 

 are now to be seen. This tree is the earliest of all our Pines 

 to bloom, the deep violet-purple buds showing themselves in 

 December or January, and later discharging their pollen from 

 two to four weeks before the others, according to season and 

 latitude. 



The deep violet or rose-purple amentsare in color like those 

 of the long-leaved Pine {P. palustris), and every year does 

 their exquisite hue surprise and charm us afresh, as does the 

 blue of the Gentian ((J. Elliottii) in November, or the pale lilac 

 of the Swamp Aster {^A. pahidosus) in October. The leaves of 

 P. Cubensis are by twos and threes, and of a deep green color. 

 The female aments are at first erect, but they soon commence 

 to recurve, so that in April or May they are close to the stem. 

 I know not if other Pines, either in our country or elsewhere, 

 ever show this striking peculiarity, but I am sure it is not seen 

 in P. palustris, P. serotiiia, P. glabra, P. mitis or P. Tceda. The 

 red-brown bark resembles that of P. pahistris, but, as was re- 

 marked long ago by Elliott (/". Tceda, var. heterophylla), it ex- 

 foliates in " longer scales." At this date of writing I observe 

 that the cones of our other Pines are still green, save perhaps 

 those of P. serotina, which are of a very pale yellow, whereas 

 those of P. Cubensis are brown or cinnamon-colored, and are 

 now expanding wide on the approach of cold weather. A 

 little later they will' discharge their abundant seeds. A few 

 of the cones are already dropping, but this usually occurs later 

 in the fall or winter, as is the case with P. palustris, while the 

 cones of all the rest cling till they drop, in after years, from 

 decay. It is also worthy of remark that these two Pines, which 

 drop their cones earlier, are the only two which run turpen- 

 tine and whose timber is in all respects excellent. This tree 

 {P. Cubensis), so far as I know, is found growing only under the 

 influence of salt water. I find it in damp and flat Pine-lands, 

 or in wet "slashes," often associated with P. serotina, also in 

 sandy, and largely, too, in clay lands, while I have seen the 

 young sapUngs overrunning the driest and sandiest old Cotton- 

 fields. It is, I think, the tallest of our Pines, and the largest 

 which I ever saw was 1 10 feet in height, and grew not far from 

 me in a Pine-land "slash." 



Many years ago I remember seeing just back of the sand 

 hills on Hilton Head beach a few of these trees. They were 

 not remarkable for height, yet from their girth and twisted 

 branches one could imagine that they had stood the storms of 

 centuries, and, for aught we know, had been sighted by Jean 

 Ribault upon his making the harbor, or even by Melendez, 

 when the " dark helm " of the Spaniard "hovered" over the 

 waters of Port Royal ! 



Even as early as the 28th of September I observed that the 

 cones of a few trees were opening, though I saw no mast 

 tailing. But this had not escaped the keen eyes of the jack- 

 daws, for a tree top was black with them, and later the woods 

 will ring with their joyous notes when they are picking the 

 Pine mast from the cones. I hear now the rush of the birds 

 and see their almost friendly rivalry as, with expanded wings, 

 they take every attitude upon the cones, up or down, while 

 the seeds are falling and twirling round and round in the 

 autumn sunshine. Looking at such a picture, listening to the 

 noise and clatter and the sweet exhilarating note of the birds, 

 one craves the hand of Audubon to paint it ! Nor is color 

 wanting in the brown cones, the glossy blue-black of the birds 

 and the deep green fans of the Pine ! 



As we go" on we glance at the Pond Pine— the Black 

 Pine of the country folk, the P. serotina of Michaux. Dr. 

 Engelmann considered this Pine a variety of the Pitch Pine, P. 

 rigida, but I am not sure that this has been accepted by all 

 botanists. I am informed that this latter Pine, P. rigida, is 

 invariably found further north in dry and sandy lands. Elliott 

 speaks of a tree which he refers to as P. rigida and its being 

 found sparsely in the low country of South Carolina. But this 



tree I have never yet met, nor have I ever seen any one who 

 could tell me anything about it. I have often looked for it. 

 Elliott's home was not over twenty-five miles from this place 

 and he speaks of P. rigida as "a large tree from 70 to 100 feet 

 in height and two to three in diameter." He says, also : 

 " This tree i&not very common in the low country of Caro- 

 lina, where it generally grows intermingled with trees of other 

 kinds, not forming forests exclusively of Pine." Evidently he 

 had seen it in the low country and it seems strange that it has 

 disappeared. We next meet with P. palustris as we get into 

 more sandy land. Although we have sometimes seen this 

 tree in damp or wet places, the old name of P. palustris seems 

 inapplicable, for, certainly, its finest forests are in the sandiest 

 land. We have passed the Eupatorium scabridum of Elliott, 

 which, after all, seems to be but a variety of E. rotundifoliiwi, 

 but the bloom of both has long since been over. Some fine 

 plants, however, of E. album, are in bloom now, and E. aro- 

 maticicm only in bud. The road becomes more deep and sandy, 

 and on the roadside hedges are Aralia spinosa, and the 

 " French Mulberry," Callicarpa. The fruit of this last is 

 beautiful, indeed, but it is esteemed too common for culdva- 

 tion. Some years ago, near sunset, I was collecting its fruit, 

 but a mocking bird was standing guard on the shrub and 

 most vociferously disputed my taking the purple clusters, 

 flying up and around me with extended wings, as he might do 

 when his nest is assailed in the spring. As I left with my 

 booty he seemed clamorously to pursue me, and even when I 

 was well out of his reach, I still heard his scolding. As I pass 

 along the sandy field of cotton I recall that it was here, on 

 each side of the roadside hedge, that I found, I think, three 

 separate plants of an Asclepias, which seemed but a freak of 

 A. tuberosa, which last was very abundant in this spot. It has 

 long since utterly disappeared, but good speciniens were sent 

 both to Drs. Gray and Engelmann, and, I think, also to Mr. 

 Canby. 



I append a few notes of this plant, which, at the time, greatly 

 excited my curiosity : Leaves of the calyx linear, curved 

 upwards between the leaves of the corolla, which are linear- 

 lanceolate, and, as usual, reflexed, but of a deep blood-red 

 color. Leaves of the stamineal crown of the same deep crim- 

 son, spreading and reflexed, deeply cleft and bearing no horn. 

 The gynostegium, therefore (which is greenish yellow), naked. 

 Flowers much smaller, and umbels, also, than in A. tuberosa, 

 but extremely brilliant and ornamental. This plant, like A. 

 tuberosa, exudes no milk; it is hirsute, and in all other respects, 

 both as to stem and leaf, like A. tuberosa. Whether hybrid 

 or monstrosity, I never learned accurately. 



Biufton, s. c. J- H. Mellechamp. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



BOOKS. — Several works by eminent botanists and garden- 

 ers have been added this year to the literature of the 

 garden. The one likely to prove the most generally use- 

 ful to the hordculturist is Nicholson's " Dicdonary of Garden- 

 ing," a careful and comprehensi%''e encyclopedia of plants 

 and garden matters generally. It has taken four years to 

 complete it, and already it is quoted by many as the standard 

 authority on garden nomenclature, the editor's well-known 

 carefulness and extensive knowledge being a guarantee of its 

 reliableness in this respect. Certainly this work fills a gap 

 which horticulturists generally often had occasion to deplore. 

 Mr. Baker, of Kew, whose sympathy with horticulturists and 

 interest in their work is quite exceptional among botanists, 

 has added another useful work to the many already prepared 

 by him. 1 refer to his book on the order AinaryllidacecB. It 

 contains descriptions, in good plain English, of all the species 

 and most marked variefies of the genera included in this 

 order, and it is the result of twenty-three years' notes and obser- 

 vations. Here this book is of great value for reference. It 

 ought to be in every gardener's library. Mr. Bolus, an emi- 

 nent Cape botanist, and certainly the first authority on Cape 

 Orchids, has just published a very valuable book on the 

 Orchids of the Cape Peninsula. Mr. Bolus has studied most 

 of these plants in a living state, and, as he discourses on the 

 conditions under which they grow naturally, much useful in- 

 formation for the cultivator is contained in his book. For 

 with only one or two exceptions the management of Cape 

 Orciiids here has not yet been mastered. Veitch's splendid 

 Orchid Manual already comprises Odontoglossum, Cattleya, 

 Laslia, Dendrobium and several small genera, and I learn that 

 the number on Cypripedium will shortly appear. 

 Grammatophyllum speclosum (see Garden and Forest, 



