114 



Garden and Forest. 



[March 6, iJ 



good grower, very distinct in foliage, and the spikes are erect, 

 over a yard high, branching and bearing large llowers, the 

 lip of which is canary-yellow, large, the sepals and petals 

 barred with red-brown. The individual flowers of O. splcndi- 

 dtim are not unlike those of O. tigrimim, a resen"il)laiice which 

 led to its being called a variety of this species ; in pseudo- 

 bidb, foliage and habit the two are widely dit^erent. Cypripe- 

 diiun Citrtissii is a beautiful species, related to C. stiperbiens, 

 and one of the most distinct of all the recently-introduced 

 kinds. Messrs. Sander «Sc Co. have a large batch of it, a few 

 plants of which are in flower. 



Kew, February, 1889. W. WutSOn. 



Cultural Department. 



Sparaxis and Ixia. 



ACCORDING to Mr. Baker, of Kew, there are in south 

 •^"^ Africa about 800 species of plants of the Iris, Lily and 

 Amaryllis families, whose underground portion is either a 

 corm, a tuber or a bulb. 



If we add to this number the bulbous and tuberous Oxalis, 

 Pelargoniums, Othonnas, Crassulas, etc., we shall have a total 

 of about 1,000 species, included under the popular name of 

 "Cape Bulbs." Of these probably not one in twenty is culti- 

 vated either in this country or in England, though many showy 

 hybrids of a few Ixias and Sparaxis are yearly offered for sale 

 both there and here. 



In horticulture as in other things, "the old order changeth, 

 giving place to new." Cape Bulbs have enjoyed a period of 

 popularity in the past, as the numerous plates of these beauti- 

 ful flowers in the Botanical Register, the earlier volumes of 

 the Botanical Magazine and other works will show. As a 

 whole they have very much to recommend them. Nearly 

 every one is of great horticultural interest for the grace, bril- 

 liancy or fragrance of its tiowers. Hardly one is difficult to 

 manage. Some are perfectly hardy ; most of the others can 

 l)e safely Carried through a New England winter in a frame or 

 in a raised bed, with a covering of leaves, and those which 

 inust blossom in the winter or not at all will do well in a sunny 

 window. 



The Ixia and Sparaxis, the former for the gracefulness of its 

 tall spikes, and the latter for the extreme brilliancy of many of 

 its forms, maj? claim a place in the very front rank of Cape 

 Bulbs..: 



Sparaxis is a small genus, consisting of only three spe- 

 cies, though there are several varieties of these found in a 

 state of nature and a great many produced by the labors of 

 gardeners. S. bulbifera has flowers of some shade of yellow, 

 ranging from the lightest and faintest to very strong and bright 

 ones, but always yellow. It is named from the elongated 

 bulbs which it forms in the axils of its leaves, although the other 

 species do the same with equal prolificacy. S. grandiflora is 

 distinguished by its white and purple flowers. These two 

 colors are always present, as far as 1 liave observed. In some 

 of its forms the purple is confined to the edges of the floral 

 divisions ; in others the whole flower is of a deep velvety pin- 

 ple except a white tip, or perhaps a light edge on tlie six seg- 

 ments. The third species, .S". tricolor, is not outdone in bright- 

 ness, in some of its forms, by any flower the whole earth can 

 show. Its three colors are jet black, yellow of varying shades, 

 and red of some very bright tint ; scarlet or crimson, or some 

 other as showy. These three colors in the best varieties form 

 a whole more dazzling than any one not familiar with the 

 flower could ifnagine. 



I believe that the very numerous sorts offered by Dutch 

 bulb-growers are varieties of these species, and not hybrids, 

 for, though I have grown a very large number of them, I have 

 never seen one in which the characteristic colors of two spe- 

 cies met in the same flower. The stalk of the Sparaxis is from 

 eight to ten inches high, and bears from four to seven flow- 

 ers, each of which lasts several days. Its leaves are flat, long 

 and somewhat blunt at the end, and grow more upright than 

 those of the Tritoma, less so than those of the Ixia. The bulb 

 is unusually white and clean in appearance, and is almost 

 spherical. The plants sold as Sparaxis ptdcherrima and 

 S. pendula are not now included in the genus, but form the 

 genus Dierama. I can say but litde of them, and will say that 

 little here. They are exceedingly beautiful, bearing long 

 racemes of somewhat bell-shaped flowers of a lovely rosy 

 hue, on gracefully bending, slender stalks four feet high. At 

 least so we are told, and we must take it on trust. 



I cannot make them flower, though I have had them for years 

 under all kinds of treatment. The most skillful cultivator of 

 bulbs in this part of the state has been equally unsuccessful. 

 The plants appear to be like Iris Robinsoniana — most beauti- 



ful things, whose beauty no one can cause to be developed. 

 With covering D. piilcherrima will endure our winters ; under 

 glass it is evergreen. 



The Ixias are very different from the Sparaxis in general 

 appearance, their leaves being nmch longer, narrower and 

 darker green, and usually somewhat twisted. During our 

 shortest days, when the sun is only a few hours above the 

 horizon and his elevation at noon is only about twenty-five 

 degrees, the Ixias suffer more from deprivation of light than 

 any other Cape Bulbs, except a few species of Gladiolus. For 

 this reason better results will be obtained, I think, by planting 

 these in February or March than by doing so in September 

 or October. The flower-stalks of Ixias are slender and quite 

 rigid and straight, and the flowers are clustered thickly at the 

 top. The many kinds offered in Dutch catalogues appear to 

 be hybriils, as they show peculiarities of two or more species 

 in the same flower. These hybrids are, many of them, of 

 exceeding beauty, and many are highly fragrant, having the 

 delicious perfimie of the Neapolitan Cyclamen. 



The species, as far as I have cultivated them, are these : 



1. Ixia polystachya ; white-flowered, about twenty inches 

 high, the stalk having from three to six lateral shoots, coming 

 into flower at the same time as the central one. 



2. Ixia flexiiosa ; twelve inches high, flower sometimes 

 white, sometimes pink. 



3. Ixia hybrida {^I.Jlexuosa of Ker); white, with rose centre ; 

 highly fragrant. 



4. Ixia aristata ; white, pirdc or rose, according to variety, 

 and frequently sold under fanciful names, as some others are. 



5. Ixiafragrans; pink, if I have it true to name. 



6. Ixia patens ; generally deep crimson, a species sold by 

 dealers under its true name and usually in its typical state. 



7. Ixia speciosa (the /. crateroides of the catalogues) ; deep 

 crimson, with lighter exterior. 



8. Ixia maciilata of Linnaius (/. conica of Salisbury, and sold 

 imder both names); one of the most variable of plants ; many 

 varieties having centres of two colors, chestnut and blue, pink 

 and blue, blue and crimson, etc., while the ground color is 

 white, cream, lemon, buff, orange or light blue. 



9. Ixia columellaris ; also variable, but of soberer colors 

 than /. niaculata. 



10. Ixia monadelpha, frequently sold as /. columellaris ; pink, 

 with crimson eye; yellow, with chestnut eye; purple, with blue 

 eye, etc. 



11. Ixia paniculata; a species I do not think worth growing; 

 it has a very long-tubed flower of a brown paper color, 



12. Ixia viridiflora ; the most beautiful of all, having lovely 

 sea-green flowers, with a purple centre. 



Tliere are six or seven others which I have never seen. 



Canton, Mass. W. E. EndicOtt. 



Cultivating Wild Flowers. — With all the encouragement to 

 skill ottered by the system of premiums at our horticultural 

 shows, specimens of extra good culture are seldom seen, 

 except, perhaps, in the case of the Chrysanthemums. In the 

 Old World visitors afe sometimes suiprised to see on exhi- 

 bition some wild flower, taken in hand by a florist, who 

 makes a wonderful specimen by care and good treatnient. At 

 a recent exhibition in Germany, one of the wild Orchids of 

 that region was thus shown, and, according to the Garten- 

 flora, a specimen was produced that far exceeded in beauty 

 the rare Orchids of foreign lands, for which hundreds of dol- 

 lars are sometimes given. 



Improvement of the Pansy.— When, in the boyhood of the 

 writer, some fifty years ago, the Pansy came to be some 

 three-quarters of an inch in width, and the florists gave the 

 varieties disdnctive names, it was regarded as a wonderful 

 achievement of modern skill. But an old work on horticult- 

 ure in Britain, called " Hortus Floridus," has recently been 

 brought to light, issued two hundred years ago, in which are 

 pictures of Pansies just as large and fine. The query is, had 

 the florists of these early times agents in their employ with 

 exaggerated picture-books,' or were the Pansies of those days 

 as large and fine as those of our own time ? 



Maule's Quince —Pyrus Maulei has flowered with us for sev- 

 eral seasons past. English papers compare it with Pyrus 

 Japonica, which the flower does to some extent resemble in 

 form, though bright orange in color, and not red as in Pyrus 

 Japonica. The flower also opens early, as it does in that 

 species. But the foliage and habit are more like those of the 

 Pyracantha (Cratcsgus Pyracantha) than those of the ordinary 

 Japan Quinces. Like the Pyracantha, also, it has a disposition 

 to be evergreen. It promises to be an excellent addition to 

 our list of hardy shrubs. Thomas Meehan. 



Germantowii, Pa. - - - 



