296 



Garden and Forest. 



[June 19, li 



" Snowballs," which produce neutral flowers only, are destitute 

 of fruit. 



The Scotch or Burnet Rose {Rosa pimpinellifolia, or as it is 

 still more generally known, R. spinosissiiiia) is a plant which 

 was more frequently seen in gardens a quarter of a century 

 ago than it is to-day, being, like so many of the i)eautiful wild 

 single Roses, discarded in favor of the showier-flowered races 

 which have come into fashion in late years. The Scotch Rose, 

 nevertheless, is one of the most charming of hardy plants, 

 with numerous varieties, differing in the color and size of the 

 flowers. Rosa pi/npinellifolia in its uncultivated state is a 

 small, erect, much-branched shrub, rarely growing more than 

 a foot high, thickly armed with straight, slender prickles, inter- 

 mixed with glandular hairs. The leaves are composed of 

 seven to nine glabrous-toothed, broad leaflets. The flowers are 

 white or pink, one-half to one inch across, solitary on the ends 

 of the short branches, with smooth, globular calyxes. The 

 fruit is globular, or nearly so, black, or rarely red. This plant 

 has been cultivated in gardens for centuries, and formerly, 

 when Roses were less common than they are in these days, a 

 good deal of attention was devoted no doubt to the selection 

 and improvement of varieties. There are several of these 

 varieties in this collection, some with pure white, others with 

 pink, and one with semi-double flowers. The Scotch Rose is 

 absolutely hardy, and grows and flowers year after year with- 

 out other care and attention than the early dose of whale-oil 

 soap, which is necessary in this climate to preserve the foliage 

 of every Rose, always excepting that of the Japanese R. rugosa, 

 which is unpalatable, apparently, to all insects. Rosa piinpi- 

 nellifolia is widely spread over Europe and temperate Asia, 

 occupying shrubby wastes, often close to the sea, or heathy hills. 



As they are now in flower, a few words may be said about 

 two of the twining-stemmed Honeysuckles of the eastern 

 States. They ave Lonicera Jlava and L. Suilivatitii. The first 

 is one of the rarest plants of the United States flora, being 

 known to have grown wild only on the top of Paris Mountain, 

 inGreeneville, South Carolma. It was first made known by a 

 notice published in 1802 in Dayton's "View of South Caro- 

 lina." Later it was collected in the same locality by Fraser, 

 who introduced it into English gardens, where it is still occa- 

 sionally met with, it is said. It is very rarely seen in those of 

 this country. It is a high-chmbing, glabrous plant, with some- 

 what glaucous, thin leaves, which are broadly oval, the two or 

 three upper pairs joined together into a disk. The flowers are 

 borne in short, capitate, terminal clusters ; they are slightly 

 fragrant, bright yellow, later turning orange, with long, slen- 

 der corolla-tubes, from half an inch to nearly an inch long, 

 slightly hairy on the upper part of the interior surface. The 

 plant, which has long been confounded with this beautiful 

 species, and is now generally cultivated under the name of L. 

 Jlava,\s the much more common. L, Sulliva^iHi (the L. flava 

 of Gray's Manual), which was first distinguished in Ohio many 

 years ago by Mr. W. S. Sulhvant, and wliich is a widely-dis- 

 tributed plant from central Ohio to Winnipeg and to Tennes- 

 see. This plant may be distinguished from Z. flava by its 

 short, bushy stems, which barely climb or attain a greater 

 height tlian six or eight feet ; by the much thicker leaves, 

 whitened with a glaucous bloom; by the inflorescence, which 

 consists of several more or less approximate whorls of flow- 

 ers, and by the flowers themselves, which have a short corolla- 

 tube, less than half an inch long, conspicuously gibbous 

 and very pale yellow. The leaves are two to four inches long, 

 oval or obovate-oblong, those of the flowering-stems sessile, 

 with the upper pair joined into an orbicular disk. The flowers 

 of this species are not fragrant. This is the half-bushy Honey- 

 suckle often seen in old gardens, with pale foliage, which be- 

 comes by midsummer quite mealy- white. It is a far less orna- 

 mental or desirable plant than the true L. flava, which some 

 nurseryman would do well to take up and make common. 

 Mr. Faxon, who has detected L. Sullivantii in the plant com- 

 monly cultivated, has made sketches of the two species, which 

 will in time appear in the pages of Garden and Forest and 

 illustrate the distinctive characters of the two plants, which are, 

 moreover, clearly defined in Gray's "Synoptical Flora of 

 North America." 



The Scarlet Trumpet-Honeysuckle, a widely -distributed 

 plant through the middle and southern States, and one of the 

 most beautiful of the Honeysuckles in cultivation, is such a 

 well-known plant that it need only be mentioned for the 

 purpose of calling attention to a variety with clear yellow 

 corollas, which is not as well known to cultivators, or as often 

 seen in gardens as its great beauty entitles it to be. 



Lonicera hirstita is another of the climbing Honeysuckles 

 of the eastern States, which is now in flower, and which well 

 deserves a place in every collecfion of hardy shrubs. It is a 



high-climbing, free-twining plant, with oval, prominently- 

 veined, softly-pubescent, green leaves (destitute of the whitish 

 bloom found upon those of L. flava and L. Sullivantii), the 

 upper pairs connate. The corollas are orange-yellow fading 

 to brown, viscid-pubescent on the outer surface, the tubes 

 half an inch long. The throat and the base of the filaments 

 are covered with hairs. This pretty plant is found growing 

 upon rocky banks from northern New England and Canada 

 to the Saskatchawfin, and southward to Michigan and Penn- 

 sylvania. 



It is surprising that the English Woodbine (^Lonicera Peri- 

 clyiiienuiii). is not more generally grown in the gardens of this 

 country. It is one of the most beautiful of all the climbing 

 Honeysuckles — a perfectly hardy plant, and the delicious fra- 

 grance of the flowers is unequalled. The flowers are pale 

 red externally with yellow throats, and are produced from the 

 ends of the branches in closely sessile heads which are 

 stalked above the upper pair of leaves, which are closely 

 sessile, although not united. This is a widely-distributed 

 plant from Scandinavia to the shores of the Mediterranean. 

 TJie " Dutch Monthly" Honeysuckle is a variety of this plant, 

 so named, it is said, because it originated in one of the Dutch 

 nurseries. The flowers are rather darker colored than those 

 of the species. These Honeysuckles flower quite continu- 

 ously through the summer months, and there are no more 

 charming plants to train over the poi'ch or veranda of a dwell- 

 ing-house, that the fragrance of their flowers may be enjoyed 

 constantly. 



Lonicera orientalis is in flower. It is a low, shrubby 

 species of western Asia, extending from Asia Minor to Kash- 

 mir and the temperate Himalaya, where it sometimes attains 

 the size of a small- tree. Here it is a slender shrub, with 

 membranaceous, pale green, ovate, pr')inted smooth leaves, . 

 rather prominently veined; small, pink flowers and con- 

 spicuous black fruit. This plant, from an ornamental point 

 of view, has little to recommend it as compared with some of 

 the fine forms of the Tartarian Honeysuckle, or with some of 

 the recently introduced Bush Honeysuckles from western 

 Asia. 



Another Himalayan species, Lonicera quinqiielociilaris , 

 closely allied to L. Xylosteum of Europe and Siberia, is certainly 

 better worth a place in the garden. .It is a hardy shrub, grow- 

 ing to a height of from five to ten feet, with pubescent branch- 

 lets, ovate, or broadly lanceolate leaves, which are hairy on 

 the lower surface; and clustered, sessile, axillary flowers, with 

 short-tubed, hairy, yellow corollas. This plant is an old in- 

 habitant of the Arboretum, where it is perfectly hardy, and 

 decidedly ornamental. It is widely distributed in the Hima- 

 layas, where it is common between 4,000 and 12,000 feet 

 elevation. 



Elceagnus Canadensis is still, in spite of some interesting in- 

 troductions from western Asia-, the most ornamental species 

 of this genus, at least in foliage. It is a stoloniferous shrub, 

 growing to a height of eight to ten feet, with unarnaed 

 branches, those of the year covered with ferraginous scales. 

 The silvery-white, scurfy leaves are broadly or narrowly ellip- 

 tical, one and a half to four inches long. The axillary tubular 

 flowers are a third of an inch long, silvery on the outside and 

 yellow within. They are deliciously fragrant, and are followed 

 by abundant, globular, dry, mealy, edible fruit. It is a widely- 

 distributed plant from northern Minnesota to the Saskatchawan 

 and to Utah ; it is abundant, and a characteristic feature of the 

 vegetation of the upper Missouri valley, where it was discov- 

 ered by Lewis & Clark during their, transcontinental journey. 

 E. argentea was introduced into English gardens as early as 

 1 81 3, but is now not very often seen in cultivation. It is per- 

 fectly hardy, and the silvery whiteness of the foliage and the 

 pleasant fragrance of the flowers make it an attractive garden- 

 plant. E. unibellata is also in flower. It is a shrubby plant, 

 three or four feet high, the gray branches covered with brown 

 scurfy scales. The leaves are oblong lanceolate, silvery on 

 the lower surface, bright green on the upper. The flowers are 

 clustered, creamy-white, fragrant, and appear after the leaves 

 are fully grown. Those on the Japanese plant turn brilliantly 

 in the autumn. The fruit is succulent, ovoid or globose, one- 

 third of an inch long. Another plant here {E.parvifolia of Wall. 

 and of gardens) is evidently the Himalayan form of the species. 

 This is a larger and stouter plant, growing into a broad bush 

 ten or twelve feet high, with rather narrower pale green leaves, 

 but not otherwise distinguished from the Japanese plant ; 

 it is less hardy, however, and suffers seriously sometimes 

 during severe winters. E. unibellata, as now defined by bot- 

 anists, is a widely-distributed plant from Japan (where it 

 abounds in the northern islands, covering the sandy banks of 

 streams, just as the American species does those in the northern 



