376 



Garden and Forest. 



[August 7, i{ 



87. Gleditschia monosperma, Walter. — Carl Koch (Den- 

 drologie, i., 9) called attention to the fact that the oldest 

 name for this plant is G. iiiermis, of Miller (1768), and that 

 Walter's G. inoiiosperi/ia (1788) is later also than Marshall's 

 G. aqiiaika (1785) and than Lamarck's G. Carolinensis (1786). 

 The change from G. monospcrnia to G. inerniis is certainly 

 to be regretted, for the Water Locust is horribly armed, 

 while the name inerinis was used by Pursh (in 1814) to 

 designate a thornless variety of G. iriacanihos. If, how- 

 ever, the rule of priority is to be followed, the change 

 seems necessary, as it is certainly contrary both to the spirit 

 and to the laws of nomenclature to change a name simply 

 because it happens to be inappropriate. C. S. Sargent. 



New or Little Known Plants. 

 Rosa Engelmanni.* 



MR. FAXON has here given a very good representa- 

 tion of a Rose that is widely distributed through 

 our western region, but which has not hitherto been recog- 

 nized as distinct. It has now been in cultivation at the 

 Arnold Arboretum for several years, having been raised 

 from seed collected by Dr. Engelmann near Empire City, 

 Colorado, in 1881. It is the only species in temperate 

 America that is characterized by an oblong fruit, and it is 

 in this respect the representative of the Old World species, 

 R. acicularis and R. alpina, to which it is otherwise also 

 nearly allied. It is, indeed, in part the R. acicularis, van 

 Bourgeauiana of M. Crepin, the distinguished rhodologist 

 of Brussels. But the only specimen of this species in the 

 Gray Herbarium that was collected by Bourgeau (at " Fort 

 bas Garry" in 1857) is ticketed by M. Crepin as R. blanda, 

 var. setigera, while most of his variety Bourgeauiana (in- 

 cluding Bourgeau's own specimen, ticketed "Mt. Roche- 

 ases a la base, 8 Aout, 1858"), belongs to the somewhat 

 similar, but still quite distinct species, R. Sayi. In my 

 revision of our species, published in 1885, the fruiting spec- 

 imens that I had seen were referred to as belonging to a 

 possible new species of the R. Fendleri group, though most 

 of the flowering specimens were disposed of under R. Sayi. 



R. Engebnanni is distinguished from R. acicularis most 

 prominently by the frequent occurrence of a pair of slender 

 spines below the stipules, by the resinous puberulence often 

 found upon the leaves, with the accompanying glandular 

 serrulation of the teeth, by the naked peduncles, and in 

 growing specimens (so far as R. acicularis is represented in 

 our gardens) by a difference in appearance of the foliage 

 and in habit, which it is not easy to describe. The stems 

 in both species are usually covered with slender prickles, 

 and the rather large flowers are almost always solitary. 



R. acicularis is rather more northern in its range, extend- 

 ing through northern Russia and Siberia to Japan and 

 across Behring Sea into northern Alaska. R. Engelmanni 

 appears to be frequent on the shores of Lake Superior and 

 at some points on Lake Huron, and thence ranges west- 

 ward by the Lake of the Woods, Pembina, and the upper 

 Missouri to the Rocky Mountains. Here it is found from 

 central Colorado to north of the boundary in British 

 America, and westward to Idaho, and the upper Columbia 

 in Washington Territory, where I collected it in 1880 near 

 Fort Colville. It is a showy species in cultivation, both 

 from its large flowers and its conspicuous bright red fruit. 

 ^. W. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 

 T T is nearly midsummer, and the Rose still monopolizes the 

 -'- talk and the work of the floral world ; it is teeming in every 

 garden, in every drawing-room, in every flower-shop, and 

 even the street-hawkers' barrows are laden witJi Roses in 



* R. Engelmanni, Watson.— Stems three to four feet high or less, usually more 

 or less densely covered with scattered prickles, the infrastipular spines, when 

 present, straight and slender, often wanting ; leaflets five to seven, often somewhat 

 resinous, puberulent beneath, and the teeth glandular-serrulate; stipules narrow ; 

 rhachis unarmed ; flowers usually solitary, the peduncle and receptacle naked ; 

 sepals entire, naked or somewhat hispid ; fruit oblong-obovate, six to twelve lines 

 ong. 



early morning. The Rose exhibitor never was so busy, for he 

 well" knows that, if this hot and dry weatiier continues, the Rose 

 season, like that of the Strawberries and Peas, will be very 

 brief. One week we have a Rose Conference, and the next the 

 Royal Botanic Society initiates a "Floral Parade and Feast of 

 Roses," with an accompaniment of harmless absurdities. At 

 the Alexandra l^alace the populace is treated to "a celebration 

 of the beautiful festival, ' The Crowning of the Rose Queen,' 

 with full procession, choir, band and organ," while the great 

 show of the National Rose Society, at the Crystal Palace, is 

 patronized by the Persian monarch and the Prince and Princess 

 of Wales. As to the Rose Conference, held by the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society, I hardly know whether to call it a success or 

 a failure. It was a failure as regards the patronage it received, 

 for it leaves the Society none the richer. It was a success both 

 as regards the exhibition and the high character of the discus- 

 sions. The majority of the visitors were those who took a 

 real interest in Roses, and all seemed delighted at the abun- 

 dant gathering of all sorts and conditions of Roses that could 

 not possibly be seen at an ordinary Rose show or in the most 

 richly-stocked Rose-garden. Besides an ample display of the 

 modern Hybrid Perpetual race, the Teas and Noisettes, there 

 were to be seen hundreds of old-fashioned Roses, which for 

 real beauty, fragrance and interest do not yield much to their 

 fashionable successors. Under the same tent were displayed 

 the Roses loved by the gardeners of the last century, such as 

 the Provence, the Monthly and the Damask, with the latest 

 productions of modern growers, and though the difference 

 between the old and the new is striking, the true rosarian 

 loves them all. 



It was an excellent opportunity for such noted growers as 

 the Pauls, of Waltham Cross and Cheshunt, to exhibit the 

 hundreds of the old flowers that blossom in comparative 

 obscurity in their historic rosaries ; and Mr. William Paul not 

 only showed a marvelous array of old sorts, but a first-rate 

 collection of new Roses that he has raised or put in com- 

 merce so that he might fairly lay claim to having shown the 

 Rose as it was a century ago and as it is to-day. What de- 

 lighted and interested visitors most were the collections of 

 old garden Roses, especially the rambling sorts still found 

 in some of the oldest English gardens, where change of 

 fashion is unheeded. Of late years there has been a demand 

 for these old climbing Roses, but the supply in many cases 

 cannot be met. The fact is, the modern race had almost en- 

 tirely supplanted the old sorts, and it did not pay nurserymen 

 to keep them in stock. The date of the conference was a week 

 too late for the full flower-tide of the climbing varieties, but, as 

 it was, there were to be seen huge clusters of such favorites as 

 the Ayrshire, the semi-double white Dundee Rambler, the 

 pink Virginian Rambler, the old white Bennett's Seedling, 

 called also Thoresbyana, which is one of the best of pillar 

 plants. Then came the Evergreen Roses {R. sempervirens), 

 such as the beautiful Felicity Perpetue, Flora, Myrianthiflora 

 and others, all of which are matchless for festoons and pil- 

 lars. The other climbers and ramblers were of the Polyantha, 

 Multiflora and Hybrid races, and among them was the ex- 

 quisite little Laure Davourst, a Multiflora with clusters of 

 small pink rosettes ; the Garland Rose, with its fawn-colored 

 buds; Madame d'Arblay, a hybrid Musk Rose, with pink flow- 

 ers; the nankeen yellow, Claire Jacquier and numerous other 

 double ones. The typical Rosa polyantha, with clusters of 

 small white single blooms, is very lovely if you catch it at its 

 best, but it does not last so long as the double ones. As to 

 the other old-fashioned Roses, the French, Gallica, Boursault, 

 Provence and Damask, I imagine that almost every variety 

 was to be found in the Waltham and Cheshunt collections, 

 and amongst them were such much-prized climbers as Blairii 

 No. 2, one of the best of all pillar Roses, Madame Plantier, 

 Paul Perras, a pink climber, and the old Charles Lawson, still 

 among the best kinds for growing in or near a shrubbery, 

 where it will hold its own and ramble over the shrubs in a 

 beautiful way. The variegated or striped sorts, such as the 

 York and Lancaster, Rosa Mundi, Perle de Panach^es, repre- 

 sent a distinct and beautiful class, to which has been lately 

 added the Pride of Pergate, which is a striped petaled sport 

 from Countess of Oxford. 



The more modern garden Roses include, of course, the 

 charming American W. A. Richardson, which grows more 

 and more popular ; Perle d'Or, a neat little variety of the 

 Polyantha race with flowers paler, but of a similar tint to W. 

 A. Richardson. It is, I am told, greatly in demand for coat 

 l:)Ouquets. Quite a new addition is a sort called L'Ideal, also 

 a climber, with smallish flowers of a sort of salmon-buff tint. 

 It is quite different from any other in color, and is sure to 

 become popular. Of the Pacquerette Roses, which is the 



