400 



Garden and Forest. 



[August 21, iS 



shape of a cross with a broad shaft. There is an orange 

 band around the margin of the wing-covers. The dark brown 

 eggs, whicli arc deposited by tlie beedes on the stems, branches 

 or leaves are set on end, and are a Httle over one-twentieth of an 

 incli long. These eggs hatch in about a week or a little more, 

 and produce larvre which grow rapidly and attain full size in ten 

 or twelve days. They are then about three-tenths of an inch 

 long, tleshy and slug-like, with the body much larger towards 

 the hinder part than towards the head. The color of the body 

 is a dull ashy-gray, and the head and legs are black and shining. 



The time necessary for the insect to go through all its stages, 

 from the egg to the imago, or perfect beetle, is about thirty days. 



To-day (August sth) the beetles and egg« are very abundant 

 in many gardens about Boston, and fully-grown larvse are also 

 quite plentiful. 



Another species of Asparagus-beetle, known as Crioceris 

 \2-punctata, also an importation from Europe, made its ap- 

 pearance near Baltimore some years ago, and is said to be 

 very injurious if neglected. As yet, however, it is not reported 

 as having come very far north. tv /- <v a 



Jamaica Plain. /• <>• JdCk. 



Notes Upon Some North American Trees. — VI. 



Acacia Farnesiana, Willd. — This plant is now so widely- 

 distributed through the tropical and sub-tropical regions 

 of the world, having been long cultivated for the fragrance 

 of its flowers, that its native country is not easily deter- 

 mined. Mr. Bentham {Trans. Limi, Soc, London, xxx., 

 502) was of the opinion that it was indigenous to western 

 America from northern Chili to Texas, as well as to north- 

 ern and north-eastern Australia, and perhaps to south trop- 

 ical Africa. It is one of the most commonly cultivated 

 trees in all the towns on both sides of our Mexican bound- 

 ary, and I have found it growing spontaneously on the 

 Texas desert between San Antonio and the Rio Grande, in 

 situations where it does not seem possible that it could 

 have been introduced. It seems desirable, therefore, for 

 these reasons, to include this beautiful species among the 

 trees of our territory. 



Acacia flexicaulis, Benth. — ^This species must be in- 

 cluded also among the Texas trees. It is the largest and, 

 after A. Farnesiana, the most beautiful of the Acacias, 

 growing naturally within the limits of the United States. 

 It is found abundantly on the dry plains, which rise from 

 either bank of the lower Rio Grande, forming a round- 

 headed evergreen tree attaining a height of twenty-five or 

 thirty feet, with a short, stout trunk, sometimes twelve to 

 fifteen inches in diameter. It is known locally as " Mex- 

 ican Ebony," from its very hard, compact and beautiful, 

 dark wood, which is greatly prized by cabinet-makers, 

 and for posts (as it is almost indestructible when placed 

 in contact with the ground) and for fuel. The pale-yellow 

 flowers are delicately fragrant. The large seeds of this 

 species are sometimes boiled by the Mexicans while they are 

 green and are said to be palatable and nutritious ; or, when 

 fully ripe, they are toasted and used as a substitute for 

 coffee. The illustration upon page 401 of this issue, from a 

 photograph made by Mr. Pringle last year on the lower 

 Rio Grande, shows the habit and the general appearance 

 of this tree, but does not display, of course, the beauty of 

 its bright and lustrous foliage. 



99. Acacia Berlandieri, Benth.^This plant, so far as I 

 have been able to see it in Texas and in Mexico, or to 

 learn about it from others, is never more than a shrub, and 

 it may be dropped, therefore, from the list of our trees. 



PiTHECOLOBiUM BREViFOLiuM, Benth. — I have found this 

 species growing as a slender tree, twenty-five to thirty feet 

 high, on both banks of the lower Rio Grande, although more 

 common and of larger size south of the river. It should 

 properly find a place, therefore, in the North American 

 Silva. 



109. Prunus Capuli, Cav. — This name for the widely- 

 distributed Cherry-tree of Mexico and the Pacific coast 

 of Central and South America, appears to have been 

 published first by Sprengel in his "Systema Vegetabi- 

 lium," ii., 477 (1825); and Mr. Watson has pointed out 



{Prvc. Am. Acad., new sen, xxii., 411) that an earlier pub- 

 lished name is P.salicifolia, HBK, "Nov. Gen. et Sp.," vi., 

 241, /. 563 (1823), although, as' Mr. Watson suggests, the 

 name Capuli, always credited to Cavanilles, may have been 

 published by him before it was taken up by Sprengel (/. c). 



113. Prunus ilicifolia. — An interesting variety of this 

 tree, with nearly entire adult leaves, was first noticed by 

 Mr. W. S. Lyon on Santa Catahna Island, off the California 

 coast. He referred it {Botanical Gazette, xi. , 202, 396) to 

 Prunus occidentalis of Nuttall — a name which Nuttall seems 

 never to have used for any western American plant, and 

 which had already been appropriated long ago by Swartz 

 for a West Indian tree. Mr. Edward L. Greene found this 

 plant upon Santa Cruz Island, and notes {Bull. California 

 Acad., ii., 7, 385) the resemblance to the mainland P. ilici- 

 folia, and the fact that the smaller spinose-toothed leaves 



of this last are identical with those on young seedlings 

 found on the island. Mr. Brandegee examined the trees on 

 Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands last summer, and in his 

 "Flora of the Santa Barbara Islands" {P roc. Calif or 7iia 

 Acad., 2 sen, i., 2, 209) it appears as Prunus ilicifolia van 

 occidentalis, and this name should, therefore, be retained by 

 those authors who consider the insular tree as a more 

 robust, entire-leaved variety merely of Prujius ilicifolia, 

 although the name, in view of the West Indian species, is 

 not a fortunate one. The island tree, according to Mr. 

 Greene (/. c. ), rises to a height of twenty-five feet, with a 

 stout trunk covered with rough dark bark, and a compact, 

 well-rounded head. The leaves are evergreen, ovate-acute, 

 three to four inches long, entire, or sometimes remotely 

 denticulate, or rarely spinose-serrate. The fruit is larger, 

 but not otherwise different from that of the mainland tree. 

 According to Mr. Greene (/. c. ), "the thin pulp is sweet, 

 with also a bitter-almond flavor, but no acidity or astrin- 

 gency." On Santa Rosa Mr. Brandegee found "it confined 

 to the bottoms of the cailons — much larger and more tree- 

 like than in Santa Cruz." He notes that in the Santa Inez 

 mountains, near Santa Barbara, the leaves of P. ilicifolia 

 sometimes have entire margins. 



114. Vauquelinia Torreyi, Watson. — This Arizona tree 

 was first described by Dn Torrey (Emory's Rep., 140) as 

 Spircea Californica. Mr. Watson, in referring it to its right 

 genus {Proc. Am. Acad., xi., 147), dropped the specific 

 name under which it was first described (for the reason, no 

 doubt, that this tree has not been found within the actual 

 limits of the State of California), and substituted for it the 

 name of the first describer. Instances are not wanting in 

 the annals of American botany of geographical specific 

 names having been improperly applied ; and unless all 

 such names are to be corrected, it would be better to retain 

 the earliest specific name for this plant, which would thus 

 become Vauquelinia Californica. 



122. Crat^gus rivularis, Nutt. — This species, founded 

 on specimens collected "in the interior of Oregon " by 

 Douglas, I am unable to distinguish specifically from C. 

 Douglasii The leaves on the original specimen are nar- 

 rowly lanceolate and simply serrate, as are those of the 

 common form found in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, 

 where this plant is not rare. But this narrow-leaved form 

 passes gradually in northern Montana, where the black- 

 fruited Thorn abounds along the margins of mountain 

 meadows and streams, into that with broad, doubly ser- 

 rate, and often incisely cut and lobed leaves. The two 

 forms mingle in the coast region of Oregon and Washing- 

 ton even, and vigorous shoots of the Utah plant are apt 

 to display the cut leaves which have been largely depended 

 on to separate the two species. The stipules (always an 

 unreliable character in Crataegus) and the calyx-lobes, which 

 are described as "usually glandular," cannot be depended 

 on to distinguish these two forms. The spines, which 

 are rather more abundant on the coast plant than on that of 

 the interior, are the same, as ai^e the fruit and its stones. 

 The flowers of the latter are somewhat smaller. I should 

 propose, therefore, to call the narrow-leaved black-fruited 



