424 



Garden and Forest. 



[September 4, iJ 



settles, so far as concerns the oldest name, its rather com- 

 plicated synonomy. 



The plant which has been sometimes considered a variety 

 of this species (var. punctata, Gray, Manual, 2 ed. 124. — 

 Census Cat., 80) is, certainly, quite distinct from it, and 

 one of the best marked and least variable of our species, 

 always readily distinguished by the prominent primary 

 veins of the leaves, and by the large, dull red or bright 

 yellow pendulous fruit covered conspicuously with white 

 dots. This plant is common in Berkshire County, Massa- 

 chusetts ; it extends west to Ontario, and southward along 

 the Alleghany Mountains to the high peaks of North Caro- 

 lina. The name which has been usually applied to it is 

 that of Jacquin, C. piinctala (Hort. Vindob., i., 10, /. 28), 

 published in 1770; and this name can be retained, as the 

 Mesiplus cornifolia of Munchhausen (Hausv, v., 145) is of 

 the same date. 



130. Crat;egus cordata, Aiton. — Walters name, C. popiili- 

 folia (1788), is taken up in the recent Catalogue of the plants 

 of New York in the place of that of Aiton (1789). The old- 

 est name for this tree, however, is RIesiplus cordata, Miller, 

 "Figures of the most beautiful, useful and uncommon 

 plants described in the Gardeners' Dictionary," /. , 179 

 (1760), and "Gardeners' Dictionary," ed. 8, so that the 

 oldest specific name being used it is fortunately possi- 

 ble and proper to retain the familiar C. cordata. 



133. Crat^gus berberifolia, Torrey and Gray. — This 

 species, published in the "Flora of North America," i., 

 469, in 1838, had been discovered by Professor Carpenter 

 on the prairies of Opelousas, in western Louisiana. Little 

 was known of it, as the specimens were gathered after 

 the petals had fallen and before the ovaries had grown 

 perceptibly, and nothing more was seen of this plant until 

 the spring of 1880, when I found it in eastern Texas, not 

 very far from the original locality. I visited Opelousas for 

 the third time four years ago, and fortunately met with the 

 tree on the very spot, probably, where Professor Carpenter 

 had discovered it fifty years before. The trees at this time 

 were only in bud, but later, through the kind offices of 

 Dr. Mohr, of Mobile, I obtained copious flowering and 

 fruiting specimens and an abundant supply of seeds, which 

 have been distributed among the principal European gar- 

 dens. 



An examination of this plant both in the field and in the 

 herbarium makes it clear that it must be considered a pu- 

 bescent form of Cratcegus Crus-galli.^ The Louisiana trees 

 have the habit of C. Crus-galli, with the peculiar horizon- 

 tally spreading branches, making the low, flat-topped head 

 of that species. The bark is identical in the two trees, and I 

 find no characters, except in the pubescence of the young 

 shoots, of the leaves and of the inflorescence to distinguish 

 it from the ordinary broad-leaved form of the Cockspur 

 Thorn. The plant was described as unarmed in the "Flora 

 of North America," but I have, thanks to Dr. Mohr, who 

 purchased Dr. Carpenter's herbarium, one of his orignial 

 specimens, which has stout, straight spines an inch and 

 three-quarters long; and branches may be found on the 

 same tree covered with thorns, or entirely unarmed. The 

 fruit is ornamental, half an inch in diameter, and orange 

 with scarlet cheeks. This plant grows quite abundantly 

 about four miles west of Opelousas, on ground adjoining 

 the plantation of a Mr. Pierre Pompon Petre. It is found 

 among an open growth of Oaks and Hickories, associated 

 with Hornbeams, Flowering Dogwoods and the Parsley 

 Haw, close to the margin of the prairie, which is here bor- 

 dered with a most luxuriant growth of the beautiful C. 

 bracliyacantha. Dr. Mohr sends what is evidently the same 

 plant, collected on Black Creek, west Florida, in 1882, and 

 Mr. Faxon, in 1885, found at Augusta, Georgia, C. O'us- 

 galli with pubescent shoots and leaves which cannot be sep- 

 arated from the Louisiana plant. C. Canierei, of which C. 

 Lavallei \s a synonym — a seedling which sprung up in the 



*Crat^gus Crus-galli, var. berberifolia, arbor mediocris, ramulis lioi izontalibus, 

 hornotinis pubescenlibiis, foliis oblone;e cuneato-oljovalibus, superne serratis 

 subtus dense pubescentibus, 2-poII-longis ; corymbis dense hirsutis. 



garden of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, at Paris, is the 

 same as our plant, except in its less developed pubescence. 

 135. Crataegus flava. Ait. — This, according to Karl 

 Koch, is the Mespilus flexispina of Moench (Verzeichnisa 

 auslandischer Biiume und Stauden des Lustschlosses 

 Weissenstein bei Cassel, published in 1785). I have not 

 this work before me, but if the reference is correct, the 

 specific name of Moench must replace that of Aiton, which 

 was not published until four years later, and C. flava be- 

 come C. flexispina — a change which is less objectionable 

 than many others, as the fruit is never quite yellow, and 

 more often red than yellow-green. C. S. Sargent. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



A UGUST is usually the interval between the summer and 

 •^^ autumn crops of roses, while as a rule it is too early for 

 Dahlias and other autumn flowers. But this year, owing, prob- 

 ably, to a fine and warm early summer and an abundance of 

 rain lately, our open air gardens are particularly gay with 

 Ilowers, and the Royal Horticultural Society's show in mid- 

 August was Ijrighter and more crowded than I remember to 

 have seen it at this season. The hall was lit up with masses 

 of Dahlias, Gladioli, Roses, Carnations, Java Rhododendrons, 

 Begonias, Orchids, a host of border flowers, specimens of 

 hardy and ornamental trees and rich collections of fruits, in- 

 cluding a marvellous array of Tomatoes from the Society's 

 gardens. Here was a feast to suit all sorts and conditions of 

 gardeners, but there was but a handful of admirers after all, 

 and all these directly interested. The real flower lovers are 

 those who have the best and most richly stocked gardens, and 

 go to exhibitions only to see for themselves what is new and 

 good. 



There was an unusually large number of novelties at the 

 meeting, and amongst them were some first-rate plants, 

 and I was glad to see the new Vanda Kimballiana, shown 

 splendidly by Sir Trevor Lawrence and Messrs. Low. It is, 

 without question, a lovely Orchid, and a valuable addition to 

 the small number that flower in late summer. The plants 

 exhibited differed somewhat from those I saw before, the 

 sepals being almost pure white, while the trilobed labellum 

 was of a vivid crimson purple. The flower I'eminds me much 

 of the pretty V. Hookeriana, being similar in size and form. 

 Some of the specimens shown bore as many as seven flowers 

 and buds. I hope it will prove a good grower, but the rounded 

 quill-like leaves do not indicate robust growth. It was, of 

 course, honored with a first-class certificate, as was also a new 

 Cypripedium from Baron Schroeder's collection. This was C. 

 orphanuia, supposed to be a cross between C. Driirii and C. 

 barbatiun. It is handsome, but much resembles several other 

 hybrids, C. Harrisoniim superbiim, for instance. It is one of 

 the finest of its class, and will delight specialists inCypripedia. 

 A far finer hybrid is that named C. Stoneo-siiperbiens , indicat- 

 ing a cross between these two species. It so nearly resembles 

 the beautiful hybrid named after the late Mrs. Morgan that it 

 was re-labeled C. Morgaiiice. The parentage of both hybrids 

 is the same, and there might be, perhaps, some slight varia- 

 tion in form and color. It is the nearest approach among 

 hybrid Cypripeds to the unique C. Stonei platytaniiim, and 

 some look upon /t as really handsomer, and certainly it is more 

 free in growth and flower. The long, broad and drooping 

 lateral sepals, richly spotted with black on a pale ground, gives 

 distinction to the hybrid, while the rest of the flower partakes 

 of the features of C. Stonei. 



A great treat for Orchidists was a specimen of the grandest 

 of all Cattleyas, C. Hardyana, which, when first exhibited, was 

 supposed to be a natural cross between C. gigas and C. Dow- 

 iana aurea, but probably it is only an extraordinarily fine variety 

 of C. gigas, or, as it is now called, C. labiata Warscewiczii. 

 The flowers are as large and as fine in form as any variety of 

 C. gigas; the sepals and petals are a very rich and bright rose- 

 purple, while the broad labellum is of an intense crimson ma- 

 genta, and adorned with two large blotches of bright yellow, 

 and netted with the same color. This grand Orchid is still 

 very rare, and probably does not yet exist in American collec- 

 tions. It is said to have cropped up, in a few instances, from 

 gatherings of imported plants of C. gigas. 



Among the other choice Orchids shown was a fine example 

 of the l)lue Saccolabiuin cceleste, a small-growing species with 

 short, dense spikes of exquisite little flowers, violet-blue and 

 white; Lalia vionophylla, of the size of Sophronitis grandiflora. 



