64 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 364. 



a very heavy midvein of deep purple from base to apex, and 

 the whole sepal is densely sulTused with the same color, 

 with the exception of a narrow white margin. The petals 

 are slightly undulated, of a brownish purple color, with a 

 heavy midvein of dark purple. The pouch is the same 

 color as the petals, and the staminode is pale lilac, with a 

 green spur in the centre. The plant was raised by Pitcher 

 & Manda, at Short Hills, New Jersey, and named in honor 

 of J. E. Rothwell, Esq., of Brookline, Massachusetts. The 

 seed was sown January, 1892, and the plant first flowered 

 in January, 1895. 



Cypripedium Janus. — This is a distinct and beautiful hybrid 

 between Cypripedium villosum superbum as the seed parent 

 and C. Leeanum Masereelianum as the pollen parent. The 

 leaves resemble those of C. Leeanum, only they are more 

 erect in habit ; they are from six to eight inches long and 

 one and a half inches broad. The dorsal sepal is large and 

 flat, with abroad white margin prolonged to the base ; the 

 centre part is delicate green, nerved with a darker shade of 

 the same color, and heavily marked and spotted with 

 blackish brown. The inferior sepal is pale green, veined 

 with darker green. The petals are broad, with a heavy 

 purplish brown midvein, the upper half brownish purple 

 on a green background spotted with purple ; the lower half 

 is lighter in color and more densely spotted. The pouch 

 is shiny, yellowish green, tinted with purple, veined and 

 lined with dark green. The staminode is purplish green, 

 having a bright green spur in the centre. The parent flower 

 was fertilized October 23d, 1891 ; the seed was sown 

 March i8th, 1892, and the plant flowered January 24th, 1895. 



Plant Notes. 



Semele (Ruscus) androgyna. — This plant is a native 

 of the Canary Islands, and, although long in cultivation, 

 is rare with us. There are a few plants in the neigh- 

 borhood of Boston, which were undoubtedly brought from 

 Fayal, where it is, of course, hardy, and is frequently planted. 

 It is a greenhouse evergreen climbing shrub, closely re- 

 lated to Asparagus, and might be described as a huge 

 Smilax, namely, Myrsiphyllum, entirely lacking the grace 

 of its relative, but more than making amends for this defi- 

 ciency by its bold and vigorous growth. At this season of 

 the year, or a little earlier, stout stalks, resembling a large 

 and much elongated Asparagus head, are thrown up, 

 and, under favorable conditions, attain lengths of twenty 

 feet or more ; from these spring numerous branches which 

 look like great pinnate leaves. The true leaves, however, 

 are almost unnoticeable scales at the base of these appa- 

 rent leaves or cladodes. Early in February the small white 

 flowers are produced in large numbers on the margins of 

 these false leaves, giving the plant a very singular, almost 

 unique, appearance. The flowers are succeeded by round 

 pulpy berries, not common vs-ith us. This Semele should 

 be planted out in a well-prepared border of rich soil, in a 

 cool greenhouse, and trained over a back wall or on the 

 rafters; it is too rampant a grower to succeed in pots' or 

 tubs, unless they are very capacious. A well-established 

 plant will furnish quantities of foliage admirably adapted 

 to household decoration, particularly where bold effects are 

 desired. The propagation is by seeds, which sometimes 

 require two seasons for germination, and are not always 

 easily obtainable, or by division, which is a slow and unsat- 

 isfactory method ; these difficulties probably account for the 

 scarcity of the plant in cultivation. 



Danae (Ruscus) RACEMOSA. — This plant is not unlike 

 Semele ; indeed, they have both been known by the com- 

 mon name of Alexandrian Laurel, but the Danae is less 

 exuberant in its habits of growth. It has branching stems, 

 and its general effect is more graceful, reminding one of 

 some of the Bamboos. It grows three feet or more in 

 height, and makes a good pot-plant ; it can also be satis- 

 factorily grown in a greenhouse border. The cladodes are 

 lanceolate, an inch and a half or two inches long, of good 

 vivid green, and well fitted for any decorative use which 



requires lasting foliage. The flowers are small, borne on 

 the end of the branches, and are followed by bright red 

 berries, which are occasionally produced here in limited 

 quantities. The propagation is the same as in Semele. A 

 recent article in Revue Horlicole, No. 23, 1894, p. 545, gives 

 a description of these two plants, and also of several species 

 of Ruscus ; none of the Ruscus, however, are desirable for 

 ornamental purposes ; they are simply curious and of 

 botanical interest only. 



Centropogon Lucyanus. — Mr. Cameron writes that this 

 beautiful plant has been for some time flowering in a mod- 

 erately warm greenhouse at the Harvard Botanical Garden. 

 It was raised about thirty-nine years ago by Monsieur 

 Desponds, of Marseilles, being a hybrid between Centro- 

 pogon fastuosus, another good plant, and the Brazilian 

 Sipho campylos betula;folius. The plant has a half-pro- 

 cumbent habit, and the stems are clothed with oblong, 

 lanceolate leaves. The tubular, rosy carmine flowers are 

 borne at the ends of the branches. As a winter-flowering 

 plant for the warm greenhoilse this Centropogon has much 

 to commend it. Its blossoms are not only showy, but a 

 succession is kept up for a long time. The plants can be 

 raised annually from cuttings taken in the spring. If the 

 cuttings are placed in sand with a good bottom-heat they 

 hardly ever fail to root. When rooted they should be put 

 into small pots of light rich soil and shifted on as required 

 during the summer. In spring the young plants need a 

 rather warm greenhouse, but in summer a cool, moist, 

 shady house or frame suits them well. Perhaps, in no 

 better way are the flowers of this plant shovvm to advan- 

 tage than when the plants are grown in baskets suspended 

 from the roof. The drooping habit of the plant suits it 

 admirably for this treatment. 



Gynura aurantiaca. — This composite plant was intro- 

 duced from Java about fifteen years ago. In a warm 

 greenhouse this is its flowering season, but the plant is not 

 grown so much for its flowers as for its beautiful foliage. 

 It grows from two to three feet high, and its stems are 

 well clothed with leaves from four to six inches long and 

 three to four across, and these are furnished over their 

 entire surface with small hairs of a beautiful violet color. 

 The small flower-heads are produced in corymbs and are 

 of a brilliant orange color. It is propagated by cuttings, 

 which root easily, and the plant enjoys a light open soil 

 and a warm greenhouse. With its beautiful stem and 

 leaves it makes a plant which is useful whenever handsome 

 foliage is wanted. 



Thundergia erecta. — This west African plant is, perhaps, 

 better known in gardens as Meyenia. It is almost a con- 

 stant bloomer, but flowers most profusely during the win- 

 ter months, and at this time it is one of our prettiest of 

 dwarf stove-shrubs. It is a much-branched plant, and 

 when not pruned too hard has a graceful habit. The 

 small, dark green, ovate leaves are set thickly on the 

 branches, and even when the plants are not in flower they 

 make handsome small bushes. The dark blue flowers are 

 produced singly in the axils of the leaves, and are about 

 one inch and a half long and about the same across. 

 Young plants are obtained from cuttings of the young 

 wood, which root easily at any time. The variety with 

 white flowers is also in bloom now, and makes a good 

 companion plant to the blue-flowered one. This Thun- 

 bergia and its variety thrives in a stove, where it will get a 

 strong moist heat, and in a rich open compost. 



Cultural Department. 



Vegetables under Glass. 



Forcing Beans. — No beans are better for forcing than the 

 group known in European gardens as French, or Dwarf Kid- 

 ney Beans. In this country we call them String Beans, but 

 the term is very vague, and applies, apparently, to all beans 

 whose pods are used for kitchen purposes. Several varieties 

 of the liusli Lima and French sections have been in active 

 growth here for some weeks past. Two varieties of the Bush 



