July 3, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



263 



I have seen it for the first time this summer. It is a rela- 

 tive of Sherardia arvensis, which I recently mentioned in 

 one of my notes of the Pines. This Galium has bright yel- 

 low flowers, larger and more numerous than most of the 

 Galiums, but it is not a strong rampant grower like the 

 foreign G. Mollugo. The flowers of the two species, how- 

 ever, blend nicely, and look airy and attractive in this hot 

 weather. 



Asclepias obtusifolia is in blossom, and has a singular 

 effect on many insects. Within the horns of the flowers 

 we often find lifeless small flies and tiny bees, and some- 

 times honey-bees are held fast by the feet until they die, 

 and the most vigorous shaking will not loosen their hold. 

 But the most curious thing is the way in which some bee- 

 tles are affected by the milky juice of the plant. A hand- 

 some little beetle, red and black in color, half an inch or 

 more in length, of the Capricorn form, with long-jointed 

 antennae, punctures the stems with its strong jaws, and sips 

 or laps the copious juice until it falls down apparently 

 dead. But it is not dead, and after awhile it recovers as if 

 from a drunken frolic. I had some of these recovered 

 drunken beetles confined in the house for two days, and 

 then gave them a fresh plant, and, like some higher ani- 

 mals, they got drunk again. -t^ / 



Vineland, N.J. Maiy Ileal. 



Notes upon Corylus rostrata and C. Californica. 



THE Division of Pomology, in the Department of Agri- 

 culture, has been preparing a Bulletin upon "Nut 

 Culture in the United States." This bulletin, which will 

 soon appear, will contain figures and descriptions of the 

 most useful native or introduced nuts of this country. In 

 the study of the Hazel-nut much interesting material was 

 collected, and through the kindness of Mr. William P. Corsa, 

 I have been able to examine it. In comparing our common 

 long-beaked species with its western variety I have become 

 convinced that they are specifically distinct. The so-called 

 variety Californica differs from the true Corylus rostrata in a 

 number of marked respects.* C. rostrata is much less pubes- 

 cent, sometimes nearly glabrous, while in the western form 

 the branches and petioles have pilose hairs, sometimes 

 gland-tipped, intermixed with a denser shorter pubescence ; 

 the leaves are pilose and somewhat rough above and gen- 

 erally densely villous beneath. In C. rostrata the leaves are 

 of different shape, thicker and more strongly reticulate 

 beneath, and not at all acuminate. It has a smaller invo- 

 lucre with much longer beak, and the nut of C. rostrata is 

 nearly oval, of a dull brown color and a very thin shell. 

 In the other species the fruit is often oblong and larger, 

 generally of a darker brown color and a very thick shell. 

 These are the most striking characters, but there are also 

 slight differences in the stipules, in the toothing of the 

 leaves, and, perhaps, in the habit. C. rostrata is generally 

 a low shrub three to six feet high, while the western form 

 sometimes reaches twenty feet, and one case has been 

 reported of a trunk sixty feet long and six inches in diam- 

 eter ; the latter has not an erect stem, however, but is a 

 spreading shoot. The range of these species is quite dis- 

 tinct. The western form is found in the lower mountains 

 and foot-hills, from middle California, through Oregon and 

 Washington, to British Columbia, the type coming from 

 Santa Cruz. C. rostrata proper is found in the eastern 

 United States and Canada, extending on the mountains 

 as far south as Georgia and westward to Minne- 



* Corylus Californica (A. DC), Rose. Corylus rostrata Californica, A. De Can- 

 dolle. Prod.. .\vi., pt. ii., 133 (1864). — Brewer and Watson, -5iJ^. Gil., ii., lor. — Greene, 

 Bol. Bay Region, 304. 



Youn^ branches dark brown or blackish, more or less hispid and glandular; 

 leaves nearly oval, slightly cordate at base, obtuse, or at most acutish, roughish 

 above and more or less villous and reticulated beneath, thicldsh; stipules ovate, 

 obtuse; tube rathei- short and loose, often flarincr, sometimes torn, 9 lines or less 

 long; nut oblong to ovate, 9 lines long; shell brown, shining, very thick {i to i.'.i 

 lines). 



Corylus rostrata, Hort., .\iton, Kew, iii., 364 (1789). 



Young branches light brown, glabrous or pubescent, never glandular; leaves 

 ovate to ovate-oblong, slightly cordate, acuminate, thin, often smooth above, very 

 pale beneath, nearly glabrous or more or less pubescent ; stipules narrowly ovate 

 to linear, acute, 2'; lines long : involucre densel\' bristly, prolonged into a slender 

 tube above the fruit, i to i/^ inches long; nut oval to ov.a'te, 5 to 6 lines in diameler, 

 pubescent when young; shell dull brown color, very thin (lia line or less). 



sota and Colorado. It may extend farther westward, 

 but we have seen no specimens. In the Botany of 

 California, however, it is stated that it is found in Wash- 

 ington. The variety Californica was first set apart by A. 

 De Candolle in the Prodiomus in 1864, but the only charac- 

 ter pointed out was the difference in the beak. The type 

 was based on the single collection of Hartweg. This dis- 

 posal of the plant has been followed by Dr. Watson in the 

 Bo/any of California, and by Professor Greene in the Manual 

 of the Bay Region Botany. Much material, of course, has 

 been collected since the variety was first established, and 

 a better idea can be formed of its characters. 



Department of Agriculture, Washington. J. A. IvOSe. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Roses. — This has been a grand Rose season, the display at 

 Kew surpassing anything seen here for many years. I speak 

 chiefly of the species of Rose and such varieties as are inter- 

 esting botanically. Rosa multiflora is a picture, a number 

 of large interwoven bushes being crowded with clusters 

 of white flowers, suggesting a little range of snowy hillocks. 

 By the side of it is what yve call the Dawson Rose, one of 

 the hybrids raised by Mr. Jackson Dawson from R. multi- 

 flora and General Jacqueminot. It is a beauty, the flowers 

 a soft pkik, and so numerous on the branches as to posi- 

 tively weigh them down. Another glorious hybrid is the 

 offspring of General Jacqueminot and R. rugosa, and which 

 we owe to Mr. Anthony Waterer. In my opinion this is as 

 good a Rose as Crimson Rambler, growing vigorously, flow- 

 ering with great freedom, and the color of its medium- 

 sized semi-double flowers is a rich bright crimson. It is 

 thought a great deal of at Kew. 



Another beautiful Rose, probably a hybrid between Rosa 

 rugosa and some other, is named Double de Coubert, a 

 stupid name for one of the loveliest of pure white, large, 

 free-flowering Roses. It has the habit of R. rugosa, but is 

 less stiff and the flowers last well. It was awarded a cer- 

 tificate at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety. There is a bed of it in a conspicuous place on a 

 lawn at Kew. R. grahdiflora, a large-flowered single 

 variety of R. spinosissima, has been finer than ever. The 

 Japanese R. Wichuraiana is spreading over the ground as 

 though it vv'ould cover an acre in a few years. A figure of 

 it has just appeared in the Botanical Magazine, where Sir 

 Joseph Hooker reduces it to R. Luciae, described by Franchet 

 from specimens collected in China in 1S84. It flowers here 

 in August. The Penzance Svveetbrier Roses are again 

 charming. There is a suspicion that most, if not all, of 

 these so-called hybrids are only seedling sports, but, what- 

 ever their origin, horticulture owes a debt of gratitude for 

 the possession of a series of varieties of one of the most 

 elegant and poetical of all hedgerow Roses. R. Californica 

 is one of the strongest growers and freest bloomers among 

 the many species grown at Kew. R. Indica has survived 

 the cold surprisingly well and is now flowering freely, both 

 the single and the semi-double sanguinea varieties being 

 particularly pretty in June. The Himalayan R. Webbiana 

 is now flowering for the first time, and the many varieties 

 of the extpiisite R. lutea are represented b)' bushes or beds 

 of small plants thickly studded with bright yellow buds 

 and flowers. R. gigantea has proved hopeless out-of-doors, 

 and it shows no signs of flower under glass. A garden 

 planted with these beautiful wild Roses, allowed to grow 

 their own way, assisted only by liberal supplies of manure, 

 would be a delightful place in June and July. 



LoNicERA HiLDEiBRANDii. — I have already mentioned this 

 strikingly handsome Honeysuckle from the Shan States, 

 Upper Burma, which has been introduced into Kew, where 

 it is now growing vigorously under glass, its stems extend- 

 ing twenty feet or more and clothed with gloss)^ green 

 leathery ovate leaves eight inches long and five inches 

 wide. The flowers are the largest of all Loniceras and of 



