July io, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



273 



mile or two of the city, on the north and west, the valley 

 is broken by hills, whose summits, notably that of Monte 

 Alban, give evidence by terraced fields of ample breadth, 

 by vast mounds, ramparts, etc., of immense toil by a pre- 

 historic race. The state of Oaxaca is a mountainous one, 

 with countless fertile valleys lying among its mountains, 

 and all its cooler summits are well wooded. Various tribes 

 of Indians possess the land and live in a thousand villages. 



Traveling in this state we were on the track of Galeotti 

 and Liebmann and other collectors of fifty or sixty years 

 ago, since whose day the state seems hardly to have been 

 visited by botanists, owing to the fact that, before the rail- 

 road came to its capital in 1893, it was only to be reached 

 by long rides in the saddle over hard mountain trails. 

 From May till January we traveled out from our base in 

 all directions ; and, wherever we went, we met with as 

 many desirable plants as we could handle, the usual pro- 

 portion of undescribed species among them, till we had 

 secured a collection far greater than any previous one. 

 The rainfall increased in amount throughout June and 

 July, vi'aned in September, and ceased altogether by 

 the middle of October. The period of greatest heat pre- 

 ceded the rainy season, yet I cannot tell of oppressive heat 

 at that elevation, though the region lies only seventeen 

 degrees north of the equator. Seldom does the mercury 

 rise above eighty-five degrees, Fahrenheit. Killing frosts 

 formed in open places of the higher mountain tops about 

 the end of October, though, under forest protection, several 

 species of Cnicus, Senecio, Eupatorium, etc., bloomed 

 throughout the winter. In the valley it was only in the 

 lowest spots that crops were at any time in peril from cold. 



Many times we went by train to the hills around Las 

 Sedas for the plants which only grow in dry, calcareous 

 soil, or to stations below in Tomellin Canon, where were 

 to be found the denizens of the hot lowlands. Among these, 

 Acacia Pringlei, Rose, an upright tree of considerable size, 

 was a new find. Twice, with Indians and donkeys con- 

 veying our supplies of food and paper for the trip, we 

 tramped to the western mountains, where were springy 

 alpine meadows, rich in novelties. On another occasion, 

 alighting from the train at Las Sedas, alone and with our 

 loads on our own backs, camping in the wilds where night 

 overtook us, and gathering plants as we went, we marched 

 some fifty miles, and during three da)'s over the windy 

 heights of the divide and down through long canons to the 

 river in the burning deserts, to regain the train at Tomellin. 

 The bales of plants brought home on that trip included not 

 a few new species. 



A score of times we climbed to the summit of San Felipe, 

 on which visits we scoured its crests for several miles, 

 usually passing a night or two there under the scanty shel- 

 ter of some tree, or, at best, of some coal burner's shed, 

 formed of pine rifts and bark, or of a jutting rock, and were 

 often the sport of mountain tempests. On the sides of this 

 mountain, at an elevation of 1,000 feet above the valley of 

 Oaxaca, or 6,000 over sea-level, begins a belt of dwarfish 

 Oaks, Quercus glabrescens, Benth. From 7,000 to 8,000 

 feet, Q. grisea, Liebem., is the prevailing species, and above 

 8,000, quite to the summit ledges, Q. nitens. Mart, and 

 Gal, mingles with Q. reticulata, H. B. K. ; but the latter is 

 the larger and more abundant tree, and in deep, moist soil 

 about the summits forms the heaviest of forests. On cer- 

 tain of the drier and warmer buttresses of the mountain 

 side, about 8,500 feet altitude, stand groves of the undeter- 

 mined Pine first reported from near Monterey ; while 

 above this, and especially on the rocky ridges of the top, 

 abounds Pinus Montezumre, Lamb., and often attains mag- 

 nificent size. By springs and brooks, from 2,500 feet to 

 the top, Alnus acuminata, H. B. K., and Salix Bonplandii, 

 H. B. K., are commonly found in large specimens. And 

 in such situations, Sambucus Mexicana, Prest., and Buddleia 

 Humboldtiana, R. and S., grow to a diameter of two feet 

 or more. 



All through the summer the moist and fertile mountain 

 heights, whether in sunny meadow or in woodland shade. 



were bright with flowers — blooms as varied and strikingly 

 beautiful as any garden or hothouse can show. There were 

 scarlet Rigidellas and Tigridias, there were Dahlias, Fuch- 

 sias and Begonias in several species, scarlet, purple and 

 blue Salvias in large variety, several flaming Lamourouxias, 

 blue Lupines, and blue and crimson Pentstemons as tall as 

 our heads ; there was a yellow-rayed Heliopsis of largest 

 size among many other herbs, shrubs and trees, with flow- 

 ers representing every color, whose names would be unfa- 

 miliar to the gardener. Of these, perhaps, the two most 

 worthy of cultivation are Abelia floribunda, Decaisne, and 

 Spigelia speciosa, H. B. K. The former is a shrub four to 

 six feet high, growing in masses and densely hung during 

 many weeks with rosy flowers two inches long ; the latter 

 is a perennial herb topped with a pendent truss of long 

 tubular flowers, which are crimson tipped with yellow. 

 More striking than these, however, and of much horti- 

 cultural interest, if its successful cultivation is possible, is 

 a new find, Lamourouxia Pringlei, Rob. and Greenin (see 

 figure on page 275 of this issue). It is a much-branched 

 but erect shrub, three to five feet high, found growing on 

 the rocky and wooded summit ridges of San Felipe, and 

 seen covered during many weeks of autumn with gorgeous 

 crimson bloom. 



But how shall I describe the charm of the Oak forests dur- 

 ing the serene and sunny days of late autumn, when the 

 masses, of Orchids, clinging to the bodies and branches of 

 the trees, were in flower — Ltelias, Cattleyas, Epidendrums, 

 Odontoglots — the finest species which Mexico yields ? 



Charlotte, Vt. C. G. Prillgle. 



Foreig^n Correspondence. 

 Noteworthy Orchids. 



Grammatophyllum Rumphianum. — This is the correct name 

 for the plant described last year by Herr Kranzlin as a new 

 species under the name of Grammatophyllum Guilelmi II. 

 (see Garden and Forest, 1894, page 104), from plants in- 

 troduced by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. Two plants of it are 

 now in flower at Kew, one of which, I know, came from 

 Borneo. The larger specimen has pseudo-bulbs eight 

 incheslongby three wide, leaves fifteen inches long and three 

 inches wide, and an erect scape five feet long bearing exactly 

 fifty flowers and buds. The flowers have subequal sepals 

 and petals, each one and a half inches long and three- 

 quarters of an inch wide, colored bright green-yellow, with 

 large irregular blotches of dark brown ; lip three-lobed, the 

 two side lobes folded over the column, the lateral keeled, 

 hairy inside, dull white, with brown lines, and a yellow 

 crest. In both plants the three lowest flowers on the spike 

 have only four segments and a perfect column, but no 

 labellum. 



Cirrhopetaluh robustum. — I noted this remarkable plant 

 last year (see Garden and Forest, page 113) when it was 

 added to the Kew collection. It was named by Mr. Rolfe 

 in 1893 from a plant flowered by Colonel Trevor Clarke. 

 Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons exhibited a plant of it in flower a 

 few days ago at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, when it was awarded a first-class certificate. It is 

 by far the largest of all Cirrhopetalums, both in leaves and 

 flowers, the former being a foot long and four inches wide, 

 the latter four inches from tip to tip of sepals, which are 

 half an inch wide, yellow, tinged at the base with purple, 

 the petals yellow and the lip dark purple. A figure pre- 

 pared from Messrs. Veitch's plant is given in the last issue 

 of Tlie Gardeners'^hronicle. The leaves as there repre- 

 sented are about half the size of those of the Kew plant. 



Cypripedium BELLATULUiM ALBU.M. — A plant of this rare 

 variety was shown in flower at the last meeting of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, and was awarded a first-class 

 certificate. It is an exceedingly beautiful form, the flowers 

 being quite as large as the type and of the purest white, 

 save a small yellow tip to the column. The leaves are also 

 remarkable in being quite green, whereas in the type they 

 are marbled and colored dark purple beneath. According 



