August 7, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



317 



house flower, does perfectly well if planted in the garden in 

 May or June. It makes a stocky, sturdy growth, with little 

 inclination to climb, and, to the best of my belief, produces 

 more of its beautiful vitelline-colored bells than when in a 

 greenhouse. As the growth is shorter, the flowers are closer 

 together when planted out, and the plant is more effective. 

 The flowers are by no means the only beauty of Littonia ; the 

 foliage is dark green and very glossy, every leaf tipped with a 

 tendril, and the seed-pods, which are formed by every flower, 

 are as smooth and polished and green as can be imagined. 

 They retain their attractive appearance perfectly until the seeds 

 are ripe, and then split open lengthwise, displaying the full rows 

 of brilliant orange seeds, about as large as those of Sweet 

 Peas. I have raised the so-called L. Keiti from seeds several 

 times, but it appears identical with L. modesta. A new spe- 

 cies of Littonia has lately been discovered in Arabia, L. 

 obscura. The nearly allied Gloriosa has once or twice done 

 well with the same treatment, but it cannot be depended upon 

 out-of-doors in this latitude. The tubers of both are subject 

 to decay if kept from the air during the winter. 



not their own. A. venusta, so-called, is a very fine species 

 with flowers as large and as bright as those of the Canna Flor- 

 ence Vaughan and as bright yellow, but when I tried to make 

 sure of its name I found that there is no such species as 

 venusta. There is a venustula, which Mr. Baker describes as 

 having flower-stems two or three inches high. A. Chilensis 

 figures in catalogues, but apparently it should be chiloensis. 

 The kind sent me as A.aurea is really that form of A. hceman- 

 tha, figured as pulchellain the Botanical Magazine, t. 2354. The 

 A. aurantiaca of gardens does not correspond with Baker's 

 description. 



Canton, Mass. 



W. E. Endicotl. 



The Gladiolus. 



T^HE Gladiolus species are often interesting for a certain 

 -'■ quaintness of flower and odd coloring, but it cannot be 

 said that they are generally attractive plants. Many of the 

 Asiatic kinds flower very early, and have long since ripened 

 seed and foliage, and are reliably hardy here if protected from 

 moisture in summer. They start into growth during the win- 



Kalmia latilolia, var. myrlifolia. — See pa<;;e 315. 



Among my illustrious unknown is a bulb which came to me 

 from Africa some years ago. As long as I grew it in a pot it 

 made comparatively few and small leaves, and I called it 

 Drimiopsis Kirkii, strongly hoping that it was that beautiful 

 species. Last year I grew it in the garden, and it put out its 

 thick, fleshy, pointed leaves to the length of a foot. They dis- 

 played the same beautiful dappling of green and olive that 

 they had shown in the pot, and in August threw up a flower- 

 spike ten inches high, thickly set with small purple bells. D. 

 Ivirkii has white flowers, and my plant is, therefore, something 

 else ; I suppose one of the south African Scillas of the section 

 Ledebouria. It is not one of those figured in the Rcfiigium 

 Botanicum, nor can I positively idenfify it as any of those de- 

 scribed by Mr. Baker in the journal of the Linncean Society. 

 It is now in bud again, and I shall hope to make sure of its 

 name. 



Alstromerias are very satisfactory garden-plants as far as 

 their beauty goes, but the names they go under are frequently 



ter at every favorable opportunity. These are mostly of the 

 G. segetum type, a species not at all attractive, the coloring 

 being a purplish red or magenta. I have numerous forms of 

 this type, varying somewhat in size, habit and markings, and 

 under numerous names. 



Except the quaintly colored Gladiolus Byzantinus, none of 

 the European and Asiatic species seem to me worth garden- 

 room e-vcept in cottections. The case is different with the 

 African kinds, for among these we have a number of distinct 

 kinds, though generally of quiet coloring. The well-known 

 G. Saundersii may, perhaps, be rated as the most attractive of 

 these, its graceful habit and fine flowers being valued in the 

 best gardens. Ne.xt to this in interest and beauty is G. oppositi- 

 Horus, the long-lost species which was supposed by Herbert to 

 be one of the parents of the modern Ganda vensis hybrids. This 

 is one of the most vigorous of the family, with leaves five feet 

 or more tall and flowering spikes with two or three brandies. 

 The well-opened flo.wers are rose-colored and while. This is 



