374 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 395. 



as regards soil and climate, and in the open air, for they 

 cannot be grown well under glass. 



Dahlias made quite a show, the tendency of the popular 

 taste being for new kinds of the Cactus-flowered race. The 

 true Cactus-flowered Dahlias are certainly exquisite flow- 

 ers, and this season there are fewer spurious Cactus-flow- 

 ered kinds and more of the true Juarezi type, with long, 

 narrow-quilled florets that radiate inward instead of recurv- 

 ing. The colors of some of the new Cactus sorts are splen- 

 did and quite unlike the shades commonly seen in flowers 

 of the other classes. We have now a pure yellow Juarezi 

 in J. N. Roach, a pure white in Mrs. Peart, a delicate sal- 

 mon pink in Miss I. Cannell, a deeper scarlet than Juarezi 

 itself in Mrs. Burke and Glorious, while in Mrs. Cannell we 

 have an indescribable tint like the nankeen color of Lilium 

 testaceum. Mr. Turner's new Cactus sorts are of magenta 

 tones ; of these the best shown are Leonora and 

 Beatrice, with Atalanta as an exquisite blush, and Mrs. 

 Turner a finer flower than the yellow J. N. Roach. I 

 noticed last week at the great exhibition at the Crystal Pal- 

 ace that Cactus varieties outnumbered the others something 

 like ten to one, and those of the lumpy show kinds of our 

 boyhood days were scarce. 



The Cannas were from Messrs. Cannell, who are among 

 the principal growers and introducers of these increasingly 

 popular plants from the French and German cultivators. 

 There were numerous new varieties shown, but none of 

 this year's novelties, in my opinion, eclipse some of the 

 older kinds, though a few show original markings and com- 

 binations of colors. Those worthy of special note were 

 Colibri, pale canary-yellovi^, with a blotch of deep crimson 

 in the centre — this is quite distinct in color ; Quasmoda, 

 vivid scarlet, broad petals sharply edged with yellow ; 

 Beaute Poitevine, brilliant scarlet and large ; Aurore, very 

 large flower, glowing scarlet; Madame de I'Aigle, scarlet, 

 with yellow edge, in the way of the German Konigin Char- 

 lotte ; Sunset Glow, orange-scarlet, yellovi^ edge. These 

 are all first-rate Cannas, but I do not see that such fine sorts 

 as Madame Crozy and Star of Ninety-one are eclipsed in 

 their particular colors by the new kinds. This has been, 

 one would think, a favorable season for open-air culture of 

 Cannas, but the best I have seen are not to be compared 

 in growth and flowers with those I have seen in the United 

 States, or in India during the winter season, when they 

 bloom continuously for four months if the seeds are con- 

 stantly picked of In England I fear we shall always have 

 to grow these beautiful plants under glass. 



Orchids were plentiful, and, besides some old favorites 

 shown as good examples of cultivation, there were several 

 new hybrids from some choice collections. From Mr. 

 Ingram there was a remarkable hybrid between Lselia 

 Turneri Elsteadensis and Cattleya maxima Peruviana, 

 named Laelio-Cattleya Charles Darwin. The features of 

 both parents are distinctly recognized in the progeny. 

 The form is more like that of the Laslia, as the sepals stand 

 out rigidly at an acute angle and are deep plum-purple 

 color, while the lip is as broad as in Cattleya maxima, 

 of an intensely rich amethyst tint, crumpled at the mar- 

 gins, with yellow centre. It is a superb plant. Another 

 hybrid from the same collection was Cattleya Elstead Gem, 

 between C. bicolor and C. xanthina. The flowers are of 

 medium size, with clear yellow sepals, crimson labellum 

 and white centre, a striking harmony of tints. Mr. Statter's 

 group was remarkable for the rare C. callistoglossa, a cross 

 between Leelia purpurata and Cattleya gigas. C. Rex re- 

 called a fine form of C. Mendeli, the lip having the same 

 form and color and being exquisitely fringed with white. 

 Laelia elegans Owenise is probably the finest variety yet 

 seen ; the sepals are of a much deeper color than those of 

 Turneri or prasiata. It was unanimously awarded a cer- 

 tificate. 



Sir Trevor Lawrence showed the rare Catasetum Bunge- 

 rothii, the large flowers of pure ivory-white borne on a 

 spike a foot long. The heart-shaped lip is two inches 

 across, with a conspicuous blotch of orange-red in the 



centre. He also showed such rarities as Pachystoma Thomp- 

 soniana, Odontoglossum Krameri and Cypripedium Mor- 

 ganise Burfordiensis, which is regarded as better in every 

 respect than the original hybrid named in honor of Mrs. 

 Morgan. It is, in my estimation, even finer than its ex- 

 ceedingly rare parent, C. Stonei platytcenium. Messrs. 

 Veitchs' large contribution of Orchids included, among the 

 more noteworthy, specimens of Coelogyne Veitchii, with 

 elegant spikes of fine white flowers. This is a valuable 

 addition to the genus, and was considered worthy of a cer- 

 tificate. The white Cattleya Eldorado, which has only a 

 blotch of yellovi' in the throat to mar its purity, is as rare 

 as it is beautiful. Some additions to the apparently never- 

 ending novelties among hybrid Cypripediums also came 

 from Messrs. Veitch. C. Warnhamense, between C. Cur- 

 tisi and C. Philippinense, was the chief attraction, as it is a 

 cross between the uniflorous and the multiflorous sections, 

 but it most resembles C. Curtisi. Cattleya Dowiana and 

 its variety aurea have just come into bloom, and some 

 splendid examples of the hybrids were shown that have 

 been obtained from them. The variety named Mrs. Hardy 

 is one of the most gorgeous Orchids I have seen. It is 

 best described as a pale C. aurea, the sepals being almost 

 white. C. aurea Statteriana, on the other hand, has the 

 labellum nearly wholly of a bright yellow, with only a few 

 markings of crimson. The Orchids shown as examples of 

 culture included a magnificent Vanda ccerulea with eight 

 spikes. It represented the largest-flowered variety with 

 those singular checkered sepals that are only met with in 

 such forms as Burfordiana. This was shown by Mr. 

 Woodall, who also exhibited a specimen of Odontoglos- 

 sum coronarium, one of the mountain species that are so 

 difficult to manage and are rarely seen in flower. It has a 

 large cylindrical spike of flowers of the richest yellow and 

 chestnut-brown. It is grown in the coolest house, and very 

 moist, under conditions suited to the Masdevallias of the 

 Chimera type. It is kept constantly saturated. There was 

 nothing so attractive in Messrs. Sanders' large group as 

 the charming Habenaria carnea and its pure white variety 

 nivosa. It is a dwarf terrestrial species with erect spikes 

 and broad heart-shaped lips. The delicacy of tint in the 

 variety carnea has no equal even among the multitude of 



Orchids. . 



Kew. W. Goldring. 



New or Little-known Plants. 



Litsea geniculata. 



THIS pretty plant is of particular interest to American 

 botanists as the only representative in the flora of 

 the United States of a large genus otherwise, with 

 the exception of five or six Mexican species, confined 

 to tropical continental Asia, the Malayan Archipelago, 

 China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and New Cale- 

 donia. It is a deciduous-leaved shrub with slender stems, 

 often ten or twelve feet high, spreading branches, and 

 thin zigzag branchlets. The small yellow flowers are 

 borne in few-flowered umbellate heads surrounded by in- 

 volucres of from two to four leaves, and appear in February 

 before the leaves, which are oblong, acute, thick and cori- 

 aceous, dark green on the upper surface, yellovs^-green 

 on the lower, and rather less than an inch long. The fruit, 

 which ripens in the early summer, is globose, bright red, 

 and about a quarter of an inch in diameter ; its structure, 

 as well as that of the flowers, is shown in our illustration 

 on page 375 of this issue, from a drawing made by Mr. 

 Faxon from material furnished by Dr. J. H. Mellichamp, of 

 Bluffton, South Carolina. 



Litsea geniculata is distributed from southern Virginia to 

 Florida, where it grows in swamps in the immediate neigh- 

 borhood of the coast. Although a rare plant, the Pond 

 Spice, the name by which this shrub is generally known, 

 was discovered before the middle of the last century. It was 

 introduced before 1 8 10 into Fraser's nursery at Sloane Square, 

 m London, where it flowered in that year ; and an excellent 



