484 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 406. 



second, but warned planters against using it for exposed 

 positions. Menzies Spruce and Redwood he also consid- 

 ered well adapted for coppice wood. Abies brachyphylla, 

 from Japan, was also spoken of as a promising tree. At 

 Kew this is, perhaps, the quickest grower and most satisfac- 

 tory of all Firs. Dr. Masters called special attention to the 

 merits of Cupressus macrocarpa as a tree for situations 

 near the sea, where it thrives amazingly. 



London. 



W. IVlI/SOH. 



New or Little-known Plants. 



A Yellow-flowered Cosmos. 



THE announcement in a recent number of Garden and 

 Forest (page 426) that Cosmos sulphureus * would 

 probably be on the market next season will be welcome 

 news to those who are at all familiar with it. I have had 

 the plant in cultivation in my own garden and in the green- 

 houses of the Department of Agriculture since 1892. It 

 promises to be a most desirable acquisition to our list of 

 late-flowering annuals. This plant was described and 

 figured by Cavanilles and Jacquin about the same time, one 

 describing it as C. sulphureus, the other as Coreopsis arte- 

 misi^^folia. The former found the plant in cultivation in 

 the Royal Gardens at Madrid. The plant has been col- 

 lected from time to time by Mexican collectors, including 

 Coulter, Leibmann, Andrieux, Galleotti and Pringle, but it 

 seems not to have got into cultivation. The plant has 

 been very rare in herbaria. The National Herbarium did 

 not possess a specimen until it was brought from the state of 

 Jalisco in 1886 by the veteran collector, Dr. Edward Palmer. 

 Since then Dr. Palmer has repeatedly sent us specimens 

 from Colima, Tepic and Culiacan, in western Mexico. 

 Mr. E. W. Nelson has also sent specimens from various 

 places in the state of Oaxaca. Our plants in Washington 

 have always attracted much attention when in bloom, and 

 if grown in beds would make a most gorgeous display. 

 Our chief objection to the plant in this latitude has been its 

 very late time of flowering, none of our plants having ever 

 bloomed before the first of November. Several hundred 

 fine specimens growing in the Department grounds were 

 killed by frost the latter part of October. This species will 

 not stand as much cold as the common cultivated species. 

 It is stated in the article referred to above that the plants 

 begin to flower in midsummer, but I doubt if this is the 

 case with seed sown out-of-doors. If the seed is started in 

 cold frames or in the greenhouse early-flowering speci- 

 mens may be obtained. Plants when placed under glass 

 late in the fall soon begin to bloom and continue to send 

 out flowers for several months. The plant itself is not at 

 all attractive, but resembles a rank vi'eed, not unlike the 

 common Ragweed, Ambrosia artemisitefolia. It grows 

 from four to seven feet in height, often much branched, 

 especially at the top. The leaves are large, often a foot or 

 more long and two to three times pinnate. The flowers, 

 which are produced in great abundance, are borne on 

 long naked peduncles seven to ten inches in length, are 

 generally of a dark orange color, and are from two to 

 three inches in diameter. The plant is easily cultivated. 

 In the wild state it is found along creek-bottoms, and would 

 naturally require a rich soil. ' Introducers of this species 

 must be careful to obtain pure seed. Attention has already 

 been called in Garden and Forest to Bidens ferulsefolia 

 being sold for Cosmos sulphureus. I have recently seen 



* Cosmos sulphureus, Cavanilles, /<r., i., 56, t. 79 (lygi) ; Gr.iy, Py^K. Ant. Actui., 

 xxii., 429 : Rose, Coiitrib. Ntit. Herb,, i., 336. 



Coreopsis artemisijefolia, Jacquin. Ic. Rar., 595: Col. SuJ>l., 155 (1796). Annual, 

 four to seven feet liigh, much branched, pubescent ; leaves Iji- to iri-puinatifid, often 

 twelve inches or more lonj^, with rachis and midrib hispid : pinnae alternate, entire 

 or two to three toothed ; peduncles seven to ten inches long, naked ; outer mvo- 

 lucral bracts eight, linear, acuminate, green, two lines long ; inner bracts eight, 

 oblong, obtuse, scarious, tive lines long ; fiowers two to three inches broad, from a 

 light to dark orange color: rays eight, broadly obovate, three-toothed at apex, 

 strongly ribbed beneath, standing at right angles to the axis ; disk-flower in a com- 

 pact erect cylinder, four to five lines long ; proper tube one line long ; tliroat funnel- 

 form, three lines long ; lobes pubescent along the margins; anthers exserted, black, 

 with orangetips : filament pubescent ; style branched with long slendertips ; akenes 

 linear, ten to twelve lines long, including the slender beak ; pappus of two awns 

 two and a half lines long, slightly retrorsely hispid. 



specimens from London of a Bidens, presumably the above, 

 which were grown for this yellow Cosmos. There ought 

 not to be any confusion with regard to these plants, as they 

 can easily be distinguished by their seeds. The Bidens has 

 a small seed, two lines long, somewhat flattened, with two 

 short awns. The Cosmos has a long slender seed nearly 

 an inch long, including the slender beak, with two slender 

 awns. 



An illustration of this species, drawn from living speci- 

 mens by Mr. C. E. Faxon, appears on page 485. Since the 

 above was written I ^have received specimens for Mr. 

 H. L. T. Wolcott, from New Orleans, where the plant 

 grows abundantly and luxuriantly. 



Washington. D. C. /• A'. RoSe. 



Plant Notes. 



Cercis Canadensis. — The American Red Bud is not a 

 specially noteworthy tree for the autumn colors of its 

 foliage, although the leaves turn rather early in the season 

 to a clear bright yellow. It is, however, one of our many 

 small trees which are first-rate for ornamental planting. It 

 is coinmon throughout the region south of the Delaware 

 River valley, in New Jersey, in the east, and in Missouri 

 in the west, and on swamp borders and bottom-lands, 

 especially in regions west of the Alleghanies, and it is 

 abundant in all our forests. The flowers, which appear in 

 early spring with deep red calyxes and rose-pink petals, 

 cover the branches in crowded clusters just as the leaves 

 begin to appear, so that in places where the tree is abun- 

 dant the landscape is fairly illuminated by them. The 

 abundant legumes attain their full size in this section be- 

 fore midsummer, and are then of pink color and somewhat 

 ornamental, and the broad ovate leaves are light and cheer- 

 ful. When allowed to develop, the tree becomes a broad 

 flat-topped specimen, which is interesting and beautiful at 

 all seasons of the year. It is perfectly hardy considerably 

 to the north of the region where it is found in a wild state. 

 The so-called Japanese Red Bud, which is really of Chinese 

 origin, is here a large shrub, which produces more richly 

 colored flowers than either of the American species or the 

 European Judas-tree, and when in flower in early spring it 

 is an attractive shrub, while its glossy leaves make it an 

 interesting plant all summer long. It is not reliably hardy 

 much farther north than this city. We have already de- 

 scribed and figured this plant in vol. v., page 476. 



Viburnum Lantana. — The European Wayfaring-tree must 

 be commended for its habit of carrying its leaves late into 

 the autumn. Two weeks ago, in the neighborhood of Boston, 

 'after the hard freeze of Wednesday night, it was covered 

 with leaves, many of them almost as fresh as in midsum- 

 mer, while the upper surface of others, especially near the 

 top of stems, had assumed a rich dark purple color, which 

 formed a delightful contrast with the green of their lower 

 surface. The Wayfaring-tree has often been recommended 

 in the columns of this journal to American planters. It is 

 one of the hardiest and most vigorous of the European 

 shrubs that have been planted in this country ; its habit is 

 excellent ; the foliage is ample, dark-colored and luxuriant ; 

 its large flat clusters of pale yellow flowers are produced in 

 profusion, and these are followed by berries which in 

 ripening turn irregularly from green to scarlet and then to 

 blue-black, and often do not fall until the beginning of 

 winter. 



Vaccinium corvmbosiim. — The season ought not to pass 

 without some mention of the striking autumn colors of 

 the High Blueberry. It is not often cultivated in this coun- 

 try, although in Europe it is grown to a considerable extent. 

 It ought to be more generally planted, for it is beautiful at 

 all seasons and it is not difficult to transplant, either from 

 its native swamps or hillsides, and it will grow in almost 

 any good garden soil. In rich swamp borders it is a shrub 

 from six to eight feet high, with stems two or three inches 

 in diameter. In open fields and by the wayside it does 

 not grow more than from two to four feet high, but wher- 



