Dfxember II, 1S95.] 



Garden and Forest. 



493 



hold the leaves are a charming feature of the Pines. The 

 low Laurel helps to give the damp places a fresh green 

 look all winter long. Another attractive little plant at this 

 lime is Cassandra. The flower-bud carried in the a.xil of 

 each small green leaf even now shows the white tips of the 

 corolla reaching out beyond the rigid sepals. Another 

 small denizen of the Pines, the Sand Myrtle, Leiophyllum, 

 bears numerous tiny shining leaves ; on some plants these 

 have a purple tinge, while on others they are bright green. 

 The scaly flower-buds terminate the branches, from which 

 in May fine clusters of small white flowers will appear, 

 bearing purple e.xserted stamens. The creeping evergreen 

 members of the family also claim admiration in winter. 

 The white and pink tips of the Trailing Arbutus are already 

 peeping out from the clusters of scaly bracts, and the bright 

 scarlet spicy berries of the Creeping VVintergreen are con- 

 spicuous among its handsome aromatic foliage. Espe- 

 cially handsome are the thick evergreen leaves of the 

 Chimaphilas, or Prince's Pine, especially those of C. mac- 

 ulata, with white variegation on the upper surface. The 

 Pyrolas are almost always near neighbors to the Chima- 

 philas, especially some of the forms of P. rotundifolia. 

 Both the Chimaphilas and Pyrolas are still holding their old 

 flower-scapes, with dry seed-pods standing well above the 

 shining leaves. 



But the Heath family is not the only attraction in the 

 Pmes at this time. The younger plants and shoots of 

 Magnolia glauca are holding their large glossy leaves, and 

 the silky leaf-buds, with their sheathing wrappings one 

 above the other, make the plant more interesting now 

 than it is in summer. By the side of Magnolia the dark 

 gray twigs of the Bayberry are thickly scattered over with 

 small red buds, and each branchlet is surmounted with a 

 cluster of fragrant leaves which will remain until spring. 

 Small downy buds are ranged along the stems of the Sweet 

 Fern, and most of the twigs are terminated with a raceme 

 of embryonic catkins, which will gradually grow in length 

 each pleasant day. The sweet-scented leaves have mostly 

 fallen, but the plant has an agreeable perfume all winter. 



One of the most interesting plants for winter study is the 

 Alder, Alnus rugosa. The branches are a metallic-gray, 

 terminated with clusters of sterile catkins, which are now 

 reddish brown and about an inch in length. The fertile 

 clusters are the same color, but much smaller, and below 

 the sterile ones. Both kinds are destitute of wrappings, 

 while the gray leaf-buds have scaly coverings. During a 

 warm spell in winter the catkins visibly elongate, some- 

 times in a fevi' hours, often to be speedily checked by sud- 

 den cold. The old fertile catkins help to decorate the plant 

 all winter; they resemble clusters of small cones and are 

 filled with seeds, which readily scatter with handling. The 

 Fringe-tree is a uniform gray, the new growth in no way 

 differing from the old, and the buds are scarcely percepti- 

 ble at this time, but by February there will be a marked 

 change in their appearance. Four species of Ilex help to 

 enliven the Pines ; the well-known Holly and Inkberry are 

 evergreen, while the Winterberries, I. verticillata and I. 

 laevigata, lose their foliage, but hold the bright red berries 

 all winter. 



Situated near large cities as we are, our Pines begin to 

 show the devastating effects produced by the demand for 

 Christmas green each year. The Mistletoe has almost 

 entirely disappeared, and the Holly is fast following in its 

 wake. Last year even my garden was invaded, and three 

 Hollies full of fruit were almost entirely ruined by vandals, 

 who with axes hacked off branches as high as they could 

 reach. A reward for their apprehension failed to bring the 

 culprits to justice. • nr t^ ,, 



Vineland, N.J. ^^'^'y Treal. 



How clean and hardy and wholesome is the Shrub Oak now, 

 tenacious of its leaves, which shrivel not hut retain a certain 

 wintry life, not wrinkled and thin, like those of the White Oak. 

 but full-veined and plump, sun-tanned afiove to the fast color 

 that Nature loves, the color of the deer and of the cow, and 

 silver-downy beneath towards the russet fields. — Tliorcau. 



Notes on the Flora of a Prairie State. 



I. THE DI.\MOND WILTOW IN SOUTH D.AKOT.\. 



PERHAPS the most characteristic woody plant of the 

 region drained by the upper Missouri is the so-called 

 Diamond Willow. The peculiar clumps of this Willow, 

 Salix cordata, make one of the most prominent features of 

 the vegetation along the watercourses of the region. They 

 may be seen standing at the water's edge, forming a strik- 

 ing fringe to the winding stream, or along the margins of 

 the moister sloughs and the bayous of the low bottoms, 

 and these bayous are usually formed by the changes 

 which take place in the course of the bed of the stream. 



This Willow always grows in these characteristic clumps, 

 which are formed by the development of sprouts from the 

 original plant. In the larger clumps the first or oldest stem 

 is usually dead or dying, and the gradual formation of the 

 group of stems can be traced in the successive growth of 

 new shoots which has plainly taken place. The main stem 

 may reach a diameter at the base of from three to eight, 

 or rarely twelve or fourteen, inches before dying. The 

 height attained may vary from ten to thirty feet, depending 

 largely upon the conditions under which the plant has 

 developed. These clumps may consist of from three or 

 four to several hundred stems each. 



The bark of the young growing plants is gray and quite 

 smooth at first, becoming more or less broken and darker 

 in color as the stems become older. The young twigs may 

 be either smooth or pubescent. The sapwood is white, and 

 in the older plants is quite thin as compared with the 

 heart-wood, which is firm, of a reddish color and very dura- 

 ble. The settlers regard it as very valuable for fuel, stakes, 

 rails, etc. Posts made from it are said to be as lasting as 

 those from Red Cedar. In eastern Nebraska and western 

 Iowa this Willow has been quite highly prized for use as 

 stakes in rail fences. I have known stakes and rails to be 

 in constant use for over twenty years. 



Many theories have been advanced to explain the origin 

 of the so-called diamonds which form on the stem. It 

 seems quite likely that their origin is mainly physiological, 

 and that their formation is influenced largely by certain 

 physical conditions or phenomena. When the shoot is 

 growing rapidly and is not too badly crowded, few or no 

 diamonds are formed ; but when growth is less vigorous 

 and the branches get too thick and begin to die off, crowded 

 out by their stronger neighbors, the formation of the dia- 

 monds begins. While these markings vary greatly in size 

 and shape, the general outline is that of an ellipse, pointed 

 at each end, with the branch in the middle and the long 

 diameter parallel with the axis of the stem of the plant. 



The best explanation of the formation of these diamonds 

 seems to be that when a twig dies the combium tissue also 

 dies for some distance about its base ; a mass of firm, pro- 

 tective tissue is formed at the edge of this area, and each 

 season, as the stem grows, instead of healing over the 

 wound, the growing tissue is forced back further and fur- 

 ther and the diamond keeps increasing in size. The bark 

 usually adheres very closely to the wood over the dead 

 area and thus helps to prevent the tissues from growing over 

 the wound. It seems that certain insects may aid in the 

 formation of these markings by killing the branches or bor- 

 ing into the wood about their bases. The diamonds are 

 always more numerous on a slow-growing stem than on 

 one that has been thrifty and of rapid growth. It is not 

 unlikely that the rigorous climate of the upper Missouri 

 valley has somethiKig to do with these peculiar deformities. 



The excessive development of these areas seen on many 

 of the stems gives them very odd shapes. Sometimes the 

 diamonds may be arranged quite regularly on four sides of 

 a stem, causing it to take on a quadrangular outline ; at 

 other times they may be on three, or even two sides ; 

 again, they may be scattered irregularly over the entire 

 surface for a considerable distance, and then be almost 

 entirely wanting over a like area. It is not an uncommon 

 thing to find a large stem so flattened in places as to have 



