May 4, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest 



209 



gardeners. Messrs. Linden sent to this meeting from Brus- 

 sels some beautiful Odontoglossums, including O. Pesca- 

 torei, var. LindenijE, which has large purple-spotted flow- 

 ers, and another variety, also purple spotted, named 

 maculatum. Odontoglossums are cultivated better in 

 Brussels than I have seen them anywhere, and the nursery- 

 men there are fully alive to this. I believe Mr. Linden never 

 misses an opportunity to acquire plants of the choicest and 

 most valued varieties with a view to their multiplication. 

 Messrs. Veitch & Sons sent Dendrobium atroviolaceum and 

 several hybrids, including one raised from D. Pierardii and 

 D. superbum, which they call D. Adrasta. It has soft pink 

 sepals and petals and a pale yellow lip. 



The amateur exhibitors were led bySirTrevor Lawrence,' 

 who sent Cypripedium Elliotianum with eight flowers, a 

 beautiful example of good cultivation, and a hybrid called 

 C. lawrebellum (a ridiculous name, pure Choctaw to out- 

 siders !), which is the result of crossing C. Lawrencianum 

 and C. bellatulum. The flowers are in form like those of 

 the first-named parent, their color being rosy crimson with 

 brown-purple lines, the dorsal sepal margined with white, 

 and the petals spotted with chocolate. 



From Mr. H. J. Elwes came a grand specimen of Vanda 

 Denisoniana, vi^ith a cluster of healthy growths bearing no 

 fewer than eight spikes of large milk-white flowers. Den- 

 drobium primulinum was shown in exceptionally fine form. 

 Several beautiful vafieties of Miltonia Roezlii ; the distinct 

 Siam variety of Cypripedium insigne ; Cattleya Marriotti- 

 ana, a hybrid between C. Skinneri and Lselia flava ; the 

 magnificent Odontoglossum Leeanum. These and many 

 other rarities were conspicuous among the various groups 

 which crowded the exhibition hall. 



Cliveas were well shown by Messrs. B. S. Williams & 

 Son, and also by Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, both firms 

 making a specialty of these plants. Hippeastrums were 

 represented by Crimson King (Veitch) and Firebrand (G. 

 Paul & Son), both awarded certificates. There were also 

 large groups of these plants from other nurserymen. 



Magnolia conspicua, the Yulan Magnolia, was shown 

 by Mr. Hudson, gardener to Messrs. Rothschild at Gun- 

 nersbury House, Acton, where there is a specimen of this 

 noble Magnolia thirty feet high and as much through, and 

 which at this season of the year is always a magnificent 

 picture of snow-white flowers. M. stellata (Halleana) was 

 shown in fiower, the type, a rose-tinted variety and a 

 double-flowered form. At Kew this little species is grown 

 in a round bed on a lawn, where it forms a pretty mass 

 eighteen inches high. It is quite hardy here. It also does 

 well when grown in pots and slightly forced for the con- 

 servatory. Rhododendron campylocarpum, a hardy spe- 

 cies from the Himalayas, with large trusses of large yellow 

 flowers, was shown by the Exeter Veitchs. I may note 

 here R. fulgens, also Himalayan, which is now in full 

 flower outside at Kew among the hardy Rhododendrons. 

 The plant is probably forty years old, and it is now 

 crowded with heads of the richest rose-crimson flowers. 



Roses, some of them new ; Ericas of various kinds, the 

 most conspicuous being E. ventricosa coccinea and E. 

 Cavendishiana, Epiphyllum Makoyanum and E. Gsertneri, 

 both varieties of one species, which was recently figured 

 in the Botanical Magazine under the latter name. A Cine- 

 raria named Snowflake Improved, with the flowers wholly 

 white, came from Messrs. J. Carter & Co. It will be a use- 

 ful plant if its character can be fixed so as to come true 

 from seeds. 



Daffodils. There was a special exhibition of these plants, 

 with a special committee to award prizes and discuss the 

 merits of new kinds. The programme for the day also in- 

 cluded a lecture on Narcissi by the Rev. G. P. Haydon. 

 It is scarcely possible for any one nowadays to say much 

 that is new about Daffodils, to English growers at any 

 rate. The lecturer traveled along the beaten track, and 

 gave good advice to amateurs and beginners, for whom 

 his remarks were specially intended. He suggested that 

 flower-collectors should be compelled to carry a license 



similar to a game license as a preventive to the destruction 

 of wild flowers, which at present were being totally eradi- 

 cated from some localities by the vandal flower and plant 

 collector, who often dug up by the bushel rare plants which 

 could not possibly survive the treatment they got. 



London. W. WatSOtl. 



Plant Notes. 

 The Narcissus. 



TVrOVV that the Narcissus season is here, it may be interesting 

 -'-^ to note the distinguishing characters of the groups into 

 which this family is divided, and give in a compact form the 

 main points of their structures as a guide to a more careful 

 study of these ever-welcome flowers. The popular name of 

 Daffodil, which is generally used in the garden, is only correct 

 as applied to two forms of Narcissi — i. e., the Narcissus Pseudo- 

 Narcissus, the flat-leaved or Trumpet Daffodils, and N. Bulbo- 

 codium (Corbularia), Hoop Petticoat or Rush-leaved Daffodils. 

 In other words, Daffodils are Narcissi, though only the large- 

 crowned Narcissi are Daffodils. A Narcissus-flower is structur- 



Fig. 32. — Narcissus cyclamineus. 



ally composed of an ovary, the perianth-segments (popularly the 

 saucer), and the tube, otherwise called the crown, the trumpet, 

 the trunk or corona. An inferior ovary is situated at the base of 

 a cylindrical tube. From varying localities along this tube spring 

 the perianth-segments, and beyond these the cup is prolonged. 

 In the Daffodils the six stamens are of equal length, and have 

 the same point of insertion low down near the obconical-tube. 

 In the true Narcissi the tube is much longer, narrower and 

 cylindrical ; the six stamens are divided into two sets of three 

 each, which are inserted, one set near the mouth, and the other 

 three midway between the crown and- ovary. 



The varieties of Narcissi are endless and beyond the ken of 

 man, and authorities are not yet agreed as to the number of 

 distinct species. Mr. J. G. Baker, of Kew, published in 1869 a 

 clear and concise system of grouping, which has been gener- 

 ally adopted by growers and by the trade. Mr. Baker's groups 

 are based on the length of the perianth-segments as contrasted 

 with that of the cup. The three groups of Baker are : 



Group I. Magnicoronati, the large cup. 



Group II. Mediocoronati, the medium cup. 



Group III. Parvicoronati, the small cup. 



Each of these groups is divided into sub-genera, species and 

 sub-species ; but for the non-botanical reader and cultivator 

 it will be simpler and sufficiently clear to divide the groups 

 according to the plan of Mr. F. W. Burbridge, of Dublin, 

 into two sections — A, the flat-leaved kinds ; and B, the 

 rush-leaved kinds. Under this arrangement we give the 

 different sections with an illustration of a typical flower of 

 each : 



