July 20, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



347 



the Magnolias. Of the forty-one species descrilied in Vol. IV. 

 thirty-two are already in cultivation for fruit or ornament, 

 and all the remaining- nine are worthy of introduction. The 

 volume also possesses unusual interest for botanists from the 

 fact that it illustrates so maiiy species bearing fleshy fruits, 

 parts which are not preserved in the ordinary herbarium. 



The greater number of the species fall into three genera — 

 Prunus, with fourteen species ; Cratasgus, with tlie same 

 number, and Pynis, with five species. Other genera are 

 Chrysobalanus (the Cocoa I'lum), Vanquelinia, Cercocarpus, 

 Heteromeles, Amelanchier and the single arborescent sa.xifra- 

 gaceous genus Lyonothamnus. 



The most striking feature of this fourth volume is the por- 

 trayal of the native Plums, which have never before been so 

 well presented, and which are now attracting great attention 

 as the sources of a new class of fruits. Five species are now 

 recognized in the eastern states where a few years ago there 

 were but two. Four of these are the parents of important cul- 

 tivated varieties, and all of them possess merits as ornamental 

 plants. The one species whose fruit has not yet been amelio- 

 rated is Prunus Alleghaniensis, a slender small tree, which "is 

 not known to grow spontaneously outside of a small elevated 

 region in central Pennsylvania." This species was first de- 

 scribed by Professor T. C. Porter in 1877. It is not known to 

 cultivation except in a few collections connected with public 

 institutions. As grown at Ithaca, New York, it is very showy 

 when in bloom, and its foliage is attractive ; and Professor 

 Sargent says that the fruit is collected in large quantities in its 

 native localities for making jellies, jams and preserves. We 

 shall hope to soon see it generally distributed in the gardens. 



The remaining north-eastern Plums are Prunus nigra, P. 

 Americana, P. hortulanaandP. angustifolia. P. nigra, the Red or 

 Canada Plum, has not been recognized in our modern books, 

 although it was described something like a century ago. Pro- 

 fessor Sargent uses the name to designate a large-fruited, flat- 

 stoned Plum, with glandular-serrate calyx lobes and glandular 

 leaf-stalks, which ranges through the St. Lawrence valley, and 

 westward to the Assiniboine region. Its flowers are earlier 

 and larger than those of 1^. Americana, with which it has been 

 fornierly united ; and it is thought to have been commoner 

 in cultivation in former years than the other species. It is 

 now said to be naturalized about houses and highways in some 

 of the northernmost eastern states. To this species. Professor 

 Sargent would refer the Purple Yosemite, Quaker and Weaver 

 Plums. The separation of P. nigra from the older species, P. 

 Americana, will excite a closer study of our northern wild 

 Plums, although there may still be some doubt as to its true 

 specific position. . The separation of this species takes the 

 true P. Americana from Canadian territory, and makes its 

 nordiernmost limit, in the east, central New York and north- 

 ern New Jersey. It ranges westward to Montana and Colorado, 

 and southward to Florida and Mexico. The orchard varieties 

 known as De Soto, Itaska, Forest Garden, Louise, Minnetonka, 

 Cheney, Deep Creek and Kickapoo are referred to this species ; 

 and so are Forest Rose and Miner, but this is evidently an 

 inadvertence, as they are also referred to P. hortulana, to 

 which they probably belong. 



The greatest innovation among the Plums is the recogni- 

 tion of a newly described species, P. hortulana, standing be- 

 tween P. Americana and the true Chickasaws. This species 

 grows wild in the Mississippi valley, from northern Illinois to 

 Tennessee and Arkansas, ranging southwestward through 

 Texas. It is a smooth-growing, mostly upright, small tree, 

 with ovate-lanceolate, mostly shining, closely serrate leaves, 

 and reddish or yellow fruit, and a small roughish clinging 

 stone. Horticulturally, it is probably the most important of 

 the wild Plums, having given to cultivation the Wild Goose, 

 Wayland and Miner, the three best-known native varieties ; if 

 is also considered to be the parent of Cumberland, Indian 

 Chief, Garfield, Sucker City (evidently an error for Sucker 

 State), Missouri Apricot, Indiana Red, Golden Beauty, Forest 

 Rose and Parsons. It also appears to hybridize vi'ilh the 

 Peach, as in the so-called Blackman Plum, but these hybrids 

 are sterile. The fruit, as represented in the plate, is rather 

 undersized, and it lacks a peculiar dotted character which is 

 common to most, if not all, the forms of this species. 



The Chickasaw Plum, for which Marshall's name, P. angus- 

 tifolia, is now used, is considered to have given to our or- 

 chards such varieties as Pottawattamie, Jennie Lucas, Early 

 Red, Caddo Chief, Transparent and Collcta. It is essentially 

 southern in its range, although it occurs as far north as Dela- 

 ware and Kentucky. It is thought that this Plum has been 

 introduced into the eastern states, if not into the United States 

 as a whole ; but this point, probably, needs close investiga- 

 tion. A peculiar character of the fresh fruit of this species 



is the dotted surface, a feature which does not appear in the 

 plate. 



Among the Cherries, botanists will miss Prunus demissa of the 

 west, which Professor Sargent considers inseparable from the 

 Choke Cherry (P. Virginiana). 



Ill wild Apples, the reader will find a variety (Icensis) of the 

 common Crab (Pyrus coronaria). This variety, which has been 

 thought to deserve specific rank, is the common Crab of the 

 Mississippi Valley. One of its distinguishing characters 

 is the short and thick fruit-stem, as compared with P. 

 coronaria proper, and which is not well indicated in the 

 plate. I^. angustifolia and I-", rivularis are figured and de- 

 scribed, as are also the two Mountain Ashes (P. Americana 

 and P. sambucifolia). 



Next to the I^lums, the Hawthorns are the most striking fea- 

 ture of the volume. The magnificent plates will greatly aid 

 in elucidating one of the most confused genera in our flora. 

 Fourteen species arc recognized, but there are few changes in 

 nomenclature. Crataegus uniflora, of Muenchausen, replaces 

 the familiar C. parvifolia of our manuals ; C. coccinea, var. 

 mollis, is erected to specific rank under the name of C. mollis ; 

 C. rivularis, of Nuttall, becomes a variety of C. Douglasii ; C. 

 berberifolia is a variety of C. Crus-Galli ; and C. elliptica is re- 

 duced to a variety of C. flava. It is to be hoped that these 

 plates will direct attention anew to the value of our native 

 Thorns as ornamental plants. The plates are all so excellent that 

 it is impossible to select any one of them for particular com- 

 ment, but every botanist must at once appreciate the aid which 

 the illustration of C. punctata will render in elucidating a hand- 

 some species which has been too long overlooked or neglected. 



The juneberry, or Service-berry, which is now coming into 

 cultivation, appears as Amelanchier Canadensis, var. obovalis, 

 instead of as var. oblongifolia, as heretofore. Anotlier variety 

 of A. Canadensis is recognized in var. spicata, which is the A. 

 ovalis of botanists (but not of recent horticulturists). This va- 

 riety is characterized by "broader obovate, sometimes sub- 

 orbicular, leaves," and "is common in the northern states." 

 The western Service-berry is kept distinct from the eastern 

 species as A. alnifolia. 



Aside from the inestimable value of the running text and the 

 plates, the foot-notes abound in historical matter, and those 

 concerning the cultivated Plums, Cherries, Apricots, Peaches 

 and Apples are among the best concise statements concerning 

 the origins and botanical features of these fruits which have 

 been published. 



This volume of the Silva is appropriately dedicated " to 

 Horatio Hollis Plunnewell, a true lover of trees and a wise 

 and generous patron of the arts and sciences." 



Cornell University. L. H. Bailey. 



Notes. 



One hundred and twenty years ago the ground upon which 

 stands the Lutheran church at Mannheim, Pennsylvania, was 

 donated to the congregation by Baron Henry William Seigel, 

 who had founded the town, upon considerafion of the annual 

 payment of one red rose. This pretty rent was twice de- 

 manded and paid before the death of the baron. 



Our native Spiked Loosestrife (Lythrum Salicaria) is a most 

 effective plant for the borders of artificial water or in damp 

 places, where its purple-lilac flowers, borne on spikes from 

 four to six feet high, show well against masses of foliage. It 

 is one of those sturdy plants which will take care of themselves 

 when once established, and it has the advantage of keeping in 

 flower for a long time. 



Americans are often called an unsentimental people, but, in 

 fact, their sentimentality constantly reveals itself in ways which 

 must seem surprising to foreigners. For example, not con- 

 tent with making a simple exhibit of their famous Blue-grass 

 at the Chicago Exhibition, the Kentucky committee proposes 

 to collect the sods from historic spots, as from the home of 

 Henry Clay, the birthplace of Lincoln, and the battle-field of 

 Perryville. 



The Edelweiss, one of the most beautiful and quaint of 

 mountain flowers, is doomed to extinction, says the Cornhill 

 Maga::;ine, because tourists in Switzerland consider themselves 

 bound by fashion to wear a couple of dried specimens in their 

 hats and send them home gummed to a card. We are glad 

 that the government in one or two of the cantons has inter- 

 fered to save the persecuted plant, and has made it a finable 

 offense to pluck its flowers. 



In Japan, writes Mr. Lafcadio Hearn, "stones are valued 

 for their beauty, and large stones, selected for their shape, 

 may liave an aesthetic worth of hundreds of dollars. And 



