December 28, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



615 



To the Fungi all sorts of superstitions attach. One kind is 

 called Devil's Umbrellas, another Death Baby ; this latter 

 deemed so ominous that people rush out and exterminate it 

 when it springs up in the yard, as it is thought to be prophetic 

 of death. Tlie Algae, too, with their uncanny forms, have 

 names of evil import, such as Devifs Apron, Devil's Apron- 

 strings, and the like. It is impossible to quote from Mrs. 

 Bergen all the various names that popular fancy has attached 

 to its familiar friends of road-side and garden, but they show 

 that living interest in the flowers about them which the man 

 of science and the gardener, with all their keen interest in a 

 new variety, too often lack. 



While it is necessary to have Latin and Greek names, which 

 are universally intelligible, for plants, we have a right to ask 

 also, for our common use, something from the florist which 

 shall bear the same relation to our understanding that the 

 classic names did to those who gave them. The Greek did 

 not name liis flowers in Sanscrit or Coptic, but in his own 

 tongue. His word Anemone, for the Wind-flower, was a thing 

 of meaning to him, "hot merely a noun. His name for the 

 Poison Hemlock, Koneion, from konos, a top, which was sig- 

 nificant of the dizziness and whirling that resulted from its use, 

 bore with it a warning to the incautious. The Beech (Phegos) 

 he named from its edible nut ; the Yew (Taxon), from the bow 

 and arrow, for one of which it furnished the wood, for the 

 other the poison. The Chestnut was called after the Thessa- 

 lian town, in which it grew to splendid size. The name Walnut 

 bore reference to the round shape of the nut. The Plane Tree's 

 appellation characterized its large broad leaves. He called his 

 Coriander after a pungent insect on account of the smell of its 

 leaves ; his Parsley from the stones amid which it grew ; his 

 Celandine bore the name of the swallow, with which it came 

 and fled. The Cedar, which was the fragrant wood burned 

 upon altars, was named from the word which meant sacrifice. 



So also the Roman names of trees are significant. The 

 Maple was called Acer, perhaps from its sharp-pointed leaves, 

 though some authorities say it was so called because its tough 

 wood was employed for the handles of pointed weapons, 

 spears, javelins and the like. 



The Poplar, from its planting along the public-ways, was 

 called Populus, the people's tree. Their names for the Wal- 

 nut (Juglans) signified Tree of Jove, from its majestic propor- 

 tions. "The title of the Palm bore reference to its hand-shaped 

 leaves; that of the Cypress, to the island of Cyprus, where the 

 altars of Venus were adorned with its evergreen boughs. 

 From their northern conquests the Roman legions brought 

 back not only trees, but their names — tlie Birch, the Willow, the 

 Pine and Fir all bearingCeltic names significant mostly of their 

 use or place of growth. Salix came from two Celtic words 

 signifying near water ; Pinus, from the rocks and mountains, 

 where it made its lofty home ; Carpinus, from car, wood, and 

 pino, the head, alluding to its use for making yokes for cattle. 

 Ouercus is from the two teltic words, querciiez, signifying 

 noble tree, because the Oak bore the sacred Mistletoe. The 

 Druid title for Oak, derw, lives still in their own name, which 

 is derived from it, and at every turn we find an interesting 

 significance in the terms which preserve at once to us the his- 

 tory and the habits of an ancient people. 



There is no reason why Americans should not name their 

 own flora in a way to be equally valuable to succeeding races 

 in the far-off future. We lack neither imagination nor poetical 

 feeling, though very little of either seems to find its way into 

 professional nomenclature. It is a pity that some nurseryman 

 or florist should not distinguish himself by finding fitfing nouns 

 to portray the glories of his magnificent fruits and flowers, and 

 the prizes offered for the best name for a new Tomato or 

 Grape are efforts in the right direction. Still, our Chrysanthe- 

 mums and Roses have reached a much higher development 

 in size than they have in epithet. Therefore, I make a plea in 

 their behalf that henceforth some attempt may be made to 

 render them as interesting in name as they are in nature. 



Hingham, Mass. M. C. Robbi7lS. 



A Few Texas Shrubs. 



T HAVE been trying in my garden a few of the shrubs which 

 ■'■ are native to this region and which will prove hardy in most 

 of the southern states. Some of them are truly ornamental, 

 and all have flourished without unusual care or cultivation. 



Chilopsis saligna, generally known as the Flowering Willow, 

 is a native of the south-western part of Texas, and is already 

 found in many gardens. It grows from ten to fifteen feet high, 

 and the large flowers in terminal racemes stand well out from 

 the mass of narrow leaves. These flowers, in shape like 

 those of the Catalpa, are pink, with a broad darker spot 



and a yellow marking on the lip, and at night they exhale the 

 odor of sweet Violets. The whole shrub has the appearance 

 of a dwarf Willow, and its beautiful flowers are borne abun- 

 dantly all summer long in spite of dry or hot weather. It 

 grows well in a sandy or a limestone soil, and is readily propa- 

 gated from cuttings as well as from seeds, which are borne in 

 long pods like those of the Catalpa. 



Acacia fragrans grows wild on many rocky bluffs west of the 

 Brazos. The only one I have raised, however, flourished on 

 limestone soil. The foliage is elegant, although a little thin, 

 and the delicate pink and very fragrant flowers are carried in 

 round heads. They generally appear in April, and keep open- 

 ing until autumn. I remember to have seen one of these 

 shrubs in Brown County which was in bloom before the leaves 

 were fairly developed, and it was a solid mass of pink some 

 five or six feet high. In the same region grows Rhus micro- 

 phylla, a shrub whose small and greenish flowers appear before 

 the leaves in spring. The bright orange-colored fruit contrasts 

 pleasantly with the fine green of the foliage, but I can hardly 

 recommend the plant except for variety. 



Lippia lycioides, another shrub of the same region, prefers 

 sandy soil, and it may attain the height of ten feet when well 

 developed, though it is generally more dwarf. The grayish 

 leaves are small, and the flowers, borne in a multitude of ra- 

 cemes, are white and very small. The whole appearance of 

 the shrub is not showy, but it blooms perpetually, and the 

 flowers are so sweet-scented that it certainly deserves a space 

 in the garden. 



Rosa setigera, var. tomentosa, grows wild in swampy woods, 

 but it makes itself perfectly at home on dry upland. It is a 

 straggling half-climber, and, as I have it covering a stretch of 

 rumbling old stone wall, it is a beautiful sight in May ; but, 

 unfortunately, its bright pink flowers appear but once a year. 



Caesalpinia pulcherrima is a small shrub which one often 

 sees in Texas gardens. The compound leaves are very ele- 

 gant, and the large flowers are borne in great terminal racemes. 

 They are light yellow, and the crest of scarlet stamens with 

 which they are crowned adds very much to their beauty. 

 The pods are large and flat, and contain a few large seeds, 

 which germinate very readily. It blooms abundantly, but it is 

 not perfectly hardy here. 

 Dallas. Texas. J. Rcverchon. 



What Plants may become Weeds? 



CO many cultivated plants escape to become troublesome 

 •^ weeds, when the soil and conditions are favorable, that it is 

 necessary to inquire what attractive plants may safely be intro- 

 duced into cultivation ? Protests have been made against such 

 species as Calystegia pubescens, Apios tuberosa and Helian- 

 thus divaricatus being offered by nurserymen. There may, 

 however, be localities where not any of these would, under the 

 best treatment, become weeds. I have had much difficulty in 

 growing Apios tuberosa in some soils. Generally, I believe, 

 the worst weeds we have are not indigenous, but are intro- 

 duced directly by cultivation, or with cultivated plants, and 

 soon become acclimated, and thrive better than other plants 

 already established. 



Sedum Telephium (common Live-forever) is a dreaded 

 weed when it gets into a meadow or cultivated field, but I have 

 seen it established in a sterile spot on a rocky road-side for 

 twenty years, with no apparent increase. Left entirely to itself, 

 it grew and flowered, without spreading, so luxuriantly as to 

 suggest its usefulness in covering barren places where little 

 else would thrive. Five years ago a neighbor found in his 

 pasture a small patch of the Venus Paint-brush (Hieraciimi 

 aurantiacum). I warned him of its inclination to spread in our 

 Vermont soils, and at that time a dollar would have eradicated 

 it. He had no fears of it, however, until two years later, when 

 he found it had scattered itself over a good portionof his farm. 

 He has since spent nearly two hundred dollars in digging and 

 plowing it under, and the end is not yet. Our soil and climate 

 seem to have just suited it, or to have modified it so as to suit 

 the soil and climate, for in some localities good farms have 

 been overrun with it, and on stony or other rough pastures, 

 where the plow cannot be used, it is master of all. It is a com- 

 mon species among the flower-seeds of foreign catalogues, 

 and I presume is offered by Americans, too. It, perhaps, sel- 

 dom finds so congenial a soil as ours, for here it not only mul- 

 tiplies by its underground stolons faster than any tame Straw- 

 berry I ever saw by its runners, but its seeds all seem to mature 

 and are scattered far and wide by the wind. 



The common Virgin's Bower (Clematis Virginiana) is some- 

 times a pest in meadows that are mown every year, even 

 crowding out the grass. This occurs, however, only when the 

 soil is light and moist. We often have to coddle it when trans- 



