138 



Garden and Forest. 



[May :6, 1888. 



London Letter. 



CAMELLIAS are backward this season, but among those 

 now in full beauty at Veitch's nurseries none can eclipse 

 the variety C. M. Hovey, for which, I Ijelieve, we are indebted 

 to one of your Boston nurserymen. The perfect form of the 

 flower, its charming, soft, rosy carmine color and large size 

 make it one of the most admired of Camellias, and of its color 

 it is peerless. Camellias are not so popular here as they were 

 formerly, because they have been supplanted by Roses since 

 the early forcing of these flowers has become so well under- 

 stood. People like the exquisite, if somewhat stiff and artifi- 

 cial, form of double Camellias, and are delighted with their 

 soft colors, but lacking perfume, they can never rival the Rose. 

 In Paul's nurseries at Waltham Cross, where, of course, the 

 Rose reigns supreme, there is one of the finest collections of 

 Camellias in this country. A lofty and spacious house 100 feet 

 long is devoted entirely to the huge specimens which make at 

 this season a magnificent display. On going through the 

 house the other day I jotted down a few of the sorts which to 

 me were most conspicuous and the most beautiful. Of whites 

 none was superior to old Double White. More of this old sort 

 are grown and more sold than of any other, it being indis- 

 pensable in every green-house. Another good white is Ninfa 

 Egeria, more floriferous than Alba plena, and not so large, but 

 quite as double. Innocenza fimbriata and Alba elegantissima 

 are likewise very fine white. The more brilliant colors (crim- 

 sons and reds) are best represented by Imbricata Matliotiana, 

 Manara, Benneyi Coquettina and Auguste Delfosse. The lovely 

 pinks and delicate rose tints are favorites with every one. and 

 I singled out Marchioness of Exeter, L'Avenir, Principessa Aldo- 

 brandini and Lady Hume's Blush as the finest then in bloom. 

 There were numbers of sorts with striped and flaked petals; 

 but as I am not an admirer of such bizarre flowers, I did not 

 stop to take their names. The foregoing sorts named are un- 

 doubtedly the pick in their respective colors out of a collection 

 numbering some hundreds of sorts'. I have no doubt but that 

 the Camellia with you is as much appreciated as here, and 

 certainly there is no finer evergreen shrub for planting out in 

 a green-house for cutting from. 



Orchids are here becoming so popular that some amateurs 

 have begun to make specialties of certain genera of the family. 

 The Cvpripediums are for the moment the popular favorites, 

 and many growers keep scarcely any other kind, and devote 

 several large houses exclusively to them. Now that its hybrids 

 have become so numerous, an amateur may spend a small 

 fortune in acquiring a full collection of this genus alone. 

 The quaint form of the flowers of all the Lady's Slipper Orchids, 

 their subtle, though quiet coloring, together with their ever- 

 green foliage, which is often very handsomely marked, com- 

 bine to render them highly popular. I have seen advance 

 proofs of a new illustrated work on the genus Cypripedium, 

 which will be issued shortly by M. Godefroy-Lebeuf, of Argen- 

 teuil, France. The colored plates are splendid examples of 

 the chromo-lithograplier's art, and the letter-press is written by 

 Mr. N. E. Brown, of the Royal Herbarium, Kew, who has made 

 a special study of the genus. The text will be rendered in 

 Latin, French and English, so that altogether it will be the 

 finest monograph of Cypripedium that has yet been issued. 

 During the last ten years wonderful strides have been made in 

 hybridizing Orchids, and especially Cypripediums, which seem 

 to lend themselves to the process with exceptional facility ; but 

 while there are numbers of really magnificent hybrids, it must 

 also be mentioned that many of them are worthless as orna- 

 mental plants, and in not a few instances they are ugly. 

 The wonderful new C. Rothschildianum, which Messrs. Sander 

 have cjuite recently imported, is making a great stir. It is 

 described as eclipsing the handsome C. Sto?iei, but as I have 

 not yet seen it I shall reserve my opinion. 

 London, April 5th. IViH. Goldring. 



New or Little Known Plants. 



Hymenocallis t'almeri.* 



THIS second species of HyiuenocaUis from Florida was 

 found by Dr. Palmer in the neighborhood of Bis- 

 cayan Bay in the extreme southern part of the State. In 

 its general character it is much like the H. liuiiiilis already 



*H. Palmeri, Watson. Proc. Am, Acad., xiv. 301. Biilbsnuill. narrowly ol^long, with 

 thick roots : leaves with short sheaths, a foot long by three lines wide or less ; scape 

 nearly as hig;h, one-flowered, the segments of the spathe verv narrow ; perianth 

 white, the tube about equaling the segments, which are three and one-half or four 

 inches long by a line wide ; crown fifteen lines deep, acuniinately lobed between 

 the erect filaments : anthers greenish ; ovary oblong-ovate. 



figured, but is taller and larger flowered. The bulb is 

 smaller, with thick roots, and the leaves and slender scape 

 are nearly a foot high. The tube and the very narrow 

 segments of the perianth of the solitary white flower are 

 each three or four inches long, and the border of the deep . 

 funnelform crown is acuminately lobed between the 

 filaments. It was found growing in sandy soil in low 

 grassy bottoms near the beach, blooming in May. 



The marshes and river banks of Florida doubtless yet hold 

 many novelties to repay the search of the observant ex- 

 plorer of the plant life of that State. These species of 

 Hymenocallis, the Nymphaa flava and the Zephyranthes 

 TreaticE are specimens of what may still be e.xpected. The 

 Orchids also, the Palms, and the Tillandsias of the forests 

 are by no means well known, and it may be said with 

 truth that while exploration there may be attended with its 

 difficulties, there is probably no part of our country that 

 gives better promise of reward in the way of new and 

 interesting species. S. W. 



Plant Notes. 



Rocky Mountain Cvpripediums. 



UNDER Cypripedium fasciculatum, in a late number, 

 the general statement was made that "none of 

 these [the eastern species] range as far west as the Rocky 

 Mountains, . . . within the limits of the United 

 States." This was intended to express our present knowl- 

 edge of the range of the species. In British America the 

 species with a small yellow sac, C. parviflorum, extends 

 through the Saskatchewan region to Manitoba and into the 

 mountains. It may possibly enter north-western Mon- 

 tana and have lieen confounded with the western C mon- 

 tamim, the only very obvious difference between the spe- 

 cies being the color of the lip, which cannot always be 

 determined in dried specimens. That region, drained by 

 Clark's Fork, is the extreme eastern limit of the Pacific 

 flora, and C. monlanuni is found there. But C. parmfloruni 

 has not certainly been found in the mountains south of the 

 boundary, so far as I know. The larger flowered yellow 

 species, C. pubescens, is known to occur- in north-eastern 

 Colorado, in the valley of the Platte, at least, and probably 

 within the mountains, and this much of e.xxeption should 

 have been made to the above statement. 



It appears now that a still more decided exception must 

 be made, as a note has just been received from Mr. W. F. 

 Flint, of Winchester, N. H., giving an interesting account 

 of his having found in 1878 a Cypripedium, which he took 

 to be C. parvifloium, in the LTncompahgre valley in south- 

 western Colorado. This is upon the western side of the 

 Continental Divide, as the waters of the Uncompahgre find 

 their way into the Colorado River. These Cypripediums 

 were growing in considerable numbers upon the river bank 

 about a quarter of a mile north of the Los Pinos Agency 

 buildings. Unfortunately, no specimens were preserved, 

 and as the valley is now occupied by white settlers, this 

 particular locality for the plant may be destroyed. But it 

 must occur elsewhere in that region, and it is hoped that 

 specimens will yet come to hand for its more definite de- 

 termination. 6". W. 



Merendera Caucasica, var. Ruthenica. — This is one of our 

 newer and most l;)eautiful spring-flowering bulbs, and deserves 

 to be largely grown. It is a native of Transylvania, very hardy 

 and comes very early into flower, blooming, according to cli- 

 mate, from the middle of February to the end of March. The 

 flowers which appear a little before the Squill-like, narrow 

 foliage are of the size of a large Crocus and of a brilliant rosy- 

 crimson-purple color, somewhat like our Meadow-saffron, but 

 deeper and brighter. Good bulbs produce from 4 to 6 flowers, 

 and when grown in clumps or patches on rock-work or in a 

 sunny border they make a charming sight about this tiresome 

 time of year. 



Baden-Baden. April i. MoX LeicJltUn. 



