.-^88 



Garden and Forest. 



[October io, iS 



flowers instead of being pinlv are of ivory wliiteness with 

 golden-yellow crests. They possess the same delightful 

 perfume which some compare with the scent of newly- 

 mown hay. The flowers are small, but very numerous, 

 and are borne on a loose spike which drops in a graceful 

 way. The exhibiitor of this treasure was Mr. li. S. Wil- 

 liams, of HoUoway nurseries. 



The lovely Ro)iineya Coiilleri, of California, introduced 

 over a dozen years ago, was exhibited for the first time in 

 flower to-day, though it has flowered several times in 

 various gardens of late years. Mr. T. S. Ware showed it 

 on this occasion, and its beauty so won the committee 

 that its certificate-vote was unanimous. [This plant was 

 described in the issue of this Journal for August 15th. — Ed.] 



A variety of the well-known Cape bulb, Tritonia aurea, 

 with crimson blotches on the orange-red sepals, was 

 shown by Mr. James O'Brien, and received a certificate. 

 It differs from the typical form chiefly in the color of the 

 flower. The crimson blotches are conspicuous, and in- 

 crease its beauty. This Tritonia is one of the showiest of 

 bulbs for the green-house during August and September, 

 and in some of our southern gardens it is perfectly 

 hardy. 



Eremurus OlgcB, a noble Liliaceous plant introduced a 

 few years ago from Turkestan, was shown by Mr. T. S. 

 Ware, and received a certificate as a first-rate hardy herba- 

 ceous plant. All the Eremurus have long narrow leaves 

 like an Asphodel or Ivniphofia, and produce tall spikes 

 crowded with small blossoms. E. Olgce has a flower-stem 

 rising from three to five feet in height, and for fully half 

 its height is furnished with small white flowers. The 

 flowers e.x'pand from below upwards, and as from six to 

 nine inches of the stem carry expanded flowers at a time, 

 it is some weeks before the spike is exhausted. It is 

 quite hardy here. 



The Chrysanthemum season has already commenced, 

 the first new variety being shown to-day; it was so 

 fine that no hesitation was made in certificating it, not- 

 withstanding the many fine early varieties we have. This 

 sort is called Mrs. Hawkins, and is a sport from another 

 fine variety called Wormig's Yellow. The flowers of Mrs. 

 Havidfins are from five to six inches across, very full but flat, 

 the florets being long and narrow. The color is a rich golden 

 yellow. The vigorous growth, fine habit and floriferous- 

 ness of the novelty had a good deal of weight with the 

 committee. From this date onward to February and 

 March we have Chrysanthemums at every meeting, so 

 that we might well say that their season extends through 

 half the year. 



A very flne new white Carnation named Madame Carle was 

 certificated on account of its free growth, abundant bloom, 

 fine form and the purity of its strongly perfumed flowers. 

 It is a first-rate market variety, as it flowers almost constantly. 

 The exhibitor was Mr. May, one of the chief growers for 

 market, who also showed finely flowered specimens of 

 such favorite sorts as Miss JolitTe, pink ; Dr. Raymond, 

 crimson-clove ; Pride of Penshurst, yellow ; and Anda- 

 lusia, which last is considered the finest yellow of all for 

 market, as it is hardly ever out of flower. The color is 

 not so pure as that of Pride of Penshurst ; but the flower 

 is finer and fuller, while the growth and habit is vastly 

 superior. 



A new hybrid Dianthus named Splendor was certificated 

 as a first-rate border plant on account of its dwarf, com- 

 pact growth, profusion of bloom and rich color. It is a 

 cross between D. Heddeivigii (generally treated as an an- 

 nual) and the Sweet William (/). barba/us). The progeny 

 is quite intermediate both in growth and flowers, which 

 are about one inch across, with fringed petals and borne 

 in loose clusters. The color is an intensely deep crimson 

 with mottlings of black on the petals. The exhibitor of it, 

 Mr. R. Dean, also showed a double white variety of B. 

 Heddezvigii called Snowdrift, with flowers of remarkable 

 purity. 



Among the crowds of new Dahlias put before the com- 



mittee, including double, single and cactus \'arieties, 

 there was but one considered wortliy of a certificate. 

 This was a single Dahlia named Mikado, a large well- 

 shaped flower of a bright Indian red streaked and tipped 

 with yellow. It won a certificate by a narrow major- 

 ity, as some of the committee, myseH' included, consid- 

 ered it by no means beautiful. In Kehvay's collection of 

 (Jladioli there were numerous new seedling sorts set up 

 for certificates, but only two were selected. These were 

 Castro and Besler, the first having enormous flowers of a 

 delicate carmine-pink tint with white centre and lower 

 petal, while the second was a smaller flower and spike, 

 vivid crimson-red flaked with a deeper tint. The hun- 

 dred or more spikes shown to-day were, if anything, 

 finer than those shown a fortnight ago, the splendor of 

 which I alluded to in my last letter. 



Besides the first class certificates awarded, there were 

 two Orchids that received botanical certificates, which 

 mean that although the plants are interesting botanically 

 or are rare, they do not, in the opinion of the floral com- 

 mittee, possess sufficient merit for general cultivation. 

 These Orchids were Disa graminifolia and Lcelia {Trigoni- 

 diiiin) mono phyUa, both of which, in my estimation, pos- 

 sess exquisite beauty, though small in growth and flower. 

 The Disa is a South African species, having tiny tubers 

 that send up very slender flower-stems before the grass- 

 like foliage. The flowers are less than an inch across, 

 but are of a lovely purple-blue color, which is so rare 

 among Orchids. The Ltelia is a pretty plant, too, of 

 tin}' growth, somewhat like a Sophronitis. Its flowers 

 are about one and a half inches across, and of a bright 

 orange-scarlet. Though so small, this Orchid is one of 

 those for which extravagant prices have been paid, per- 

 haps more on account of its rarity than its beauty. 



Lilies formed a conspicuous feature in the show, and 

 of L. auralum alone there were probably a hundred spikes, 

 representing numerous varieties. Our king of Lily-grow- 

 ers (Mr. G. F. Wilson) brought some wonderful specimens 

 of L. auralum rubra vittaluvi. the variety with enormous 

 flowers with each white petal broadly banded with blood 

 red. He also had huge stems of L. aurahnn, van platy- 

 phylhim, with flowers nearly a foot across, while from 

 other gardens came the Virginale variety, whose flowers 

 are devoid of the spots and blotches seen on the petals of 

 the ordinary kind. The various forms of the Tiger Lily, L. 

 tigrinum, were also in their full glory on this occasion. 



London, Septe.iibei ulli, iSSS. W. Goldn'llg. 



New or Little Known Plants. 



Tigridia Pringlei.* 



THE Tiger-flower, the well known Tigridis Pavonia. a 

 native of the valleys of southern Mexico, early at- 

 tracted the attention of the Spanish conquerors, and be- 

 came known b}' reputation under the name of Tigridis flos 

 long before it had been seen by any botanist. It was first 

 described by L'Obel (Lobelius) in his Planlarum Hisloria, 

 published at Antwerp in 1576, where he gives a very 

 rough but recognizable wood-cut of the plant from a 

 colored figure which he had received from his friend, 

 Joannes de Brancion. Hernandez also describes it in the 

 Historia Planlarum Novce Hispania (1651), giving the same 

 Latin name, Flos tigridis, and the Aztec name, Ocelo.xochitl. 

 He speaks of it as growing in gardens and cultivated 

 fields about the City of Mexico, as though it were culti- 

 vated both for its flowers and for its edible bulbs. These 

 descriptions, however, M'ere so incomplete, that Linnaeus 

 was unable from them to place the plant systematically, 

 and he made no mention of it in any of his works. In the 



*~T. Pringlei, Watson, n. sp. Bulbs small, with fvisiforiu roots; stem slender, 

 one or two feet high, beaiino; two or three wins^ed-plicate leaves and a single 

 Ho\ver: spathe-bracts three inches long, inclosilljr the ]>ednncle : perianth with a 

 canipanulate base, blotched within with crimson, the sepals two and a half inches 

 Ions, with a refiexed scarlet limb; petals broadly cordate or reniform at base, the 

 iian-ower triangular-ovate, acute limb not spotted : stamineal column one and a 

 halt inclies long, the stamens live to seven lines long and equaling the style 

 branches, which are clett to tile middle : capsule narrow, very obtusely angled, 

 two orttiree inches long by three lines wide. 



