October 31, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



425 



Amon^ other plants certificated was Geot^Vey St. Hi- 

 laire, shown by Messrs. Veitch, one of the finest of a new 

 race of hybrid Cainias which has lieen brought into notice 

 recently. It has broad and large leaves of a rich, dark, 

 vinous purple tint, while the massive spike of large 

 flowers is of a brilliant orange-scarlet. It is one of 

 the finest of those recently e.xhibited. When well grown 

 it is fully five feet high, and makes a stately, iine-foli- 

 aged plant, and, like the others, flowers for weeks in suc- 

 cession. A second Canna certificated was that named 

 Paul Bert, shown by Messrs. Cannell, of Swanley. It is 

 not such a fine variety as the last named, but its brilliant 

 scarlet-crimson flowers, borne on large spikes, were very 

 effective. It is a fitting companion to the several new 

 varieties for which Messrs. Cannell have won certificates 

 this season. There is, without question, a bright future 

 for this new race of stove and green-house plants, which, 

 in a warm and dry climate, would flourish out-of-doors. 



Nerine e.xcellens, a bulbous green-house plant of great 

 beauty, was worthily certificated. It is a near relative of 

 N. flexuosa, a delicate growing kind with wavy petals, 

 whereas the flowers as well as the trusses of A\ exceUens 

 are larger and are of a soft rose pink barred with crimson 

 red. It is as easily grown as the rest of the Nerines. 



A Himalayan Lily, Lilium Wallichianum, came, as did 

 the Nerine, from Mr. Ware's nurseries. It is an old and 

 tolerably well known Lily, but not of the highest merit, 

 inasmuch as it is capricious under culture. It is not 

 hardy enough for open air culture exclusivel)', yet 

 it dislikes artificial warmth. The flower itself is beauti- 

 ful, being about eight inches long, with a slender tube 

 and a wide-spreading mouth. The sepals are of ivory 

 whiteness, but the tube is greenish. • It grows about 

 a yard high, and each slender stem bears a solitary, fragrant 

 flower. It is a Lily for specialists ; not for general culture. 



A very handsome Composite from Colorado, As/er 

 Townshendii, or. as it is also called, A. Bigelovii, proves 

 itself one of the finest of all our hardy Michaelmas Daisies, 

 and the committee did right in stamping it with a certifi- 

 cate of merit, though it can scarcely be called a new plant, 

 having been in English gardens for over a dozen years. 

 It has flowers about two inches across, with a broad, yel- 

 low disc, and long, narrow ray florets of a bright purple. 

 It blooms very freely, numerous flowers being borne on 

 the slender stems, which rise about two feet high. It is, 

 with us, a true, hardy perennial of the highest merit. 



Another Composite, also a harily, herbaceous perennial 

 from Mr. Ware, was certificated. This was a semi-double 

 variety of the now well known Hai palium n^ndutn, a North 

 American plant, one of the finest hardy perennials we have. 

 The new kind (named Semi-plenum) has large flowers, with 

 the florets so much multiplied as to appear to make a 

 double flower. It is quite as vigorous and as free flower- 

 ing as the type, while the yellow is brighter. 



The last certificated novelty was a narrow-leaved form 

 of the common garden Beet, named McGregor's Favorite. 

 The leaves are about an inch broad by si.x inches long, 

 and of a deep, bronzy crimson. The habit of growth is 

 tufted, and not so coarse as that of the common edible 

 Beet. It was certificated purely as an ornamental plant, 

 as it is thought that it will be useful for the flower garden, 

 especially in working out designs. 



Among the other e.xhibits, the most noteworthy was a 

 fine group of hard}' shrubs from the Messrs. Veitch, which 

 comprised such choice things as Cralcegus Pyracantha 

 Lalandei, with branches thickly laden with scarlet berries, 

 brighter and more numerous than in the old kind ; 

 Berberis Thiinhergi, which, however, was not shown 

 in fine condition, the berries being few and the bushes not 

 in vigorous health ; Dapliniphyllum glaucescetis viridis, a 

 variety with greener leaves than the type and quite as 

 handsome. Among the cut Roses were blooms of such 

 lovely sorts as The Bride, Sunset, Papa Gontier (which 

 has at length reached us from America), Grace Darling, 

 Grand Mogul, Lady ^Nlary Fitzwilliam and Madame Gui- 



noisseau, all of which are new or little known sorts that 

 carry excellent autumn flowers. 



Mr. B. S. Williams' group of Pitcher plants represented, 

 for the most part, the pretty hybrids raised some years 

 ago b)' Mr. Taplin in New Jersey. These are at once re- 

 cognized by their small, neatly shaped pitchers, generally 

 highly colored, and always borne in profusion. Those 

 named Williamsi, Hihberdii, Amabilis, Morganiae and 

 Henryana are typical of this fine hybrid race, and are 

 becoming quite popular in English hot-houses, being so 

 much more easil)' grown than other Pitcher plants. 



I,.iiid..n, Seplembe|-3olh. W. Go/dlitlg. 



New or Little Known Plants. 



Hibiscus lasiocarpus. 



THE present figure represents one of a group of tall, 

 large flowered American species of Hibiscus, which 

 have been somewhat confused. Their distinguishing 

 characters, as they have been defined by Dr. Gray, con- 

 sisting mainly in difference of pubescence and color, are 

 such as cannot well be shown in an illustration, so that 

 our figure might be referred nearly as well to any one of 

 the species as to another. 



The swamp Rose-mallow, H. Mosclieulos, is the most 

 common of these, being found through the eastern United 

 States, more frequent in brackish swamps and near the 

 coast, from New England and Lakes Erie and Ontario to 

 Florida and eastern Texas. Its . pubescence is wholly a 

 fine, dense tomentum, without any villous hairs, the upper 

 surface of the leaves being nearly or quite glabrous. The 

 flowers are white or rose-color, with or without a crimson 

 base, and the capsule is glabrous or nearly so. The 

 leaves are ovate to lanceolate and acuminate, rounded at 

 base or somewhat heart-shaped, the larger ones usually 

 three-lobed. 



H. incanus is ver)' similar, but has sulphur-yellow 

 flowers with a crimson base, and the leaves appear to be 

 mostly ovate-lanceolate. It is found in the swamps of 

 South Carolina and thence to Florida and Alabama, but it 

 has been ver}' rarely collected. Its distinctness from H. 

 Mosclieulos and from the following species was recog- 

 nized by Dr. Gray from specimens cultivated last season 

 by Mr. Meehan. 



H. lasiocarpus has its leaves nearly equally tomentose 

 on both sides, or rather more coarsely so on the upper 

 surface, and the bracts of the involucre are ciliate. The 

 capsule also is more or less dens'ely hirsute. The leaves 

 are, perhaps, more frequently cordate at base than in H. 

 Mosclieulos, but the flowers are of the same color. This 

 species ranges from the coast of Georgia to Louisiana 

 and southern Illinois and westward. The extreme west- 

 ern form (var. occidentalis, Gray ; H. Californicus, of Kel- 

 logg), of Chihuahua and the swamps bordering the ri\'ers 

 of California, differs merely in the leaves being more uni- 

 formly heart-shaped at base, and the capsule pubescent 

 rather than hirsute. This is the form which is represented 

 by Mr. Faxon in our illustration. .S". W. 



Cultural Department. 



The Cultivation of Ferns. 



F-ERNS are propagated l>y tlie spores or seed and in 

 some varieties by division of the plant itself ; while 

 witli others, such as many of the Davallias and some 

 other varieties that produce creeping rhizomes, the run- 

 ners are pegged down and allowed to root, when thev can 

 be easily separated from the parent plant. A few others. 

 Aspleniimis especially, form small bulbils along and at the 

 end of the fronds, which can Ije removed and rooted, or can 

 be rooted first and afterw^ards separated. Those varieties that 

 produce spores freely and can be readily increased in this 

 way, are by far the most valuable to the commercial grower, 

 and as the' great bulk of our Ferns are so propagated, I shall 

 s]ieak of this method only. Nearly all tlie Adiantums, the 

 Pteris, Onychiums, etc., the Ferns most useful for tlorists' 

 work, can be quite easily propagated in this way. Vet the 



