7 6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 470. 



World species not included in 1 ; these are represented by 

 C. insigne, C. Stonei, C. niveum, etc. These were the 

 Eucypripedia of Bentham & Hooker. 



3. Selenipedium. This name is to be limited to several 

 South American species, none of which have ever been 

 introduced. Examples, S. Chica and S. palmifolium. 



4. Phragmopedium is the name proposed for all the cul- 

 tivated plants hitherto known as Selenipediums. These are 

 all natives of South America; examples, P. longifolium, 

 P. candatum, P. Schlimii. 



Whatever cultivators may think of this new arrangement, 

 botanists, including Sir Joseph Hooker, are of opinion that 

 it is justifiable. Apart from the question of convenience, 

 we have the fact that 1, 2 and 4 are well differentiated 

 in habit and behavior under cultivation. They have never 

 been intercrossed, although seedlings have been raised 

 from crosses between 2 and 4, but they have invariably 

 perished before flowering. 



Orchids from Seeds. — In my last letter I suggested that 

 choice species and varieties of Orchids should be raised 

 from seeds obtained artificially. I have since been in- 

 formed that several Orchid breeders in this country have 

 seedlings of such, but 1 am requested to withhold the 

 names of the plants, lest it might affect the commercial 

 value of the parents. . In The Gardeners' Chronicle this 

 week there is a note headed " A Scarcity of Orchids," in 

 which attention is called to the scarcity in a wild state of 

 various Cattleyas and other Orchids, due partly to the 

 insatiability of collectors, and partly to the clearing of the 

 land for the cultivation of Coffee. " This Coffee industry in 

 Colombia is extending at the expense of the Orchid forests, 

 for it happens that the Coffee region is exactly the Orchid 

 region." Breeders have succeeded in raising from seeds a 

 large number of species of different genera, including 

 Odontoglossum, Miltonia, Zygopetalum, Cattleya, Dendro- 

 bium, Phalfenopsis, Phajus, Cypripedium, etc., and there 

 does not appear to be any obstacle to the raising of many 

 other kinds from seeds matured under cultivation. Evi- 

 dently this is the direction to which we must soon perforce 

 turn for a supply of many Orchids. 



London. 



W. Watson. 



New or Little-known Plants. 



Hoodia. 



HOODIA is closely related to Stapelia and was once 

 included in that genus. Four species are known, 

 ail natives of hot, dry regions in south Africa. They are 

 remarkable for their many-ndged, spine-clothed fleshy 

 stems, which are more suggestive of Cereus than Stapelia, 

 and also for their large saucer-shaped flowers. These are 

 colored yellowish or reddish brown and are of a disagree- 

 able odor. 



If they had not hitherto proved so difficult to keep alive 

 under artificial treatment, Hoodias would certainly be now 

 as well known in gardens as the commonest Stapelias. It 

 is possible that we may yet discover how they ought to be 

 treated so as to keep them healthy ; at any rate, plants are 

 now being tried again at Kew. The accompanying illus- 

 tration (see p. 75) represents a plant flowered by Mr. Arm- 

 strong, of Port Elizabeth, to whom Kew is indebted for 

 plants. Hoodia Gordoni was discovered near the Orange 

 River more than a century ago. Fifty years later it was 

 rediscovered by Burke, who was sent by the Earl of Derby 

 to collect plants in south Africa, and he sent home living 

 plants of it which were grown at Knowsley, but they do 

 not appear to have ever flowered there. In 1874 Sir Henry 

 Barkly, Governor of the Cape, obtained two specimens of 

 it, one of which was sent to Kew, where it flowered in 

 1875, but it died the following year. A figure prepared 

 from this plant by Fitch was published in The Botanical 

 Magazine, t. 6228. 



The plant has numerous stems in a cluster, suggestive 

 of a Cactus in habit and appearance ; they are from a foot 

 to a foot and a half long, two inches in diameter, ridged 



longitudinally, the ridges clothed with closely set yellow 

 prickles half an inch long. The flowers are produced in 

 clusters of two or three near the apex of the stem; they 

 are rotate, nearly flat, four inches in diameter, the lobes 

 short, or scarcely apparent, abruptly apiculate, yellowish 

 brown flushed with rose, and an eye-like zone of rose sur- 

 rounding the crimson corona. 



A correspondent in Carnarvon, about 300 miles inland 

 from Cape Town, writes : " It may interest you to know 

 that Hoodia Gordoni is very plentiful about here. ... It 

 grows mostly on the slopes of dolorite- capped hills, and 

 ought to thrive in the moist climate of England, with not 

 more than one watering about every six months. Here it 

 does well with a good rain in March and another in Octo- 

 ber. It also gets assistance from the heavy dews, as it 

 generally prefers the lower side of a dolorite bowlder from 

 which the lightest rain or heavy dew would run off. I have, 

 however, found numerous plants on a bare flat, and they 

 appeared to thrive as well as the others." 



The plant represented here is only a small one, tufts of 

 from twelve to twenty stems being common, and these all 

 flower together, forming a very striking object. 



The other species known are Hoodia Barklyi, flowered 

 in the Cape Town Botanic Garden in 1873 ; H. Bainii, 

 flowered at Kew in 1878 and figured in The Botanical Maga- 

 zine, t. 6348, and H. Currori, which does not appear to have 

 ever been cultivated. TTr , tT 



London. W. WatSOn. 



Cultural Department. 



Lachenalias. 



MIDWINTER flowering plants are not, and never will be, 

 too plentiful. This is the one period that taxes the skill 

 of those who have to provide these in quantity, more espe- 

 cially from the end of the Chrysanthemum season until the 

 coming in of Dutch bulbs in spring. Freesias from the Cape 

 of Good Hope are of comparatively recent origin in gardens 

 and fill a place that will never again be vacant, and another 

 valuable set of bulbs, also from the same region, are the 

 Lachenalias. These are very old residents of gardens, since 

 the records show that they were known and cultivated as long 

 ago as 1752, and have since been continuously grown. It does 

 not appear, however, that more than the true species were 

 known, and these remained unimproved down to 1880. At this 

 late date the Rev. John Nelson, an English clergyman, raised 

 the first seedling variety, L. Nelsoni, still perhaps the best of all 

 varieties. More recently still, another clergyman has entered 

 the same field, and to Rev. T. H. Marsh we are indebted for 

 the kinds known as Ruby, Topaz, Little Beauty and Cawston 

 Gem, all of which are distinct gains to gardens. They are, 

 indeed, better than the true species, with the possible excep- 

 tion of L. pendula, which is a giant of its kind. 



Most of our winter-flowering plants need an amount of care 

 and preparation during summer that adds largely to their cost, 

 and is not always compensated for by their value when in 

 flower. The popularity of the Freesia among cultivators is 

 largely due to the ease with which it may be stored away in 

 early summer until time for planting in autumn. The 

 same treatment is all that is required for Lachenalias, so that 

 when they are better known they should be more generally 

 grown. Pans, such as other bulbs are grown in, or five-inch 

 pots, should be used, owing to their dwarf habits. The pots 

 are more desirable, owing to their adaptability for general dec- 

 orative uses. We plant in August in rich soil, and place the 

 pots in a sunny frame until it is no longer frost-proof in early 

 winter. Lachenalias dislike heat and coddling, and the cooler 

 the house, so long as it is free from frost, the better will be the 

 flower-spikes and the foliage. The leaves are attractive and 

 are marked like those of some of the Dogtooth Violets. 

 When the pots are brought into the greenhouse they should, 

 if possible, be placed on a shelf close to the glass, where they 

 can get all the air possible. The flowers will be produced 

 from November until March if a few of the best sorts are 

 grown. 



Lachenalias seed freely, come up quickly if the seeds are 

 sown at once, and what is more desirable, perhaps, can be 

 obtained true from seed. This I have heard disputed, but we 

 have them now in bloom without the least variation from the 

 parent variety. While some of the bulbs flower the second 

 year, the majority will take three years to bloom. There is 



