June 30, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



255 



terminal spikes. It is of upright habit, with foliage nearly 

 as silvery as that of the famous Silver Tree. The Mediter- 

 ranean basin has contributed several species of Cytisus 

 and Genista, among them Genista monosperma, a prostrate 

 shrub growing in sandy beaches on the southern coast 

 of Sicily, glaucous and wiry, with hardly any leaves 

 and fragrant comparatively large flowers, which are 

 white, with a crimson blotch ; G. /Ethnensis, from Sicily 

 also, found at several thousand feet elevation on Mount 

 /Etna, very like a giant among Genistas, attaining the 

 size of a tree, with very fine leafless twigs, in habit like a 

 Weeping Willow, and profusely covered with sweet-scented 

 sulphur-yellow flowers during summer. This Genista ought 

 to be hardy at least as far north as Philadelphia, and old 

 specimens exist in the grounds of the Botanic Garden in 

 Paris, as well as at Kew. Cytisus Palmensis, from the 

 Canary Islands, has been greatly admired throughout the 

 entire winter for its myriads of pure white, strongly 



be one of the most gorgeous flowering trees, with its very 

 long clusters of large scarlet flowers. 



To Australia we are indebted for Hymenosporum flavum, 

 a near relative of the Pittosporums, but with flowers much 

 larger than any of them, white, turning to yellow, and very 

 fragrant ; Carumbium populifolium, with greenish incon- 

 spicuous flowers and rich bold foliage, tinted with metallic 

 hues, like other Euphorbiads ; Prostanthera nivea and 

 Westringia rosmariniformis, both belonging to the Labiate 

 or Sage family, and white-flowered. We close the list with 

 Helichrysum diosmasfolium, a remarkable tree belonging 

 to the Composite. At present and for weeks it has ap- 

 peared like a solid mass of silver, the flat umbels of its 

 small everlasting flowers being several inches in diameter. 

 It is said to grow twenty feet high in Australia, and cer- 

 tainly will grow as large in the fertile soil of California, and 

 a very useful plant it is likely to prove to landscape-gar- 

 deners as well as to florists. 



33. — Iris Robinsoniana in a California Garden. 



apple-scented flowers. This plant is sure to become highly 

 popular in this country for growing in conservatories and 

 for cut flowers as it appears to be in southern Europe. 

 From Chili we have had in flower and fruit Lithraea molle- 

 oides, somewhat related to the Sumachs, a bushy rapid- 

 growing evergreen tree. Its flowers are greenish and 

 inconspicuous, and the fermented berries furnish a highly 

 prized "chicha" or brandy in its native country. From Natal, 

 south Africa, Dombeya Natalensis has been blooming dur- 

 ing nearly the whole winter season. Its large white flow- 

 ers are very attractive on account of their fragrance, which 

 reminds one of the Syringa. At first glance they suggest 

 a pure white large-flowered Cherry. This is a very rapid 

 grower and essentially a winter bloomer, and we hope it 

 is the forerunner in our gardens of many of its congeners. 

 These all have showy flowers and are native of south 

 Africa, and of Madagascar, from which we have already 

 growing vigorously the noble Astrapsea Wallichii, said to 



All the above-mentioned are shrubs or small trees ; large- 

 sized trees will take longer to reach the flowering stage. 

 A very remarkable exception we find here in several spe- 

 cies of the tropical genus Ficus, which often begin to bear 

 "figs" — that is, flowers — when quite young, sometimes 

 before they are two years old from seed. Such is the case 

 with Ficus Bengalensis, F. glomerata, F. Indica, F. infec- 

 toria, F. oppositifolia, F. religiosa and F. retusa, all from 

 India, and F. Chauvieri and F. Parceli, from New Caledonia 

 and the South Sea Islands, all of which appear to be quite 

 at home at Santa Barbara. „ „ , . 



Santa Bubara, Calif. &■ PrailceSCIU. 



Iris Robinsoniana. — This plant was discovered in Lord 

 Howe's Island by Charles Moore in 1869, and described 

 by Bentham under the name of Morea Robinsoniana, but it 

 was not until the spring of 1 89 1 that it flowered for the first 

 time in England, at Kew. This Iris is not only noted for 



