February 28, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



83 



5. Avoid all tube-bearing fungi in which the flesh 

 changes color when cut or broken, or where the mouths of 

 the tubes are reddish. 



6. In the case of other tube-bearing fungi, experiment 

 with great caution. 



7. Avoid those fungi which have a sort of spider's web 

 or fiocculent ring round the upper part of the stalk. 



8. Never eat fungi of any kind in which the flesh has 

 begun to decay, even slightly. 



9. Remember that the popular belief that if a fungus has 

 a surface which can easily be peeled off, or that, if while 

 being cooked it does not blacken a silver spoon, it is not 

 poisonous, is absolutely erroneous. 



It may be added that steeping in milk or vinegar does 

 not destroy the poisonous properties of fungi, except in cer- 

 tain cases, and even then the milk or vinegar must not be 

 eaten. On the other hand, some species become appar- 

 ently more dangerous by cooking with milk or vinegar. 



Harvard College. W. G. FarloW. 



Exotic Trees and Shrubs for Florida Gardens. — III. 



ILLICIUM anisatum, also from China, is an excellent shrub 

 for Florida. Belonging to the order Magnoliacea?, it is 

 fine in flower and leaf. The blossoms are very beautiful 

 and fragrant, yellowish-white, small and disposed in ter- 

 minal clusters. The leaves are oblong and have a strong 

 odor of anise-seed when rubbed. In Orlando I saw dense 

 and beautiful specimens near a ditch, and in the famous 

 Drayton Gardens, near Charleston, South Carolina, there 

 are specimens of large size and fine form. If well 

 fertilized and heavily mulched and watered, the Illi- 

 cium thrives well in the sandy soil of Florida, though it is 

 of rather slow growth. Our indigenous species, I. Florid- 

 ianum and I. parviflorum, are of equal beauty, but they 

 are difficult to procure, as they are not found among the 

 treasures of Florida nurserymen. I have searched for them 

 quite often in the woods, but have never been able to find 

 them. 



Jochroma tubulosa and J. Tonelli, natives of tropical 

 America and belonging to the order Salanacese, are all 

 strikingly beautiful plants, attaining a height of five to eight 

 feet. They are of rapid growth and dense habit. In the 

 famous garden of Mr. Thomas Hanbury, La Martola, Italy, 

 they thrive to perfection, and my plants were all raised 

 from seed gathered in that garden. The color of the flow- 

 ers is deep blue, and in order to see them readily they 

 should be planted near the paths and walks of the garden. 

 J. coccinea has beautiful red flowers. Although my plants, 

 which were very small when set out in the fall, did not 

 grow, I feel sure that they can be made to thrive in 

 Florida. 



Lasiandra macrantha, of Brazil, is an admirable shrub 

 for Florida. I have seen specimens five to eight feet in 

 height at Orlando. The flowers are of the richest violet- 

 purple, about five inches in diameter, and appear at the 

 ends of the branches. This plant, when fully grown, is 

 exceptionally decorative, and it endures a few degrees of 

 frost with impunity. If cut down, it sprouts readily from the 

 root-stock. It likes a moderately rich soil, some fertilizer 

 and heavy mulching. Another species, L. Benthamiana, 

 on Mr. E. H. Harts' place at Federal Point, grows to great 

 perfection, forming a dense thicket of woody stems, fully 

 ten feet high. The flowers of this species are dark purple, 

 almost white in the centre, and about two inches in diam- 

 eter. There are quite a number of other species as beau- 

 tiful as those mentioned that may prove to do well in 

 Florida. These plants are now known under the name of 

 Pleroma. 



Magnolia parviflora and several other species of the 

 Chinese deciduous Magnolias do not grow in the light 

 sandy soil of Florida. They are likely to thrive if grafted 

 on Magnolia fcetida, a species that grows well in al- 

 most any soil. 



Michelia fuscata is generally known in the south At- 



lantic and Gulf region under the name of Banana Shrub. 

 It is one of the most attractive of evergreen shrubs, 

 and one specimen, at least, should be in every Florida 

 garden, however small. In Charleston, South Caro- 

 lina, and in New Orleans, it grows to a height of ten to 

 fifteen feet and as much in diameter. It is graceful in 

 habit, and if left to itself its lower limbs almost rest on the 

 ground, so that its form is almost a perfect globe. Its 

 leaves are dark glossy green and rather large. The 

 flowers are creamy-white, the calyx brown. Although 

 these small blossoms, hidden in the dense foliage, make 

 no show, they are intensely and deliciously fragrant, 

 and the air about them is heavy with their perfume. The 

 plant grows well on high Pine-land, but needs some coax- 

 ing. "Many exotic hardwood, evergreen plants," writes 

 Mr. F. H. Hart, of Federal Point, "are best grown in half 

 shade, with prepared soil, until they become large and 

 strong, before placing them in the open ground. If the 

 situation where they are destined to remain permanently 

 be sandy or dry, a judicious mixture of clay and humus, 

 treated with some good fertilizer and dug into the soil just 

 beyond the extremities of the roots, ought to coax the plants 

 into growth. Exposed when small to the vicissitudes of 

 field-culture, they are likely to become stunted or go into 

 decline. Here, in the moist flat-woods, with a retentive 

 subsoil, and more or less humus on and near the surface, 

 both Osmanthus fragrans and Michelia fuscata grow admi- 

 rably. A plant of the latter, twelve years from the pot, stands 

 twelve feet high and measures ten feet through, and for six 

 weeks in spring is covered with thousands of miniature 

 Magnolia blossoms, exhaling a deliciously pungent odor." 



Magnolia (Talauma) pumila, from Amboyna and Java, 

 is also occasionally found in the gardens of New Orleans, 

 Mobile and Pensacola, but it is rarely found in Florida. 

 Mr. P. J. Berckmans, of Augusta, Georgia, who grows it in 

 the open air, writes me that it needs heavy soil and partial 

 shade. It very probably will grow well in Florida if grafted 

 on Magnolia fcetida. 



Mahernia odorata, a native of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 of which a small specimen was planted, has spread in such 

 a way that it now covers the ground about three feet in 

 diameter. The branches in fact, the whole plant — rest on 

 the ground. The "yellow flowers are as fragrant as violets, 

 but the shrub has little ornamental value. „ ., 



Milwaukee, Wis. "■• J\ellrling. 



P^oreign Correspondence 

 Paris Letter. 



AMERICANS who care for Orchids will find many 

 admirable private collections in a tour through 

 France, but most of these are at some distance from Paris, 

 and although visitors are heartily welcome as a rule, it is 

 advisable to make application for admittance. This may 

 cause some delay, and I would therefore advise those with 

 only a short time at their disposal to visit the greenhouses 

 of the Jardin du Luxembourg. No provision is made for 

 the admission of the public, as the greenhouses are under the 

 control of the presiding officer of the Senate, separated from 

 the public grounds and considered private. Nevertheless, 

 students of botany and amateurs can apply to the head-gar- 

 dener, Monsieur Opoix, at a second entrance, 64 Boulevard 

 St. Michel, and a guide will be furnished to conduct him 

 through the different houses. These houses contain a 

 variety of plants, but are rich in Orchids, and especially so 

 in Cypripediums. In fact, as many new Cypripediums 

 have been originated in one of these houses as in any 

 single house in the world, so far as I know. The late 

 head-gardener, Monsieur Roch Joliboir, was an ardent 

 admirer of that genus ; he collected as many typical 

 forms of it as possible, and he was very skillful and 

 successful as a hybridizer. A considerable number of 

 his new varieties were exhibited at the meetings 

 of the National Horticultural Society, but they remain 

 almost unknown to the general public, for they were sel- 



