March 14, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



103 



of from six to twelve feet. M. tomentosa, the Chinese 

 Myrtle, is a pretty evergreen shrub from China and northern 

 India. The leaves are dark green, ovate, and downy be- 

 neath. The flowers are of a fine rose color. This dense 

 evergreen shrub thrives well in the sandy soil of Florida as 

 far north as Federal Point. 



Nerium Oleander is found in almost every door-yard of 

 Florida, thriving vigorously without any care. Mr. F. Bar- 

 thels, who has charge of my garden, planted a few cuttings 

 of the double rose-colored form in 1888, and the trees are 

 now about twenty-five feet high. All the varieties of the 

 Oleander grow with equal vigor in Florida. 



Osmanthus fragrans, Sweet Olive, Tea Olive, of China. 

 This is one of the most beautiful and valuable evergreen 

 shrubs for the extreme south Atlantic and Gulf states. Dense 

 and well-shaped specimens from five to twelve feet high, and 

 almost as much through, excite our admiration. Planted 

 with Michelia fuscata, Gardenia florida, Abelia rupestris, 

 etc., striking groups are formed. If nice and bushy speci- 

 mens are desired, the pruning-knife must frequently be 

 made use of. Left to itself, the Sweet Olive has an open 

 straggling growth. The plant grows well on high Pine- 

 land, if well mulched and fertilized. The small creamy 

 white flowers among the dense foliage appear from 

 early spring until late in the fall, and shed a delicious 

 fragrance. 



Santolina Chamaecyparissus incana, of south Europe, is a 

 pretty dwarf evergreen plant. The aromatic leaves are 

 covered with a silvery down. This plant, which thrives to 

 perfection in the state, is very useful for edging and for 

 divisional lines. Rosmarinus officinalis also grows well in 

 the gardens of Florida. 



Tabernsemontana coronaria fl. pi , East Indian Rose 

 Bay, grows exceedingly well with a little care. This beau- 

 tiful shrub is found in the gardens throughout India, but its 

 native country is unknown. In the greenhouses of the 

 north it needs much care and a high temperature, and then 

 is grown with difficulty. In the open air in Florida it at- 

 tains a height of five feet. The flowers are highly fragrant, 

 double, white, with somewhat wavy edges. Throughout 

 the summer these shrubs are covered with their deliciously 

 .scented flowers. The first slight frosts cut the plant down, 

 but in spring, when all danger of frost is over, it again 

 grows on rapidly, and repays all trouble with a wealth of 

 noble flowers. 



Tecoma stans, Yellow Elder, Yellow Bignonia, Upright 

 Trumpet-flower, a native of tropical America from the 

 West Indies and Mexico to Peru, is one of the best-flower- 

 ing evergreen shrubs introduced into Florida. It attains a 

 height of from ten to twelve feet in a season, and in Or- 

 lando I have seen specimens fully twenty feet high. It is 

 one of the comparatively few erect-growing members of 

 the Bignonia?. Flowering as it does from early fall to late 

 in winter, and having a dense upright growth, it should 

 find a place in every south Florida garden. The pinnate 

 leaves consist of five to eleven lanceolate, deeply serrate 

 leaflets, and at the ends of the upright stems immense 

 panicles of large golden yellow tubular flowers appear, 

 often weighing down the stems to the ground. When in 

 flower these magnificent shrubs excite the admiration of 

 even the most indifferent observer. In their form and 

 color the flowers are much like those of the beautiful Alla- 

 manda Hendersonii. The yellow Bignonia is very quick- 

 growing ; it delights in the sandy soil, and sprunts readily 

 when frozen down. There are several other members of 

 this genus — Tecoma velutina, T. chrvsantha and T. Smithi 

 (a hybrid between T. velutina and T. Capensis, raised in 

 Australia) — which will flourish under the same conditions 

 as the foregoing. 



Thevetia neriifolia, Trumpet-flower, Yellow Oleander, of 

 tropical America, is a fine Oleander-like plant with yellow 

 flowers and curious fruit. It is one of the best ornamental 

 shrubs for south Florida. The foliage is narrower than 

 those of the Oleander, but the plant is frequently con- 

 founded with that shrub. The habit is dense and very 



ornamental. All parts of the Thevetia are very poisonous. 

 In Orlando I saw beautiful specimens in many gardens. 



Milwaukee, Wis. H. Nelirling. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Rhododendron multicolor was introduced from the moun- 

 tains of Sumatra by Messrs. J. VeitchA Sons ten years ao-o, 

 and soon afterward was figured in the Botanical Magazine. 

 Plants of it have lately been in flower several weeks in a 

 stove at Kew, and they are quite distinct in habit from all 

 other Rhododendrons, and the flowers are pretty in form 

 and color. The species is remarkable in forming a twiggy 

 dwarf shrub, with long narrow Willow-like foliage in whorls 

 and terminal loose umbels of noddingflowers. Thesearean 

 inch wide and long, bell-shaped, with five equal ovate 

 corolla-lobes and scarcely any calyx. For garden pur- 

 poses, what is known as the type is one with primrose- 

 yellow flowers, a second one with bright crimson flowers, 

 being named Curtisii, after Messrs. Veitchs' collector. . 

 These plants are happiest under stove treatment. Messrs. 

 Veitch have now numerous hybrids between R. multicolor 

 and other Malayan Rhododendrons, one of which, named 

 Mrs. John Heal, was awarded a first-class certificate by the 

 Royal Horticultural Society last week. It is from the yel- 

 low-flowered type crossed with the hybrid Princess Bea- 

 trice (the offspring of four species), also yellow-flowered 

 flushed with pink. The new one is remarkable in having 

 pure white flowers, each nearly two inches across, and the 

 plant is evidently very free-flowering. A character pecu- 

 liar to the R. multicolor hybrids is their close, twiggy habit 

 of growth, suggestive of Azalea Indica, and their free- 

 flowering nature ; plants a foot high flower freely. The 

 older Malayan hybrids, such as R. Princess Beatrice, Prin- 

 cess Helena and Prince Royal, grow fairly well in a green- 

 house along with Camellias and Himalayan Rhododen- 

 drons, but these multicolor hybrids will probably require 

 more warmth. They are a decided acquisition for the 

 indoor garden. 



Camoensia maxima is a tropical African climber, of which 

 cultivators have long known enough to create a desire to 

 grow and flower it, but, like some other beautiful tropical 

 plants, it unites a free-growing habit with persistent bar- 

 renness in regard to flowers under artificial treatment. I 

 know of big specimens in gardens, one of which has been 

 coaxed and ill-treated and coaxed again at Kew, in the hope 

 that it would relent and flower, but although it grows freely, 

 no matter what the treatment, it shows no sign of flower- 

 ing. It is, therefore, tantalizing to learn that a small plant 

 sent to Ceylon from Kew in 1883 is now in flower there and 

 is a rival to Amherstia nobilis, which is always in flower. 

 There is a picture of the flowers in the Transactions of the 

 Linncsan Society, vol. xxv., a copy of which is published by 

 Mr. Bull annually in his plant catalogue. The plant is a woody 

 evergreen climber, with trifoliate leaves of good substance, 

 and the flowers, according to Dr. Trimen, are erect (not 

 pendulous, as hitherto believed) in axillary racemes, and 

 when freshly expanded the petals are very beautiful, the 

 standard being over seven inches long, the others six 

 inches, all of a delicate pure white thin tissue-like texture, 

 with a narrow yellow fringe-like gold lace. I suspect bright 

 sunlight, and plenty of it, is needed to make this plant 

 flower, and as you have plenty in most parts of America, it 

 ought to prove more tractable with you than it does here. 

 Camoensia is a leguminous genus of two species, and 

 C. maxima was described by Bentham as " much the most 

 striking plant of a suborder (Sophorea 1 ), which is note- 

 worthy for the beauty of the plants it contains." It was in- 

 troduced from Angola to Kew many years ago. 



Oxalis crenata. — A few weeks ago a box of tubers was 

 received by a Covent Garden salesman from the Azores, 

 unaccompanied by any information except that the sender 

 knew they were good eating, and might "take" in Eng- 



