112 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 317. 



Botanical Notes from Texas. — XVI. 



EAGLE LAKE lies about half a degree west of the ninety- 

 sixth meridian and a little south of the thirtieth parallel. 

 It is about three miles long, and its greatest width is about 

 one-half that distance. Texas and Kansas and the intervening 

 country have no lakes like those of the north and of the east. 

 Along the coast so-called lakes are obstructed bayous, and in- 

 land lakes are merely deeply cut portions of former river-beds, 

 or they are "washouts" made at times of unusual floods. 



Our little lake is a very shallow body of water. Its origin 

 probably dates from the time when the waters of the Gulf ex- 

 tended up to this point. Old Caney Bayou, now nearly filled, 

 was later its southern extension. A large "draw," as some 

 western people call a usually dry depression that nature has 

 formed in the upland prairies to relieve them of their surplus 

 water, pours into the head of the lake, in times of heavy rains, 

 the drainage of quite an extent of country. The action of the 

 winds and of the waves would naturally limit, as well as deepen, 

 the waters of the lake. The lake is said to be well stocked with 

 fish, and alligators abound in it. 



We are now so far eastward that most south-western plants, 

 whose company we have for months enjoyed, have been left 

 behind, though a few of them still keep our company. The 

 waters of the lake at present are mostly hidden by huge forms 

 of Nelumbo lutea and of various Sedges and Grasses. In the 

 shallower places forms of Sagittaria abound, while Heteran- 

 thera reniformis fringes the space. A large Castalia, with 

 handsome white flowers, abounds in the lake. Whether it be 

 Castalia ampla or Paine's Castalia I have not yet determined. 

 Either species in Eagle Lake would be widely out of its hith- 

 erto reported range. The homely, but interesting, Nymphaea 

 advena grows with it, and the peculiar little Cabomba Caro- 

 liniana is common, floating where it can find open water. Its 

 centrally peltate, elliptical, emersed leaves, so different from 

 its large, finely dissected, immersed ones, lead readily to a 

 recognition of the species. Its small flowers are white. I have 

 not seen Cabomba elsewhere in Texas. 



Saururus cernuus, Lizard's-tail, so common northward and 

 eastward, is here growing in the water or near it. In shallow 

 water grows commonly a tall pubescent Ludwigia with pale 

 yellow flowers. Also in the lake and near it Mikania cordi- 

 folia (?) garlands with its leaves and flowers tall-growing But- 

 ton-bush and other shrubs. 



In damp places on the near-by prairies the handsome 

 Cooperia Drummondii is common, and extending northward 

 into the "Territory." With Cooperia there often grows a good- 

 looking plant of distant kin to it, Zephyranthus aurea. We 

 should expect to see Rubus trivialis, with its trailing stems 

 sometimes twenty feet long, growing near the lake, and R. 

 cuneifolius is also here. These species give to Texas people 

 their blackberries. In drier places grows Petalostemon obo- 

 vatus, bearing long thick spikes of yellowish flowers by which 

 the species may easily be known. P. multiflorus is also here. 

 The curious Brunnichia cirrhosa, clinging by tendrils and as- 

 cending trees to a height of twenty or more feet, is not uncom- 

 mon near the lake. It is a member of the Buckwheat family, 

 and extends northward at least to Missouri. Cissus stans is 

 found in great abundance. Its congener, C. incisa, bears it 

 company. The leaflets of the last-named species unjoint so 

 readily that it is difficult to make a good herbarium specimen 

 of it — a fact also noticed long ago (see Synoptical Flora, vol. i.) 

 The eastern Partridge-berry, Mitchella repens, has located near 

 Eagle Lake, and, as some people are said to do on coming to 

 Texas, our plant has dropped its northern common name and 

 assumed the name of Turkey-berry. 



Tecoma radicans is common about the lake. It often be- 

 comes a vile weed in the corn and cotton fields of southern 

 Texas. T. stans grows rarely in this vicinity. It sometimes 

 manages to get along and prosper with a less number of leaf- 

 lets than its cousin carries, so it is contented to stand erect 

 without attempting to climb. Its flowers, which in form re- 

 semble those of T. radicans, in color are yellow. Cassia occi- 

 dentalis, a tropical species, abounds everywhere in southern 

 Texas. It is a strong-growing plant, with an ill odor. It be- 

 comes six or more feet tall. The ovate sharply pointed leaflets 

 are borne in four pairs. Its pods curve upward, becoming 

 nearly erect ; they contain from thirty to fifty or more seeds. 

 C. Tora, also a southern species, is, in eastern Texas, extend- 

 ing through the other Gulf states, a shorter and a handsomer 

 plant than the first-named species, with three pairs of smooth, 

 obovate leaflets, which are sensitive. Its long curved pods 

 contain from twenty to thirty seeds. Jaquemontia tamnifolia, 

 an adventurer from the tropics, is so rarely found here that I 

 have seen only a single specimen. It is a member of the 



Morning-glory family. Usually low and erect, it is diposed to 

 climb when a support is at hand. The terminal clusters of 

 bluish flowers are involucrate. Passiflora incarnata is here, 

 andsoarethehigh-climbingBerchemiascandens, CocculusCar- 

 olinus, the large-leaved Smilax hispida, and Ampelopsis quin- 

 quefolia, Virginia Creeper. The creeping Hydrocotyle Asi- 

 atica, like most of its North American congeners, grows com- 

 monly in southern Texas. It forms a part of the flora of Eagle 

 Lake. The species is nearly cosmopolitan in its range. Its 

 thickish clustered leaves are not peltate, but are ovate-cordate 

 and an inch or more long. The few flowers are purplish, suc- 

 ceeded by the thick fruit, which is large for the species. 

 Kansas City, Kansas. E. N. Plank. 



The Earliest Flowering Shrubs. 



T'HE peculiar prevailing colors of the flowers of the earliest 

 J- blooming shrubby plants must be remarked by every one. 

 Yellow seems the predominant hue, but we have some spe- 

 cies in which some form of red is characteristic, and a few in 

 which the blossoms are white. The flowers of most of the very 

 earliest species are individually small, but as they are often 

 very numerous they may be quite conspicuous in the aggre- 

 gate. Some of these species are of little value fr.om a horti- 

 cultural standpoint, although individually and structurally they 

 are quite as beautiful as those which are more showy. 



Most of these precocious kinds are very simply adapted for 

 cross-fertilization. Among the hardy, very early, yellow-flow- 

 ering shrubs there is none of such horticultural value as the 

 Cornelian Cherry, Cornus mas, not infrequently to be found 

 under the name of Cornus mascula. It is thoroughly hardy in 

 this climate, and will thrive in almost any situation if the soil 

 is not sour or water-soaked. Although a native of a large por- 

 tion of Europe and of northern Asia, and cultivated for centu- 

 ries, it must be qonsidered as yet an uncommon shrub in 

 American gardens. While usually regarded as a shrub, it may 

 in time assume the proportions of a small tree, fifteen feet or 

 more in height and with as great a spread of branches. It will 

 grow pretty rapidly for a dozen years or more, but later the 

 growth is much slower. Given plenty of room, it will grow 

 into a fairly symmetrical form with little or no pruning, and 

 blossom regularly every year. The umbels of little yellow 

 flowers are borne on opposite sides of the branchlets of two 

 seasons' growth. As the bud-scales separate in the warm 

 spring days, and expose the yellow flower-buds within, the 

 plants have the appearance of being in bloom for a good while 

 before the blossoms are really open and the pollen ripe. Of 

 course, the time of blooming varies with the seasons, but a 

 dry, warm and sheltered position or cold or wet soil and a 

 chilly exposure may make a difference of ten daysin the time of 

 opening of buds among plants in the same region. While the 

 plants appear in blossom for some time before any flowers are 

 really open, the following dates refer to the actually expanded 

 petals and ripe pollen as noted in the vicinity of Boston : In 

 1888 a plant in a rather cool situation bore open flowers April 

 26th ; in 1889 and 1891, on April 13th ; in 1890, large plants on 

 the Public Garden in Boston were reported in flower March 

 15th, and were noted with open blossoms on April 3d in a less 

 sheltered situation, and in 1892 first open flowers were ob- 

 served April 3d, and were probably earlier in sheltered places. 

 The flowers remain a conspicuous feature for two or three 

 weeks, after which the last of them fade away, and the 

 branches become covered with clean green foliage, which 

 does not seem liable to injury by insect or fungus diseases. I 

 know of no borers which affect the wood, which is remarkable 

 for its hardness and durability. New plants may be most 

 easily propagated by layering and by suckers, and grafting is 

 often resorted to by nurserymen. Seeds usually do not ger- 

 minate until the second year they are in the ground, and plants 

 raised in this most natural way are much longer in coming to 

 a flowering age than individuals propagated by any one of the 

 modes of division. While the plants are young the flowers are 

 rarely ever fruitful, but as they grow old they produce fruit in 

 more or less abundance, although but a very small proportion 

 of the innumerable blossoms fructify. The fruit is usually of 

 a bright scarlet or cornelian-red color, is somewhat of the size 

 and shape of some of our common acorns, and when thor- 

 oughly mature is not unpalatable. On account of the oval or 

 oblong shape of the fruit it is sometimes known by the name 

 of Long Cherry. Flowering buds cut in winter and placed in 

 water in the house will blossom very well in a few days. 



The Japanese Witch-hazel, Hamamelis Japonica, when first 

 introduced into the Arboretum, gave promise of surpassing 

 all other shrubs in the earliness of its bloom, the buds opening 

 in mild days in midwinter. During the past two or three years, 



