March 28, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



123 



conditions which the higher type displays through adverse 

 circumstances which dishearten the simpler product ? 



In the dearth of green things, it is interesting to walk 

 abroad in the hill-pasture and watch the seedling Pines 

 which dot the brown grass. A seed that takes six years to 

 become a tree six inches tall is an object to be regarded 

 with respect, and this section of the infant forest we look 

 upon with awe. It is a monument to patience. Through 

 what hardships have these tiny trees struggled into being, 

 parched with drought, strangled by grass, nipped by fierce 

 sea-winds, scorched by summer suns, pinched by winter 

 cold ! Year after year they have dropped and renewed their 

 leaves, hidden from view all through the first part of their 

 precarious existence by surrounding weeds and herbage, 

 till at last, undismayed, they have struck their roots deep 

 and set forth upon their career as visible parts of the uni- 

 verse. Thus Nature works in her secret ways to clothe 

 the barren hill-side with a mantle of living green, and on 

 our hill the gradation of her forest-class is now complete 

 from these minute freshmen to the stately seniors ten feet 

 high, which at a distance make small show, but near at 

 hand have a presence of their own not to be despised. 



A group of Austrian Pines, sturdy and dark, gives an ac- 

 cent amid the brighter emerald of the White Pines. On the 

 bleakest part of the hill some little Scotch Pines, with green- 

 tasseled bonnets, are to be seen ready for action, and in a 

 few years they will make a goodly show behind the others. 

 People no longer say, " Where is your forest ? " with intent 

 to fleer ; but, " Really ! your forest grows ! " with a shade 

 of respect for its resolution. 



Hingham, Mass. M. C. RobblllS. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Sobralia sessilis. — Sobralias are confessedly difficult, 

 and consequently they are confused in gardens. The 

 plant generally grown as S. sessilis is not that species at 

 all, but S. decora, although it is figured under the former 

 name in the Botanical Magazine, t. 4570. The true S. ses- 

 silis I never saw in cultivation until lately, and it is now 

 flowering for the first time at Kew. It was originally de- 

 scribed and figured by Lindley in 1841 from specimens 

 collected in British Guiana by Schomburgk, and the plants 

 now at Kew came from that country, one through Sir John 

 Kirk, who obtained plants three years ago from Guiana, 

 and the other from Messrs. F. Sander & Co., who imported 

 it last year. It is easily distinguished from all other culti- 

 vated Sobralias by its leaves being purplish on the under 

 sides and the stems covered with short black hairs. The 

 stems are a foot high, the leaves almost leathery, and the 

 terminal flowers are as large as those of the spurious S. 

 sessilis, deep rosy mauve, with a crimson labellum tinged 

 with yellow. It is a pretty addition to cultivated Sobralias. 



Spathoglottis aurea, also known as S. Kimballiana, is 

 one of the prettiest of the Orchids now in flower at Kew. 

 It was introduced over forty years ago from Malacca by 

 Messrs. Veitch, who describe it as a plant " of considerable 

 interest both to botanists and horticulturists ; its large 

 spoon-like cauline bracts are peculiar to it, and strongly 

 mark its specific character, while its flowers are the largest 

 and most handsomely colored in the genus." This is true 

 of the plant now in flower at Kew, the blooms being nearly 

 two inches across and of the purest lemon-yellow color. 

 The species had long ago disappeared from cultivation 

 until 1886, when a quantity of it was imported. It has ter- 

 restrial pseudo-bulbs, lanceolate-plicate leaves two feet or 

 more long, and an erect scape two feet high bearing a 

 dozen buds and flowers, with broad obtuse sepals and 

 petals and a three-lobed lip. The flowers have been open 

 a fortnight, and are still quite fresh. The plant is grown 

 in a hot moist house always, and is potted in peat and 

 sphagnum. 



Spathoglottis plicata is another handsome species, of 

 which there are two well-marked varieties, one with rosy 



lilac, the other with pure white flowers. Both are culti- 

 vated at Kew, where the latter is now flowering for the 

 first time. The pseudo-bulbs are clustered, flattened, about 

 two inches in diameter, and the leaves two feet long, nar- 

 row, lanceolate, plicate and bright green. The scape is 

 erect, two feet high, and it bears on the top a cluster of 

 flowers and buds subtended by conspicuous ovate bracts. 

 Each flower is one and a half inches across, with nearly 

 equal ovate sepals and petals and a three-lobed lip, the 

 claw narrow. In the variety the flowers are wholly white, 

 except a tinge of yellow on the crest of the lip. The type 

 appears to be common in Java, Manilla, New Guinea and 

 the Malay Peninsula; the variety was lately imported from 

 Singapore. There is a species in Perak, S. Wrayi, which 

 has flowers said to be of the same color as S. aurea, but 

 nearly twice as large. It is not yet introduced, but it de- 

 serves to be. It is a recent discovery. 



Ipomcea Woodii. — This is a new species of Bindweed 

 which has lately been introduced to Kew from Natal, and 

 which is likely to become a favorite garden-plant. It was 

 discovered in Zululand by Mr. Medley Wood, the Curator of 

 the Botanic Garden at Durban, who sent living examples 

 of it to Kew, and described it as a handsome species with 

 a tuberous root, a perennial woody stem, handsome, heart- 

 shaped, purple-tinted leaves six inches long, and short- 

 stalked clusters of large, handsome, bell-shaped, rosy 

 purple flowers. The plants at Kew are growing freely, and 

 they look likely to flower this year. Mr. Wood saw speci- 

 mens with stems forty feet long, "the naked stem lying on 

 the ground and producing a quantity of fine foliage." This 

 suggests something in the way of I. Batatas, commonly 

 known as Batatas paniculata, one of the most widely dis- 

 tributed of all Ipomceas, and one of the very best of all 

 summer climbers for the warm-house. 



Wildenia Candida. — This is an interesting and pretty lit- 

 tle Commelynaceous plant which was discovered by Hart- 

 weg in the crater of the Volcan de Agua, near Guatemala, 

 in 1840, and figured and described by Bentham in Hooker's 

 Icones Plan/arum fifteen years ago under the name of 

 Lampra volcanica. Bentham stated that "it is said to be 

 very ornamental, and its introduction to our plant-houses 

 would be very desirable." Living roots of it were sent to 

 Kew last year from Guatemala, having been collected at 

 the bottom of the crater, where the daily range of tempera- 

 ture is from twenty-one to fifty-seven degrees, Fahrenheit. 

 These are now in flower. From a fleshy tuber the herba- 

 ceous leaves rise to a height of about six inches, folding at 

 the base and forming a stem. The flowers are composed 

 of three ovate spreading segments, which at first form a 

 cup, and afterward reflex. They are snow-white and an 

 inch in diameter. A figure of the plant will shortly be 

 published in the Botanical Magazine. 



Stylidium graminifolium is a charming little pot-plant for 

 the cold greenhouse. It forms a tuft of Armeria-like foli- 

 age and produces in spring an erect scape a foot high, 

 bearing numerous rose-pink flowers each half an inch 

 across, the scape and calyx being clothed with soft glan- 

 dular hairs. The principal charm of the plant, however, is 

 in the sensitiveness of the little hammer-like column formed 

 by the union of the stamens and pistil. This column is 

 bent back and rests almost against the calyx outside, but 

 when gently touched it springs forward with a jerk and 

 strikes the top of a corolla lobe. It returns to its former 

 position in a short time if not again touched, but it loses 

 its jerkiness if touched several times in quick succession. 

 It is a native of Australia and was cultivated in England 

 almost a century ago. Still it is a very rare plant now, al- 

 though easily grown and pretty in flower, as well as being 

 exceptionally interesting in the possession of sensitiveness. 



Incarvillea Delavavi. — I noted this plant a few weeks 

 ago as a new Chinese introduction, with large deep pur- 

 plish-rose flowers, not unlike Amphicome Emodi, and 

 likely to become popular in the garden. The note brought 

 me the following interesting communication from Plerr 

 Max Leichtlin, the Baden-Baden sage : "From your note in 



