April iS, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



153 



walls of rock, surmounted by a thatch of coarse grass. 

 Here, despite the shade, we find ourselves in the oppres- 

 sive temperature of the tierra caliente. Passengers and 

 freight are ferried across the river in rude canoes, while the 

 beasts of burden are made to swim over. From the far- 

 ther side of the river the traveler climbs out of the barranca 

 by a trail equally long and difficult. During all the da)' 

 there is a ceaseless stream of travel crossing this frightful 

 chasm. 



As I have descended into this barranca almost daily for 

 weeks of several different seasons, and have searched 

 about its cliffs of various exposures, clambered over its 

 dizzy slopes, or crowded through its thickets, it has seemed 

 that the number of plants which it holds must be inexhaus- 

 tible. Each year it has yielded new species. Yet this is 

 but the first and uppermost of the barrancas of the Santiago 

 and its tributaries. For a hundred miles toward the coast 

 there is a labyrinth of barrancas, whose wildness and 

 grandeur are wonderful, and similar barranca systems have 

 been formed by every stream which flows down from the 

 table-lands. 



During five seasons I had sojourned in Guadalajara for 

 a few days or a few weeks at a time in different months of 

 the year to work the surrounding country, its hills and 

 plains, as well as its barrancas, and had taken out many 

 hundreds of species ; so my return last May was only to 

 secure for general distribution certain new or rare species 

 known to me, and to make one or two trips toward 

 the sea before moving to a distant and fresh field. But 

 while this object was being accomplished, so many plants 

 offered themselves to my hand which were strange to me 

 and promised novelty, that I kept to this field until the end 

 of the season, and then brought out a richer harvest than 

 ever before. 



Among the finds of the past season the following are 

 selected as possessing cultural value : 



Vigna strobilophora, Rob., n. sp., is a twining vine with 

 a 'woody stem about an inch thick (see fig. 30, p. 155). 

 It climbs into the tops of shrubs and low trees, and 

 shows abundant flowers which rival in beauty those of 

 the cultivated Wistaria. The flowers are purple and white, 

 and are borne in dense racemes two or three inches 

 long. This plant and the next two belong to the Pea 

 family. 



- Eriosema multiflorum, Rob., n. sp., is shrubby, two or 

 ' three feet high, with branches terminating in several dense 

 racemes of yellow flowers. It is a showy plant and re- 

 mains in flower a long time. 



Tephrosia macrantha, Rob. & Greeum, n. sp., to be 

 described and illustrated in a following number. 



Nemastylis fiava, Rob., n. sp., is a pretty little Irid with 

 yellow flowers less than an inch in width. It rises from a 

 bulb. 



Ipomcea perlonga, Rob., n. sp., a climbing Morning- 

 glory, with numerous clear blue flowers with white throat. 

 Vitex pyramidata, Rob., n. sp., a small spreading tree 

 found on rocky bluffs above Tequila ; it is covered in June 

 with large panicles of deep blue flowers. A flowering tree ; 

 is an unique object and shows to a distance. 



Ehretia cordifolia, Rob., n. sp., a large tree of the Za- 

 potlan district ; when first seen it was profusely covered 

 with large clusters of white berries, and elicited my admi- 

 ration. 



Eriodendron tomentosum, Rob., n. sp., is a large tree of 

 warm barrancas, the bark covered with sharp bosses, with 

 leaves resembling those of the Horse-chestnut, and white 

 flowers six inches in length borne singly. 



Two asclepiadaceous vines twining to ten feet, Melli- 

 champia rubescens, Gray, and Gonolobus atratus, Gray, 

 discovered in the vicinity of Guadalajara in 18S6 by Dr. 

 Palmer, deserve mention in this connection. The former 

 is showy with profuse rosy flowers, which are large for 

 •this family. The latter is interesting by reason of its large 

 star-like flowers, which are purplish black. 

 Charlotte, vt. C. G. P tingle. 



Botanical Notes from Texas. — XVII. 



T N the woods around Eagle Lake grows Elephantopus Caro- 

 •"■ linianus, Elephant's-foot. This is a more eastern and north- 

 ern species and it extends much farther westward. Growing in 

 the sand near the lake, Rhynchosia menispermoidea may be 

 seen. It is a species with a single leaflet. It has already been 

 noticed as extending westward to Duval County. R. Texana, 

 with three leaflets and similar flowers and fruit, is common. 



During the last thirty days I have had abundant opportunity 

 to interview all our species of Sesbania. S. Cavanillesii and S. 

 Vesicania abound everywhere in damp places. They some- 

 times grow on gravelly hills. S. macrocarpa is rarer. Their 

 continued presence along my line of travel has enabled me to 

 determine some points in regard to their differentiae. Most 

 individuals of the first-named species bear light yellow flow- 

 ers. Some of the plants, however, produce flowers which are 

 orange-colored and marked with tine transverse purple lines. 

 No difference is apparent in the fruit o£ these variant forms. 

 The flowers of S. macrocarpa, too, are large and yellow. The 

 wings of the flowers, however, are sometimes splashed with 

 red. The fruit of this species is sometimes a foot long, a fact 

 of which its specific name is significant. The flowers of S. 

 vesicaria are very small. They are not one-half as large as 

 those of its congeners. Its flowers are never yellow, but 

 are always red, though the banners of the flowers sometimes 

 mix a little yellow with their red. The pods of this species, 

 which are about two inches long, are only two-seeded. The 

 membranous lining of the pods becomes white at maturity. It 

 is indehiscent, and protruding as the pods open, appears like 

 a lolling tongue and gave to the species its former generic 

 name, Glottidium. 



Growing everywhere throughout central Texas, in sandy 

 soils, is a large and coarse, but not homely, Composite, Hete- 

 rotheca subaxillaris. It is common also in the " Territory " and 

 in central Kansas to beyond the thirty-ninth parallel. Aplo- 

 pappus divaricatus, another Composite, usually grows with 

 this species, and throughout nearly the same range. These 

 are not aristocratic plants ; they are only common folks of 

 the vegetable kingdom. But, like humble human common 

 people, their lives and labors assist in making possible the ex- 

 istence of the so-called higher classes of plants and men. 



Erythrina herbacea, a queer-looking member of the Pea 

 family, is sometimes to be seen in the vicinity of the lake. 

 Farther eastward it becomes so frequent, and so much in the 

 way of more useful plants, that farmers do not like it. Making 

 . a woody stem six to ten feet tall, it is hardly herbaceous in 

 Texas. Its prickly stems, smooth, nearly nerveless leaves, 

 deltoid-hastate in outline/long terminal spikes of bright red 

 flowers, which unjoint very readily, and large, coarse pods 

 containing beans, colored like the flowers which they succeed, 

 serve to make the species readily known. 



Eagle Lake is set in a border of shrubs and trees. Live Oak 

 is the most common tree. Some of the larger and more ven- 

 erable ones, doubtless, remember when Miller named the 

 species. They all appear to be well pleased that it is once 

 more Ouercus Virginiana. Post Oak, Water Oak, Bur Oak and 

 Black Jack are also in the lake-woods ; and Hackberry, Soap 

 Berry (Sapindus), Red Mulberry, a small-fruited Thorn Apple, 

 an Ilex (probably, I. Caroliniana), stately Pecan and other Hico- 

 rias, wide-spreading Elms and graceful Box Elder.. Most of 

 these trees, living or dead, are festooned with long pendent 

 gray moss (Tillandsia), imparting to the forest a sombre and 

 funereal aspect. And there are Willows here, hanging over 

 the water — Willows that in all ages have been associated with 

 times of grief and mourning. 



Knnsas City, Kansas. E. N. Plank. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Rhododendron Schlippenbachii. — Flowering branches of 

 this Chinese species of Rhododendron were shown last 

 week by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, who have recently in- 

 troduced it, and with whom it has grown and flowered as 

 freely as R. Sinensis (Azalea mollis), to which it is closely 

 allied. It is a loose-growing shrub, attaining a height of 

 a yard or more, deciduous, with obovate leaves four inches 

 long by two inches wide, hairy when young and of a dark 

 brown hue. Probably the leaves turn green and lose much 

 of their hairiness with age. The flowers are somewhat 

 flattened, as in Azalea indica, three inches across, with 

 obtuse lobes and colored a pleasing rosy-lilac, with a few 



