May 16, 1S94.] 



Garden and Forest. 



195 



New or Little-known Plants. 



A New Bumelia from Mexico. 



AMONG the many novelties brought back by Dr. Edward 

 Palmer, from Mexico, in the year 1891, are speci- 

 mens from a large and handsome tree which I have named 

 Bumelia Palmeri.* 



This tree (see illustration on page 196 of this issue) 

 has an immense top, resembling a wide-spreading Oak, 

 and grows to the height of fifty feet or more, with 

 a large trunk fully three feet in diameter. The bark is 

 rough and corky ; the leaves are large and shining, and 

 the flowers are produced in great abundance in the axils of 

 the leaves. The fruit, which is a drupe, is about the size of 

 a plum ; its pulp, when ripe, is much like that of the grape, 

 which it resembles also in taste, but when dried it is more 

 like the prune ; it is very much used as an article of food, 

 both in the fresh and dried state. The dried fruit is to be 

 found in the markets at Culiacan. The drupe, when ripe, 

 is black, with a green pulp, which comes off free from a 

 brown lucid seed ; the kernel is said to be bitter. 



The fruit is reported to ripen in April and May, although 

 Dr. Palmer succeeded in finding a single ripe fruit as early 

 as November 10th. The trees are rarely destroyed and are 

 found scattered over the rich plains about Culiacan. It 

 seems to be well known to the Mexicans, and they call it 

 "Bebalamas." This is another case in which a tree well 

 known in Mexico has been overlooked by the botanist. 



Very little is known of the Mexican species of Bumelia, 

 and still less of their fruit. Up to 1881, when the second vol- 

 ume of the Biologia Centrala Americana appeared, only five 

 species had been reported from this region. Mr. Hemsley, 

 in his enumeration, credits eleven species to Mexico, one 

 of which is undetermined, and five are described for the 

 first time. One other species, it seems, should have been 

 added to these, namely, B. lanuginosa. Two species have 

 recently been described by Captain John Donnell Smith in 

 the Botanical Gazette (B. leiogyna and B. pleistochasia), 

 and one by Professor Engler (B. Mexicana). These, with 

 the present species, swell the number of described Mexican 

 species to fifteen. _ T 



Washington, D. C. J- "• J<OSC 



Cultural Department. 



Notes on Trees and Shrubs. 



THE first three weeks of the month of March, this year, 

 were warm and pleasant, and vegetation gave prom- 

 ise of early advancement. American Elms showed ma- 

 ture blossoms with ripe pollen in the fourth week. The 

 last days of March and the first week of April were cool, 

 with frequent frosts, and from the 9th to the 15th of 

 April we had a cold, stormy time, with more or less 

 snowfall every day. Since then the weather has generally 

 been warm and pleasant, the last three or four days of April 

 and the first two days of May proving uncomfortably warm, 

 the 2d of May being the hottest day recorded for this season 

 of the year during many years. The cool weather of early 

 April proved an effective check to further rapid growth, but 

 the growth in some cases had already so far advanced 

 that the cold storm appeared to be the cause of a good deal 

 of damage. Many herbaceous plants, like Anemone Japonica 

 and Hemerocallis, now show the brown and dead leaves or 

 tips from the effects of too early exposure, and even the tips 

 of the growths of some trees and shrubs have a brownish tinge. 

 It is not often that the native early-flowering trees or shrubs 

 fail to produce fruit through the effects of late frosts. This 

 year, however, such trees as the American Elms are almost 

 fruitless when compared with the abundance of other years, 



* Bumelia Palmeri, Rose, n. sp. A large tree, fifteen metres high, .9 to 1.5 metres 

 in diameter, glabrous throughout ; leaves, alternate, oblong to obovate, 6.2 to 11. 2 

 cm. long, including the petiole (10 to 15 mm. long), obtuse, shining above, pale be- 

 neath, with a close, silky pubescence ; fascicles about 15-flow ered ; pedicels 6 to 8 

 mm. long, glabrous ; sepals 5, oval, less than 2 mm. long, obtuse, strongly imbri- 

 cated, scarious margined, glabrous, corolla white ('?), about 2 mm. long, 5-parted ; 

 lobes oval to oblong, obtuse, each with two lateral appendages ; appendages acute, 

 narrower and two-thirds the length of the lobes ; stamens 5 ; staminoda oblong, 

 obtuse, subentire, smaller than the corolla lobes ; ovary glabrous, 5-celIed, 

 40-vuled ; drupe oblong, 16 mm. long, truncate at apes, black, i-seeded: seeds 

 lucid, spherical, 10 mm. in diameter, with an impressed scar; albumen none — Rich 

 plains, Culiacan, August 27th to September 15th, 1S91, Palmer. No. 1513- 



although there was no appreciable diminution in flowering, as 

 these trees bear very regularly every year. Even the early- 

 flowering Willows, like Salix discolor, which are usually pre- 

 pared for all kinds of weather, are in many cases only develop- 

 ing fruits or capsules on the most sheltered side of the cat- 

 kins, the other side being barren. 



The mid-April storm proved disastrous to the swelling 

 flower-buds of Primus Davidiana and to the beautiful P. pen- 

 dula, so that these little trees were almost without a blossom. 

 P. tomentosa also suffered a good deal, and there was little 

 bloom on the plant. The later-flowering Cherries and Plums, 

 however, seem to have suffered no injury, although the great 

 heat has caused the blossoms to be of short duration. The 

 past winter has, on the whole, not done so much injury to 

 shrubs as might have been feared. An abundance of snow 

 was, no doubt, of much value as a protection. 



Corylopsis pauciflora was badly killed, as is generally the 

 case with this beautiful shrub unless protected. On a large 

 plant the only parts which survived, and which bore an abun- 

 dance of flowers, were a number of stems that had been bent 

 to the ground and covered with soil. These branches were 

 uncovered late in March, the first flowers opened about the 

 1 8th of April, and the last of them were fading away about the 

 4th or 5th of May, by which time the leaves were becoming 

 well grown. Although not hardy in this climate, except in an 

 exceptionally sheltered situation, it is well worth cultivation, 

 and protection in winter, on account of the abundance of 

 pretty pale yellow, bell-shaped flowers which are regularly 

 produced. Its slender twiggy stems are easily bent in any po- 

 sition for covering. So far as known, it has rarely borne fruit 

 in this locality. The fruit resembles that of the Witch-hazel, 

 Hamamelis Virginiana, to which the Corylopsis is closely al- 

 lied. That the plant will thrive in New England, is shown by 

 the photograph in vol. v., page 342, of Garden and Forest, of 

 a fine bushy specimen growing in Dr. Hall's garden at Bristol, 

 Rhode Island. C. spicata is another species, introduced from 

 Japan, which is a great acquisition in all gardens where it 

 proves hardy. A few flowers were produced here for the first 

 time this season. The flowers are more beautiful and inter- 

 esting than those of C. pauciflora, but, unfortunately, the plant 

 seems even less hardy. The blossoms are of a richer light 

 yellow color, and are produced in much longer racemes, each 

 bearing from half a dozen to a dozen flowers. These flowers 

 have a very sweet, though not very strong, odor, some- 

 what like that of cowslips, though also reminding some per- 

 sons of violets. The plant has much stouter branches and in 

 every way is larger than C. pauciflora. It blossoms at about 

 the same time, but, unless very carefully protected, it is not 

 likely to give much satisfaction in a climate as severe as that 

 about Boston. Further trials are necessary, however, before 

 its true value is known, as the plant is yet very rare in this 

 part of the country. 



Arnold Arboretum. J ■ Cr. Jack, 



Current Notes on Irises. 



THE most striking Iris-flower in the garden this week is Iris 

 Saari lurida, a variety from Cilicia, named from the river 

 Sar, near which it is found. This is an Oncocyclus Iris, which 

 at first glance might be mistaken for I. Susiana, but it is dis- 

 tinctly different both in plant and flower. Theformerisasome- 

 what smaller flower, and has large standards profusely dotted 

 with dark brown and with very distinct reddish brown veins, 

 from which radiate linings, becoming fainter toward the edges. 

 The falls are somewhat narrower than those of I. Susiana, and 

 are dotted and veined. The nearly black signal blotch is not 

 so well defined as that of I. Iberica. The beard is composed 

 of scattered yellow hairs beneath the claw. 



Iris Bosniacse is a new Iris, for which we are indebted to 

 Max Leichtlin. This is a dwarf plant with short broad leaves, 

 bearing on short stems medium-sized flowers of a pure, pleas- 

 ing shade of lemon-yellow. It has very prominent orange 

 crests and the claw prettily lined with brown. The standards 

 are large and broad. It is quite the handsomest of the yellow 

 dwarf bearded Irises. 



Iris Statellse, also in flower, is a variety of I. lutescens, from 

 Sicily. It is a much handsomer flower than the type, being 

 creamy white, with prominent standards and falls marked with 

 brown lines and havinga bright orange beard. The type from 

 the south of France is also in flower. Baker says he cannot 

 draw any definite line between it and I. Chamceiris. Neither 

 does there seem much distinctness between them as garden- 

 plants. With me the latter seems the more vigorous species. 

 Another dwarf Iris this week in flower is the purple-flowered 

 I. aphylla (I. nudicaulis, Lam.), with numerous synonyms, and 



