294 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 335. 



Plant Notes. 



The Dwarf Buckeye. — Almost every large collection of 

 shrubs contains one or more plants of yEsculus parvifolia, 

 or, as it is more generally known, JE. (Pavia) macro- 

 stachya, and yet it is not as common as so good a shrub 

 should be. It was discovered in the Alleghany Mountains 

 by Bartram more than a hundred years ago, and although 

 it was introduced into English gardens soon after its dis- 

 covery, Mr. Watson wrote to this journal last year that 

 specimens in flower at Kew were looked upon by most 

 visitors as botanical rarities. The Dwarf Buckeye has a 

 very distinct habit, throwing out stout stems from the 

 ground, some of which in old plants attain a length of 

 eight or ten feet, the lower ones being raised at a very 

 slight angle. In this way plants make mounds of dark 

 green foliage ten or fifteen feet across, and not more than 

 eight feet high. After a time the very lowest branches, 

 which lie on the ground, take root, and the plant spreads 

 still farther until it covers a circle sometimes twenty or 

 thirty feet across. Just now, when there are few shrubs in 

 bloom, the Dwarf Buckeye presents a striking spectacle, a 

 good plant showing hundreds, and sometimes thousands, 

 of erect flower-spikes from twelve to fifteen inches in 

 length. The petals are snowy white, and the conspicuous 

 pure white stamens extend half an inch beyond the corolla 

 and give the whole a singularly light and feathery aspect. 

 The flowers are especially beautiful in moonlight, when 

 they appear to be glittering white, but in the day-time the 

 cream-colored calyx and the anthers, which are a light 

 terra-cotta color, give a slight tint to the prevailing white. 

 The flowers open at the same time throughout the whole 

 length of the spike, and a second crop of buds open as the 

 first ones fade, so that they remain in perfection for a long 

 time. Unlike the common Horse-chestnut, the foliage is 

 not disfigured by fungi in midsummer, and, altogether, the 

 Dwarf Buckeye is an attractive shrub the whole season 

 through, and although it is a southern plant, it is hardy 

 enough to flower well in all the New England states. 



Cattleya citrina aurantiaca. — Cattleya citrina is a very 

 attractive species, although somewhat refractory, and it 

 usually shows little variation. Four years ago, in Italy, a 

 richly colored form of it appeared in several collections, 

 for which the name Aurantiaca was proposed. A year 

 later it appeared in two or three English collections, and 

 now, according to a note in the Orchid Review, it has flow- 

 ered again in England, and, as Mr. Rolfe well observes, 

 the fact of its repeated appearance and the stability of its 

 characters prove that it is not a mere accidental variation, 

 but a well-marked variety. Its origin is uncertain, and it 

 is also uncertain whether the several plants known can be 

 traced to the same source. The flowers are larger than 

 those of the type ; the sepals and petals are much more 

 spreading ; the front lobe of the lip is elongated and about 

 an inch long, and the whole flower is more deeply colored, 

 the deep yellow approaching a true orange color. 



Lathyrus splendens. — So far as we know, this plant, which 

 was spoken of so enthusiastically by Mr. Watson in a 

 recent letter, has not proved hardy in our northern Atlantic 

 states. Some seed which has been sold under this name 

 has been spurious and produced plants which bear rose- 

 colored flowers very inferior to those of the true spe- 

 cies, but none of the plants, so far as we have been in- 

 formed, have endured the winter. Still, some horticulturists, 

 whose judgment is usually good, feel that additional efforts 

 should be made to test the hardiness of this beautiful plant 

 in the eastern states under some protection. Mr. E. D. 

 Sturtevant writes that in his garden at Los Angeles, Califor- 

 nia, the plant usually begins to flower in February, but last 

 year it began in October and continued all winter, produ- 

 cing its greatest amount of bloom in February and March. 

 The flowers are of a satiny texture and of the richest car- 

 mine color, and when held between the eye and the sun 

 they glow like rubies. 



Asclepias tuberosa. — At the Centennial Exhibition in 

 Philadelphia a large bed of these plants, which had-rbeen 

 furnished by a firm of seedsmen from Holland, made a 

 very bright show in midsummer, and it was said at the 

 time that many Americans who admired the brilliant orange 

 flowers manifested some disgust when, upon inquiry, they 

 learned that the plants were nothing but the native Butterfly- 

 weed. Notwithstanding the fact that this Asclepias is a 

 common wild plant, its broad terminal corymbs of flowers 

 upon erect stems are certainly very conspicuous with their 

 rich orange-colored hoods, which are of a tint not common 

 at any season. The plants are naturally found in dry, 

 sandy or gravelly soil, but they will flourish in any good 

 garden loam, and Mr. Jackson Dawson, of the Arnold Ar- 

 boretum, who has a bed of them which he prizes very 

 highly, writes that if they are not allowed to go to seed 

 they will bear a second crop of flowers later in the season. 

 Single plants look well on shrub borders, and the glowing 

 flowers appear to good advantage against the dark green 

 foliage. There is a variety known as decumbens, with 

 reclining stems, which we have never seen in cultivation, 

 and which ought to make a good plant for a rockery. 



Early China Asters. — There are cases when it is desir- 

 able to have China Asters as early as the middle of July, 

 and it seems that they can readily be had at this time, or 

 even earlier. A correspondent writes that he has tested a 

 variety, the seed of which he received from Burpee under 

 the name of Queen of Spring, and it flowered ten days ago. 

 The seed was sown on the 15th of April and the plants 

 were transplanted to the borders, where they received no 

 special attention either in feeding or cultivation. They are 

 fair-sized plants, with reflexed flowers of medium size, and 

 are some weeks in advance of other varieties which were 

 sown at the same time. 



Cultural Department. 



Notes on Trees and Shrubs. 



pROBABLY so long as our fields and woods and mountain- 

 -*■ slopes yield an abundant natural supply of blueberries, or 

 huckleberries, as the fruits of the blue-fruited section of the 

 genus Vaccinium are sometimes called, there will be com- 

 paratively little done in the direction of cultivating or improving 

 by selection these valuable and popular fruits. The areas 

 covered by these plants in many of our states are usually more 

 than adequate to meet all local demands. With transportation 

 facilities thousands of bushels of blueberries could be pro 

 cured from the far north, where the fruit is never seen nor 

 touched by man, and either decays or furnishes food for wild 

 birds and animals. 



While the species of the genus Vaccinium are found in all 

 the cooler portions of the northern hemisphere the valuable 

 hardy ones are probably nowhere so richly represented as 

 in North America. When the time comes tor their more ex- 

 tensive cultivation they will be found quite as susceptible to 

 improvement as many of the garden-fruits which are now con- 

 sidered indispensable in our markets. In nature, there is 

 often a very marked difference in the size, productiveness and 

 quality of fruit from different plants of the same species, and 

 the best forms might be readily improved. An indication of 

 the results of such care is shown in the case of the Cranber- 

 ries, close allies of the Blueberries, and now so much culti- 

 vated in certain districts. The culture of the Blueberry is not so 

 difficult as is generally supposed, and it will thrive in any good 

 garden-soil which is not too heavy, or where there is not too 

 much clay or lime. Any plant which is found specially 

 desirable may be readily propagated by portions of the 

 roots or of the stolons or underground stems, by which single 

 plants often spread and form large clumps, or tongued layers 

 will form roots if kept moist. 



The earliest of the Blueberries in this region to ripen its 

 fruit is also one of the most common species. This is the so- 

 called Dwarf Blueberry, Vaccinium Pennsylvanicum, which 

 usually grows only from two or three inches to a foot in height, 

 according to soil and situation, and which often covers some 

 of the poorest and most rocky places. In this region it usually 

 begins to ripen some of its berries about the end of the third 

 week in June. On account of being earliest in the market this 



