394 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 345. 



old well-known garden plant with us. At Kew it grows 

 freely in poor soil, the thick herbaceous stems reaching a 

 length of six feet, ramifying freely and bearing pinnate 

 leaves four to six inches long and stout axillary racemes of 

 crimson elongated clover-like heads, suggestive of "Crim- 

 son Clover," or " Red Trifolium," to which it is closely 

 allied. It certainly deserves the attention of agriculturists 

 in warm, temperate regions where a quick-growing, juicy 

 fodder-plant is useful, and it is ornamental enough for the 

 garden. It is an annual, ripens seeds freely and comes up 

 readily if sown in spring. 



New Plants. — Among the exhibits at the last meeting of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society the following plants were 

 noteworthy : 



Cattleya gigas, Countess of Derby : A magnificent va- 

 riety which fully deserved the first-class certificate awarded 

 to it. The flowers are those of a good form of the type, 

 but the petals and sepals are pure white, and the labellum 

 a gorgeous arrangement of crimson, purple and yellow. It 

 was shown by Mr. T. W. Statter, of Manchester, who pos- 

 sesses a collection of Orchids of exceptional value. 



Cypripedium Charles Richman : This hybrid was certifi- 

 cated last year when it was shown by its raiser, Mr. C. 

 Richman, of Trowbridge. It was again put forward this week 

 for a certificate by Monsieur Jules Hye, of Ghent, who had 

 raised it independently from the same parents as produced 

 Mr. Richman's plants, namely, C. bellatulum and C. barba- 

 tum. This time it was awarded a first-class certificate. It 

 may be called C. bellatulum, with a tall scape and a dark 

 rose and brown lip, the dorsal sepal being white with pur- 

 plish veins. 



Nepenthes mixta sanguinea : The type is one of the very 

 finest hybrid pitcher plants yet raised, its parents being 

 N. Curtisi and N. Northiana. This new variety, which 

 easily won a first-class certificate, differs in having the 

 pitchers colored blood-red, with large blotches of coppery 

 red, the lid being especially brilliant. It was shown by its 

 raisers, Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. 



Crocosma aurea imperialis. — This is not a new plant, but 

 it deserves the first-class certificate awarded to it if only to 

 bring it into more prominent notice. At Kew it has been 

 grown for some years in a sunny south border, where it 

 forms stems four feet high and bears flowers three inches 

 across, of the richest orange color. It was first distributed 

 by Herr Max Leichtlin about six years ago. It is one of 

 the very best of the hardier Cape bulbous plants. 



London. W. Wd/SOIl. 



New or Little-known Plants. 

 Todea barbara. 



THE illustration represents a fine specimen of the Square 

 Fern of Australia which has now been in cultivation 

 at the Botanic Garden of McGill University for the past 

 two years. The plant was donated by Baron F. von 

 Mueller, of Melbourne, Australia. Shipped at Easter, 1892, 

 it reached Montreal in excellent condition early the follow- 

 ing July, and weighed with its packing-case more than two 

 tons. As soon as placed in position it commenced a vigor- 

 ous growth, which it has maintained most satisfactorily. 



This specimen is one of the few known giants of the 

 species. In his original letter Baron von Mueller stated 

 that the estimated age of the plant was between 250 and 

 300 years, and that during his forty years of exploration in 

 Australia only nine others had been found. These were 

 all distributed to the various botanical centres of Europe 

 through the liberality of Baron Mueller, and one of the 

 finest of these specimens is to be seen at the Royal Gar- 

 dens, Kew. Since the reception of the Montreal specimen, 

 another, but smaller one, has been discovered, and last 

 year was forwarded to the Botanic Garden of Harvard 

 University. At the time the photograph was taken, the 

 Montreal specimen had reached a height of about nine feet, 

 with a spread often feet. 



The genus Todea is interesting as being essentially Aus- 

 tralasian, since only one of the four known species extends 

 beyond this limit into southern Africa. The species at 

 present known are T. barbara, Moore (T. Africana, 

 Willd.) ; T. superba, Col., T. Fraseri, H. & G., and T. hy- 

 menophylloides, Rich. & Less. 



The Todeas find their north temperate representatives 

 in the genus Osmunda, of which there are three well- 

 known species in this region. Todea is separable from 

 Osmunda by its dorsal fructification, a distinction not re- 

 garded as valid by some botanists, since we find that Baron 

 Mueller* combines both genera under the .latter name, bas- 

 ing this arrangement upon the character of the sporan- 

 gium, which is the same in each case. 



The general habit of growth of the Todeas is that of the 

 Polypodiaceee. In T. barbara, the plant body is made up 

 of a number of short, thick stems, about six to nine inches 

 long, which combine to form a quadrangular mass consti- 

 tuting the trunk, the whole rising one foot or more above 

 the ground. The consolidated stem mass increases with 

 age, and in the Montreal specimen is nearly three feet 

 high. 



This plant thrives under ordinary greenhouse treatment, 

 and is benefited by watering somewhat freely, especially 

 with water containing a small amount of saline matter. 



Baron Mueller writes me that, unlike Gleichenia dicarpa 

 and Lomaria alpina, this plant is not alpine, and although 

 it will readily survive moderate frost, the exact degree of 

 cold which it will endure has never been ascertained. At 

 all events, it should be carefully guarded against severe 

 frosts. 



As an addition to large collections, this plant is a most 

 desirable acquisition, and small specimens would doubt- 

 less be appreciated in ordinary conservatory collections, 

 although the coarse character of the foliage might tend to 

 exclude it from collections where beauty is a leading con- 

 sideration. 



Botanic Gardens, McGill University. . l>. r. ^enliallOlV. 



Plant Notes. 



Prunus maritima. — The Beach Plum is a rather common 

 plant all along our eastern coast. It is usually a low bush 

 three or four feet high, often growing on sand dunes, some- 

 times straggling, but often quite compact. It flourishes, 

 however, on better soil, and in good garden-land makes a 

 neat tree-like plant some six or eight feet high. Just now 

 it bears abundantly purple, and sometimes red, fruits, about 

 as large as grapes, with a soft bloom, and sufficiently 

 conspicuous to make it worthy of mention as a plant with 

 ornamental fruits at this season. These, however, do not 

 constitute its only beauty, because, when properly pruned, 

 it spreads out into a neat and shapely specimen, and al- 

 though its flowers are not snowy white they are borne in 

 such great numbers that the plant is completely covered. 

 It has the advantage, too, of flowering later than the other 

 members of the family. In many places Beach plums are 

 gathered largely for culinary purposes, and they are, as a 

 rule, of good flavor, although somewhat astringent. No 

 doubt, their good qualities could be improved by selection 

 and, perhaps, by hybridizing, but individual wild plants 

 can be found which really need no improvement. We re- 

 cently tasted some of these plums, which were a clear 

 amber color, and they could hardly be excelled by any 

 other fruit of the season for richness of quality. No doubt, 

 if such varieties were propagated they could be made 

 profitable as a market fruit, and they are worthy of cultiva- 

 tion for home use. But, apart from this, the ornamental 

 value of the plant is very considerable, and it can be 

 recommended especially to lovers of American plants. 



HvnRANGEA paniculata. — The variety of this plant known 

 as grandiflora has become one of the most common shrubs 

 planted for ornament in this country. Its enormous pani- 



* Second Systematic Census of Australian Plants for 



