So6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 356. 



given a figure of the western S. occidentalis (see vol. iii., 

 page 297), a species which inhabits rocky wooded banks 

 from Michigan to Colorado and Montana, and extending 

 far to the north. It is a good garden-plant for a cold 

 climate, but its greenish white fruit is not as conspicuous 

 or as attractive as that of the Snow Berry. 



Sciadophyllum pulchrum. — The last number of the Revue 

 Horlicole that has reached us contains an interesting article 

 on this plant, which is more often found in collections 

 under the name of Aralia pulchra. It is - a small tree with 

 leaves two feet or more across, composed of seven to 

 twelve digitately arranged entire leaflets, and borne on 

 stout stems two to three feet in length. The leaves are 

 light green and very lustrous, and no other plant with 

 which we are acquainted lights up so well under artificial 

 light. It is particularly valuable, therefore, in conserva- 

 tories connected with dwelling-houses and for the decora- 

 tion of ball-rooms and large banquetmg-halls ; and its 

 value for such purposes is increased by its ability, although 

 a native of the tropics, to withstand dirt, rough usage and 

 a comparatively low temperature. As a conservatory or 

 room plant it is as hardy as the well-known Rubber-plant, 

 Ficus elastica, and is far more beautiful. Our contempo- 

 rary extols the beauty and value of this plant, and com- 

 plains that it is so difficult to propagate that it is exceed- 

 ingly rare in European gardens. It is rare, too, in those of 

 the United States, although in the few gardens here where 

 it is known and appreciated no difficulty is found in induc- 

 ing cuttings made from short lateral shoots to root freely 

 in the sand or moss of the ordinary cutting-bench. Florists 

 who furnish decorations for balls or other festive occasions 

 may well add this plant to the rather small collection of 

 subjects as really valuable for this important and growing 

 industry. 



Manettia bicolor. — This plant, which has been in culti- 

 vation for more than fifty years, comes originally from 

 Brazil, and it is related to the well-known Bouvardia. It 

 has a twining stem, and strong plants will reach a height 

 of fifteen to twenty feet. Although its flowers are solitary, 

 several appear crowded together on the short lateral branches, 

 and in well-grown plants fresh flowers and buds appear for 

 months at a time throughout the whole length of the vine. 

 When started at the proper time it makes a beautiful out- 

 door climber, although the flowers are not nearly as large 

 as they are represented in some of the trade catalogues. 

 They are of a brilliant red and yellow, rather less than an 

 inch in length when fully open, and they remain fresh on 

 the vine for a fortnight. When planted out in spring this 

 plant makes an excellent summer climber. At this season 

 no better subject can be used for brightening up the blank 

 walls of a greenhouse, provided they are planted in a 

 bed, for they seem to resent pot-culture. They look better 

 if several plants are set together, so that the mass is kept 

 thick at the bottom. This Manettia is of such easy culture 

 that it is a good subject for the window-garden when 

 it can be grown in a large box. It is subject to the 

 attacks of the mealy bug in the greenhouse, but an oc- 

 casional syringing with Fir-tree oil will hold this enemy 

 in check. Nearly two years ago Professor Butz, of the 

 State College, Pennsylvania, wrote that ' one of these 

 vines which had been planted alongside of a Grevillea 

 over which it clambered, was showing about eight hun- 

 dred flowers when only a year old, a floriferous condition 

 which it had maintained for months. 



Iris alata. — This plant, also known as Iris scorpioides, 

 is not uncommon either in cultivation or in its native 

 haunts in southern Europe, Algeria and Morocco. Pro- 

 fessor Forster says that Greece is its eastern limit, and that, 

 as far as he knows, it has "never crossed the Bosporus 

 eastward," as none of the eastern members of the group 

 have crossed to the westward. One would not question 

 Professor Forster's information on this point, but importers 

 of the bulbs of this Iris must have noticed lately a mixture 

 of I. PalEestina with them. As these are usually " col- 

 lected bulbs," it would be interesting to know whether this 



is because the dealers are careless or because I. alata has 

 been lately found in Palestine as a new habitat. I. alata is 

 one of the Juno group of Irises. They have aroid bulbs, 

 with brownish membraneous 'coats and fleshy persistent 

 roots. The leaves, which commence to grow in Septem- 

 ber, usually are light green and Leek-like in growth, all 

 appearing from one base ; they are folded and six to nine 

 inches long. The flower is slender, and appears from the 

 centre of the leaves, and its long tube carries it above the 

 foliage. In good forms the flowers are some three or four 

 inches in spread, with falls somewhat frilled and scarcely 

 an inch broad. The claws of the falls have wings, from 

 which the Iris takes its specific name. The color is usually 

 a pale lavender with yellow ridges, and spots and linings 

 of blue on a white ground on the falls. The standards are 

 very small and inconspicuous, but the crests are prominent 

 and frilled. There are numerous forms of this Iris named 

 in catalogues, but our experience is that there are few in 

 cultivation. The cultivation of this Iris offers some diffi- 

 culties ; it is difficult to ripen the bulbs satisfactorily so that it 

 will flower the second season. Both in pots and bedded 

 out in a cool house they will frequently dwindle and often 

 disappear altogether. It is well to have a reserve stock of 

 I. alata in the open, as it is hardy, or the stock may be 

 replaced at small expense, though dealers are apt to send 

 out an unfair proportion of small bulbs, often without 

 roots. The Juno section of Irises, it will be remembered, 

 includes such interesting species as I. Persica, I. orchioides, 

 I. Caucasica and I. sindjarensis, which follow in growth 

 and flowering early in the year. 



T I 



Cultural Department. 



Achimenes. — II. 



HE complaint has often been made that many of the 

 Chrysanthemums and Roses in commerce are too much 

 alike, and the same is true, to a very great extent, of Achi- 

 menes. There is small pleasure in finding that the long- 

 expected blossom of a variety with a new name is precisely 

 like one or more that we have had for years. I have tried 

 nearly all the varieties which have been offered for sale in 

 Europe for the last twenty years, and desire in this paper to 

 tell my experience, feeling that, though it may not be very 

 readable, it may be useful as a review of a genus seldom fully 

 treated. Many of the kinds I have grown are no longer in the 

 dealers' lists, and I have, therefore, omitted them here ; those 

 I mention are still to be had in England, Belgium or Germany. 

 The species number nearly forty, and are natives of America, 

 from Mexico to southern Brazil. The Genera Plantarum ranks 

 among them the lovely Gloxinia tubiflora of the Botanical 

 Magazine, t. 3971, called by Hanstein, in Linncea (xxvi., 

 page 205), Dolichodeira. It may be useful to say that in 

 the Genera Plantarum the name is spelled Dolichoderia, 

 and that in Durand's Index the same error is twice repeated. 

 The references to Linncea given in 'Benth. and Hook, are 

 all wrong. As for the name Achimenes, its meaning is not 

 clear. Dr. Lindley rejects as fantastic the suggestion that it 

 may come from Achasmenes, a king of Persia, while some 

 authorities suppose it to be derived from cheimaino, to 

 suffer cold, in allusion to the tenderness of these plants. 

 The last syllable but one should be accented in pronun- 

 ciation. 



Achimenes longifiora is a Mexican species, easily distin- 

 guished by its shining foliage and pear-shaped bulbs, as well 

 as by the shape of its Mowers, which consist of a long narrow 

 tube with a flat, spreading limb, which generally lies in a 

 nearly horizontal plane. The type (Botanical Magazine, 3980) 

 is blue, of a slightly purple cast, and about two inches in its 

 largest diameter. There are many varieties of this species, 

 and all mentioned in this paper belong to it. Celestial and 

 Cherub differ in no way from the type. There used to be a 

 Celestial which was light blue in color, which is not now to be 

 had, but its place is well filled by Oberon and Dentonia ; the lat- 

 ter is an ashy-blue, the other somewhat darker, but much lighter 

 than A. longifiora ; both are worthy of cultivation. A. longifiora 

 macrantha, Mauve Queen, Moore's Perfection and Mauve Per- 

 fection are much larger than the type, and any one (not 

 any two) of them is worth growing. It is desirable in such a 

 case to get the best, and I have no hesitation in saying that 



