8o 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 156. 



roots of the American Yellow Lotus, Nelumbium luteum, for 

 food. 



Associated with Aquatics and in the rear of the tank, speci- 

 men Palms, Rubber-plants, Cannas, Ricinus, Caladiums, 

 Phormiums, with Arundos, Bamboos, Eulalias and other 

 hardy ornamental grasses, in single plants or clumps, are most 

 picturesque. Many other plants will suggest themselves to 

 lovers of flowers for use near the water edge and in suitable 

 places. Spiraeas, Iris, Acorus, Sagittarias, Cyperus and others 

 may be planted beside Aquatics that require shallow water, such 

 as Limnocharis, Pontederia, Pestia, etc. In half-shady places 

 some of the fine foliaged Begonias and Caladiums planted 

 along with hardy Ferns are very beautiful. If water can be 

 combined with rock work it will give a much more pleasing 

 effect in sub-tropical gardening. Foliage plants can be used 

 in a variety of ways, and some of the commonest plants can 

 be made most effective and to harmonize with plants of greater 

 rarity if judiciously introduced. 



Dongan Hills, S. I. W. Tricker. 



Perennial Gaillardias. 



"\^7ITHIN the past few years Gaillardias as hardy plants have 

 * * become well known among those who cultivate such 

 plants extensively, but the decorative value of the perennial 

 Gaillardias is not so generally appreciated as it should be. 

 The ease with which they may be raised, and the short time 

 required to secure an abundance of flowers, are strong points 

 in their favor, and the various uses to which the flowers are 

 adapted when cut, owing to their durability, is another reason 

 why they should be widely grown. The perennial Gaillardias 

 are the offspring of G. aristata, a North American species 

 which is found over a wide area in the western states, and 

 although in cultivation for a number of years, it is only recently 

 that it has been taken in hand for development, and the results 

 are so far most satisfactory. It is not the best way, in com- 

 mencing to grow Gaillardias, to get expensive named kinds. 

 Our first attempt at their culture was to import a dozen 

 named varieties ; the greater portion arrived dead, and 

 those which survived were not to be compared with others 

 obtained later from seed. To those who have not hitherto 

 grown these plants we would say procure at once, if heat is at 

 disposal, a packet of Gaillardia grandiflora and sow thinly in 

 boxes, and, as soon as the young plants are large enough to 

 handle, pot them off singly in small pots, and, when weather 

 permits, plant them out where they are to stay, and they will 

 flower the same season. There is a great advantage in potting 

 the young seedlings, as their roots are very delicate and do 

 not bear the disturbance which is unavoidable in transplanting 

 when the young seedlings are placed in flats. Should any 

 variety of speciaLmerit in the opinion of the cultivator occur, 

 the particular one may easily be perpetuated by means of root- 

 cuttings. To do this the plant must be carefully lifted, the 

 roots preserved and placed in sand .in the propagating bench, 

 and, if not covered too deep and kept moist, they will speedily 

 commence to grow and make plants that may be treated as 

 young seedlings. We have always found all the perennial 

 kinds of Gaillardia, including the variety known as G. Temple- 

 ana, to come readily from seed, though the reverse has been 

 asserted. It is just possible that seed of perennial varieties 

 may be offered under other names than G. grandiflora. This 

 need not cause any hesitation, for the hardy kinds, under what- 

 ever name, are all derived from G. aristata, which is, so far 

 as I know, the only hardy perennial species in cultivation, 

 though several others are enumerated by Gray, in the " Synop- 

 tical Flora." 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. 0. Orpet. 



Notes from the Harvard Botanic Garden. 



./Eschynanthus splendidus. — The ^Eschynanthuses are 

 tropical epiphytes which require stove treatment. The stems 

 usually trail or hang down, and they are furnished with oppo- 

 site leaves. Their trailing stems render them very appropriate 

 plants for cultivation in hanging baskets. The plant here 

 mentioned, however, has cylindrical stems of somewhat erect, 

 scandent growth, and elliptic-lanceolate, pale green leaves, 

 about three inches in length, occasionally arranged in whorls 

 of three. It is a hybrid of garden origin. The flowers are 

 borne in dense terminal clusters. The corolla consists of a 

 curved tube three inches long, widening toward the five-lobed 

 mouth, which is three-fourths of an inch across, the color 

 orange-yellow at the base and scarlet at the top, with brownish 

 marks on the three lower lobes. The creamy white pistil, 

 with large circular stigma, protrudes an inch beyond the co- 

 rolla and adds to the pleasing character of the flower. This 

 plant usually blooms twice a year, once early in spring and 



again late in summer. Every young branch will produce a 

 cluster of the showy flowers, which retain their full-blown 

 beauty for several weeks. The plant should be grown in a 

 pot and trained to a rafter or trellis ; it is most effective in this 

 way. Fibrous peat, with the addition of a little rough charcoal, 

 is the most satisfactory material for potting. Cuttings planted 

 in sandy soil, and kept moist in a close propagating box, will 

 take root quickly. 



Jasminum Sambac. — The Arabian Jasmine, as this species is 

 commonly called, is an old occupant of greenhouses. It is a 

 stove plant of free climbing habit, the opposite, ovate-acu- 

 minate, cordate, rich green leaves, with very short petioles, 

 measuring between two and three inches in length. The 

 leaves are so closely arranged upon the stem that they often 

 overlap. The pure white, salver-formed flowers are deliciously 

 fragrant, and they are borne in clusters of about five on the 

 little branches, which proceed from the axil of almost every 

 leaf on vigorous young growth. The tube is an inch in length ; 

 the limb an inch and three-quarters across, divided into about 

 eight oblong, reflexed segments. The flowers are most 

 abundant during the latter part of summer, but old-established 

 plants are almost continuously in bloom. This plant is seen 

 at its best when trained somewhat loosely to a pillar or rafter, 

 and, although more at home in a prepared border, it succeeds 

 very well under pot-culture. It is propagated by inserting cut- 

 tings, prepared from the half-ripened growth, in sandy soil. 

 There are two other quite distinct varieties of this Jasmine. 

 One of these has semi-double or double flowers ; it is of de- 

 cidedly bushy habit, and therefore better adapted for pot-cul- 

 ture than the species. The name of the remaining variety, J. 

 Sambac trifoliatnm, affords all necessary description of the plant. 



Jatropha pandur/efolia. — A miscellaneous collection of 

 stove plants is much enlivened during autumn and winter by 

 the scarlet flowers of this free-growing shrub. The stem is 

 woody, and, unless the tip is pinched out occasionally during 

 active growth, of a somewhat rambling character ; indeed, 

 there is a tendency toward lankiness where this course is not 

 pursued. The alternate leaves are green above and much 

 paler on the under side. The specific name, meaning fiddle- 

 leaved, indicates an outline which is common to them, but far 

 from constant. The blade of the leaf is from three to four 

 inches in length and toothed at the base, where it sometimes 

 deviates from the regular form in being lobed or angular. The 

 bright flowers, with five obovate petals, are rather more than 

 an inch across, and freely borne in terminal cymes on a pe- 

 duncle four inches long. The plant was introduced from 

 Cuba, about 1800, by Mr. J. Fraser, at whose nursery in the 

 vicinity of London it flowered shortly afterward for the first 

 time in England. Cuttings of the young branches root freely 

 in sandy soil with the aid of moderate bottom heat. When 

 rooted the plants should be potted in a mixture of loam, peat, 

 old cow manure and sand, in equal parts, and placed in a 

 sunny part of a house in which a stove temperature is main- 

 tained, after having been started into growth in a more shady 

 position. J. acuminata is a synonym frequently met with. 



Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker. 



Freesia xanthospila. — A plant of this favorite flower now in 

 bloom does not differ in habit from others of the family. The 

 scapes are furnished with five or six flowers produced in suc- 

 cession. The individual flowers are pure white, with a small 

 blotch of yellow on one of the segments. The segments 

 are narrower than in F. refracta, spike-shaped, narrowing 

 abruptly into a long and rather slender tube. The flowers are 

 rather more graceful and elegant than those of the more com- 

 mon species. F. refracta alba is now a very popular flower 

 and widely cultivated, as it is so easily managed, butit seems to 

 be inconstant in its markings; some forms are entirely white, 

 and others vary from a slight blotch of orange at the base of 

 tube to a considerable marking on the segments. F. Leicht- 

 lini, which also varies from this variety in its form, is usually 

 suffused with orange-yellow in all its parts. F. Fosteri seems 

 nearly, if not quite, identical with this variety, but is said to 

 bloom later. 



Elizabeth, N.J. G. 



Begonia Winter Gem is one of several useful winter-flow- 

 ering hybrids raised by Messrs. Veitch by crossing B. Socotrana 

 with others. It was exhibited in beautiful condition by the 

 raisers at a recent meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, and proved its superiority over almost all other 

 Begonias by the way it has weathered the fogs and dark- 

 ness of this winter. The plant is scarcely a foot high, and it 

 has rich, glossy green leaves and graceful, almost erect, scapes 

 of regular bri»ht crimson flowers. A peculiar character of B. 

 Socotrana and all hybrids from it is that of retaining their flow- 



