222 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 168. 



channeled leaves about two feet long, the base narrowed 

 almost to a petiole, the widest part being about four inches 

 across. The erect scapes are produced several times a 

 year at varying seasons, and they are from eighteen inches 

 to two feet long, with a loose umbel of from four to twelve 

 pure white flowers, which have a curved tube and broad 

 spreading segments, so that the flower when fully open is 

 five or six inches across. 



The flowers are powerfully and deliciously fragrant, and 

 they last about a week. This species requires plenty of 

 moisture all the year round, and it is happiest when planted 

 in a large pot of rich soil, or, better still, in a bed. In the 

 Palm-house at Kew it is perfectly at home, and the illustra- 

 tion on page 223 is taken from a specimen growing there. 

 The plants thrive in the beds under the shade of the large 

 Palms, treatment which also suits Eucharis amazonica and 

 some of the tropical Pancratiums. There does not appear 

 to be much, if any, difference between C. giganteum and C. 

 Carey anum, while C. podophyllum is only a dwarf form of the 

 first-named. C. nobile is another synonym of C. giganleum. 

 In 1806 a figure of this Crinum was published in tYie Botani- 

 cal Magazine as Amaryllis ornata, or "Cape Coast Lily." 

 I recommend this plant as a really first-rate stove-bulb. 



Kew. W. Watson. 



New Orchids. 



Odontoglossum x Andersonianum imperiale, O'Brien, is 

 a handsome variety which appeared in the collection of W. J. 

 Thomson, Esq., of St. Helens, Lancashire. It is described as 

 having segments of the size of O. crispum, blotched with 

 chestnut-red on a pale yellow ground. — Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 March 14th, p. 330. 



Masdevallia biflora, Regel. — A species which was im- 

 ported by Roezl from the province of Santa Martha, in New 

 Granada, and was received at the Royal Botanic Garden of 

 St. Petersburg in 1871. It belongs to the Amanda group, and 

 is allied to M. polysticta, Rchb. f. It is compared with M. 

 caloptera, Rchb. f., but is nearer M. pachyura, Rchb. f. ; 

 indeed, it appears to me to be synonymous with it. It has a 

 white perianth, with two or three purple stripes, at the base, 

 and short yellow tails. — Gartenflora, xl. (1890), p. 90, 1. 1341, fig. 2. 



Odontoglossum x Clacsianum, L. Linden, is a very hand- 

 some natural hybrid, evidently derived from O. crispum and 

 O. luteopurpureum. It was imported with a batch of O. 

 crispum, collected by M. F. Claes for L'Horticulture Interna- 

 tionale, Pare Leopold, Brussels, and flowered in that estab- 

 lishment about the end of last year. At a meeting of L'- 

 Orchidffenne of Brussels, it was awarded a certificate of merit 

 of the first class. It is now in the collection of M. G. Warocque, 

 of Mariemont. The segments are broad, white and heavily 

 blotched with bright red-brown. — Lindenia, t. 271. 



Kew. __ R. A. Rolfe. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



'"PHE most interesting plant for the general reader figured 

 *■ in the April issue of the Botanical Magazine is doubtless 

 the Vanilla {Vanilla planifolia, t. 7167), the plant which fur- 

 nishes the vanilla of commerce. It is a Mexican Orchid, with 

 long climbing stems and thick fleshy leaves. The earliest 

 European travelers in Mexico found the vanilla used as a 

 condiment with chocolate. The Spaniards introduced it into 

 Europe, and the first account of it appeared as long ago as 

 1605, and was published by Clusius in his " Exoticorum Libri," 

 who received a specimen from Morgan, the apothecary of 

 Queen Elizabeth. Plumier called the plant Vanilla, adopting 

 the name used in Mexico by the Spaniards (the diminutive of 

 the Spanish vaina, a pod). Toward the end of the seventeenth 

 century the Vanilia reached France by the way of Spain, and 

 was used to flavor chocolate, and to perfume tobacco. In 

 England it was first valued as a drug, and it was not until after 

 the idea of its medical value was exploded that it came into 

 general use in cooking. The supply of vanilla, which is ob- 

 tained from the fruit or seed-pod, was originally derived from 

 Mexico, but of late years much attention has been given to 

 cultivating this plant in other parts of the tropics, and it is 

 now produced in Bourbon, Java, Mauritius and Central America 

 in large quantities. 



An excellent account of the Vanilla-plant, and of its proper- 

 ties and uses, will be found in Fluckiger & Hanbury's " Phar- 

 macographia, or A History of Drugs," where the cultivation 



of the Vanilla is described as very simple. Shoots, about 

 three feet long, having been fastened to trees, and scarcely 

 touching the ground, soon strike root on to the bark and form 

 plants, which commence to produce fruit in three years, and 

 remain productive thirty or forty. The fertilization of the 

 flower is naturally brought about by insect agency. Morren, 

 the director of the Botanical Garden of Liege, showed, in 1837, 

 that it might be efficiently performed by man, since which the 

 production of the pods has been successfully carried on in all 

 tropical countries without the aid of insects. Even in Euro- 

 pean forcing-houses the plant produces fruits of full size 

 which, for aroma, bear comparison with those of Mexico. In 

 Vanilla-plantations the pods are not allowed to arrive at com- 

 plete maturity, and are gathered when their green color begins 

 to change. According to the statements of De Vriesethey are 

 dried by a rather circuitous process, namely, by exposing 

 them to heat alternately uncovered and wrapped in woolen 

 cloths, whereby they are artificially ripened, and acquire their 

 ultimate aroma and dark hue. 



Interesting, too, is the figure (t. 7171) of the single-flowered 

 form of the Banksian Rose. The double-flowered white and 

 the double-flowered yellow Banksian Roses are well-known 

 plants, especially in our southern states, where they grow to a 

 large size and flower abundantly year after year, but the 

 single-flowered type from which these plants were derived by 

 the Chinese has only recently come to light. It was first sent 

 to Kew by Mr. Hanbury, from his garden near Mentone, and 

 also by Paul & Son, the well-known nurserymen. Judged by the 

 figure, it is a more beautiful plant than either of the double- 

 flowered forms, and will prove a decided acquisition in our 

 southern gardens as well as for cool conservatories at the 

 north, where the Banksian Rose is one of the most desirable 

 of climbing plants. 



There are also figures in this issue of Asarum geophilum 

 (t. 7168), a species of southern China ; and of Epidendrum 

 Sceptrum (t. 7169), a striking species found on the coast regions 

 of the Caribbean Sea, from Cumana to Santa Martha and New 

 Granada, and to Ocana. It belongs to a section of the genus 

 in which the lip is more or less adnate to the whole length of the 

 column, with a few leaves arranged at the top of the pseudo- 

 bulb and a terminal erect inflorescence. There is a figure 

 also of Eurcrwa Bedinghausii (t. 7170), a native of Mexico. 



The cone of a beautiful Mexican Pine which is met with in 

 many gardens of northern Italy under the name of " Del 

 Doctor " is published in the issue of the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 of April 4, and is referred by Dr. Masters to the Pinus patula, 

 var. macrocarpa of Schiede. 



Cultural Department. 



Out-of-door Roses. 



IT ARDY Roses should now be progressing nicely in growth, 

 -*--*■ but will need some attention from time to time in order 

 to discourage the various insects to which they are subject. 

 One of the best applications for this purpose is powdered 

 Hellebore, if of good quality, for unless it is fresh and pure it 

 is valueless as an insecticide. Another preparation that I have 

 used with success on out-of-door Roses is " Slug-Shot," which 

 may be dusted over the plants in the early morning, just as 

 Hellebore is applied. In the absence of either of these, some 

 slaked lime may be dusted on the plants to act as a check on 

 some insects, though not necessarily on all. 



As the buds appear on the Roses a good top-dressing of 

 manure will be a benefit to the blooms, unless the plants have 

 been heavily manured before. 



For general decorative effect the claims of the Prairie Roses 

 should not be forgotten, for when such varieties as Baltimore 

 Belle and Queen of the Prairies are allowed to ramble care- 

 lessly over an otherwise unsightly fence they make it a thing 

 of beauty. The two well-known varieties mentioned above 

 are among the best of this section, though Gem of the Prairies 

 is also a good one, and the single R. setigera is for many pur- 

 poses the best of all. 



In the treatment of these Roses it will; of course, be remem- 

 bered that, in common with other climbing Roses, they do not 

 like hard pruning. 



Many persons enjoy a dark Rose, and to such Charles 

 Lefebvre is suggested as a good old variety ; it is a better 

 Rose for out-door work than for forcing. It is dark crimson 

 in color, rich and velvety in appearance and of good form and 

 substance. Another good one is Fisher Holmes, of some- 

 what similar character. Its color is much like that of General 

 Jacqueminot, but the flower is more full. 



