July 8, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



319 



ranges southward, on high mountains, to Arizona] and New 

 Mexico. 



The panicled Cornel is another species which has been 

 planted in the Arboretum in large numbers and with good 

 effect. This, in most works on botany, appears as C. panicti- 

 lata, but Humphrey Marshall's name, candidissima, is older, 

 and has been adopted by Professor Coulter in his recent 

 monograph of our Cornels, and it is by this name that the 

 panicled Cornel should be known. It is a good name, as 

 botanical names go, for the flowers, although they are cer- 

 tainly not pure white, are whiter than those of the most of the 

 species. The clusters are loose and convex and often pani- 

 cled, and are produced in the greatest profusion along the 

 branches, making this the most beautiful of our shrubbery 

 Cornels at the time when it is in flower. The flowers open 

 here about the middle of June, and, late in the summer, are 

 followed by rather showy clusters of white fruit. C. candidis- 

 sima is sometimes almost tree-like in habit and in the height 

 to which it grows. The branches are erect, slender, very 

 numerous, and sometimes nearly twenty feet tall, and are 

 covered with smooth, gray bark and abundantly supplied with 

 narrow, not very large, pointed pale leaves, sometimes green 

 on the two surfaces and sometimes pale below. This plant 

 grows on the banks of streams and in moist situations, where 

 it often forms extensive thickets ; it is one of the most com- 

 mon and widely distributed of all our Cornels, being found 

 from Nova Scotia and Florida to Minnesota and Texas. It 

 abounds in the south, where it replaces C. stolonifera, and, in 

 some parts of the country, is one of the most common and 

 conspicuous roadside plants where roads cross streams or low 

 wet places. It will thrive, however, in any good garden-soil, 

 and adapts itself to new conditions to which plants in the gar- 

 dens often have to submit. 



The Silky Cornell (C. sericea) is the last of our species which 

 has been grown in the Arboretum in large numbers. This is 

 a variable plant in general appearance and in the size and 

 coloring of its leaves, and it is not at all improbable that two 

 or more distinct species can be made out from what has been 

 usually considered C. sericea. This plant has the merit of 

 flowering at the very end of June and in the early days of July, 

 that is when most shrubs have passed their time of blooming, 

 and the best effects in the shrubberies at the Arboretum at 

 this time are produced by the great masses of this Cornell, 

 which have been used along the drive-ways. The flower- 

 clusters are not large, and the flowers are yellow rather than 

 white ; they are produced, however, in the greatest profusion, 

 while the habit of the plant is excellent with its long graceful 

 branches, which, when it is given sufficient room in which to 

 grow, spread out over the ground and form great masses of 

 foliage fifteen feet or more across. The foliage is almost 

 orange-colored in some forms and pale in others, and the 

 leaves, like the slender, graceful purple branchlets, are cov- 

 ered with soft silky hairs. C. sericea likes moist soil, and 

 shows its greatest beauty when planted in such a position that 

 it can hang its long graceful branches over a brook or deco- 

 rate the margins of a pool. It flourishes, too, if it happens to 

 be planted in dry soil, although, unless the conditions favor it, 

 it will not show its greatest beauty. 



C, asperifolia, another native species peculiar to the central 

 and southern parts of the country, is grown in the Arboretum, 

 but not in large numbers, and enough is not known about this 

 plant in cultivation to make it desirable to say much about it 

 as a garden-plant. It is a tall, erect-growing and rather dis- 

 tinct-looking shrub, with reddish brown branchlets, narrow 

 leaves, small flowers and showy white fruit produced in red- 

 stemmed clusters. It is a hardy plant, but not distinct enough 

 to be very valuable probably in the garden, except as a curi- 

 osity, or worth planting on a large scale if the other and better- 

 known species can be obtained. 



These notes have reached the limit the editor has set for 

 their length, and the consideration of some exotic Cornels 

 must be postponed for another issue of the series. 



Arnold Arboretum. P- C. 



Notes from the Harvard Botanic Garden. 



Anemone sylvestris. — The "Wood Anemone," or " Snow- 

 drop Windfiower" (the latter name given on account of the 

 drooping habit of the flower-buds and flowers), is one of the 

 most useful and beautiful of the spring-flowering Anemones. 

 It is a native of continental Europe, and has long been culti- 

 vated in British gardens. The shining green, ternate leaves 

 are borne on slender petioles, which proceed from the root 

 and are from five to seven inches in length. The divisions of 

 ■the leaves are cleft and serrate. The pure white flowers, one 



and a half inches across, with broadly elliptical petals slightly 

 incurved, and a cushion of greenish white pistils encircled 

 by a showy band of bright yellow stamens, are borne singly at 

 the top of a slender, but erect, stem, which often exceeds a 

 foot in height. The leaves of the involucre are borne on stout 

 stems from one to two inches in length, and, although smaller, 

 they bear a strong resemblance to the root-leaves. The plant 

 blooms very freely in May and June, and the flowers are ef- 

 fective, and, for Anemones, last well when cut. It is an 

 excellent plant for the herbaceous border, but is seen to the 

 greatest advantage when planted in clumps on the outskirts 

 of shrubberies or naturalized in irregular patches in shady 

 groves or *' wilderness gardens." It will grow in any ordinary 

 soil, but does best in rich loam. The roots are easily divided 

 in autumn, and the plant can be propagated in this way. 

 Seeds ripen freely in this climate, and they are ready for 

 gathering about the latter part of June or early in July, and 

 may be sown immediately with advantage. 



Clematis recta. — Among hardy plants, this herbaceous 

 species ranks with the best for garden decoration. It is native 

 in various districts of south Europe, and was first introduced 

 to English gardens from Austria in 1597. A variety peculiar 

 to Spain, C. recta, var. Hispanica, differs but little from the 

 type, and was introduced in 1800. The species is a plant 

 from four to five feet high, forming a compact mass of 

 growth, the stems terminating with a large, much-branched 

 cluster of small creamy-white flowers, fragrant and packed 

 together in close order. Large, established plants are very 

 effective at the back of an herbaceous border among such 

 things as the Oriental Poppy, Thermopsis Caroliniana, Bap- 

 tisia tinctoria, the tall-growing Delphiniums and Achillea fill- 

 pendula, var. filicifolia, throughout the month of June. C. 

 recta seems to thrive better and flower more freely in a soil 

 of medium fertility. It will live in partially shaded situations, 

 but the most luxuriant plants are found in full sunshine. Old 

 plants should not be disturbed so long as they remain in a 

 healthy condition ; and while propagation may be effected by 

 dividing them, it will be found more satisfactory, if a trifle 

 slower, to increase the stock by seed, which is borne abun- 

 dantly. 



Corydalis nobilis. — This is a charming plant for shady 

 positions in the rock-garden and mixed border. The erect, 

 angular stems grow to a height of twelve or eighteen inches, 

 and are furnished with glaucous, bipinnate leaves, which have 

 a very elegant appearance. The flowers are clustered in a 

 dense terminal raceme, and an acute green bract appears at 

 the base of each pedicel. The two outer petals gape, and are 

 of a showy yellow color at the tip, while the other two are 

 smaller, tipped deep brown, and united so as to form a cover- 

 ing for the reproductive organs. The petals terminate at the 

 base with a hollow spur of greenish white. It is to this spur 

 that the generic name refers. The plant is a member of the 

 Fumitory family, and Corydalis is derived from the Greek 

 name for the lark. The spur of the flower, it was imagined, 

 bore some resemblance to that of the lark. This plant flowers 

 profusely in May, and it delights in a free rich loam. When 

 planting in the rock-garden avoid dry positions ; they are 

 dangerous, and not infrequently the cause of death. C. nobilis 

 is a native of Siberia, and was introduced by a Mr. John 

 Grasfer in 1783. Propagated chiefly by division, but it may 

 also be readily increased from seeds when they are obtain- 

 able. 



Heuchera sanguinea. — A little tuft of this " Alum Root," 

 which was risked to all the rigors of the late winter, is now in 

 full bloom. This fact, taken with the notes of other cultiva- 

 tors in various parts of the north-east, proves that this excel- 

 lent plant is, beyond all doubt, hardy as far north as Boston at 

 least. Few plants of recent introduction have attracted such 

 wide-spread attention, and the number of those as well worthy 

 of cultivation is still smaller. It was introduced from Mexico 

 about ten years ago, and the exertions of propagators were 

 rewarded by rapid distribution in Europe. The demand for 

 the plant is still strong across the ocean, and it now finds a 

 ready sale in this country. The uncertainty as to its hardiness 

 was the principal cause of the neglect which it has hitherto 

 suffered from American growers of hardy plants, but it is 

 likely to receive ample attention in future. The plant forms 

 a close mass of pale green lobed leaves, the entire cluster of 

 foliage being about eight or nine inches high. The erect, loose 

 panicles of bright salmon-red flowers attain a height of from 

 eighteen to twenty-four inches, and are produced in large 

 quantity. When in bloom, in established masses, the plant is 

 a never-failing source of gratification. There are, at the pres- 

 ent time, many more striking hardy plants in bloom, but cer- 

 tainly none more pleasing. This Heuchera thrives best in a 



