September 9, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



425 



on cultivated ground, which, as yet, it has not invaded to any 

 great extent. 



Silbyum Marianum (the true Milk Thistle) has, in the 

 Bay region and elsewhere, become a common roadside weed, 

 whose masses of handsomely veined foliage surpass in beauty 

 many a carefully nurtured plant, but present an aspect of 

 ragged dilapidation after the (annual) plant has completed its 

 vegetation and sends its hairy-tufted akenes flying all over the 

 •country. Curiously enough, the Silbyum was for several 

 years mistaken for the Canada Thistle, and the legislation 

 regarding the latter was partly enforced against it, until the 

 mistake was brought out in a lawsuit for neglect to comply 

 with the law. Systematic mowing at the time of heading soon 

 disposes of the plant, but when it has once gained possession 

 for the season it is hard to subdue, and shades out everything 

 ■else. 



The true Canada Thistle was at one time imported into the 

 state, and took possession of some land near Chico, Butte 

 county, but was promptly recognized and subdued. Professor 

 Greene has lately received it from Humboldt county in north- 

 western California. 



An experimental planting of the Cardims betiedictus in the 

 University garden revealed such dangerous qualities as a 

 rapidly spreading weed that it was promptly extirpated. 



Of the two Xanthiums already mentioned, the X. spinosum 

 especially has become ubiquitous in the state, at least from 

 Chico to San Bernardino. Roadsides and fields are equally 

 favored by it, and no summer drought or heat seems to affect 

 it materially. Like the black Cocklebur, it differs from the 

 •eastern form only in a lower and more spreading habit, and 

 both are redoubtable weeds if neglected. 



E. W.Hilgard. 



University of California. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



ALTHOUGH we have scarcely had a day without rain 

 for some weeks past, this is not an unmixed evil, 

 for all open-air growth has been benefited by the abundant 

 moisture, and if we are only favored with a dry and sunny 

 autumn to ripen their wood, Rhododendrons, Azaleas and 

 other flowering shrubs will be unusually good next year. 

 Ornamental trees and shrubs are making extraordinary 

 growth, which brings out their leaf-beauty to perfection, 

 and I have rarely seen variegated and golden shrubs so 

 fine as this year, particularly those that are liable to 

 hecome scorched in hot and dry summers. 



Among the new variegated trees that may perhaps have 

 an interest for your readers is the golden variegated Ash- 

 leaved Maple, which has now found general favor. It 

 will, no doubt, become as popular as the now too common 

 silver form of the same tree which defaces so many other- 

 wise pretty gardens. The variegation of the golden sort 

 is not so staring as that of the older variety, and, therefore, 

 •can be used more freely, without producing that spottiness 

 which white-leaved shrubs and trees do when too plenti- 

 ful. Spath's variety of Cornus alba is here considered the 

 best of the variegated Dogwoods, as it is vigorous in 

 growth, and its variegation is as good in dull and moist 

 as in bright and hot weather. Novelties among trees and 

 •shrubs are never plentiful, and this season there seems to 

 be fewer than usual. One of the best new shrubs I have 

 seen is Hypericum Moserianufn, now in full flower. It is a 

 hybrid obtained on the Continent by crossing H. calycinum 

 and H palulum, the result being an exactly intermediate 

 plant. The growth, however, most resembles that of H. 

 calycinum, as it is dwarf, and the stems recurve in a simi- 

 lar way. The leaves, too, are similar, being obovate, 

 pale green, with reddish bark on young stems. The 

 flowers produced, from three to five together, at the tips 

 of the shoots are as large as those of H. calycinum, but in- 

 stead of being narrow are broad, and overlap, as in H. 

 patulum, and are of thick texture, while the feathery tuft of 

 stamens is not so spreading as in H calycinum. The color 

 is a very bright and clear yellow, and as the plant flowers 

 so freely a mass of it makes a fine display. It seems to 

 be a first-rate new shrub, and it is to be hoped that the 

 intercrossing has not rendered it less hardy than H. 



calycinum, which naturalizes itself in all parts of these 

 islands. 



Among noteworthy trees and shrubs in flower last week 

 none was so interesting as Stuarlia Virginica, of which 

 there are some grand specimens in old arboreta, like 

 those of Syon and Coolhurst. The Syon specimen is a 

 wide-spreading small tree planted in a dampish part of the 

 grounds, and for the last fortnight has been crowded with 

 its large ivory-white flowers, with crimson-topped stamens 

 in feathery tufts. It is remarkable that, while we not un- 

 frequently see this Stuartia in old gardens, one has a diffi- 

 culty to buy it in nurseries. 



A beautiful Chilian shrub, Eucryphia pinnati/olia, is just 

 now in flower and is of much interest, since it has proved 

 quite hardy and because it flowers when so little bloom is 

 seen in the shrub garden. It is a close-growing twiggy 

 shrub, with deep green pinnate deciduous leaves, and with 

 flowers similar in form to those of Hypericum calycinum, 

 and . almost equal to them in size, but pure white. This 

 shrub flowers freely, and for a long time. It is not, I pre- 

 sume, hardy enough to stand your climate. In the nur- 

 series about London and at Kew the interesting tree re- 

 ceived a few years ago from the Amur River, Cladrastis 

 {Maackia) Amurensis, is in full flower now, and seems to 

 improve each year. The largest tree I have seen is about 

 ten feet high, with a spreading flat head and tabulated 

 branches, which are now studded with erect dense racemes 

 of white blossoms, which, from their number, are conspic- 

 uous. It is quite different in aspect from C. lutea, and, 

 perhaps, will not make so handsome a tree, but any tree 

 is welcome which flowers in August. 



Of small flowering shrubs, the most remarkable are two 

 varieties of Spiraea. One is a very dark rich crimson va- 

 riety of iS. callosa called Atro-sanguinea, which is con- 

 sidered one of the choicest hardy shrubs for English gar- 

 dens ; the other, a variety of S. Bumalda, known as the 

 Knap Hill variety, and which is remarkable for its rich 

 color as the variety of £. callosa. 



At Kew there are just now several plants of more than 

 ordinary interest, but the chief attraction is the gigantic- 

 flowered Aristolochia grandiflora, already mentioned by 

 Mr. Watson, the largest-flowered of all the species, and 

 only surpassed in the size of its flowers by those of the 

 wonderful Rafflesia. The Aristolochia is by no means 

 new, as it was cultivated at Kew fifty years ago, and was 

 flowered there in 1848. It was, however, lost to the col- 

 lection until it was obtained, two or three years ago, from 

 Mr. Sturtevant, of New Jersey. It is a strong-growing 

 climber, with heart-shaped leaves. The flowers and buds 

 so far number about three dozen, but the expanded flower 

 lasts only a day. In its various stages of growth the 

 flower is most remarkable, and just before it expands it re- 

 minds one of a plucked goose hung up by the neck, the 

 front of the flower corresponding with the breast of a bird. 

 The color before opening is a pale creamy gray, strongly 

 marked with a prominent net-work of veins. The ex- 

 panded flower measures from fourteen to seventeen inches 

 across and between four and five feet in length, for the sepals 

 are attenuated to a tail, which is forty-two inches in length. 

 The plant was figured and described in Garden and Forest 

 last year. (See vol. iii., pp. 597, 598, 599.) The inside of 

 the flower after expansion is a jet velvety black, paling in 

 the tube to a deep vinous purple, while the rest is a heavy 

 net-work of purple on a greenish gray ground. 



We are now in the height of the Lily season, and no- 

 where in England can all kinds of Lilies be seen to greater 

 perfection than at Kew, where considerable attention is 

 given to them, though a few years ago it was thought that 

 they would never thrive at the Royal Gardens. Especially 

 fine is your common Turks-cap Lily (L. superbum). Here 

 it is fully eight feet high, and with pyramidal racemes 

 numbering from thirty to forty flowers on a stem. Being 

 grown in large masses they make a splendid show, and 

 last for weeks in perfection. It is far finer than L. parda- 

 linum, better suited to our climate, and is hardy beyond 



