438 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 186. 



flowered section. Messrs. Cannell, of Swanley, seem to be 

 leading in the race for novelty, and certainly some of their 

 seedlings are of great beauty, and, for the most part, dis- 

 tinct from older kinds. They had a few new colors repre- 

 senting the true original Cactus Dahlia (D. Juarezii), not 

 the nondescript coarse-flowered sorts that pass as Cactus- 

 flowered Dahlias. Their new Swanley Cactus is a coun- 

 terpart of the Juarez Cactus, having the same semi-quilled 

 florets, but of a much more brilliant scarlet. Their other 

 varieties of Cactus — Ernest Carronel, magenta-crimson ; 

 Robert Cannell, bright carmine ; Oban, yellowish, flushed 

 with plum-purple ; and Eynsford Gem, purple-crimson — 

 were among the finest of a remarkable collection of Cactus 

 Dahlias. Other great Dahlia-growers, such as Keynes, of 

 Salisbury, and Phippen, of Reading, had large collections 

 of single show and pompon varieties, but they did not at- 

 tract such attention as the group of new Tom Thumb sin- 

 gle Dahlias, from Cheat, of Crowley, who has acquired the 

 stock of these remarkable pigmy Dahlias from the raiser, 

 Mr. Girdlestone, the well-known rosarian. This dwarf 

 race of Dahlias grows at the tallest only eighteen inches 

 high, and are sturdy in growth, and are very free-flower- 

 ing. For massing in beds on lawns they are of especial 

 value, as they require no supports. There is nothing ex- 

 traordinary about the flowers, which are all single, but 

 there is no knowing where this new break may lead. 

 They are different from the dwarf double varieties that have 

 been grown during recent years. 



Some interesting Lilies from Messrs. Low were notewor- 

 thy, especially the variety of Lilium Wallichianiim named 

 Superbum. It has flowers in shape like L. longiflorum, but 

 in this variety they were much larger. They are white, 

 and colored on the inside with pale yellow. The plant 

 grows some three feet high. Another fine Lily from the 

 same exhibitor was L. Nepalense, also from northern India. 

 This is a Turk's-cap Lily with large flowers of a blood-red 

 color, with the petals broadly tipped with yellowish green. 

 It is a striking plant, and still very rare in cultivation. 

 Some slight forms of L. longiflorum, under the names of 

 Magnificum and Giganteum, were shown, but they were 

 not superior to the variety Takesima, which was shown 

 grandly in a mass, and which were described last week. 



Other bulbous plants were Crinum Powelli, the very fine 

 hybrid between C. Moorei and C. Capense. It carries a 

 stout flower-stem, bearing from nine to twelve flowers of 

 a lovely rose-pink, and nearly as large as in C. Moorei. 

 It has proved quite as hardy as C. Capense, and is, there- 

 fore, an invaluable addition to our open-air flowers. This 

 was from Sir Trevor Lawrence, who also showed the 

 hybrid Cyrlanthus rosea, interesting and beautiful, but not 

 so fine as the old Vallota purpurea. 



Among the trees and shrubs from Messrs. Veitch the 

 committee selected Cupressus Arizonica as worthy of a cer- 

 tificate of merit. It reminds one of C. macrocarpa, but is 

 more glaucous, and it is evidently an elegant shrub, and 

 the fact that it has proved quite hardy at Coombe Wood, 

 in Surrey, enhances its value. Retinospora squarrosa sul- 

 phurea, with slightly yellowish foliage, and Cupressus Law- 

 soniana versicolor, with ill-defined yellowish variegation, 

 were two other novelties from the same exhibitors, who 

 also had a fine gathering of the beautiful Eucryphia pi?i- 

 natifolia alluded to last week. The beautiful new hybrid, 

 Hypericum Moserianum, was shown in fine flower by Mr. 

 Anthony Waterer, of Knap Hill, who thinks so highly of 

 it that he is growing it on a large scale in his nursery 

 since he has proved its thorough hardiness and its free- 

 flowering character and elegant growth. Under the name 

 of Catalpa Himalayensis Messrs. Veitch have in flower a 

 variety that flowers habitually when only a few feet high. 

 In other respects it is not different from C. bignonioides , so 

 far as I can judge. The name may be wrong, but perhaps 

 this variety is cultivated in the Arnold Arboretum. If so, 

 it would be interesting to know what it really is. 



London. W. Goldring. 



Cultural Department. 

 Iris reticulata and its Allies. 



ABOUT twenty-five years ago the typical form of Iris 

 reticulata with violet-blue flowers was introduced into 

 cultivation through the agency of English and Russian 

 botanists. It is a very hardy plant, flowering in early 

 spring, and its fresh-colored flowers, with narrow falls and 

 standards, are very striking. The Reverend G. T. Nelson, 

 of Aldborough, whose name is prominently associated with 

 the improvement of hardy plants, first produced, through 

 constant sowings and careful selection, two new forms of 

 this Iris, named Major and Ccerulea. The first is a more 

 robust plant than the type, stronger in all its parts, and the 

 divisions of the flower are broader and more spreading, 

 thus presenting a larger surface of color. The second re- 

 sembles the type except that the plants are ccerulean blue. 

 Dr. Edward Regel, not long after the introduction of / re- 

 ticulata, introduced the deep purple-flowered I. reticulata 

 Krelagi, with rather dull-colored flowers. Forms, however, 

 raised from seed of this and others obtained from Koor- 

 distan produced brighter-colored flowers. About the same 

 time/, reticulata cyanea was introduced by Haage& Schmidt, 

 also from the Caucasus. It has a smaller flower than the 

 last, but the small size is more than compensated by its- 

 lovely color, the falls being dark blue, with an orange 

 blotch, the standard pale sky-blue. These are all the forms 

 of I. reticulata proper, its specific name, by the way, being 

 derived from the netted outer coat of the bulb. 



It appears, however, that the type in descending from the 

 lofty heights of the Caucasus plain eastward to Persia and 

 southward to Palestine has undergone material changes in 

 the form and color of the flowers, and that from the original 

 / reticulata have been developed by gradual evolution spe- 

 cies of greater beauty and of greater value to the horticul- 

 turists than I. reticulata. Boissier, the great botanist, brought 

 home from Mount Gherizin, in Palestine, thirty years ago, 

 some bulbs of the lovely I. Histrio. This is an early-flow- 

 ered plant, producing in mild winters its flowers as early as 

 January in Germany. It is distinguished from / reticulata 

 by the broader blade of the falls, with brilliant ultramarine 

 blotches on a white ground. In later years I. Vartana has 

 been introduced through the exertions of Professor Foster, 

 of Cambridge, and of Dr. Vartan, of Nazareth. This plant 

 produces here greenish blue flowers in November. Fifteen 

 years ago Mrs. Danford, during a hunting trip which she 

 made with her husband in the Sicilian Taurus, discovered 

 the small, but brilliantly flowered, I. Danfordice, which 

 three years ago was found again in large quantities by 

 Sintinis in" northern Koordistan. These plants have suc- 

 ceeded well at Baden-Baden, and, in spite of snow and ice, 

 have flowered in February and March, or when they have 

 been potted and kept in the greenhouse they have flowered 

 as early as November. Later a variety of I. Danfordice, or 

 perhaps a distinct species, I. Bornmilleri, was found by 

 Bornmiiler in another part of Armenia, and sent to Baden- 

 Baden. It differs from / Danfordice in its more robust 

 growth, in its broader floral segments, with a green stripe 

 on the claws, the green color being of a slightly deeper 

 shade of yellow. 



Through the kindness of American missionaries in Ar- 

 menia, Professor Foster received a number of other forms 

 of Iris, and in search of these I was fortunate enough to in- 

 troduce a large quantity of /. Bakeriana, I. sophenensis and 

 I. histrioides. I. Bakeriana has sky-blue standards, with 

 white falls tipped and penciled with deep indigo-blue, with 

 an indigo-colored blade marked with orange. The flower 

 is very sweet-scented, and opens toward the end of Feb- 

 ruary. The flowers of/ sophenensis appear in all shades 

 of color, from almost white to mauve-purple and metallic- 

 red. It grows well and flowers early. / histrioides is, 

 perhaps, the prettiest of all the group, appearing in the 

 form and color of the flowers almost intermediate between 

 / reticulata and / Histrio. This also flowers very early, 



