4§4 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 190. 



GYMNOGRAMME PEDATA, Kaulf (1861). Damp shady hanks, 

 mar Guadalajara, November, 1888; common in the Barranca 

 and trenches. 



Gymnogramme pilosa, Mart. & Gall. (2589). Wet rocks, 

 near Guadalajara, November, 1889. 



Gymnogramme tartarea, Desr. (1862). About the wet 

 bases of sand-walls in gullies near brooks and springs, 1888. 



Hemionitis elegans, n. sp, (2585). Root-stock, short, stout, 

 ascending, crowns clothed with coarse pale brown scales ; 

 fronds 6' to 16' tall; stipites 3' to lyi' long, dark chestnut 

 brown, polished, deciduously scaly at the base, naked above ; 

 laminae 5' to 9' long, 4' to 10' broad, broadly deltoid-ovate, 

 sinuously lobed at the base and palmately cleft into from 3, 

 in the smaller, sterile, to 5, in the larger, fertile fronds, long 

 acuminate divisions, the lower pair spreading and somewhat 

 auricled at the base ; texture, herbaceous ; color, dark green ; 

 fructification confined to and following the course of the beau- 

 tifully reticulated venation over the entire uncler-surface. 

 Whole plant smooth. 



Habitat : Shaded banks and ledges of the Barranca, near 

 Guadalajara, September 24th, 1889. A very striking and hand- 

 some Fern, which takes its place at once as the most imposing 

 member of a small genus which is confined almost exclusively 

 to the tropics. It bears some resemblance to the next, but is 

 from two to three times as large, and Mr. Pringle is to be con- 

 gratulated on having made so fine a discovery. The figure 

 opposite is from a drawing by Mr. C. E. Faxon. 



Hemionitis palmata (3410). Tropical forests, Tamasopo, 

 June, 1890. 



New or Little-known Plants. 

 Habenaria carnea. 



SOME account of this recent introduction from Singapore 

 was given in our London letter last week, where it was 

 stated that the plant had just flowered at Kew. The illus- 

 tration on page 487 is from a photograph of this plant. In 

 habit the plant resembles Habenaria mililaris, but instead 

 of being a bright scarlet like an English soldier's jacket, 

 the flower is a delicate flesh-pink, which fades later on to 

 almost white. The stem rises to a height of six inches and 

 bears some half a dozen flowers which have a spreading 

 lip, a spur often three inches long, and ovate petals and 

 sepals. The leaves are deciduous, and after they fall the 

 plant rests in winter and pushes into growth again in 

 spring. A compost of peat, sphagnum and leaf-mould 

 seems to suit the plant, and it needs abundant heat and 

 moisture. The flowers last nearly a month, and the plant 

 will commend itself to all who are interested in the smaller 

 terrestrial Orchids. 



New Orchids. 



Physosiphon Guatemalensis, Rolfe, is a small species 

 which appeared with Odonloglossum grande in the Glas- 

 nevin Botanic Garden, where it flowered in June, 1890, 

 and again during the present year. It is nearly allied to 

 P. Loddigesii, Lindl., and has similar deep yellow flowers, 

 but is smaller in all its parts, especially in the much shorter 

 tube of the sepsis.— Kew Bulletin, 1891, p. 197. 



Bulbophyllum denticulatum, Rolfe, is a small species 

 from Sierra Leone which was sent to Kew last May by Mr. 

 James O'Brien, of Harrow. The flow r ers are about three 

 lines long, and are borne on a somewhat drooping spike. 

 The sepals are pale purple-brown, the petals white, with 

 strong purple mid-nerve and very narrow purple denticu- 

 late margin, and the lip orange. The name is given in 

 allusion to the denticulate petals. — Kew Bulletin, 1891, 



Bulbophyllum nigripetalum, Rolfe, is a distinct and re- 

 markable species, with the petals and lip of a uniform 

 purple-black, in allusion to which the name is given. It 

 was introduced from West Africa by Messrs. F. Sander & 

 Co., of St. Albans, and grown by Mr. James O'Brien, with 

 whom it has flowered on two or three occasions. In habit 

 it somewhat resembles the preceding, but has longer 

 racemes, the scapes and ovaries are glaucous green, and 

 the sepals pale yellowish white, with light maroon lines. — 

 Kew Bulletin, 1891, p. 197. 



Megaclinium Clarkei, Rolfe, is a native of west Africa 

 which flowered in the collection of Major Trevor Clarke, 

 of Daventry, during May of the present year. It is allied 

 to M. oxypterum, Lindl, but differs in various details. The 

 flattened rachis, which is the most remarkable feature of 

 the genus, is four lines broad, light green down the centre, 

 with purple-brown spots, almost wholly purple-brown 

 near the margins, and the flowers somewhat similar in 

 color. — Kew Bulletin, 1891, p. 198. 



Megaclinium leucorachis, Rolfe, is a remarkable species, 

 with the rachis nearly white, quite unlike any other, and, 

 therefore, named in allusion to this character. The flow- 

 ers are deep j'-ellow. It flowered in the collection of Sir 

 Trevor Lawrence, of Burford Lodge, Dorking, in May, 

 1890, and, like other species, is probably a native of some 

 part of Africa. — Kew Bulletin, 1891, p. 198. 



An Orchid Nursery. 



'THE steadily growing popularity of the large and beautiful 

 *■ Orchid family is one of the features of modern horticul- 

 ture, and no one who has not actually seen with his own eyes 

 can realize the vast resources of some of the trade establish- 

 ments devoted to their cultivation. One of the finest of these 

 is that of Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, England, 

 situated within easy distance of the metropolis, yet outside the 

 range of those fogs which have proved so disastrous to the 

 flowers of many fine collections during recent years. Here 

 may be seen between three and four acres of glass devoted 

 almost exclusively to Orchids, for the heating of which four 

 miles of hot-water pipes are required. The houses, which 

 range from 240 to 300 feet long, and are divided into suitable 

 compartments, run at right angles from a long corridor of 

 nearly equal length. They are constructed with special ref- 

 erence to the successful cultivation of Orchids ; every point 

 which promises to be of service being carefully considered 

 and carried out substantially but economically, so that they serve 

 as models for those who wish to cultivate these plants success- 

 fully. That the various changes introduced have been im- 

 provements is evident from' the robust health of the plants ; 

 dark green leaves and plump, hard pseudo-bulbs being every- 

 where visible, and giving promise of abundance of flowers at 

 the proper season. Mr. Sander and his manager, Mr. Godseff, 

 seem to have proved by long experience that the most refrac- 

 tory subjects are amenable to cultivation when properly treated; 

 and they lose no opportunity of ascertaining under what con- 

 ditions the plants grow in a wild state. Many reputedly diffi- 

 cult subjects have been overcome by such intelligent treat- 

 ment, among which may be specially mentioned Phajus 

 iuberculosus and Vanda Hookeriana, the stock of each being 

 in excellent condition. 



Cool Orchids are here a special feature, and Odontoglossums 

 may be seen in thousands. Between 2,000 and 3,000 plants of 

 0. grande are now in the nursery, and a far greater number of 

 O. crispum, while other desirable kinds are represented in 

 quantities which make one wonder where they can all possibly 

 go. Last May I here saw 5,000 plants of Miltonia vexillaria, 

 and most of them in full flower, and the sight is one not 

 easily to be forgotten. The graceful pendulous racemes of a 

 thousand plants of Odonloglossum citrosmum hungf rom the roof 

 of the long corridor in masses, and served to recall the glow- 

 ing description given by Roezl, who met with it during his 

 travels in Mexico. "Great was my surprise," he writes, " to see 

 the trees clothed with a profusion of Orchids, which proved 

 to be O. citrosmum, whose pendulous spikes, a yard long, 

 were adorned with innumerable white and lilac flowers, which 

 perfumed the air with their delightful fragrance. The stoutest 

 branches of the Oaks were literally loaded, and it was a pleas- 

 ure to see the profusion of flowers produced by these plants, 

 a single spike bearing upward of thirty expanded flowers. 

 During several days' march we noticed that all the Oak-trees 

 were clothed in this way by this same Orchid, which flowers 

 the more freely when it is exposed to the direct rays of the sun." 



A somewhat novel feature in this establishment is that many 

 of the New Granadan Odontoglossums are planted out in pre- 

 pared beds of fibrous peat, and they evidently like it, for each 

 new pseudo-bulb is much stronger than the preceding one, 

 and on some of the plants being pulled up they presented 

 quite a mass of healthy roots. In this way small pieces are 

 grown into vigorous plants, and many of them are producing 

 strong flower-spikes. Most of the best species and varieties 

 are grown in quantity, at least 75,000 plants being in stock. 



