5io 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 192. 



The Ostrya Virginica is found along the Blue and the Kansas 

 and its tributaries to a few miles west of Manhattan. It occurs 

 mostly in secluded rocky ravines along the breaks of the lime- 

 stone bluffs, and nowhere attains the size to which it grows 

 in the moist woods of Minnesota. Specimens of more than 

 eight inches in diameter and twenty or thirty feet in height are 

 rare in this range. 



It is at least a curious coincidence that the field occupied by 

 these last-mentioned trees is nearly identical with that of the 

 glacial drift in north-eastern Kansas. Whether this may have 

 been the cause of their distribution over this limited area only 

 must be purely a matter of speculation, but the fact that these 

 species are so common in Nebraska and Minnesota over the 

 glacial territory would at least be suggestive. 



Kansas Agricultural College. »->■ C luUSOfl. 



New or Little-known Plants. 



Senecio Heritieri.* 



THIS plant was in cultivation at Kew more than a hun- 

 dred years ago, having been sent thither from Ma- 

 deira, presumably by the Kew collector, Philip Masson. A 

 figure of it was published by Curtis in the second volume 

 of the Botanical Magazine, t. 53 (1787), where it is stated to 

 have been introduced from Africa, but it is now known to 

 be a native only of Madeira and Teneriffe, where it grows 

 in the fissures of rocks. It belongs to the same section of 

 the sub-genus Cineraria as the Madeiran 6*. populifolia and 

 £. cruenta ; both of which are also in cultivation at Kew, 

 the last-named being the supposed progenitor of the popu- 

 lar garden Cinerarias. 



Wild specimens of 6". Heritieri, as well as the plant repre- 

 sented in the Botanical Magazine, are so much smaller and 

 more sparsely flowered than the cultivated examples of it now 

 at Kew that one might almost declare them to belong to dif- 

 ferent species. And yet Curtis, writing in the Botanical Maga- 

 zine, stated that, " In the beauty of its blossoms, this species 

 of Cineraria, lately introduced from Africa, by far eclipses all 

 the others cultivated in our gardens." The plant repre- 

 sented in our illustration on page 509 is immeasurably 

 superior to anything seen by Curtis, and although we have 

 many beautiful Cinerarias which were not in cultivation a 

 hundred years ago, I question if C. Heritieri does not still 

 surpass them all as a greenhouse plant. 



It forms a loose many-branched shrub about a yard high, 

 and by a little pinching and staking it may be made to look 

 like a good specimen Chrysanthemum. The branches are 

 zigzag and thickly clothed, as are also the petioles and un- 

 der surface of the leaves, with a white felt-like tomentum ; 

 the upper surface of the leaves is gray-green. The flower- 

 heads are borne in very large panicles on the ends of the 

 strongest shoots, and in smaller clusters on the weaker 

 branches. Each head is an. inch and a half across, daisy- 

 like in form, the ray-florets white and rosy crimson, the 

 disk almost purple. They are exceedingly beautiful in 

 color and most graceful in their arrangement upon the 

 plant ; moreover, they emit a powerful violet-like odor, 

 and they remain fresh upon the plant two months if kept 

 in a cool greenhouse, I do not think we have any more 

 beautiful greenhouse flowering-plant at Kew than this, and 

 I can imagine its becoming a universal favorite for all 

 sorts of decorative work. 



The cultural requirements of this species are not unlike 

 those of the Chrysanthemum, except that it requires a few 

 degrees more warmth, and it does not appear capable of 

 bearing frost. At Kew it has been grown from cuttings 

 struck in summer and potted in good loamy soil, the final 

 shift being into an eight-inch pot. The plants are kept in 

 a cold house or frame all summer, exposed to plenty of 

 sunlight and watered liberally. They come into bloom in 

 May, and are not out of flower until well on into July. This 

 year a few of the old plants had their shoots shortened back 

 after flowering and were repotted, one being planted in a 

 sunny border. They soon made new growth, and they are in 



flower again now (September). I am told that in some 

 parts of Italy this Senecio is a favorite summer-flowering 

 plant for borders ; I should not be surprised if, in the 

 warmer parts of North America, it proved a good substi- 

 tute for, or companion to, the Chrysanthemum as a border 

 plant. The group of plants, of which this and C. cruenta 

 may be considered the types, are now included in the 

 genus Senecio. To be strictly botanical, therefore, the 

 Cinerarias, which are a feature in almost every greenhouse, 

 should be called Senecios, but I doubt if horticulturists will 

 ever accept this change. If called a Senecio then, 6". Heri- 

 tieri would be the correct name for the plant here figured, but 

 if Cineraria is preferred, then it is the C. lanata of Lamarck. 

 The true C. aurita is a very different plant from this, although 

 the name has somehow got attached to it in the few gar- 



dens where it is at present cultivated. 



Kew. 



W. Watson. 



* Cineraria lanata, But. Mag., t. 53. (C. aurita, Hort.) 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Insectivorous Plants. — At a recent meeting of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society an exhibition and lecture on Insectiv- 

 orous or Meat-eating Plants was the special attraction. 

 The exhibition was not as large or comprehensive as was 

 expected, but the lecture, which 'had been prepared by Mr. 

 Lindsay, curator of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Edin- 

 burgh, was full of interest, both for botanists and cultiva- 

 tors. Apart altogether from the extraordinary carnivorous 

 propensities of Nepenthes, Sarracenias, Droseras, Pingui- 

 culas and Utricularias, to a knowledge of which Hooker 

 and Darwin have contributed practically all we know, they 

 have a powerful claim to the notice of horticulturists in their 

 quaint, and, in most cases, decidedly ornamental leaves, 

 besides, in Sarracenia, Pinguicula and Utricularia, in the 

 beauty of their flowers. 



The collections of carnivorous plants at Kew are a never- 

 ending source of interest and wonder to visitors, many of 

 whom have heard or read of the "voracious" habits of 

 these plants. I have been asked for the "Colra plant, 

 which had leaves like a Colra and could swallow rats 

 whole," and found that Darlingtonia was the plant meant ; 

 I have also heard many visitors declare that these plants 

 " were so dangerous to children and venturesome people 

 that they had to be kept behind wire screens at Kew."- 

 Without trespassing into the region of romance the habits 

 and specialized structure of insectivorous plants are scarcely 

 equaled in the whole vegetable kingdom. It is perfectly 

 true that they entrap and digest insects, that they derive 

 nourishment thereby, and, in this respect, are on an equal 

 footing with the animal kingdom. No botanical garden 

 or teaching garden of any kind ought to be without a col- 

 lection of these wonderful plants. It scarcely needs to be 

 added that there are no good gardens in which Nepenthes, 

 Sarracenias and Droseras do not find a place. 



New Orchids. — Cattleya intermedia, var. alba, is a beauti- 

 ful addition to Albinos. The type is one of the best of 

 autumn-flowering Orchids and is very easily cultivated. 

 Mr. Stalter, of Manchester, exhibited a plant in flower of 

 the white variety last week, and it was awarded a first- 

 class certificate. Grammatophyllum Seegerianum was 

 shown in flower by Messrs. Seeger and Tropp, who intro- 

 duced and named this species last year. It belongs to the 

 same set as G. Measuresianum and G. Fenzlianum ; indeed, 

 it is not unlikely that the three will prove to be forms of 

 one species. The plant shown bore spikes four feet high, 

 carrying numerous flowers two and a half inches across, 

 not unlike the flowers of Ansellia Africana, the color being 

 greenish, with blotches of chestnut, the lip brown. 



Cypripedium Antigone. — This is one of the most beauti- 

 ful of hybrids. It was raised by Messrs. Veitch & Sons from 

 C. niveum and C. Laurenciafium, and it flowered in 1890. 

 It has since passed into the hands of Baron Schrceder, who 

 exhibited it in bloom last Tuesday, when it was awarded a 



