58o 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 198. 



tion of Monotropa uniflora, in a single instance, on one of the 

 petals, a spot of the purest cerulean blue ; it was, of course, 

 accidental and is only mentioned as showing that the color 

 sprung from white. 



Stamens. — There would seem to be no good reason why- 

 stamens should be yellow, while petals of the same flower are 

 white, red or blue, and the general impression that they are so, 

 as shown by the quotation near the commencement of this 

 paper, is found to be erroneous. In an inspection of nearly all 

 the late summer and fall flowers it was found that, with only 

 half a dozen exceptions, the filaments corresponded in color 

 with the petals, and that in many instances they copy the same 

 special markings, as : St. John's-wort has a small black dot at 

 the bottom of every serrature of the finely serrate corolla, and 

 a similar dot on the anther of every stamen ; Gerardia tcnui- 

 folia has its white stamens dotted with rose-colored spots simi- 

 lar to those of the tube ; Cassia Chamcecrista, base of some of 

 the stamens purple, like the base of the petals. In Buda 

 and Cakile the stamens are merely in a less advanced state 

 of coloration, being colorless to white, and the petals rose and 

 purple, and in Hibiscus Moscheutos the stamens also are white, 

 branching from a central column, and the corolla rose- 

 colored ; also in Linaria vulgaris, with corolla two shades of 

 yellow, the stamens are white, but in Rosa and Nymphoea the 

 stamens are found to be in an advanced state of color — that is, 

 each has yellow stamens, while Nymphaea has white, and Rosa 

 pink or rose petals. The writer can only suggest as an ex- 

 planation of these abnormal conditions that the white of 

 Nymphsea has been infused with the yellow color of its abun- 

 dant pollen, and not changed by the usual chemical action, 

 and that the flat position of the stamens of the Rose on a 

 broad receptacle, allowing insects to directly alight and tram- 

 ple over them, may be the cause. 



Pollen. — Pollen is not universally yellow : it is found of all 

 colors from pure white, as in Polygonum Hydropiper, etc., 

 through every shade of yellow, from cream to the reddish 

 brown of Lilium superbum and the purple of Gladiolus and 

 other plants. It is a fair inference that, next to green, the 

 primary color, not only of petals, but of all parts of the flower, 

 is white. 



Conclusion. — 1. The primary color of flowers, next to green, 

 is white. 



2. There is no regular order of progression in colors, as, for 

 instance, that red follows yellow, or that blue follows red or 

 was produced at a much later date, as it has been demon- 

 strated that the principal colors, yellow, red and blue, are de- 

 rived directly from white, and therefore are of equal rank, 

 although some are more prevalent than others. 



Insects probably have aided in " fixing" and determining color 

 to some extent in certain families, but before they could be 

 established they must have appeared ; and if the quality of 

 sunlight and the texture of the tissue of petals was the same 

 in primitive times as now, and there is no reason to doubt it, 

 then, in all probability, as soon as petals were formed, however 

 remote that time may have been, all colors, including blue or 

 purple, began to appear. Indeed, in the simplest and, pre- 

 sumably, the oldest types of flowers given in Gray's Manual 

 of Botany as Clematis and Anemone, the prevailing colors are 

 white and purple. 



The rainbow and the prism reveal the many-colored rays of 

 a beam of white light ; the colorless tissue of the petal gathers 

 up these scattered rays of the sun and forms them again, not 

 into an intangible sunbeam, but into a material substance, 

 shining with the original white, from which the sun calls them 

 forth, re-habilitated in all their pristine splendor. 



New Bedford, Mass. E. Williains Hervey. 



Deciduous Shrubs with Late Persisting Leaves. 



OUTSIDE of the coniferous class there are very few shrubs 

 which are of a truly evergreen character, and, at the same 

 time, which prove sufficiently hardy to withstand the rigor of 

 our northern winters. It is true there are a few belonging to 

 different genera which survive, and are always interesting, but 

 most of them require some protection in winter, and even with 

 protection their endurance is not to be depended upon. 



In the absence of any number of thoroughly hardy ever- 

 green species, it is of interest to note those deciduous kinds 

 which maintain their leaves until quite late in the autumn, 

 usually until mid-November or later. A careful review shows 

 quite a number of these, and the foliage of several of them 

 holds a good color through many hard frosts. With the pos- 

 sible exception of the Privets, no one group or genus can be 

 called distinctly characteristic for this quality, the original 

 home and environment of each species having influenced the 



period of defoliation, and the habit being perpetuated in culti- 

 vation. But abnormal garden forms often differ from the type 

 in a very marked degree, and the foliage of young plants is 

 often more persistent than on older ones. 



A look over the shrub collection of the Arboretum on No- 

 vember 21st showed the following which were noticeable for 

 still retaining many leaves after the severe frosts and high 

 winds to which they had been subjected. The list is a com- 

 paratively short one : 



The common Barberry still held a few leaves, and showed 

 some variation among individual plants, some of the garden 

 forms holding more than others, but none being particularly 

 interesting. Japanese species, such as Thunberg's and Sie- 

 bold's Barberries, had not retained a leaf. 



Near by the little Yellow-root {Zanthorkiza apiifolia) of the 

 Alleghany Mountains had hardly dropped any of its foliage, 

 and it was still fresh and bright with its yellow and orange 

 colors, once more enforcing the lesson that it is one of the 

 very best of low shrubs for covering the ground. 



Only one deciduous hardy Euonymus held its leaves. This 

 is merely a monstrous form of the common European Spindle- 

 tree, and is known in catalogues as E. Europaus, erecta nana. 

 It has never been known to flower here, and as its foliage does 

 not assume any of the bright autumn colors of its parent spe- 

 cies it is hardly worth cultivating except as a curiosity. The 

 leaves at this date were still a dull green color and all persist- 

 ing- 



Spirtza Thunbergh was still splendidly covered with its rich- 

 colored feathery foliage, and it stood alone in all the genus, as 

 no other species retained any quantity of leaves, and the few 

 that remained were not conspicuous for coloring. Complaint 

 will be made that the lower portions of the stems of S. Thun- 

 bergii become naked and unsightly with age, a fault common 

 to many shrubs, but one which may be overcome by proper 

 pruning. 



Nearly all the forms of the common European Blackberry 

 (Rubus fruticosus) hold their foliage in a remarkably fresh and 

 clean condition, and with much richness of color, proving a 

 good late covering for rough places. Our own R. hispidus 

 holds its foliage even better than the European species, and, 

 in fact, it lacks little of being an evergreen. It is a slender 

 trailing plant, and is useful for forming a thick covering over 

 rocks, stumps, etc. The Dewberry (R. Canadensis) also holds 

 many of its leaves until quite late — later than our native 

 Blackberry. 



Of all the hardy wild Roses the little Scotch, or Burnet Rose 

 {Rosa spinosissimd), is by far the best when regarded from the 

 standpoint of late foliage bearing. When all the other species 

 are leafless, the neat compact bushes of the Scotch Rose still 

 hold a quantity of fresh, rich-colored leaves. An exception 

 should be made in the case of the new and rare R. Wichu- 

 raiana, which was figured and described in the last issue of 

 Garden and Forest. The leaves of this plant are still all 

 retained and are almost as bright and fresh as in midsummer, 

 but, on account of its low trailing habit, it is not conspicuous. 

 Parottia Persica holds many of its leaves, though they have 

 lost much of their color and are becoming dry ; but Ilea Vir- 

 ginica is almost as fresh and brilliant as at any time during the 

 autumn. 



Several deciduous members of the Heath family are con- 

 spicuous, the best of them all being Leucothw racemosa, 

 with abundant foliage, purple and brown above, the under 

 leaves being yellow. The Stagger-bush (Andromeda Mariana) 

 still holds foliage on the ends of its branches, and A. speciosa 

 has not lost any of its clear light green, yellowish, or sometimes 

 brown and purplish leaves. The Leather-leaf (Cassandra) is 

 fairly an evergreen here, and so does not come under the 

 present list. 



Our largest shrubby Composite (Baccharis halimifolia) holds 

 enough of its fresh green leaves to effectively set off the 

 bunches of conspicuous white pappus borne by the pistillate 

 plant. The Indian Currant, or Coral-berry (Syniphoricarpos 

 vulgaris) retains all its leaves in a very fresh state, the branches 

 being bent under the weight of the regularly abundant crop of 

 deep red berries, and Viburmcm Lantana retains more than 

 any other of its genus, but it is dull and uninteresting. 



The only Honeysuckles which here hold good foliage so late 

 are Lonicera Standishii and L. fragrantissima. The first has 

 lost fully half its foliage, which falls while yet fresh-looking ; 

 but the leaves of L. fragratitissima seem to retain their chlo- 

 rophyll and vigor until much later. Indeed, the habit of this 

 plant here shows that it is quite evergreen in climates a little 

 less rigorous than this. 



The rich green-clad climbing Japanese Honeysuckle (Z. 

 Japonica) and Hall's variety of it are certain to attract atten- 



