6i6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 201. 



unfortunately is not, or, at least, has not proved sufficiently- 

 hardy so far to always withstand our New England 

 winters without some shelter or protection. On this ac- 

 count it is rarely seen here as it cannot be planted with 

 any assurance of giving satisfaction. It is not impossible 

 that hardier strains may yet be procured from higher alti- 

 tudes or colder latitudes. Its native habitat is mainly 

 west of the Rocky Mountains, where it is said to range 

 from southern California northward through Oregon and 

 Washington and into British Columbia at least as far north 

 as the forty-ninth degree of latitude. 



This variety was originally described as a separate spe- 

 cies under the name of Spircea aricefolia, and as such it is 

 still commonly known in catalogues and collections. 

 Later botanists have relegated it to the rank of a variety of 

 6". discolor, an apparently extremely variable species, 

 as there is at least one other distinct botanical variety (var. 

 dumosd) recognized, which, being less northerly in its dis- 

 tribution, is not so hardy as the form under consideration. 



Under cultivation and favorable circumstances this Spiraea 

 becomes a large shrub ten or twelve feet high and as much 

 as fifteen feet in diameter. The branches are slender and 

 covered by a very minute pubescence. The bark is at first 

 light gray in color, but after the second year it is dark 

 brownish gray. When young it is marked by minute 

 longitudinal ridges, which become obsolete with age. The 

 foliage is usually so abundant that the stems are well 

 covered. 



As the name denotes, and the figure shows, the leaves 

 have the outline and pinnatifid lobing which gives them 

 some resemblance to the leaves of certain forms of the 

 European Beam-tree (Pyrus Aria), but this character is com- 

 mon to the other variations. They vary from one to two 

 or three inches in length, and are usually quite densely 

 covered on the under surface with a close grayish pu- 

 bescence. 



In this latitude the blossoms usually begin to open in 

 the last days of June or early July, and flowering is con- 

 tinued for about three weeks. 



The individual blossoms are small and of a pale green- 

 ish white color, so that the whole panicle has a rather dull 

 white effect. The large loose feathery, much-branched 

 panicles are produced at the ends of the shoots, and are 

 frequently very much larger than shown in the figure. 

 They are borne in as great profusion as the panicles on a 

 well-grown Hydrangea paniculata, and, in a manner, are 

 almost as effective, though lacking their pure white lustre. 



The odor of the flowers has been described as that of 

 Sweet Birch, but it is as strongly suggestive of honey, with 

 perhaps a faint hint of Chestnut-blossoms which renders 

 them not entirely agreeable to many people. 



Seed is freely produced, but it is not easily separable or 

 distinguishable from the chaff or remains of the withered 

 flowers, which are so persistent that they still adhere 

 when the leaves have fallen. Plants may either be repro- 

 duced from seed, or more speedily by layers, or from cut- 

 tings of green wood started in sand under glass. They do 

 not spread much from underground shoots. It was early in- 

 troduced into European gardens, and was brought to Eng- 

 land in 1827. Wherever it is hardy it is deservedly much 

 esteemed ; and it is particularly valuable because it blos- 

 soms at a later season than the vast majority of shrubs. 



Although we have spoken of it as a Spiraea, it should 

 be noted here that the late C. J. Maximowicz, in his 

 monograph of the Spiraeas, places S. discolor under a 

 separate genus, the generic name proposed being Holo- 

 discus, which was first used as a subsection of Spiraea. 

 He removed it entirely from that genus, as he con- 

 sidered that it was related to the Potentillas, and that it was 

 also allied to the Raspberries by its two pendulous ovules. 



Maximowicz did not recognize the varieties of S. discolor 

 as they are designated in botanical works, and, besides 

 these, he also included one or two other plants which had 

 been described as species and whose range extends through 

 Mexico and as far south as Guatemala. 



With the present tendencies toward creating and more 

 sharply defining genera, it is not at all unlikely that the 

 classification of Maximowicz will come to be universally 

 accepted, and that our plant may finally be known as 

 Holodiscus discolor, or, if there proves to be sufficient dif- 

 ference to warrant keeping up the varietal name, as H. 

 discolor, aricefolia. Indeed, the name Holodiscus is 

 already in use in some botanical gardens, and is taken 

 up in Coulter's "Manual of the Botany of the Rocky 

 Mountain Region." 



Arnold Arboretum. f. G. Jack. 



New Orchids. 



Aerides Lawrence, var. Amesiana, Sander. — A robust and 

 handsome variety, with short, rigid dark green leaves, and 

 the purple tips of the sepals and petals broader than usual. 

 It is said to be like a dark-colored form of the variety San- 

 deriana in the flower, but to differ in habit. It was intro- 

 duced by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans. — Kranzlin, 

 in Gardeners' Chronicle, October 3d, p. 393. 



Cypripedium GODEFROY.S, A r ar. luteum, O'Brien. — A very 

 pretty variety, with the ground color of a clear soft prim- 

 rose-yellow, and the spotting pale rosy lilac. It appeared 

 in a batch of the ordinary form in the collection of Messrs. 

 Hugh Low & Co., of Clapton. — Gardeners' Chronicle, Octo- 

 ber 3d, p. 393. 



Cypripedium x Enfieldense, Hort. — A handsome hybrid, 

 raised in the collection of A. J. Hollington, Esq., Forty 

 Hill, Enfield, by Mr. Ayling, from C. Lawrenceanum, crossed 

 with the pollen of C. Hookerce. It is like an improved 

 C. X marmorophyllum, in which C. x barbafum takes the 

 place of C. Lawrenceanum. The leaves are much like those 

 of the two parents. The dorsal sepal is very broadly ovate 

 and subacute, stained and nerved with purple on a light 

 green ground, paler toward the margin. The petals are 

 deflexed and much like those of C. Hookerce in their bright 

 purple color, but not quite so broad near the apex. The 

 lip andstaminode are intermediate in character. — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, November 7th, -p. 546. 



Phajus maculato-grandifolius. — This is a handsome hy- 

 brid, raised by Mr. Seden for Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, 

 of Chelsea, from P. grandifolius, crossed with the pollen 

 of P. maculalus. It has the general habit of the mother 

 plant, but the leaves are rather thinner than those of that 

 species, and have a few yellow spots as in the pollen 

 parent. The spike is nearly three feet high, with the flow- 

 ers about as large as those of P. grandifolius. The sepals 

 and petals are yellow, with a slight coppery tinge, and the 

 lip yellow at the base, with its infolded front lobe chestnut- 

 red, and some lines of the same color extending to the base 

 of the lip. It was awarded a first-class certificate by the 

 Royal Horticultural Society on November 10th last. — Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle, November 14th, p. 591. 



Kew. -«■• A. Kolfe. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 

 Bulbous Plants. — Among the species of Crinum culti- 

 vated at Kew there are several which usually flower in 

 winter. The following are in bloom now, and will con- 

 tinue so until the end of the month : C. angustum. This is 

 one of the handsomest of the large evergreen tropical spe- 

 cies. It forms a specimen as large almost as the C. Asiati- 

 cum, figured early this year in Garden and Forest, the 

 thickness and length of the stem-like neck of the bulb and 

 the width and length of the fleshy bright green foliage be- 

 ing very similar to what I described in that species. In 

 the flowers, however, C. angustum is much more attractive, 

 each flower being fully six inches across. The segments 

 are narrow and recurved, and they are colored rich deep 

 crimson, paler on the inside. There are as many as thirty 

 flowers in a single head, and they open in slow succession. 

 The species is a native of Mauritius and the Seychelles, 

 whence it was introduced to Kew seventy years ago. I do 



