502 



DOWNING 



DEABA 



terns, as opposed to the earlier Old World idea of exclu- 

 sive pleasure grounds and private parks. Downing's 

 books have had large sales, and have gone through many 

 editions. His intellectual successor in his purely pomo- 

 logical work was his brother Charles, whose modest 

 labors In the revision of the Fruits and Fruit Trees 

 of America have brought him little popular fame, but 

 much sincere admiration from students. Most horti- 

 cultural writings are, in reality, only records of progress; 

 they do not create progress. Few of our horticultural 

 books are epoch-making. Downing's writings, however, 

 started a great popular movement in America toward 

 beautiful homes and home grounds. By many persons, 

 Andrew Jackson Downing is considered the greatest 

 single figure in the history of American horticulture, 

 and one of the few persons who can be said to have had 

 real genius. An appreciation of Downing's personality 

 will be found in Frederika Bremer's "Homes of the 

 New World." (See Downingia, for the genus of plants 

 named after him.) y^^ ]y[^ 



DOWNING, CHAELES (plate U), distinguished po- 

 mologist and elder brother of Andrew Jackson Downing, 

 the landscape gardener, was bom at Newburg, N. Y., 

 July 9, 1802. He was educated at the local academy, 

 and from the age of 13 to 18 worked part of the time in 

 his father's nursery. At the age of 20 he started in the 

 nursery business on his own account. From 1834 to 

 1839 his brother Andrew was a partner in this busi- 

 ness. About 1850, he sold out his nursery business and 

 devoted himself to the study of varieties of fruits, on 

 which subject he was the leading authority until his 

 death. The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America is the 

 monumental American work on varieties of fruits. The 

 book was projected by Andrew, but the great bulk of the 

 work was done by Charles in continuing and revising it. 

 His test orchard contained trees and grafts of 1,800 va- 

 rieties of apples, 1,000 pears, and other fruits in pro- 

 portion. In 1869 a city street was put through it. Charles 

 Downing was very modest and retiring. He would never 

 make a public speech, but he wrote many pomological 

 articles over the signature " CD." All his work is marked 

 by conscientious accuracy. He was married, but, like his 

 brother, had no children. He died Jan. 18, 1885. 



W. M. 



DOWNlNGIA (after Andrew Jackson Downing, of 

 whom a sketch is given above). J^obelidoece. Three 

 species of annual herbs, 2 from western America, 1 from 

 Chile, much branched, diffuse, with pretty and charac- 

 teristic fls. Lvs. alternate, entire, passing above into 

 bracts : fls. blue or violet, marked with yellow and 

 white ; corolla 2-lipped, the upper lobes much narrower 

 than the 3 lower ones ; tube of stamens free from the co- 

 rolla: seeds numerous, small, oblong to spindle-shaped. 

 This genus has no near allies of much garden value. It is 

 still known to the trade as Cllntonia. David Douglas 

 (see Douglasia) named it after DeWitt Clinton in 1829, 

 but in 1818 a genus of the lily family had been named 

 after the celebrated Governor of New York and projector 

 of the Erie canal. 



In 1836 Lindley wrote, in the Botanical Register, of C. 

 pulchella: "I figure this little plant more for the sake 

 of recording its existence than from any expectation 

 that it will ever become an object of horticultural inter- 

 est, for since G. elegans, a far hardier and more cultiva- 

 ble plant, has disappeared, there can be little hope that 

 this, beautiful as it is, will be preserved." Nevertheless, 

 pulchella is still cultivated, while elegans is unknown to 

 the American trade. In Lindley's time, pulchella was 

 grown in a flower pot and treated as a tender plant. 

 Nowadays it is considered perfectly hardy, the seed be- 

 ing sown in the open ground. The credit of simplifying 

 the culture of this plant is given to Haage & Schmidt, 

 Erfurt, Germany, who have fixed varieties that are 

 chiefly blue and chiefly violet, though in each case the 3 

 lower lobes of the corolla have a 3-lobed spot of white 

 in the middle, and a 3-lobed spot of yellow at the base. 

 The plants grow about 6 in. high, and have been recom- 

 mended for edgings. For culture, see Annuals. 

 A. Fls. large, with a S-loied spot of yellow : lvs. obtuse, 

 narrow. 



pulchella, Torr. (CUntbnia pulcMlla, Lindl.). The 

 lower lip more dilated and more deeply 3-Iobed. The 2 



divisions of the upper lip ovate-lanceolate or oblong and 

 strongly diverging. Calif. B.E. 22:1909. R.H. 1861: 171. 

 E.H. 1895, p. 19, shows its straggling habit as apot-plant. 

 Many of the branches fall below the top of the pot. 



AA . Fls. half as large as the above, and no yellow spot : 

 lvs. acute, broader. 

 Elegans, Torr. (<7. ilegans, Doug.). Lvs. ovate to lan- 

 ceolate ; the broad lip moderately 3-lobed ; the 2 divisions 

 of the smaller lip lanceolate, parallel ; lower lip with a 

 white, but no yellow spot. Calif. B.E. 15:1241. 



W. M. 



DBABA (Greek, acrid, from the taste of the lvs.). 

 Oniciferce. Whitlow Grass. One of the most impor- 

 tant groups of spring-flowering plants for the alpine 

 garden. It is a large and widely scattered genus of 

 tufted, hardy herbs, with stellate hairs: lvs. often in a 

 rosette, mostly uncut: scapes or stems leafy or not: ra- 

 cemes short or long : fls. without bracts, small, white, 

 yellow, rosy or purple. 



Drabas are very pretty, dwarf, compact alpine plants, 

 with small but numerous fls. ; admirably adapted for the 

 rockery or front part of a sunny border. They require 

 a sunny position and an open soil. It is important 

 that they be well matured by the autumn sun. The 

 plant forms a dense little rosette of lvs., and has a neat 

 appearance at all times. In spring, Drabas are thickly 

 covered with their little fls., and when planted in masses 

 are decidedly effective. Prop, chiefly by division; also 

 by seed, which may be sown in the fall if desired. 



Cult, by J. B. Kbllee. 



Of the species described below, only the flrst, second, 

 fourth and sixth are advertised in Amer. at present. 

 The rest are worth introduction, and can be procured 

 abroad under their names or synonyms. 



jL. Flowers yellow. 

 B. Jjvs. rigid, keeled, ciliate. 

 0. Scape not hairy. 

 D. Style as long as the pod is wide. 

 aizoldes, Linn. About 2-3 in. high : lvs. lanceolate- 

 linear : stamens nearly as long as the petals. March. 

 Eu. B.M. 170. 



DD. Style half as long as the pod is wide, 

 Aizoon, Wahl. About 3 in. high : lvs. linear. April. 

 Europe. 



00. Scape hairy (villous or pubescent) . 

 D. Pod lanceolate, bristly. 

 cuspld&ta, Bieb. Lvs. linear : style a little shorter 

 than the pod. Asia Minor. 



DDj Pod oval, pubescent. 

 Ol^mpica, Sibth. (D. brunicefblia, Stev. ). About 4 in. 

 high: lvs. linear, a trifle keeled: petals twice as long as 

 the calyx and stamens : style very short. June. Greece, 

 Orient. 



BE. I/vs. not rigid or keeled. 



0. Scape not hairy. 



hisplda, Willd. {D. trident&ta, DC). About 3 In. 



high : lvs. obovate, narrowed into a long petiole, ob- 



ecurely 3-toothed at the apex, somewhat bristly: pods 



oblong, not hairy. Scotland, Caucasus. 



00. Scape more or less hairy. 

 j>. Hairs long, soft and slender, i.e.', pilose. 

 alplna, Linn. Lvs. lanceolate, flat: pods oblong: style 

 very short. April. Arctic regions. 



DD. Hairs short, soft and downy, i.e., pubescent. 

 ailrea, Vahl. Doubtfully perennial or biennial: lvs. 

 ovate-lanceolate, entire or remotely serrate : pods ob- 

 long-lanceolate. Arctic regions. B.M. 2934. 



AA. Flowers white. 

 B. Plants biennial or annual. 

 cindrea, Adams. Lvs. oblong-linear: pods oblong, pu- 

 bescent, shorter than the pedicel. Early spring. Siberia. 

 —Closely related to D. confusa, but has a looser, weaker, 

 less leafy stem, the stejn-lvs. 5-6, scattered, entire. 



