88 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



in one form a fine red colour in good contrast 

 to the pale petals. Useful for cutting and of 

 free growth. 



Barlow's Hepatica (triloba Barlowi). — ■ 

 One of the best forms, hardy, constant, and a 

 rich purple colour, very distinct and showy, 

 finely contrasted with a dense cluster of pale 

 stamens. Flowers very early and succeeds in 

 most gardens. The size and brilliance of its 

 flowers and their long stalks make it one of 

 the best for cutting. 



Other sorts distinct in character but of 

 small garden value are triloba acutifolia, with 

 sharper lobes (sometimes five in number) to 



MAGNOLIA PARVIFLORA * 

 This fine shrub first flowered in this 

 country in 1 894 and is still rare in gar- 

 dens ; it is hardy and beautiful, though 

 not quite so showy in colour as some 

 kinds. The flowers are large, handsome, 

 and fragrant, appearing from the end of 

 May into July, when the tree is in leaf 

 and other kinds of Magnolia have done 

 flowering. It forms a bush or small tree 

 of strong free growth, with rounded 



the leaves, and flowers of a pale mauve or grey- leaves about 5 inches long upon long 



stalks which, with the nerves and some- 

 times the whole of the under surface of 

 the leaf, is covered with short reddish 

 hairs. The flowers are larger than its 

 name implies, being 4 inches across, 

 composed of six petals forming a cup- 

 shaped bloom of waxy shell-like purity, 

 fading to a rosy yellow. There are three 

 outer and drooping sepals of creamy- 

 white, but the flower owes much of its 

 charm to the contrast of its green centre 

 and the ring of rich crimson stamens 

 within, and the fruity perfume which 

 often pervades the air for some distance 

 around the bush. In America, where it 

 was grown for some years before reach- 

 ing this country, it has been largely im- 

 ported from Japan, where it is common 

 in gardens and is said to be found wild 



ish-pink smaller than the common Hepatica; 

 the calyx is also much developed and the shape 

 of the corolla almost tubular. Central United 

 States. Asecond structural variety more curi- 

 ous than showy is sessilata, with dark flowers 

 in which the green calyx is developed far be- 

 yond the petals; while in variabilis the bright- 

 ly mottled leaves are the main feature. — B. 

 Of Conifers. — [To the Editor of Flora.] Sir,— 

 The mania for the raising and sending out of so- 

 called varieties would be better if controlled a little by 

 public taste. Among the numerous varieties I doubt 

 if any could be named that would compare in value 

 with the wild tree. In the Kew list of conifers, taking 

 Lawson's Cypress on page 37, I find a host of varie- 

 gations as to colour of foliage are considered worthy 

 of mention there, not one of them worth a farthing. 

 Then we come to variations of habit, and they are 

 also poor when they get beyond the nursery stage, 

 the close ones often rotting in the middle. Page after 

 page of the list is given to this enumeration of forms 

 often monstrous and useless. I have lately visited 

 collections of conifers which were well grown and 

 instructive, but marred by the variegated and ugly 

 forms of conifers, which gave a spotty look. Many 

 of them, indeed, were in a dying state, and taking up 



the places which might have been given to kinds of i n the hill-ranges of Nippon. Though 

 value, or even to the better grouping of kinds which 11 n • _ . r 11 j 



we accept as the best. We are usecfto these sort of normally flowering Upon the old Wood, 



in very fine seasons it has been known 

 to flower again in the autumn upon its 

 new growth. It is also useful as a pot 

 plant, remaining in beauty for many 

 weeks in a cool conservatory. For charm 

 of flower and value in the flower-garden 

 this shrub is worthy to rank with any 

 flowering tree. 



enumerations in trade catalogues, but it is a surprise 

 to me to find them in the Kew list, three pages being 

 devoted to varieties or distortions of one species, 

 mostly fitted with Latin names. It is not the im- 

 provement, but the degradation of the Pine that is 

 affected by the practice. As to the great public, one 

 Latin name seems as good as another, and hence we 

 see endless attempts to grow this varied rubbish, even 

 where the trees they have arisen from are not seen. 

 And who has ever seen a variegated example come to 

 anything but an ugly death ? — A Pine-Lover. 



With coloured plate from a drawing by H. G. Moon at Kew. 



