THE RED-BUD OR JUDAS-TREE. 



and it is a pity that such a robust and 

 beautiful plant is so great a rarity. The 

 flowers are larger than in the type and 

 of a peculiarly soft shade of yellow, 

 quite unique among Croci. The barbs 

 of the anthers end in black points — a 

 very characteristic feature of most forms 

 oichrysanthus, but notuniversal,as some 

 seedling forms are entirely without it, 

 and the varieties fusco-tinctus and fusco- 

 li?ieatus have the central portion of the 

 anther dark grey instead. 



5 . C. biflorus, var. Alexandri (Ve- 

 len). — This is a most beautiful 

 addition to our gardens, for which 

 we are indebted to Herr Max 

 Leichtlin (1899). It is stated to 

 have been first collected by Skopil 

 at Dragalera in 1892, but in Mr. 

 Maw's herbarium, now at South 

 Kensington, there is a specimen 

 from Berlin under the name of C. 

 annulatus purpurascens, which is 

 Herbert's variety (4) oia?mulatus, 

 and described by him as having £< a 

 full-sized flower with the sepals 

 more or less purple on the out- 

 side; in some richly coloured." 

 It grows in Dalmatia with the white va- 

 riety (5) albus, otherwise var. W ddeni. 



I think Herbert's name ought to 

 stand for this plant. I have raised seed- 

 lings from var. Welde?ii, giving every 

 degree from pure white through faint 

 lilac speckling to deep purple suffusion 

 of the exterior of the outer segments, 

 exactly the range of colouring in this 

 var. A ' lexandr i, but at present the seed- 

 lings have given only small blossoms, 

 though I think they will gain in size. 



E. AUGUSTUS BOWLES. 



THE RED-BUD OR JUDAS-TREE 



(Cercis siliquastrurn) AND ITS KIN- 

 DRED. 



It sometimes happens that to be brought 

 for the first time face to face with a tree 

 of striking beauty, rightly used, is to feel 

 for ever after a liking for what has once 

 given such sense of pleasure : this has 

 been my lot with the Judas-tree. To see 

 it now, no matter where, is to recall the 

 day when — having come straight from 

 the north of England where it is rarely 

 seen — I first saw the tree upon a sunny 



FLOWERING SPRAY OF JUDAS-TREE. 



hillside in Italy, about half-way up the 

 slope and filling the courtyard of one of 

 those little aube?~ges so common beside 

 the main highways. Its beauty shone out 

 as a landmark in all the country side, a 

 group of trees being planted in one of 

 those square walled courts so character- 

 istic of the south — a court raised many 

 feet above the road, with a rough table 

 and one or two benches, and command- 

 ing a wide prospectandalong stretch of 

 winding mule-track. Six or seven stems 

 had been planted in a cluster, spreading 



