330 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



reaches so high as this; its time of full 

 beauty during March is, however, very 

 little later and its season quite as long. 

 Each bulb bears three flowers of nearly 

 4 inches across but variable in colour, 

 form, and fragrance, some coming near 

 /. Heldreichii and others more like the 

 Persian Iris. The colour prevailing in 

 all these forms is rich violet or violet- 

 purple, but we find shades of blue, rich 

 violets shading to green, blotches of 

 purple touching black,with showy white 

 flakes upon the broad blade, flanking a 

 central stripe of rich yellow. Even the 

 folded buds are of a pretty bronze or old 

 gold, and the flowers keep their colour 

 so well that few among bulbous Iris can 

 equal it for effect. The leaves are 4 to 

 6 inches long, very broad, springing 

 from white sheaths, and produced in two 

 ranks at the same time as the flowers. 

 Its culture is simple in any warm spot in 

 the rock-garden or border, with a deep 

 run of light soil mixed with porous frag- 

 ments to ensure drainage and the depth 

 necessary to the long fleshy roots. 



Gloriosas, or Climbing Lilies. — In addition 

 to the kinds of Gloriosa described in the Au- 

 gust number of Flora (page 248), there is a 

 very distinct one which has recently been 

 grown and exhibited in England. — Gloriosa 

 superba N&x.lutea. It bears flowers of pure buff- 

 yellow without a trace of red, is of tall growth, 

 and a free bloomer. The petals vary in width, 

 being fairly broad in some plants and very nar- 

 row and curled in others. This variety was 

 found by myself in Rhodesia, in December of 

 1899, and almost at the same time by my 

 husband, in an out-of-the-way part of the 

 country some 70 miles nearer the Zambesi 

 than where I obtained my tubers. They were 

 exhibited in 1901 and again two years later, 

 when they gained an award of merit from the 

 Royal Horticultural Society under the name 



Gloriosa lutea. It was considered by the Society 

 as a new species ; the dried flowers brought 

 home in our collection for the Kew herbarium 

 were previously named Gloriosa superba var. 

 lutea, and for the present that name must stand, 

 but the Kew authorities had not seen an entire 

 or living specimen. The plant is most attrac- 

 tive, and well worth cultivation. 



I see that G. Carsoni is referred to in the 

 same list as from near Tanganyika, but I have 

 seen and collected plenty of it in Rhodesia. 

 It grows there in dry open ground with nothing 

 to cling to, the stems standing quite erect and 

 about 3 feet high. 



ALICIA M. CECIL. 

 10, Eaton Place, S.W. 



THE GREATER TREES OF THE 

 NORTHERN FOREST.— No. 20. 

 THE BEECH (Fagus sylvaticd). 

 One of the kings of the northern forest 

 for beauty and stature, the Beech has a 

 merit over the Oak in that it grows over 

 a much wider area in all sorts of poor and 

 arid situations, from Northern Greece 

 to Denmark. The Oak loves the cool 

 and rich lowland soils and must have 

 them if we are to get good results, but 

 the Beech adorns and enriches the poor- 

 est land we know — chalky downs, sandy 

 wastes, and rocky hills. This is a great 

 merit in view of the vast area of down 

 country, often bare of trees, in southern 

 England, as well as the poor limestone 

 hills of Ireland and the north country. 

 The economic value of this tree we may 

 see in Bucks and the districts near, where 

 poor ground covered with Beech gives 

 five times what it would yield as arable. 

 To show what a return Beech will give 

 on such soils we have an apt instance in 

 the great Beech forest at Lyons-la-Foret 

 in northern France, under conditions of 

 soil and climate which are much like 

 those of our own country; it proves also 



