254 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



\ \ inches wide, thin but firm, rigidly spread- 

 ing, glaucous, or green with age, concave, pun- 

 gent, narrowly brown-bordered with relatively 

 coarse white fibres. Inflorescence 9 to 8 inches 

 high, simple, flowering from close to the base, 

 glabrous. Flowers greenish, large, with broad 

 obtusesegments: styleslender. Capsulebrown, 

 broadly oblong, about if inches long, con- 

 stricted, flaring above, the valves sometimes 

 attenuate-mucronate. Utah. A very distinct 

 species, often flowering when the leaf-rosette 

 is not over a span wide, the broadly spatulate 

 foliage of these small plants being quite unlike 

 that of any other mature Yucca. 



T. glauca (Nuttall). — Subacaulescent, or 

 with branching prostrate stem. Leaves rather 

 rigidly divergent, quarter to half inch wide, 

 pallid, white-margined, soon finely but usually 

 sparingly filiferous. Inflorescence 3 to 6 feet 

 high, simple or with an occasional short in- 

 cluded branch, floriferous from near the base, 

 glabrous. Flowers greenish-white, globose or 

 oblong, campanulate, the segments varying 

 from broad and acute to longer and more atten- 

 uate; style green, tumid. Capsule large, oblong, 

 usually not constricted, somewhat roughened, 

 brown : seeds very glossy. Central south Da- 

 kota and southern Wyoming, to north-west 

 Missouri, central Kansas and the vicinity of 

 Santa Fe", New Mexico. 



Varieties: T. g.stricta (Sims). — The habit 

 of the northern form of T. glauca, but of more 

 vigorous growth, and with longer, more erect 

 stem. Leaves very long, half inch or less wide, 

 at first somewhat glaucous, the entire white 

 margin quickly shredding into slender fibres. 

 Inflorescence usually tall, occasionally simple, 

 but typically paniculately branched within or 

 closeto the cluster of leaves. Flowers greenish- 

 white, often purple-tinted, varying from glo- 

 bose to oblong-campanulate, and with corre- 

 spondingly short and blunt or acutely attenu- 

 ate perianth segments : style greatly swollen at 

 base, green. Capsule and seeds unknown. Se- 

 ward County, Kansas, and doubtless elsewhere 

 on the plains. T. stricta, ever since itsestablish- 

 ment, has been a puzzle to botanists, partly be- 

 cause no plant exactly corresponding with Sims' 

 figure appears to have been found, and partly 

 owing to confusion with a garden plant which 

 would appear to be Y.Louisianensis. Although 

 much collecting has been done in the South 



Atlantic region since Sims' discovery of stricta 

 no such near ally of the Rocky Mountain T. 

 glauca has been found in that region. 



T. Arkansana (Trelease). — Aspect and fo- 

 liage of T.tenuhtyla. Inflorescence about three 

 feet high, racemose or very rarely with a 

 few branches, glabrous. Flowers with mostly 

 greenish-white, broad, and obtuse segments : 

 style green, usually very tumid below. Cap- 

 sule little flaring, smooth : seeds dull. From 

 Indian Territory and Arkansas to Texas. 

 (To be continued.) 



F. LAW OLMSTEAD. 



We regret to hear fromBoston of the death of 

 one who was deservedly famous as a landscape 

 gardener and did remarkably good work in 

 true landscape-gardening — not the mean ste- 

 reotyped plans such as disfigure the earth. He 

 was not trained to the work in any office, and 

 this was one secret of his success, but as a very 

 young man he travelled on foot through Eng- 

 land and much enjoyed the beauty of the coun- 

 try, and influences such as these shaped his 

 lire's work. He was born in Hartford, Con- 

 necticut, on April22, 1822, and in 1 85 1 made 

 a trip to England which led to his first book, 

 " Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in 

 England." By this time, somewhat late in life, 

 he had begun to give attention to landscape- 

 gardening. He took a tour through the older 

 States of the south, and wrote a series of letters 

 which, when published in book form as " A 

 Journey in the Seaboard Slave States," was re- 

 cognised as the fairest description of the con- 

 ditions surrounding slavery that had then ap- 

 peared. This was followed by " A Journey 

 through Texas " and " A Journey in the Back 

 Country." In 1856, by a happy chance he met 

 one of the commissioners of the new Central 

 Park in New York, then just authorized by 

 the Legislature. He was chosen superinten- 

 dent, and in conjunction with Mr. Vaux pro- 

 posed the plan which, in competition with 

 more than thirty others,won the first prize. This 

 was practically the first attempt in America to 

 apply art to the improvement of a public park, 

 and the work was done in such a satisfactory 

 way that it was followed by plans for many 

 other parks, and all of his work that we have 

 seen is marked by a dignity and breadth of treat- 

 ment as refreshing as it is rare. 



