2l6 



ANGR.-ECUM SESQUIPEDALE. 



of white bloom shows up well against the leafless twigs 

 which surround it. Last February this daphne, named 

 D. Mezereum album, flowered gloriously in the Royal 

 Gardens at Kew, and it is quite as vigorous and hardy as 

 any of the other forms of this favorite and pleasantly 

 fragrant shrub. It should have a moderately light soil 

 and an open position. A bold group gives a much finer 

 efiect than a single plant or two where things are crowded 

 so that they may be deprived of their true beauty. 



A New Rose. — There are many new roses, but here 

 is one that, wherever I have seen it, has told the same 

 tale of delightful freedom in bloom, exquisite color, soft 

 and refined and sweet fragrance. It is a French rose, 

 raised in 1889 by the raiser of Guinosseau, and is named 

 Augustus Guinosseau. It has been called a white La 

 France — a happy and appropriate title. The flowers are 

 of good shape, white with a light touch of rose, almost 

 salmon in the center, and they are carried in profusion 

 on the sturdy shoots, diffusing a sweet fragrance like the 

 scent of the old cabbage-rose. It blooms freely in sum- 

 mer, and on a cold, wet autumn day it was the happiest 

 rose in the garden, still flowering with characteristic 

 freedom. A strong plant is obtained on the brier stock, 

 and it will prove a valuable garden rose on account of its 

 freedom, showiness, fragrance and hardihood. It is al- 

 ready becoming a favorite in England. 



Aster acris. — Certain plants of undoubted merit never 

 seem to rise to the same pitch of popularity as many in- 

 ferior things. The perennial asters, or Michaelmas 

 daisies, are many in number, the majority wild, weedy 

 plants of no value whatever in the garden ; others of 

 charming beauty, as free and informal as the tall grass 

 in the field. Among the very dwarf varieties is A . acris, 

 which, by no means new, does not seem to be well-known. 

 It is not over 2j-^ feet in height, is bushy and one mass 

 of purple flowers, so thickly crowded together in the 

 dense head as to hide every trace of leafage. There is a 

 still dwarf er kind named A. Sibericus, but the two are 



scarcely required in the same garden. Many splendid 

 effects may be got by judiciously using these dwarf per- 

 ennials in beds, and in the Royal Gardens (Kew) last 

 autumn, much color was given to the broad acres of 

 pleasure groups by having beds filled with A. acris 

 on the outside line, and in the center varieties of the 

 Madame Desgrange chrysanthemum. The two associate 

 well, and produce a glorious display of color — strong 

 purple and white. It is as necessary to think of autumn 

 as of summer, and to gild the days of late September 

 with bright color, few things are more suitable than this, 

 which is easily grown and propagated and is not hurt by 

 the first early frost nor dimmed by a cold autumn rain. 



A New Dwarf Calla. — I saw exhibited at a meet- 

 ing of the Royal Horticultural Society anew and distinct 

 dwarf variety of the common C. yEthiopica. It was less 

 than half the height of the type, the leaves and flowers 

 being also proportionately smaller. A plant of this char- 

 acter would be useful, not alone for cut-blooms, but for 

 decorations and the front of groups in reception and 

 other apartments. 



Aristolgchia gigas was the sensational flower of last 

 year. It is known also as A. gratidijlora, and both 

 names are applicable, the plant being a giant of its race ; 

 the "giant" in truth, no other aristolochia approaching 

 it in size of bloom. This extraordinary introduction from 

 Jamaica flowered all the summer season in the famous 

 Victoria regia house in the Royal Gardens (Kew), and 

 as it is a climber it has been permitted to ramble in its 

 own way over one of the rafters. It is vigorous in growth ; 

 the leaves are fully six inches across, deep green and the 

 flowers hang down from this leafy mass. They are the 

 center of interest, measuring 16 inches across and about 

 21 inches in length. This large surface of flower is beau- 

 tifully colored with creamy white, set off by blotches and 

 mottlings of crimson, and a central pouch, half a foot 

 across, is of the deepest velvety purple-maroon, almost 

 black in its intense shade. 



ANGR^CUM SESQUIPEDALE. 



THIS remarkable orchid, illustrated on opposite 

 page, was known to botanists in 1822, but first 

 introduced into England in a living state in 

 1857 by the Rev. William Ellis, a missionary in 

 Madagascar, whose attention had been attracted 

 to it as he traveled through its native woods, and he says 

 the trunks of the trees were covered with it. To his 

 honor we may say that few who have traveled in tropical 

 countries possessed so great a love for plants as Mr. Ellis. 

 He introduced several angraecums, one of which has been 

 named in his honor. We must not forget that he also 

 introduced that wonderful form of vegetation, the lace- 

 leaf plant {Ouvirandra fenestralis) from the same 

 island. The first Angrcecum sesquipedale he sent to 

 his wife at Hollosden, where it flowered the same year, 

 and was figured in the Botcuiical Magazine. 



When Darwin received the first specimen he was puz- 



zled to conceive how the plant was fertilized. He said 

 that an insect had yet to be found in Madagascar with a 

 proboscis long enough to extract the nectar from the 

 bottom of the long spur attached to the flower. His idea 

 that there was such an insect was ridiculed by entomolo- 

 gists, but some time afterward the moth was discovered. 



The specimen in flower here is sixteen inches high and 

 has three flower-spikes, one with five flowers and each of 

 the other with four. The stem is erect and covered with 

 the bases of the clasping leaves, which are strap-shaped 

 and one foot long, bilobed at the apex and arranged in 

 two opposite rows. The flowers, which last in perfection 

 about a month, are six inches across, ivory-white, fra- 

 grant and wax-like. The sepals and petals are broad at 

 the base and taper upwards. The lip is heart-shaped, 

 forming at the end a hollow spur about twelve inches 

 long. When the flowers first appear they are of a greenish 



