146 



JESSAMINES. 



doing perfectly well during their resting period, 

 which should be winter, in a conservatory connec- 

 tion with a house where a temperature of only 50° or 

 60° was maintained, and where they were readily 

 seen by all who cared to enjoy them. A drier 

 atmosphere can also be maintained. When growth 

 commences a higher temperature and more water 



will suit them. Our picture is from a specimen in 

 Philadelphia, and shows the large barren fronds 

 erect, and the fertile ones pendent in pairs. These 

 sometimes is vigorous plants reach a length of six 

 feet. Although the sort {Platyceriiim grande) was 

 introduced into cultivation from North Australia in 

 1828, it is by no means familiar. 



JESSAMINES. 



"JESSAMINE" may be almost 

 any flower in existence, espe- 

 cially as applied by some peo- 

 ple, if it be sweet-scented. In 

 literature it has become almost 

 as popular and as general a 

 term as "myrtle" and "ivy." 

 Nobody knows what a literary 

 ' ' ivy " may be, whether an am- 

 pelopsis, a hedera or a linaria. It is supposed to 

 combine all such desirable qualities as constancy, 

 beauty, grace and delicate tenderness, and in the 

 meanwhile to keep up a vigorous clinging to the 

 "sturdy oak." The literary term "myrtle" may 

 apply to a variety of plants equally at home in a 

 cemetery or on the poet's brow, and it has come to 

 be that wherever there is a cottage containing a 

 pretty girl that somebody is in love with, there a 

 "jessamine" is placed. Even the florists' cata- 

 logues, which should be public instructors, in many 

 cases hopelessly muddle jessamines, gardenias, ces- 

 trums and other plants. First, there are the gar- 

 denias, popularly known as "Cape jessamines," 

 though the name is a misnomer, the common spe- 

 cies, G. Jlorida, having been introduced, it is said, 

 from China in 1754, and named m honor of Dr. 

 Alexander Garden, of Charleston, S. C. This spe- 

 cies is well known everywhere. At the South it has 

 been popular for years, as it is perfectly hardy 

 throughout the lower Southern States ; at the North, 

 though long cultivated, it has suddenly become pop- 

 ular on account of the whims of metropolitan flor- 

 ists. Its popularity, however, is for once well de- 

 served. Other species of gardenia are not so well 

 known, though G. radica7ts is sometimes seen. Other 

 fine species and varieties are G. Thiuibergii, G. ht- 

 cida, G. cittiodoj-a, G. cainellijiora, etc. Randia flor- 

 ihiinda is a closely related Indian plant, which is 

 said to be well worthy of cultivation. It succeeds 

 well in the open ground in South Florida. 



The oestrums and a kindred genus, habrotharn- 

 nus, are also often confounded with the jessamines. 

 Cestnitii noctiiniinn is the most common sort, and 



is usually known as "night-blooming jessamine." 

 It is a coarse, quick-growing shrub, but when in 

 bloom it exhales a most delightful fragrance in the 

 night. The flowers are produced in the greatest 

 profusion, and the shrub quickly attains a height of 

 fifteen or more feet in the open ground in Florida 

 or the West Indies. C. Parqtii is also quite well 

 known. C. laurifoUiini is a beautiful West Indian 

 species which opens in the day-time. The delicate 

 white flowers are very fragrant, and almost equal 

 to heliotrope for some sorts of cut-flower work. ' The 

 species of habrothamnus are quite numerous and 

 well known in greenhouses, but they are not so often 

 bundled in with the jessamines. Gelseinium semper- 

 7'/rd7/,v, the so-called "Carolina yellow jessamine," 

 is a plant worthy of especial attention. It is found 

 in every hammock and on every rail-fence from the 

 Carolinas to South Florida, and a more beautiful 

 and delicate climber does not exist. Evergreen, 

 with glossy, shining, dark-green foliage, and in Feb- 

 ruary and March covering every branch of myrica 

 and persea and gordonia, and clumps of palmetto, 

 with sprays and wreaths of the sweetest golden- 

 yellow bells, often breaking into perfect sheets of 

 color. The gelsemium should be seen in its native 

 hammocks to be appreciated. I have no doubt, 

 however, that it could be forced under glass at al- 

 most any time. A double-flowered variety, first in- 

 troduced by P. J. Berckmans, is worthy of a place 

 in any collection of plants. 



Closely related to the true jessamines is Nyctanthes 

 arboi'-tidstis, the " Tree of Sadness." This plant is 

 a great favorite in the gardens of India, of which 

 country it is a native. The beautiful, small white 

 flowers, faintly tinged with orange, are open only 

 through the night and early morning, but the per- 

 fume is so exquisite that the tree has been recom- 

 mended as of value for scent distillation. The 

 shrub is perfectly at home in South Florida, and 

 commences to flower the second summer from the 

 seed or cutting. 



Many sorts of the true jessamines (jasminum) 

 are universal favorites. Perhaps the most common 



