Bird op 
Paradise 
Flower 
From the 
Bulletin 
of the 
Missouri 
Botanical 
Garden 
C. Shaw of Akron, Ohio, 20,000 blooms were counted this season, 
it is said, and Mr. Shaw is only one of many amateurs growing 
Peonies on an extensive scale. Mr. Donahue of Newton Lower 
Falls. Mass., was one of the prominent amateurs at the show in 
London, and his Peony garden has won a wide reputation. For 
the first time in the history of the Society an admission fee was 
charged. This seemed to stimulate rather than discourage 
attendance, especially as it was known that the money received 
was to go to the War Orphans Memorial Hospital Fund which 
the women of the city are financing. Next year the show will he 
held in St. Paul, Minn., and every member of the Society is 
looking forward to the pleasure of seeing the display which will 
be staged by the famous Peony growers of the Northwestern 
Peony Society. 
Ellen M.. "Watson. 
Garden Club of Allegheny County. 
News and Views 
The genus Strelitzia Reginae belongs to the M-usaceae or 
Banana family and greatly resembles the Banana in habit of 
growth. It is a native of South Africa and includes about five 
species, three of which are represented in the Garden Collection. 
Strelitzia Augusta, the aborescent type, is the largest-growing of 
the five species. The species Strelitzia Reginae is by far the 
most gorgeous of the group. It was introduced into cultivation 
in 1773 by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, through 
the efforts of Sir Joseph Banks, who named it in honor of Queen 
Charlotte of the family of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, wife of King 
George III. The striking coloration and oddity of its flowers 
soon brought the plant into prominence, as much as twenty-five 
dollars having been paid to collectors in Africa for a single small 
specimen. Despite its early introduction, the plant is rarely seen 
outside botanical gardens, except where it is possible to natural- 
ize it out-doors, as in California. Its luxuriant colors, combined 
with the bird-like appearance of the flower, suggested the name 
"Bird of Paradise." 
In habit the plant is perennial. The roots are somewhat 
rhizomatous suggesting the growth of carrots. The leaves emerge 
directly from the ground, supported on long stems or petioles, 
unlike Strelitzia Augusta, which forms a* true trunk. The 
unbranched flower spike towers above the foliage, is circular in 
shape, of equal thickness throughout, embraced with four or five 
sheaths, and is of a glaucous color. The number of flower spikes 
to each plant is governed by the age of the plant. Terminating 
the flower stem is a horizontal spathe about eight to ten inches 
long, of a glaucous color, with a fine, bright purple base, extend- 
ing to the pointed end. In the process of development the 
spathe, or protective covering for the flowers, opens from above 
within an inch of the apex, where the edges roll to one side form- 
46 
