46 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
offered for the first time. Amongst them is N. Mar- 
liacea rubra punctata. Flowers large, of a deep rosy 
purple. 
N. Fulva. Flowers pale yellow and bright red, re- 
sembling a flower of the Tulip tree. 
iV. Robinsoni, while not new, is such an attractive 
and distinct flower, that it is worthy of special mention- 
The flowers are bright red, on a deep yellow ground, at 
a short distance, orange red denotes the color best. It 
is so unique and so striking as to call forth the remark, 
“Call it anything else but a water lily.” The plant is 
vigorous and very free flowering, the flowers remaining 
open until late in the day. Amongst tender varieties 
N. Geo. Iluster is the most attractive amongst the dark 
reds. This is a seedling from that grand variety 
N. (^’Marana. The flower is as large as the latter but 
of more substance, petals do not droop nor open flat as 
is the case with N. dentata and N. O’Marana, and the 
color, brilliant crimson. 
N. Wm. Stone is a welcome addition to the class of 
blue water lilies, though in reality it is not truly blue, 
being better described as amaranth. Stamens purple, 
with a rich golden center. It is a rival to the well 
known N. Zanzibarensis, and has the advantage over 
the latter in that the flower opens early in the day and 
continues open until evening. W. Tricker. 
THE AMERICAN LOTUS, [Nelumbium Luteum.) 
Truly America’s greatest floral giant. With its 
huge golden blossoms 8 inches and its glossy leaves, 
12 inches in diameter. This noble aquatic plant 
easily out measures its stately terrestrial cousin, the 
southern magnolia. It is purely American. No 
yellow lotus has ever been found in any other part 
of the world, and no other variety has been found 
in America. It is met occasionally most all over 
the United States, but is most frequent from Ken- 
tucky, southward. Great fields of it were under 
cultivation by the Indians on the middle waters of 
the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers at the time 
of settlement by the whites. Old settlers now liv- 
ing in those sections can remember when the In- 
dians, after having been driven out, would come 
back and gather all the seed they could carry away. 
The seeds were largely used by them for beads, 
and also as an article of food under the name 
“Yonker-pins.” They were also called “70 year 
acorns” because it was thought they required 70 
years in which to germinate. It is evident that 
some of the tribes used the root also as food, while 
some portion of the plant, known only to the In- 
dian, was used as a medicine. The Indians arrow 
was modelled almost exactly after the long flower 
spikes, his canoe was a crude imitation of the petals 
and his war club was a representation of the large 
seed .pod. So while the sacred lotus of the Nile has 
had its worshippers, the sacred lotus of the Ganges, 
its votaries, the sacred lotus of the Mississippi has 
had at least its admirers. 
In all respects except color it is identical with 
the Oriental Nelumbiums. When it first opens the 
petals are a bright lemon yellow, growing paler 
each day until almost white. It approaches the 
Egyptian lotus in size but is somewhat more glob- 
ular. Under cultivation it behaves similar to N. 
album grandiflorum becoming more “dwarfed” and 
flowering more freely in limited quarters. It sub- 
mits to more rough handling than any lotus, and a 
smaller percentage of the roots die when trans- 
planted. Last spring we threw some surplus tubers 
into a cement tank in which there was no soil. They 
at once started growth and produced an abundance 
of foliage, with considerable flowers while floating 
in the clear water. I have never noticed this of any 
of the other lotuses. They usually throw out a few 
puny leaves and then decay. 
Yellow is the most rare color in water lilies and 
this, being the only yellow lotus, holds a place that 
cannot be filled by a substitute. 
Geo. B. Moulder. 
GARDEN PLANTS— THEIR GEOGRAPHY, LII. 
PERSONALES. 
THE LEUCOPHYLLUM, TECOMA AND ACANTHUS 
ALLIANCE. 
Lilt aria ‘‘toad flax” has 130 species in the tem- 
perate and sub-tropical parts of the northern 
hemisphere and South America. Two are natives 
of the states, and three or four are naturalized. L. 
cymbalaria is hardy under south walls in the middle 
Delaware valley. L. vulgaris is often useful as a 
covering plant for poor ground. The annuals are 
pretty but sometimes short lived. 
Antirrhinum has 25 species, all found in the 
Northern hemisphere. American botanies give 
nearly this number as natives. Many of these are 
Californian plants which climb much in the way of 
Maurandias. Others are erect annuals. A. ma- 
jus is said to have naturalized sparingly in the 
Atlantic states. I have never met with it and it is 
commonly tender, but it does finely in California, 
and is often grown East as a tender annual. 
Paulownia tomentosa or P. Imperialis (the 
doctors differ) is a large monotypic tree from 
Japan, which sometimes grows to 60 or 70 feet 
high. It shows a disposition to naturalize in 
Mercer and Middlesex counties, N. J., and this is 
about as far north as it can be depended upon to 
flower, for the buds are formed during autumn and 
severe winters destroy them. They are very hand- 
some, fragrant, produced in thryses, before the 
leaves, and are light blue like some of the Pa- 
