446 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ May 28, 1885. 
Gloxinia Flambeau (Yeitch).—Flowers of medium size, but finely formed, 
very rich dark scarlet. 
Tree Carnation, Pride of Pemhurst (Yeitch).—A very handsome yellow 
self, the blooms full and most abundant. 
Phyllanthus Chantrieri (Veitch).—A native of the South Sea Islands, and 
somewhat resembling a large Reedia glaucescens, the leaves oval in form, 
with small reddish flowers from the axils. 
Allium korataviense (Yeitch).—A peculiar species with broad glaucous 
leaves and large dense globular heads of greenish white flowers. 
Lilac Marie Ley range (Yeitch).—A white variety with large flowers in 
fine trusses. 
Hydrangea mandshuricus (Yeitch).—A Japanese species with rosy lilac 
flowers of great size in huge heads. 
Schizophragma hydrangeoides (Yeitch).—Like an Hydrangea the outer 
flowers of the heads in this plant are petaloid and white, the inner ones 
being small and inconspicuous. 
Olearia Gunni (Veitch).—A graceful New Zealand shrub, with numerous 
white star-like flowers scatter; d along the slender branches. 
Clematis Sir Joseph Hooker (Noble).—An effective variety with double 
purplish blue flowers, very rich and full. 
Tree Carnations T. W. Girdlestone, yellow, flaked with red; Goliath, 
fle3h-tinted, flaked with scarlet; and Colonel Cox , very bright scarlet. All 
were from Mr. C. Turner, and equally fine varieties. 
Scientific Committee. —A. Grote, Esq., in the chair. 
Lilac. —Col. Clarke exhibited a spray from a tree which he had cut deeply 
back, according to a practice adopted in Paris, so that the autumn shoot 
produced flowering wood for the next season. Dr. Lindley had thought 
that it could not be done in this climate. The bunch of flowers was not so 
large, but apparently of finer colour than ordinarily. 
Lily of the Valley Diseased. —Specimens were received from Mr. G. Lee 
of Clevedon, apparently attacked by some fungus. They were referred to 
Mr. G. Murray for examination and report. 
AEcidium Grossularics. —Leaves of Currant and Gooseberry with large 
patches of this disease were sent by J. Cleland of Downpatrick. 
Cucumbers Diseased. —Mr. J. Heptinstall sent some fruit showing gummy 
exudations. The cause was not apparent, and they were referred to Mr. 
Murray for examination. No fungus or insect was visible, and it was 
thought by some to be due to too much manure. 
I^ycoperdon sp. —A fine young specimen of a Puff-ball about 9 inches in 
height, was received from Mr. Grant of Christ Church, Hants. It was 
entrusted to Mr. Murray to name. 
Saponaria ocymoides. —Mr.Loder exhibited specimens of varieties of this 
plant, which appeared to surpass in richness of colour the form known as 
“ splendens ; ” he proposed to call it atrococcinea or atro-rubens ; another 
variety he named grandiflora. 
Fasciate Peduncles. —A Narcissus, with several flowers fused ; a Polyan¬ 
thus with a quadrate stem, due to the fusion of four peduncles ; and Primula 
obtusifolia were exhibited by Mr. Smee, Col. Beddome, and Mr. Loder 
respectively. 
Lilium longifolium, bulbiferous. —Mr. Wilson exhibited a stem which had 
borne aerial bulbs instead of flowers, and of which the bulbs had grown into 
shoots a foot or more in length while still upon the parent plant. 
Morello Cherry, double. —He showed a spray of this variety. Some of 
the flowers had the two foliaceous carpels, similar to the common double 
Cherry; others had additional flower buds within the two carpels. 
Dendrobium Wardianum, monstrous. —Dr. Masters exhibited blossoms 
with supernumerary labella, <irc., upon which he will report. 
Hellebores, hybrids. —Rev. G. Henslow exhibited branches from the same 
plant of H. albido-virescens, described at the last meeting, and received 
from Mr. Ellacombe. One bore bright green foliage and pure white flowers ; 
the serratures of the leaves being rather coarse. The other had purple 
flowers, and foliage of a purplish green, the serratures being finer than in 
the other. The specimens indicated a separation of the parental elements 
on distinct branches of the same plant, somewhat similar to the well-known 
case of Cytisus Adami. 
Insectivorous plants in the open air. —Fine specimens of Darlingtonia, 
Dionoea, Sarracenia purpurea, and other species, as well as species of 
Drosera, were received from Miss Owen, Knockmullen, Gorey, Ireland, all 
of which were grown out of doors in small ‘‘ bog bedsthe first three for 
one year, but the other for several years. 
Straioberry, quinquefoliate Leaves of. —The Rev. G. Henslow exhibited 
specimens received from Mr. Lovell of Driffield. He also brought specimens of 
Fragaria monophylla (from the garden of the late Mr. Borrer) to show how the 
five-leaved form was derived from the monophyllous (which is characteristic 
of seedlings). Two basal lobes become detached from the single blade, and 
then two more from the basal lobes of the former. A similar process is 
characteristic of the Blackberry, but in the Raspberry both pairs of leaflets 
are successively taken from the terminal one. Mr. Dyer, in a notice of 
Duchesne’s Histoire Naturelle des Fraisiers (Nature , xxix., 215) alludes to 
the origin of F. monophylla and its retaining in the adult state the character 
of a seedling. He also showed specimens of transitional from simple to 
compound states in the leaves of Rhus heterophylla, Ampelopsis Veitchii, 
Clematis cirrhosa, and Elm. 
Monstrosities. —The Rev. G. Henslow exhibited three blossoms of garden 
Anemone, in one of which the bracts of the involucre were sub-petaloid; in 
the other a supernumerary coloured leaf grew from within the involucre. 
A Passion Flower received from Mr. Pirn with a sub-petaloid stigma, the 
rest of the flower being normal. 
Clover Sickness. —Mr. Plowright sent the following with illustrations : 
—“ The cause of this affection of Clover is but little understood. Pos¬ 
sibly it may be induced by more than one cause, or rather that several 
diseases which cause injury to the Clover crop have been loosely called 
Clover sickness. Not the least important of these is due to presence of 
a parasitic Peziza, which at one period of its growth developes a scle- 
rotium upon the roots of the Clover. Having been anxious for some 
time past to meet with this fungus, I have examined several plants from 
a field of Clover which is sick near King’s Lynn, which were from time 
to time brought to me by my friend Mr. Thomas Brown. The only 
abnormality I can discover, however, consists in the presence of those 
little nodular enlargments upon the roots of the Clover which have been 
so carefully investigited bv Eriksson in his paper, ‘Studies ofver Le- 
guminosernar rotknolar.’ The specimen sent herewith shows the con¬ 
dition which Eriksson describes. Eich knot is about the size of a pin’s 
head, of an oval form, rather soft internally, and attached by one end to 
one of the smaller roots. Similar bodies may not unfrequently be seen 
upon roots of the cultivated Pea and Bean. If a section be cut from one 
of these root knots from the Ciover, and examined under a power of 4 or 500 
diameters, it will be seen that the central part of the knot consists of a 
mass of cells full of granular contents. These granules escape when 
th6 cell wall is ruptured, and float about as a cloud of minute specks. 
The central part of the root knot is paler in colour and more transparent 
than the external enveloping tissue. The structure of the internal mass 
enclosed in the cells reminds one of plasmodiophora. I have been unable 
to observe the peculiar cruciate bodies which Eriksson figures t. iii., f. 40 
and 41, as ‘ Corpora vibriorum smilia aut ramosa.’ ” 
The E litor of the Gardeners' - Chronicle, describing these tubercles on 
the Leguminosie, alludes to Professor Frank’s observations as follows:— 
44 He was always able to distinguish two foreign elements—namely, un¬ 
doubted slender threads or 4 hyphrn ’ traversing the cell walls and cell 
cavities, and very small cell-like corpuscles, free from each other, and the 
protoplasm of the cells of the inner tissue, in which they are present in 
extraordinary numbers.”—( Gardeners' Chronicle , 1879, vol. 2, pp. 112, 114, 
and vol. 12, 209. 
Nicotiana Hybrid. —Rev. G. Henslow showed drawings of the hybrid 
raised by Colonel Clarke, and exhibited at the previous meeting. The 
pollen grains were spindle-shaped, with one to three grooves, colourless, and 
exhibited little or no change in water ; in glycerine a small drop of granu¬ 
lar fluid matter exuded. The grains did not give the appearance of health, 
and had hitherto proved ineffectual in producing good seeds. 
LONDON’S LESSER OPEN SPACES: THEIR TREES 
AND PLANTS. 
In a phrase that i3 now familiar to all, whoever may have been the 
author, we call “ the lungs of London”—those large open spaces in the 
midst of its busy and populous streets, such as parks and embankments, 
which tend to keep its atmosphere healthy not only by their vacancies, 
wherein the air has free circulation, but in another way as well. They 
have their trees and plants, cultivated or uncultivated, and these not only 
afford gratification and refreshment to the stroller, but in the course of 
their growth, while they absorb and fix carbon, liberate into the air a con¬ 
siderable amount of oxygen, so valuable to all animals. Also, at times it 
appears that where there are plants a certain proportion of ammonia is 
given off, which modern theorists believe to be salutary. Much has been 
written concerning the history and the horticulture of these open spaces. 
Besides these, however, there are other and smaller spaces which have 
their importance also as minor lungs of London, and performing a useful 
part. They are often of special value because they happen to be in the 
midst of a dense population, accessible to many who can but occasionally 
visit the parks of the metropolis, and by their shrub3 or flowers they 
bring the country into town to the delight of young and old. 
“ Building,” wrote Hine in 1832, 44 or what may more properly be 
called the tumbling-up of tumble-down houses, is so rapidly increasing 
about London that there will some day be scarcely a green spot for the 
resort of the inhabitants. Against covering of private ground in this 
way there is no resistance, but against its evil consequences to health 
some remedy should be provided by the setting apart of open spaces.” 
Unhappily for us Londoners a full half century rolled by ere the 44 Metro¬ 
politan Public Garden, Boulevard, and Playground Association ” came 
into being, and during this interval how much land has been allowed to 
be built over that ought, by authoritative interference, to have been kept 
open for the benefit of the inhabitants of the locality. Since its exist¬ 
ence, this Association has done good work in securing some places from 
the attacks of the builder, in throwing open to the public others that had 
been long shut up, owing to adherents of 44 the dog in the manger ” prin¬ 
ciple, and also in showing how such spots might be turned to the best 
account by the judicious planting of trees or shrubs, or occasionally by 
the cultivation of flowers. One direction in which this Association has 
worked specially is towards the utilisation of disused churchyards as recrea¬ 
tion grounds for the living. There can be no objection to this, provided all 
interments have so long ceased as to render it certain or nearly so that 
no offensive gases are likely to rise from the soil; were it otherwise, a 
churchyard, however agreeably planted, may prove a garden of death to 
the living. Supposing, for the most part, that the soil in these remodelled 
churchyards is not interfered with it, would, I think, probably be rather 
favourable than otherwise for the culture of many plants, although some 
shrubs have been named as proving failures in churchyards where they 
had plenty of air and moisture. 
Asking the reader, then, to be my companion while I glance at some 
of the smaller open spaces of London where a breath of fresh air and the 
sight of green Laves are attainable, we may notice first those that are in 
or near its busiest scenes, and which are, not a few of them, far better 
attended to than they were when this Journal came into existence, since 
which date horticulture has received a notable impetus. Also, we are 
now more learned in matters sanitary and hygienic—possibly even in 
danger of getting a trifle too 44 faddy,” as the phrase is. It is, however, 
at present the fact that some of these oiLes in the desert of the metro¬ 
polis are reserved for the privileged, and the general public can only look 
at them through railings or a brick wall—a state of things which calls for 
the action which the Association already referred to is endeavouring to 
exert. This happens to be the case just now at the time-honoured spot 
where the Tower overlooks the metropolis and the Thames, and which is 
not without its trees and even its flowers, growing in the precincts of the 
