184 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. r August *«, irai. 
Grapes. Mr. Swanwick, gardener to Col. Seely, Sherwood Lodge, 
first, Mr. Ward second, and Mr. Frith third. The latter had the 
best Melon, Mr. Ward being second. Mr. Lyon vra3 first with 
Peaches and Nectarines, the former very fine. Messrs. Webb and 
Ward each received a second prize. Mr. Lyon was also first with a 
collection of hardy fruit, followed closely by Mr. Webb. 
Cut flowers were not very good. Mr. Proctor secured most of the 
chief prizes for Dahlias, Roses, Gladioli, and Hollyhocks ; Mr. Ward 
being first with eighteen bunches of stove and greenhouse flowers, 
and for eighteen bunches of herbaceous flowers. Mr. Dore was first 
for a bouquet, and Mr. Haslam held a similar position for a bouquet 
of Everlasting Flowers and Grasses. 
An interesting and attractive group of plants was sent from Chats- 
worth ; several plants of Disa grandiflora, Pancratiums, and well- 
flowered Ericas being especially noteworthy.—J. G. 
PORTRAITS OF NEW AND NOTABLE PLANTS. 
Hymenocallis Harrisiana. {Nat. ord., Amaryllidaceae).— 
“ This is a very distinct species of Hymenocallis, remarkable for 
its dwarf habit, few-flowered umbels, and leaves not truly petioled, 
as in H. speciosa and H. guianensis, but narrowed gradually from 
the middle to the base. It was originally described by Dean 
Herbert from specimens imported from Mexico about the year 
1840, by T. Harris, Esq., of Kingsbury, after whom it was named. 
It was never figured, and appears to have been soon lost from 
cultivation ; but Herbert’s description is so full and clear, that 
when we received specimens at Kew in the summer of 1879, 
almost simultaneously from Colonel Trevor Clarke and Mr. Elwes, 
there was no difficulty in identifying it. A plant which has been 
distributed under the garden name of Hymenocallis uniflora is 
clearly a mere form of the same species.”— {Not. Mag., t. 6562.) 
Hypericum Coris. {Nat. ord., Hypericineae).—“ In a very 
early volume of the ‘Botanical Magazine,’ published in 1792 (and 
in other works), a plant is figured under the name of Hypericum 
Coris, which has been rightly distinguished by Wildenow and all 
subsequent authorities as a different species from the Linnnean 
plant of that name, and called H. empetrifolium. This and the 
fact that the two plants are frequently confounded in gardens, 
both being now commonly cultivated, renders it ver^ necessary 
that a good figure of the true H. Coris should appear in this 
magazine. The differences between these plants consists in H. 
empetrifolium being a more shrubby though not a bigger plant, 
with very short sepals which are spreading in fruit, and in having 
broader and less oblique petals. They have further a very diffe¬ 
rent geographical distribution, H. Cori3 being dispersed from the 
South of Fiance to the Tyrol, and occurring in many parts of 
Italy, whereas H. empetrifolium is confined to the Grecian Archi¬ 
pelago and neighbouring shores of Greece and Asia Minor. With 
regard to the fact that the Crimea is assigned to H. empetrifolium 
in this magazine, it is unquestionably an error, as neither of the 
two species extends into the Russian dominions. The late Mr. 
Lee, who is the authority for this statement, probably received 
the seeds from some voyager who, on returning from the Crimea, 
had collected them in the Greek islands. The true H. Coris was 
introduced into England as early as 1G40, and is figured in Par¬ 
kinson’s Theatrum.”— {Ibid., t. 6563 ) 
Naiidostachys Jatamansi. {Nat. ord., Valerianeae).—“This 
interesting plant is unquestionably one of the Spikenards of the 
ancients, the history and identification of which have been much 
complicated by the long prevalent opinion that the word Spike¬ 
nard referred to but one vegetable substance, and by the fact 
that Sir William Jones in his learned essay on the present plant 
was misled into referring its root to the foliage, &c., of a very 
different plant, which proved to be a species of Valeriana. 
Royle, who has summed up the history of the Spikenard of 
India with his usual care and learning, observes that Dioscorides 
described four kinds of Nard—the Syrian, the Indian (also called 
Gangites, from the river near which is the mountain which pro¬ 
duces it), the Celtic, and the mountain Nard ; and that a reference 
to the old Arabic and Persian works on the subject shows that 
the Spikenard or Harden is synonymous with Sumbul, of which 
four kinds are described, and that of these four the Sumbulhindee 
is the Himalayan Nardostachys, being the Sunbulool-teeb, or 
fragrant Nard of the Arabs, the Narden of the Greeks, the 
Nardoom of the Latins, the Balcher of the Hindoos, and the 
Jatamansi in Sanscrit. Nardostachys Jatamansi abounds iD the 
loftier regions of the whole Central and Eastern Himalaya, ex¬ 
tending from Kumaon to Bhotan, at elevations of 11,000 to 17,000 
feet, inhabiting stony places, and varying in stature and amount 
of odour according to the elevation, specimens from low levels 
attaining 28 inches in height, with larger leaves and flowers and 
faintly scented rhizomes, whilst the more alpine forms are dwarf, 
more slender, smaller flowered, with very strongly scented 
rhizomes. The odour of the plant is heavy, but not Wholly dis¬ 
agreeable, and though, like similar semifeetid drugs, highly appre¬ 
ciated by Orientals, it could never find favour amongst the 
Western nations of Europe. The rhizomes are collected in abun¬ 
dance by the natives of the hills, and used throughout the East 
in a dried state in unguents and as a drug ; no allusion is, how¬ 
ever, made to it in Drury’s ‘Useful Plants of India.’ The species 
figured flowered in the herbaceous ground of the Royal Garden in 
September, 1878, for the first time in Europe.”— {Ibid., t. 6564.) 
JSchmea Lindeni. {Nat. ord., Bromeliaceae).—“ Next to 
Billbergia, iEchmea may fairly be considered the most effective 
genus of Bromeliads for decorative purposes. Of late years our 
knowledge of it has rapidly increased, and several fine new species 
have been brought into cultivation. Taking the genus in a broad 
sense, so as to include Hoplophytum, Echinostachys, Pothuava, 
and Canistrum, as it is treated in my Monograph in the ‘Journal 
of Botany ’ above cited, we know now not less than sixty species, 
so that next to Tillandsia it is the largest genus in the natural 
order. The present plant was distributed by Liuden in 1865, and 
was received b}' him from M. LiboD, who discovered it in the 
province of Santa Catherina in South Brazil.”— {Ibid., t. 6565.) 
Cuscuta reflexa. {Nat. ord., Convolvulaceae).—“Though 
seldom seen in cultivation, this curious plant was first introduced 
into England in 1823, when it was raised in Colvill’s then cele¬ 
brated nursery from seeds sent from the Calcutta Botanical 
Gardens, and figured in Sweet’s ‘British Flower Garden’ as Cus¬ 
cuta verrucosa. In the following year it flowered in Edinburgh 
Botanical Garden, from seeds sent from the Madras Presidency, 
and was figured and described in the ‘Flora Exotica’ under its 
proper specific name. It is a very common Eastern Asiatic plant, 
occurring in China, Japan, and throughout the Peninsula and the 
Gangetic valley, in Ceylon and the whole length of the Hima¬ 
layas, ascending to 9000 feet in Sikkim, attaching itself to a great 
many different plants, and varying much in the stoutness of the 
stem, the most slender forms inhabiting the lower levels. On the 
banks of the river Soane in Bengal it has been seen clothing small 
trees with a beautiful web of golden cords studded with white 
sweet-scented flowers. C. reflexa is very easily cultivated. Sweet 
points out that the more juicy the plant is to which it attaches 
itself the stronger it grows, and says that the strong-growing 
species of Pelargonium suit it admirably. He adds that a plant 
raised in spring began flowering in September, and soon became 
entirely covered with flowers of a most delightful fragrance, 
somewhat resembling a mixture of Cowslips and Violets ; and 
that a plant which had taken hold of the Ivy by Mr. Colvill’s 
shop soon covered a great part of it, where it continued in flower 
till the very severe frosts, and ripened its seeds. The specimen 
referred to was obtained from Mr. Lynch of the Cambridge Botanical 
Gardens, who finds it flourish on Pelargoniums, and in contact 
with a bed of Tree Ivies it formed a mass 23 feet long and 12 
broad, which was all killed by 6° of frost.”— {Ibid., t. 6566.) 
KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Cauliflower seed for producing plants to be pricked-out under 
handligkts or frames on warm borders must at once be sown in an 
open situation, and not very thickly, so as to secure sturdy plants. 
Yeitch’s Early Forcing is a very desirable variety, and this year with 
us it was a fortnight in advance of any other, being very dwarf and 
compact, with beautifully white and delicately flavoured heads. Early 
London and Walcheren form a good succession. Young healthy 
Cauliflower plants may yet be placed out in good ground in a shel¬ 
tered situation ; they prove very useful if the early winter be mild. 
Onions and Spinach may still be sown, but the earlier after this the 
better. Continue planting Endive and Lettuce for successional crops, 
taking advantage of suitable weather to tie Cos Lettuce, which has a 
tendency even in the close-hearting varieties to become open at this 
time of year and onwards. Early Endive will also need tying ; and 
in dry weather give a good earthing to early Celery, closing the soil 
well about the plants and keeping it from the centres. Afford 
liquid manure copiously to successional crops of these, and earth a 
little—only to induce a close growth of the heads—until the plants 
W0RK/°h THE V/EEK,. 
