1881 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
285 
vulgare. This flowered last May in the 
grounds of C. L. Allen, Garden City, L. I., 
who furnished specimens for drawing. The 
engraving of the upper portion of a stem is 
much reduced, but a single flower of the full 
size is given. The plant grows from two to 
four feet high, and has the same gracefully 
curved stem and pendulous flowers as our 
own. As a garden plant it is much more 
ornamental, as to its flowers, than either of 
the native species. In ours the flowers are 
yellowish, or of a dull greenish-white, while 
in this the tube of the flower is pure white, 
Mountains and westward, some of them more 
truly alpine, and quite unknown to cultiva¬ 
tion. Next to these are several that may 
be grouped as “Running” or “Creeping 
Phloxes.” These are perennial, but their 
principal stems are prostrate, though their 
flowering stems are erect. Lastly, there 
are the well known tall Garden Phloxes, 
which are generally called the “ Perennial 
Phloxes,” though all but P. Drummondii are 
also perennial. “Perennial Phloxes” have 
been so hybridized that the original species 
are quite lost sight of, and a vast number of 
The Japan Solomon’s Seal. 
Those who study the geographical distribu¬ 
tion of plants, find a great similarity between 
the vegetation of Japan and that of North 
America. Unexpectedly this similarity does 
not exist in a marked degree where one 
would most expect it—between the plants of 
Japan and those of our western coast, but 
singularly enough it occurs between the 
eastern side of our Continent and that of the 
Old World. In many cases the same plant 
is found in the Eastern States and in Japan, 
the japan Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum vulgare , var. macranthum). 
and not upon our western coast. The sim¬ 
ilarity in the floras of the two countries does 
not consist so much in the occurrence of the 
same species in both, as in that of representa¬ 
tive or equivalent species. For example; our 
poisonous tree-like Sumach has its equivalent 
there in a similar, but not identical poisonous 
one ; and so on through a long list. Among 
our familiar spring flowers are the Solomon’s 
Seals ( Polygonatum ), and at least three spe¬ 
cies are found in Japan. These plants get 
their common name because their fleshy root¬ 
stocks show upon the upper surface depres¬ 
sions somewhat like those made in wax by a 
seal. These marks show where the stems of 
the preceding years were attached. One of 
our species, the Great Solomon’s Seal (P. gi- 
ganteum), though ordinarily but two or three 
feet high, will in very rich soil reach five, and 
even eight feet, and is a very interesting 
plant. It is, however, excelled in beauty by 
a Japanese species which has been cultivated 
in Eurppe for some years as Polygonatum 
Japonicum, but which Sir Joseph Hooker 
now regards as a large-flowered form of P, 
garden forms of the greatest beauty and 
variety are the result. We have often com¬ 
mended these, and shall probably do so many 
times again, for we know of no more useful 
plants, combining as they do the greatest 
variety and beauty with perfect hardiness 
and ease of culture. It is remarkable for one 
genus to have ^produced what may be re¬ 
garded as the most widely popular annual, 
and well nigh the most useful perennials of 
our gardens, but its possibilities have not yet 
been exhausted. In the Alpine section, 
while there are a number yet unknown to 
our gardens, and may be regarded as raw 
material in reserve, florists have been at work 
upon the one so long cultivated. The Moss 
Pink (Phlox subulata), varies so in the wild 
state that its forms have been described, and 
named as species ; this has of late been taken 
in hand by European florists, and already 
varieties of encouraging beauty have been 
obtained. The group we have designated as 
“Running,” appears to have received but 
little attention at the hands of the florists. 
This may be because of the irregular rambling 
with the short lobes of a pleasing light green. 
A clump with our taller native species in the 
center, and surrounded by this one from 
Japan, would be most striking, and from the 
peculiar habit of the plants, at the same 
time graceful. The name given to the plant 
by Hooker is Polygonatum vulgare, var. ma¬ 
cranthum, but for garden uses the Japan 
Solomon’s Seal is sufficiently distinctive. 
Phloxes—The Chickweed Phlox. 
Probably no other American genus of 
plants affords to the flower garden such a 
number of unlike form as does the Phlox. 
The annual Phlox Drummondii, has produced 
distinct varieties enough to alone furnish a 
garden with almost every shade in color, 
while the perennial species are very numer¬ 
ous, and present such a variety in habit, that 
they may be for garden purposes regarded in 
three distinct groups. One set are properly 
alpine in habit; of these the beautiful P. 
subulata, or Moss Pink, is the best known, 
but there are many others in the Rocky 
