1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
*467 
The Canada Tiek-TrefoiL 
{Desmodium Canadense.) 
The genus Desmodium, belonging to the Pulse or 
Pea Family, the Ltguminosae, is a rather large one, 
as it presents us with about 20 species in the North 
em States. They are perennial herbs, with com¬ 
ber. This is among the many of our native plants 
that, when introduced into the garden, will com¬ 
pare favorably with the exotics of the season. It is 
another illustration of the fact that we have for these 
many years endeavored to impress upon our read¬ 
ers— i. e., that no lover of flowers need be without 
a flower garden because of the expense of plants 
ish marshes from Canada southward, others are 
found along the rivers of the West and Southwest, 
some are peculiarly Southern, and two are found 
in California. Of these all but a few peculiar to 
the southernmost States are hardy in the climate of 
New York City, and while occasionally seen in 
gardens, are not so generally planted as they should 
pound leaves of three leaflets, small pea-shaped 
flowers, and flattened pods, which are lobed on the 
lower edge, and when ripe break up into two or 
several joints. The generic name, Desmodium, 
comes from the Greek, meaning bound together, hav¬ 
ing reference to the connected joints of the pods. 
The pods are generally clothed with very small 
hooked hairs, and when ripe break up at a slight 
touch into joints, which, by means of the hairs, 
cling very closely to the clothing, and in autumn 
one can rarely ramble far without finding evidence 
that he has been in contact with one of the species 
in the joints that persist in clinging firmly to his 
elothing. The trefoil-like leaves and the tick-like 
clinging of the joints of the pods, give the common 
name “Tick-Trefoil.” They are also sometimes 
called “ Beggars’ Lice ” and “ Beggars’ Ticks,” 
names which properly belong to very different 
plants, but which have a similar provision for dis¬ 
tributing their seeds. In most species of Desmodi¬ 
um the flowers are small and inconspicuous, but in 
D. Canadense the flowers are much larger than in 
any others, being half an inch long, and from their 
greater abundance in dense panicles or clusters, 
and their lively purplish-pink color, are quite 
showy. In the engraving the panicle and the 
flowers are reduced about one-half, the real size 
being spown by a detached single flower. The 
stems are usually about three feet, but are some¬ 
times twibc as high. Pennsylvania is its southern 
limit,and .it is more abundant northward, along the 
edges of woods, flowering in August and Septem- 
to stock it. From early spring until the end of the 
blooming season, are to be found wild plants 
which European cultivators are glad to have in 
their gardens, and for which they pay as much as 
we do for European and other choice exotic plants. 
The Great Scarlet Rose-Mallow. 
(Hibiscus coccineus.) 
The genus Hibiscus includes both shrubs and 
herbs, and furnishes a number of showy cultivated 
species; they have usually very large flowers, of 
the general structure common to the Mallow Family, 
the most prominent character of which is the union 
of the stamens (by the filaments) into a long tube, 
through which the pistils protrude ; this structure 
is very distinctly seen in the single Hollyhock, and 
runs with slight modifications through the whole 
Family. Among the shrubby species of Hibiscus is 
H Syriacus, or “Rose of Sharon” (incorrectly call¬ 
ed Althaea , which is a distinct genus), a hardy 
shrub, cultivated for its large late flowers, which 
range from white to purple, and are both single 
and doable. A valued greenhouse shrub is H 
Rosa-Sinemis, the “Rose of China,” with shining 
leaves and large scarlet or crimson single and 
double flowers. Among the annuals, H. esculentus, 
the “ Okra,” with eatable pods, and H Trionum, 
the “ Flower of an Hour,” are well known. Of the 
perennial herbaceous species, the most showy are 
natives of the United States. H. Moscheutos , the 
“ Swamp Rose-Mallow,” is common in the brack- 
be, where there is room for such stately plants; 
they are from three to six or more feet high, often 
with striking foliage, and very large and showy 
flowers. One species, having Georgia for its north¬ 
ern limit, is not quite hardy with us ; this is Hibis¬ 
cus coccineus, the “ Great Scarlet Rose-Mallow,” of 
which we give a flower, leaves, and unripe pods, re¬ 
duced in size. The stem, which is very smooth, 
grows four to eight feet high, its long-petioled 
leaves are deeply cleft, as seen in the engraving; 
the flowers are from 6 to 10 inches across, of a deep 
scarlet, and especially brilliant from the shining 
surface of the petals. This, so far as we are aware, 
is the most showy of all the herbaceous species of 
Hibiscus, and one of the most brilliant of flowers of 
its season, which, with us, is early in September, 
but in its native localities it begins to bloom in 
July. We say that it is not hardy with us from the 
experience of last winter only. But the fact that it 
is not hardy should be no obstacle to the cultiva¬ 
tion of so showy a plant, as its roots may be taken, 
up after the stems are killed, and kept in dry sand 
or earth in the cellar. In European works this 
species is given as Hibiscus speciosus, but the one 
given above is the older and, therefore, proper name. 
In view of the readiness with which plants of the 
Mallow Family break into varieties, we are sur¬ 
prised that so little has been done with our native 
species. The exotic species of Hibiscus already 
mentioned have given a great variety of color and 
double and half double flowers. The Great Scarlet 
Rose-Mallow is a promising.subject to work with. 
