1877 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
141 
usually mottled and dotted with brownish- 
purple and whitish markings, and they are 
often as handsome as the leaves of some of 
the most prized exotic “foliage plante.” The 
flower stem, six inches or more high, bears 
only a solitary nodding flower, an inch or 
adder’s tongue.—( Erythronium Americanum.) 
more long, which appears, according to the 
latitude, from February to May. The flower 
is seen at its best only on bright, sunny days; 
in dull weather, or very early and very late in 
the day, the petals are nearly straight, and the 
flower almost closed; in the clear sun the petals 
are handsomely curved backwards, and the 
flower then appears like a small lily. The 
petals are pale yellow, the three outer ones 
usually tinged on the outside with purplish, and 
there are often brown spots at the base within. 
The flowers are remarkable for the length of 
time they endure, as they last from three to 
four weeks. Our special object in mentioning 
this plant, is to remind our readers who admire 
it in the wild state, that they will like it still 
better if they bring it into the garden. Like 
many other plants that naturally grow in moist 
places, this not only will live in the drier soil 
of the garden, but be greatly improved in size 
by the change. The engraving was made from 
a garden specimen, which was sketched before 
the stem had reached its full hight, hence it 
has a dwarfish appearance, which would have 
disappeared in a few days. The proper time 
to take up the wild bulbs is when the leaves 
begin to fade, showing that they have finished 
their work of maturing the bulb. The bulbs that 
produce but one leaf, are too small to flower, and 
may be rejected if the larger ones are plenty, 
though they will soon grow large enough to 
bloom. The bulbs may be planted along the 
edges of shrubbery, near rock-work, or in the 
open border, where they need not be disturbed 
until they increase so as to become crowded, 
which will be in three or four years; they 
should be set as deep as they were originally. 
A white-flowered spe¬ 
cies, (j K albidum), is 
found in some north¬ 
ern and western local¬ 
ities ; it also does 
well in the garden. 
The far-western K 
grandiflorum, we have 
not tried. The Eu¬ 
ropean alpine species 
E. JDens-canis, has 
purplish and some¬ 
times nearly white 
flowers. Its bulbs are 
imported in the fall 
with Hyacinths and 
other Dutch bulbs, 
but though we have 
made several trials, 
have failed to make 
them grow; probably 
the bulbs are taken up 
at the wrong season. 
This is known in 
Europeas the “Dog’s- 
tooth Violet,” a name 
sometimes applied to 
ours; it is strange that 
the appellation should 
be given to a plant so 
very unlike a Violet, 
not only in form but 
in color, and should 
be discarded for our 
native species,in favor 
of “ Adder’s-tongue,” 
which, if not very 
elegant or appropri¬ 
ate, has at least the 
merit of not leading 
to confusion. The 
systematic name Ery- 
thronium , is equally unfortunate; it is from 
the Greek for red , which does not apply to the 
European species, and still less to any of ours. 
The Dusky Magnolia—Banana Shrub. 
The plant we are about to describe is so far 
from being new, that it is within a few years of 
a century since it was introduced into cultiva¬ 
tion; but new things are not always the best, 
and we feel that we do our readers better ser¬ 
vice, when we rescue a good plant from un¬ 
merited neglect, than we do in introducing to 
their notice a recent but untested novelty. 
Here is one of the most charming of cultivated 
plants almost entirely ignored in works on 
horticulture, and rare in collections. The 
plant in question is the Dusky Magnolia, ( Mag¬ 
nolia fuscata), from China, a much branched 
shrub with slender spray; sometimes reaching 
10 or 15 feet, but generally much smaller. In 
habit, and in its evergreen foliage, it has much 
the aspect of a Camellia; the young stems, 
young leaves, and also the flower buds, are of 
a blackish-brown color, a peculiarity that gives 
it the specific name, fuscata. The flowers, 
solitary in the axils of the leaves, are of the 
size and shape shown in the engraving; the 
petals are thickish and slightly tinged with 
brownish-red; the stamens and pistils are 
similar in structure and arrangement to those 
in the large-flowered species. The flowers are 
remarkably fragrant, not like those of most 
other species, with a heavy oppressive odor, but 
the fragrance is very fresh and pleasant, and 
so strikingly like that of a ripe Banana, that it 
ky jiagnoliA.— {Magnolia fuscata.) 
has received the popular name of “Banana 
Shrub.” In the Southern States, where the 
stranger is astonished to see Camellias flower¬ 
ing in door-yards and cemeteries, this is a pop¬ 
ular ornamental plant, and deservedly so, as it 
combines beauty and fragrance in an extra¬ 
ordinary degree. We do not know how far 
north it has proved hardy, but from the fact 
that it stands the winters in favorable situations 
in England, we suppose that in parts of Vir¬ 
ginia it may be left in the open ground with¬ 
out injury. Those who live in more severe 
climates must be content with this Magnolia 
as a pot-plant, and we regard it as a most de¬ 
sirable one. Though it will reach the hight 
we have mentioned, still it will flower when 
quite small. The branch from which the en¬ 
graving was made, was taken from a pot-plant 
scarcely two feet high, and bore some two 
dozen flowers; we have had it flower freely 
when only a foot high. The treatment is of 
the simplest kind. It is potted in a soil made 
sufficiently open to allow water to drain off 
readily. During summer the pots are set in 
the partial shade of a fence, or screen, taking 
care that they are properly watered. When 
cool weather approaches, they are put with 
other nearly hardy plants in a cool greenhouse, 
so cool that frost is barely kept out; when the 
swelling of the buds shows that the plant is 
about to flower, it is taken into a warmer 
