I 860 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
909 
blossoms appear in May, opening at the same 
time with the leaf buds. They are formed like 
those of the Flowering Alm#nd and completely 
load the delicate branches. The shrub is easily 
propagated by cuttings, layers or suckers, makes 
a very rapid growth and is perfectly hardy. In 
this it exceeds the Almond; the branches of the 
latter usually have several inches of the end 
winter-killed, and look unsightly, unless well 
trimmed. We saw cuttings made last year, in 
full flower this Spring, which shows its rapid de¬ 
velopment. It remains in bloom in the open 
grounds from two to three weeks, according to 
the weather, its snowy whiteness contrasting ad¬ 
mirably with the grass and foliage of the lawn. 
When full grown it stands about three feet high, 
and spreads out over a space four or five feet in 
diameter—or if the suckers are left, it will ex¬ 
tend over a large area. In some situations on 
the lawn masses of this shrub would be desir¬ 
able acquisitions. It would also look well inter¬ 
spersed among dwarf snowballs and lilacs. 
The specimen we have here illustrated was 
potted and removed to the green-house last Fall, 
and forced into flower in February. It bears this 
treatment well, and is thus a fine ornament for 
the conservatory. 
In cultivating this shrub, no particular direc¬ 
tions are needed beyond what should be observed 
for all plants. It will grow as easily as a cur¬ 
rant bush, but to secure fine and abundant bloom, 
it needs, like most other shrubs, deep, mellow, and 
rich soil, kept free from weeds, with proper prun¬ 
ing to form a well shaped head. The plants may 
be layered when beginning their growth, and 
cuttings taken when that growth is completed. 
Fig. 1. 
A Vegetable Curiosity. 
NEI.UMBIUM LUTEUM. 
Several months since, a subscriber, Mr. Win. 
Kussman, Bolivar Co., Miss., forwarded to the Ag¬ 
riculturist office, a singular looking object, which 
nas excited no little curiosity. “What is it'!” 
has been asked so many times by visitors, that 
we have thought an engraving and description 
would interest our readers. Mr. Kussman gave 
<n substance, this account of it. “It is the en¬ 
tire seed-top of a weed which grows in one of 
our lakes, and is here called the ‘ Kenaukee nut.’ 
It has a very large leaf. The nuts are eaten by 
cattle, and wild geese. Children, too, are fond of 
them.” Fig. 1, is an accurate representation of 
the specimen received. At first sight it does not 
look like a natural product, but appears as if 
some one had amused himself by sticking acorns 
into an enormous toad-stool which had dried up 
and held them thus enclosed. On overhauling 
some of our botanical recollections we remember 
Fig. 2. 
liage and flowers. The plant is known as the 
Water Chinquapin, or Egyptian Bean, and is the 
Nclumbium lutcurn of botanists. It is nearly re¬ 
lated to the beautiful and wej|^nown water-lily, 
but that is small in comparison with this. The 
stem of the Nelumbium lays prostrate in the mud 
and throws up circular leaves of enormous size, 
being often two feet in diameter. These are at¬ 
tached to the leaf stalk at the center—from which 
strong ribs run, upon the under side, to the mar¬ 
gin, like the sticks of an umbrella; the leaf is 
not perfectly flat, but is depressed in the center to 
form a cup like cavity. The stalks bearing the 
flowers, also arise from the prostrate stem, and 
bear a single flower of a delicate yellow color. The 
second engraving (fig. 2) gives a good idea of the 
general appearance of the flower, which is 6 inch¬ 
es or more in diameter; before it is fully expand¬ 
ed it resembles a small summer-cabbage. After 
the flower falls away, the pistil (in the center of 
the flower) enlarges very much, and ultimately 
becomes the curious fruit. The specimen from 
which our engraving is taken, is four inches across. 
We can get an idea of the structure of this fruit, 
which is so different from any other, by looking 
at that of the common Buttercup, after the flow¬ 
er has fallen off; we find here a little rounded 
head of distinct fruits (commonly mistaken for 
seeds,) all collected at the end of the flower- 
stalk ; if we now imagine the end of the stalk on 
which they are situated to be very much expand¬ 
ed, so as to bring these fruits all on a level, and 
to enlarge in such a way as to include them in 
its substance, we shall have the botanist’s view 
of the nature of the fruit of the Nelumbium. The 
acorn-like bodies are separate fruits, imbedded in 
the swollen end of the flower-stalk. These sep¬ 
arate fruits contain but one seed each, which is 
pleasant and eatable. The root bears tubers some 
thing like Sweet Potatoes in shape, and they are 
said to be, when well cooked, as palatable and nu¬ 
tritious as the potato; both these and the seeds are 
favorite articles of food with the Western Indians. 
The plant is found in the rivers and lakes of the 
West and South ; at the East it is found only in 
the Connecticut river at Lyme, and near the 
Delaware river in a creek in the suburbs of Phil¬ 
adelphia. The latter local¬ 
ity has long been celebrated 
among the cultivators of bo¬ 
tany ; it is readily accessible 
from Philadelphia, being but 
a short distance below the 
Navy Yard. Other species 
of Nelumbium are found in 
one, the 
Nelumbium speciosum, is 
often found figured upon the 
ancient tombs and monu¬ 
ments of Egypt. Our readers 
may remember the allusion 
made to it in the article 
“ A visit to Kew Gardens” 
published in the April Agri¬ 
culturist, page 113. It was 
likened to a piece of plum 
pudding, stuck full of hazel 
nuts, which very well de¬ 
scribes the appearance of the 
species here illustrated. The 
fiber from its leaf-stalks is 
used for wicks to the lamps 
burned in the Hindoo re¬ 
ligious services. In China 
and Japan, it is regarded as 
a sacred plant: in these 
countries it is largely cul¬ 
tivated, for food and as an offering to their idols. 
We are always pleased to receive interesting 
specimens of this kind, and illustrate them when 
they are of sufficient novelty or interest. Many 
articles sent, are rare only in the immediate 
neighborhood of the person forwarding them, so 
that all can not be thus noticed, which will ex¬ 
plain why some favors have been apparently 
overlooked. 
Troublesome Flowers—Look Out! 
It sometimes happens that young cultivators, on 
reading of a certain flower, or seeing it in a bou¬ 
quet, forthwith order it from the florist, and 
set it out in their garden, knowing nothing of its 
size and general habits. Sometimes, too, it hap¬ 
pens that plants with pretty flowers, are so very 
rampant in growth, that they spread over our 
beds rapidly, and thus become a nuisance. A 
friend of ours relates, in illustration, a story of a 
neighbor who was much pleased with the flower 
of the St. Johnswort, (Hypericum perforatum ) 
which he saw for the first time in the garden of 
a citizen. Having procured seed and grown the 
flower, he exhibited it with much satisfaction to 
his visitors, and when naming it, he was partic¬ 
ular to emphasize the prefix thus, Saint Johns¬ 
wort. The next year it had made its way out. of 
the garden, and showed its yellow face here and 
there in the adjoining pasture. He began to 
doubt the saintly qualities of the plant, and in re¬ 
ply to one asking its name he replied, simply, 
“Johnswort.” The following year it had over¬ 
run a large area and established itself as a com¬ 
plete nuisance, and when the now vexed culti¬ 
vator was asked “ What is it 1” “ That infernal 
Johnswort ” was the answer. 
It would be well for young gardeners to inquire 
fully about the habits of new plants, before intro¬ 
ducing them to their grounds. A few that we 
now recall as having been troublesome to us, are 
these: 
Antirrhinum linaria, commonly called “ Butter 
