1876 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
421 
we came across a Weigela, in the collection of 
Messrs. S. B. Parsons & Sons, Flushing, N. Y., 
which we had not seen before ; this was label¬ 
ed W. Lamllei, and may be called Lavalle’s 
Weigela. This, though introduced four or five 
years ago in Europe, does not appear to be 
the meeting with, in their native wilds, plants we 
had long known in gardens at home. To come 
across Drummond’s Phlox in immense beds, 
to see Eschscholtzia by the acre, and in the 
mountain passes of the Pacific Coast to meet 
with the charming Ncmophilas, always garden 
an umbrella, as in the parsnip, carrot, fennel, 
parsley, and other common plants of that fami¬ 
ly. There is generally, at the point where the 
umbrella sticks start from the main stem, a 
whorl of leaves, much smaller than the ordi¬ 
nary leaves, which form what is called the in- 
LAVALLE’s weigela. —{Weigela LavaHei.) 
much known in this country; it originated 
with M. Lemoine, who claims that it is a 
hybrid between W. arborea and W. multiflora ; 
however this may be, it is a quite distinct and 
interesting variety. Its flowers are pendu¬ 
lous, and of a very dark reddish purple, with a 
yellow center, the colors making a rich con¬ 
trast. The Messrs. Parsons inform us that this 
variety, like the white one just referred to, con¬ 
tinues to bloom nearly all the season. The en¬ 
graving, made in September, is of course from 
the late flowers; the first flowers appear in 
pendent clusters, and more numerous than 
here shown, and they are also larger. The 
English florists regard this as a fine forcing 
variety; indeed, all the Weigelas force readily, 
as our market florists well know, as pots of 
the common kinds, forced into full bloom in 
March and April, are among the plants which 
these dealers sell at that season to the great 
disappointment of the purchasers. 
-- —a ■» » — -- 
Leavenworth’s Eryngo. 
In recalling the incidents of an extended jour¬ 
ney across the Continent many years ago, be¬ 
fore Pacific railroads were even planned, none 
are remembered with more satisfaction than 
Leavenworth’s eryngo. —(Eryngium Leavcnworthii.) 
volucre. This flower arrangement is so fre¬ 
quent and so striking in this family, that one 
can readily recognize a member of it by this 
character alone,but there are marked exceptions 
to this general rule, of which the Eryngos are 
examples; in these the umbel has no rays, (the 
umbrella is without sticks), and the flowers are 
all brought close together in dense clusters or 
heads, aod the whole appearance so unlike that 
of the other plants we have named, that one 
■would not suspect these of belonging to the 
same family. But the real distinctions of the 
family depend upon peculiarities in the flower 
and fruit, which need not be here described, 
and it -would be easy to show that the Eryngos 
are Umbellifers, though they have no umbels. 
There are two Eryngos found as far north as 
Mew Jersey, which have globular heads, and 
not at all showy. Our Texan species, named 
in honor of Doct. Leavenworth, who many 
years ago first discovered it in Arkansas, is an 
annual; it grows two to three feet high, and is 
much branched. The stem first bears a flower 
head, beneath this there start out two branches, 
each bearing another head; from beneath each 
of these heads come one or two more branches, 
as the case may be, and so on. At first the 
plant is not very attractive, but soon the older 
heads, their involucres, and the little tuft of 
favorites of ours, and many other friends liter¬ 
ally at home, was an experience that can only 
be appreciated by those to whose lot it has 
fallen. We felt something akin to the pleasure 
with which we met these well known plants in 
their native haunts, when the conditions were 
reversed, and we came upon a plant we had 
much admired in its wild state, quite at home 
in a garden bed. In looking about the garden 
after a (for us) prolonged absence, there was in 
full glory of the richest purple, Leavenworth’s 
Eryngo, Eryngium Leavenworthii, a plant that 
we had made the acquaintance of In western 
Texas, and for which we had formed a great 
liking. Among the many seeds, sent by kind 
friends all over the country, were those of this 
Eryngo, about which we had quite forgotten, 
and the plants in their perfection were a most 
welcome surprise. The name Eryngium , 
given to a genus of plants, is one of which the 
meaning is not well known, but there is a spe¬ 
cies in England for which the name has been 
shortened into “Eryngo,” and as it has one 
syllable the less, we adopt it. The plants be¬ 
long to the family of Umbellifers, most of 
which have their heads in that form of cluster 
called an umbel; the small stalks (or rays) that 
bear the flowers, or small clusters of flowers, 
Start out from the main stem, like the sticks tq 
