Svptember 11, 1890. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
227 
very handsome. Whether grown in the shade or in the fall sun— 
at a few inches or several feet from the glass, it is always dwarf, 
always free-growing and free-flowering.—G-. 
SOLANUM WENDLANDI. 
Specimens of this handsome Solanum were shown from the Royal 
Gardens, Kew, at one of the meetings of the Royal Horticultural 
Society this year, and the p’ant is so well worthy the attention of cul¬ 
tivators that we have had the accompanying illustration prepared to 
deposits of stratified drift cover its surface, almost everywhere making 
sandy and gravelly soils or light sandy loams. The flat coast plain, 
intersected by large bays, and smaller inlets surrounded by marshes, is 
fringed along its shore by hillocks of loose and often drifting sand. The 
long-leaved Pine or Cuban Pine form very open forests, which cover a 
large part of the plain. The damp, sandy soil of these flat woods, devoid 
of surface drainage,is covered with a dense carpet of Cyperaceous 
plants, Rhynchospora, Scirpi, Fuirenas, Eleocharis, and numerous 
species of Xyris, Eriocaulon, and Sarracenias. Their monotony is 
relieved by groves of Live Oak and Wax Myrtle on the sands of the sea¬ 
shore and the more varied tree growth of the richer spots of the swampy 
depressions. Magnolias, Laurel Oak, Water Oaks. Sweet Gum and 
Fig. 29.—SOLANUM WENDLANDI. 
give an idea of its characters. As grown at Kew in the old Lily house 
it is very attractive, its rich purplish crimson flowers being produced in 
profusion. It is not difficult to manage, but requires a good stove 
temperature, a moist atmosphere, and an open well-drained soil. 
THE FLORIDA SPRUCE PINE. 
The littoral belt extending from the alluvial lands of the Mississippi 
River eastward to the neck of the Peninsula of Florida presents no 
essential difference in climate or soil, or in the general features of 
vegetation throughout its entire length. Meteorologically it all belongs 
to one province. The line of 68° mean annual temperature follows the 
northern border along the thirty-first parallel of north latitude, and the 
isotherm of 72° follows the seashore. The mean annual precipitation 
between these limits varies from 48 to 54 inches, showing but slight 
differences in its distribution throughout the year. Highly silicious 
Black Gum are the most prominent on the hammock land, while the 
Bald Cypress represents the water-soaked banks of the rivers and their 
estuaries. 
One who travels this coast from west to east is struck by the succes¬ 
sive appearance of plants which are never or very rarely met with in 
the section left behind. If he leaves the eastern shore of the Bay of 
Mobile his attention is constantly directed to the plants which he has 
never encountered in the coast region between the western shore of the 
bay and the Mississippi delta. After crossing the extensions of the sea 
which intersect this coast, and entering the basins of the great streams 
which empty into them, he is surprised by the sudden appearance of 
plants not observed before, most of them becoming more frequent as 
he approaches the region which discharges its waters into the Atlantic. 
It would seem that while the wide bays of this coast, with the river 
basins connected with them, form the only obstacles to the general diffu¬ 
sion of plants over the littoral region of the eastern gulf States, yet to 
many species which are found on the South Atlantic seabjard these 
