250 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 21,1895. 
within them. Weldenia Candida (Commelinacem). — This is a plant 
ranging from 1 to 8 inches in height, with tuberous roots and spreading, 
recurved leaves, passing into tubular sheaths below, and having 
scattered tufts of white hairs. The flowers are sessile, set in terminal 
tufts among the leaves. The tubular calyx, of about an inch in length, 
is of pale green colour, and the corolla is pure white, projecting 
to about twice the length of the calyx. It is a native of Mexico. 
Schinus dependens (Anarcardiacese). — This shrub, which comes from 
Chili, rises to about 15 feet. The dark brown branches are rigid and 
spiny at the points. The flowers are arranged in thick yellow clusters 
or axillary racemes, and consist of male and female. It is a hardy plant^ 
and flowers in May. 
- Kew Gaedeijs. —Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously 
pleased to allow the fences excluding the public from the Palace 
Meadows to be removed. This piece of ground is about acres in 
extent, and when thrown open it will allow visitors a direct, instead of 
a circuitous, access to the finest part of the arboretum. The Koyal 
Gardens are 251 acres in extent. It is not generally understood that 
they were originally the private property of the Crown, and not acquired 
out of public funds. The building used for the herbarium and library 
was sold to the nation by George IV. Access to the remainder has been 
step by step conceded to the public by the liberality and munificence of 
Her Majesty the Queen. The successive stages may be briefly enume¬ 
rated :—The Botanic Garden, of which Sir William Hooker was 
appointed Director in 1841, comprised about 11 acres. To this was 
almost immediately (1842) added between 3 and 4 acres about No. I, 
House, and the orangery (now No. Ill, Museum). Soon after (1844), 
by permission of the Queen, 47 acres, including the piece of water in 
front of the Palm house, were added from the pleasure grounds for the 
formation of a pinetum. In 1846 the Eoyal kitchen gardens (14 acres) 
were abolished ; a third of their area (about 5 acres), called Methold’s 
Garden (it having originally belonged to Methold House, the Director’s 
present oflicial residence), was at once added to the Botanic Garden ; 
another third abutting on the Richmond Road is now represented by 
the herbaceous ground and the propagating yard for the purpose of 
which many of the then existing fruit houses are still ia use. In 1851) 
the intervening third, the kitchen garden and paddock, in the occupa¬ 
tion of the King of Hanover, reverted to the Crown, and was added by 
the Queen to the Botanic Garden. The pleasure grounds and gardens 
at Kew were in the occupation of the King of Hanover for sporting 
purposes at the time the Botanic Garden was given to the nation. The 
woods were filled with rough scrub for cover. July 9th, 1845, they were 
placed in the charge of Sir William Hooker by the Woods and Forests. 
The intention was that they should be formed into a national arboretum. 
A plan for the purpose was prepared (1846) by W. A. Nesfleld. The main 
features were carried out at the time, and the general principle has been 
worked upon ever since. March 30th, 1864, the arboretum was finally 
thrown open to the public every day of the year, except Christmas Day. 
—(“ Kew Bulletin.”) 
- Edible Fungi in Sueeey.— Mr. Charles A. Briggs has an 
interesting article in the January number of “ Science Gossip,” on the 
“Edible Fungi of Surrey.” Mr. Briggs is struck by the popular 
ignorance as to the existence of edible fungi—other than Mushrooms— 
and suggests that instruction in the difference between edible and 
poisonous fungi and other plants should be given in village schools. 
“There must," he says, “in every district be someone—clergyman, 
doctor, or teacher—with sufficient botanical knowledge to enable them 
to point out the distinctive characters of, at all events, the larger 
edible species, and the knowledge thus imparted would spread and 
spread until this blot on our national thrift was removed.” With a 
view of rousing the class with whom it is a matter of prejudice rather 
than ignorance, Mr. Briggs gives a few notes of species eaten and 
enjoyed, not by himself alone, but by his whole household during the 
past year. Mr. Briggs records no less than fourteen species, of which 
the common Mushroom (Agaricus campestris), the Horse Mushroom 
(A. arvensis), the white St. George’s Mushroom (A. gambosus), the 
Warty Cap (A. rubescens), the A. vaginatus, the A. prunulus var. 
orcella, the Blewit (A. personatus), the Blue Cap (A. nudus), and the 
Boletus lutens “ may be cooked either in the frying pan, or baked in 
one of the common enamelled iron dishes now so much used, another 
dish being inverted over it all the time of cooking, and not lifted or 
removed until the dish is placed on the table, so as to retain all the 
flavour and aroma.” Besides these Mr. Briggs utilised two of our 
common Puff-balls (Lycoperdon plumbeum and L. bovista), which, if 
“ gathered young and eaten very fresh, are delicious when cut in slices, 
dipped in egg and crumbs, and fried ; the Morchella esculenta, which 
is “ most delicious when stewed in a good gravy ; ” the Sparassis crispa, 
the most gigantic of English fungi, which frequently makes a growth 
as large as a man’s head ; and the beefsteak fungus (Fistulina hepatica), 
the flavour of which, however, Mr. Briggs does not much like. The 
species named are all large and easily recognisable, but there are also 
many small kinds equally if not more palatable. Mr. Briggs has done 
good service in calling attention to these neglected foods. 
- Castleton Gaedens, Jamaica. — The “ Bulletin ” of the 
Botanical Department, Jamaica, for October—December, 1894, contains 
very interesting notes on the plants cultivated in the Botanic Gardens 
at Castleton. This serves both as a guide to the gardens and affords 
useful information on the plants themselves. A plan is added, showing 
where the plants may be found. These gardens were established about 
thirty years ago in a picturesque valley in the mountains between 
Kingston and Annotto Bay. The chief feature of the garden is un¬ 
doubtedly its fine collection of Palms. These thrive exceedingly well 
in the moist part of the locality. There are the Sugar Palm (Arenga 
saccharifera), Tucum Palm (Astrocaryum vulgare), Cohune Palm 
(Attalea Cohune), Jamaica Ippi-appi (Carludovica gracilis). Wax Palm 
(Copernicia cerifera), .^ta Palm (Mauritia flexuosa), Ivory Palm 
(Phytelephas microcarpa), Jupati Palm (Raphia tsedigera). Of flowering 
plants Amherstia nobilis has long been established ; Beaumontia grandi- 
flora forms large festoons across the garden paths, while others, such as 
Bignonia magnifica, species of Bauhinia, Colvillea racemosa, Dillenia 
indica, Mesua ferrea, Michelia Champaca, Napoleona imperialis, 
Spathodea campanulata, Victoria regia, are very luxuriant and attrac¬ 
tive. The Mangosteen (Garcinia Mangostana) fruited for the first 
time in Jamaica at Castleton in 1886. With Economic plants the 
Castleton Gardens are well supplied. They serve as an excellent centre 
for the propagation and distribution of such plants on the north side of 
the island, and large quantities are also sent to the Hope Gardens and to 
Kingston. The three best known Rubber Trees—viz., Para Rubber (Hevea 
brasilienais), Central American Rubber (Castilloa elastica), and Ceara 
Rubber (Manihot Glaziovi) have been established for more than twelve 
years, and have borne crops of seeds. A very successful plot of Liberian 
Coffee has been a prominent feature since 1880, and large quantities of 
seeds are annually distributed in the island. Mr. Fawcett anticipates 
that the export of coffee from Jamaica ought soon to be doubled.— 
(“ Kew Bulletin.”) 
-The Influence op Tempeeatuee on Teeeesteial Plants. 
—In an address to the United States National Geographic Society 
Dr. C. Hart Merriam discusses the influence of temperature on the 
geographical distribution of terrestrial animals and plants. It is well 
known that in the northern hemisphere animals and plants are dis¬ 
tributed in circumpolar belts or zones, the boundaries of which follow 
lines of equal temperature ; but difference of opinion prevails as to the 
period during which temperature exerts its restraining influence. Dr. 
Merriam opens new ground in the address to which we refer. Physio¬ 
logical botanists have long maintained that the various events in the 
life of plants, such as leafing, flowering, take place when the plants 
have been exposed to definite quantities of heat, which are the sums 
total of the daily temperatures above a minimum (6° C.) assumed to be 
necessary for functional activity, and are termed the physiological 
constants of the particular stages. Dr. Merriam infers from this that 
there must also be a physiological constant for the species itself ; and 
this species constant must be the total quantity of heat required by a 
given species to complete its cycle of development and reproduction. It 
follows that not only the mean temperature, but also the total quantity 
of heat in particular zones must be considered in estimating the influence 
of temperature on the distribution of plants and animals. Dr. 
Merriam has constructed a pair of isothermal charts of the United 
States, of which one shows the distribution of the total quantity of heat 
during the season of growth and reproduction (■i.f. the sum of daily 
mean temperatures above 6° C.), and the other the mean temperatures 
during the six hottest weeks of the year. By comparing these with a 
biogeographical chart of the same region. Dr. Merriam concludes, from 
the striking coincidences which occur, that animals and plants are 
restricted in northward distribution by the total quantity of heat during 
the season of growth and reproduction, and in southward distribution 
by the mean temperature of a brief period during the hottest part of 
the year. The anomalous intermingling of boreal and austral types 
which occurs over an extensive area of the Pacific coast of the United 
States becomes explicable by the establishment of these principles, for 
here alone is a low summer temperature combined with a high sum 
total of heat—the two conditions which permit extensive mixture in the 
same region of northern and southern types.—(“Nature.”)! 
