June 9, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
649! 1 
Meanwhile there is little to attract, even horticulturists, 
not to speak of outsiders, save partially well parched 
old-world doctrines. 
It is important to remark that little attempt has 
been made to pave the future highway of horticulture. 
The gravity of the situation must be obvious to all, but 
it is another thing if it is powerfully enough fore¬ 
shadowing itself to cause alarm. It is manifest, 
however, be it for good or for evil, as the old aristocracy 
make their exeunt and the new come in, that 
necessarily gardening must suffer in transition. The 
consequences may be for the better, but naturally 
smoothness will not run on in every department as 
before, owing to causes which will sympathise with the 
law of evolution, and can readily be perceived by the 
merest tyro in the vast realm of horticulture.— D. 
Chisholm. _ •>■£,< • _ 
NOTES ON POPPIES. 
Auttjmn-sown plants of Papaver umbrosum are making 
a grand show now in the garden. Amongst a large 
batch of seedlings we have several plants with a strong 
tendency to beconle double, which are very valuable for 
the base of each petal, the horn-like process of the 
sepals, and the setose or coarsely hairy ridged capsule, 
are all characters that render this Poppy bothbotanically 
distinct and exceedingly attractive. "We are sufficiently 
convinced on this point from the specimens sent us, 
and are much indebted for the opportunity of com¬ 
paring them. It is to be hoped that P. pavonium will 
soon become common in gardens.— Ed.] 
Papaver croceum, a biennial Poppy, differs from 
the majority of the family by having a slight fragrant 
perfume. The flowers are very fragile, of a pleasing 
orange-yellow tint, and produced in great abundance. 
A clump on the rockery forms an attractive object, and 
in such a position the plants will come up year after 
year from self-sown seed. 
The Iceland Poppies in all colours, from white to 
the deepest orange, are amongst the most attractive 
flowers at the present time. On the rockery, in the 
herbaceous borders, and even in the wild garden they 
form brilliant patches of colour, and are invaluable for 
cutting purposes. This season for the first time I have 
noticed amongst some yellow flowers an attempt at 
doubling, an example of which I send you, showing the 
fine showy variety of P. bracteatum, the flower-stems of 
which are fully 3 ft. high, with immense blooms of a 
deep red colour—not a dull, but a glossy red, set off to 
great advantage by the large black blotches. These 
large-type Poppies have one great disadvantage—the 
smell of them is simply atrocious ; but after all one 
need not cut them, for in the open air it is not 
noticeable, unless one actually smells the flowers at 
close quarters. 
Papaver pilosum is another perennial species, with 
salmon-coloured flowers, which are not so large as the 
foregoing species. The whole plant is densely covered 
with long hairs, hence the specific name. This 
characteristic gives it a distinct feature, and a large 
plant in flower is by no means an unattractive object 
in the herbaceous border .—John IV. Odell, Barrovj 
Point, Pinner. 
-- 
BEGONIA JOHN HEAL. 
The parents of this garden hybrid were the winter- 
flowering B. socotrana and one of the summer-flowering 
tuberous-rooted kinds. B. socotrana has a beautiful 
Begonia John Heal. 
cut flowers, as they last longer in water than the single 
blooms. 
Papaver pavonium, the Peacock Poppy, is a com¬ 
paratively new species. "We flowered it here last season 
from seed received from Mr. Thompson, of Ipswich ; 
but the blooms then were very poor compared with 
those from our autumn-sown plants. They are now 
quite as large as the flowers of P. umbrosum. The 
colours are similar, but in place of the large black 
blotch present in the latter, there is a very conspicuous 
black zone. This marking shows on both sides of the 
petals, and gives the whole flower a very distinct 
appearance. In general habit P. pavonium resembles 
P. umbrosum, though not quite so robust, and with 
several distinct botanical characters. The sepals are 
setose, and terminated by a curious horn-like process ; 
the capsules are remarkable for the persistent nature of 
the stigma, a characteristic that prevents the seed from 
escaping after the capsule is ripe ; the latter is, of 
course, dehiscent, but the pores are very small, owing 
to the nature of the peltate stigma. With some Poppies 
this character would be an advantage, and prevent the 
common kinds becoming so general all over the garden, 
and earning for themselves and family the character of 
troublesome weeds. [The horse-shoe shaped blotch on 
gradual transition of the stamens to petals, the latter 
in many cases having a rudimentary anther on the edge. 
To the botanist such retrogressive changes are interest¬ 
ing, but I for one certainly think the pure single form 
far more valuable and graceful. [The semi-double 
species of the Iceland Poppy (P. nudicaule) sent us 
exhibited some curious transitional forms between a 
perfect stamen and a purely petaloid condition. As in 
other species of Poppy, as well as some Anemones and 
Ranunculus, the petals that originate from stamens are 
much narrower than the normal ones, and gradually 
taper with a wedge-shaped base into a long claw. They 
also exhibit a tendency to become lacerated at the apex, 
and if you should secure a perfectly double strain, it 
would no doubt be an acquisition to the varieties of 
this Poppy already in existence. What you sent us is 
not of the typical pale yellow, but orange-yellow. By 
careful selection of seeds you might in a year or two 
obtain a perfectly double strain. We can testify to 
the value of the Iceland Poppies for cut-flower pur¬ 
poses, for they look exceedingly elegant while they 
last.— Ed.] 
Giant Poppies. —What a fine contrast to the dwarf¬ 
growing Poppies are the giants of the P. orientale and 
P. bracteatum species ! P. inyolucratum maximum is a 
dwarf habit and leaves so distinct from any other kind, 
while the flowers possess a charming shade of bright 
rose, that it occasions no surprise that the hybridist 
should desire to communicate its good qualities to the 
summer-flowering and tuberous-rooted class, so as to 
get an entirely new strain. The tuberous-rooted 
section, it is true, may be induced to flower at any 
season, but it is so pre-eminently the character of B. 
socotrana to flower at that time, that a race having 
the qualities of this plant would be an undoubted 
boon. In John Heal, we have a hybrid that flowers 
beautifully at mid-winter, and exhibits the character of 
both parents. The leaves of B. socotrana are peltate 
and orbicular, while in John Heal they are smaller, 
obliquely heart-shaped and of great substance. They 
form a close rosette at the base of the stems covering 
the surface of the soil, while the flower stems rise well 
above the foliage, as may be seen from the illustration, 
and bear racemes of bright rosy carmine flowers that 
hang on the plant till they shrivel. The same plant 
also keeps on flowering for a long period during mid¬ 
winter, and may be considered a real acquisition for 
horticultural purposes, and is, no doubt, the progenitor 
of a new race. It was raised in the nursery of Messrs. 
Yeitch & Sons ; was certificated by the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society in 1885, and is now being sent out. 
