June 16, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
665 
maid. Rose breeders: 1, Mr. Joshua Hague, with 
Mabel. Selfs: White, Mr. W. Dymoek ; yellow, Mr. 
T. Oldfield. 
In the evening the exhibitors and visitors dined 
together, and Mr. W. Royle, Poynton, who was called 
upon to preside, in proposing the toast of “ Success to 
the ‘Orange Tree’ Tulip Show,” said it had gone 
through a very long trial, and he was pleased to find 
it still continued its career with success. The gentlemen 
who took an interest in the show were worthy of their 
regard. He considered that shows of that kind were 
worthy of most important notice, and had a more 
elevating tendency than pastimes or athletics, which 
occupied a great deal of attention at the present day. 
The toast was duly honoured. 
-—>K~- 
A HYBRID TACSONIA. 
We have received from Mr. W. Smythe, gardener 
at Basing Park, Alton, Hants, a flower of a hybrid 
between Tacsonia insignis 
and T. van Yolxemii, which 
presents some very singular 
characters. In the first 
place the leaves are of several 
different forms, exhibiting, 
in fact, the characters of 
both parents in a curiously 
mixed fashion. One leaf 
sent us was almost exactly 
like that of T. insignis, 
and was ovate, broad, un¬ 
equally toothed at the mar¬ 
gin, and felted underneath 
with a rusty tomentum as 
in the parent form ; another 
leaf had a lobe on one side 
with nearly equal serratures, 
and covered beneath with 
a white tomentum, all of 
which characters are inter¬ 
mediate and tend towards 
T. van Yolxemii ; a third 
leaf was deeply three-lobed 
and strongly three-nerved, 
with small marginal teeth 
directed forward, all show¬ 
ing a strong affinity with 
T. van Volxemii, although 
the tomentum is altogether 
wanting in the latter species. 
The flower, of which we 
give an illustration, is 
equally if not more in¬ 
teresting, and consists of five 
sepals and five petals of a 
brilliant reddish crimson, 
coloured alike and strongly 
reflexed, hiding the tube. 
The corona at the mouth of 
the tube consists of bright 
blue filaments over { in. 
in length, forming a fine 
contrast to the dark sepals 
and petals. Most interest, 
however, centres in the 
stamens, the red filaments of 
which are separated from 
the stalk of the ovary right 
down into the tube surround¬ 
ing the base of the stalk. 
The anthers have become greatly elongated, oblong- 
lance-shaped, petaloid, and of a warm reddish crimson 
colour, with the rudimentary pollen cases near their 
base. Their curious and unusual form may be under¬ 
stood by reference to our illustration. They are not 
only singular but ornamental, and Mr. Smythe, who is 
well known for his work of hybridising amongst the 
1' ission Flowers, is to be congratulated upon his 
acquisition of this curiosity. 
The White-horned Violet. — Notwithstanding 
the many large-flowered forms of Viola cornuta 
now cultivated in gardens under the name of bedding 
Violas, the wild blue type, as it occurs on the Swiss 
and Pyrenean Mountains, is still a charming, close- 
habited, and easily-grown plant when placed on a 
rockery, as it should be, or where it can be left alone to 
establish itself and form a broad spreading patch. The 
white variety is even more chaste, and, being perfectly 
hardy, it requires no care whatever to protect it in 
winter. We noticed it the other day on the rockery 
at Rosefield, Sevenoaks. 
HARDY PLANTS IN FLOWER. 
Erigeron philadelthicus. 
A pleasing little composite plant, with rosy pink 
flowers, which are produced in great profusion when 
the plants are well established. For a dry border, or 
exposed part of the rockery this is a useful plant. 
The flowers are light, and well adapted for cutting 
purposes. 
Erigeron aurantiacus. 
This dwarf-growing Erigeron is distinct from the 
other species in appearance. From a dwarf tuft of 
leaves it throws up a stem from 6 ins. to 9 ins. in 
height, with bright orange-coloured flowers, and con¬ 
siderably larger than those of the preceding species. 
Every gardener has his favourite species in a well- 
known family like the Erigeron group, and considers 
such to be the best of the genus. This plant is, how¬ 
ever, so distinct from others of the same genus that one 
can give it a full measure of praise without instituting 
a comparison. 
A New Hybrid Tacsonia. 
Dianthus alpinus. 
At the time of writing these Dotes, this plant is one of 
the gems of the rock-garden, not more than 2 ins. high. 
It forms a conspicuous tuft of foliage, in which are 
studded the bright crimson flowers. The petals are 
crenated with a dark shade of crimson markings near 
the base of the broad part (lamina), and upon the 
markings are a few loose straggling hairs, giving the 
whole flower an attractive and interesting form. Our 
best plants are growing in sandy loam. In another 
part of the garden we have a few plants on somewhat 
heavier soil ; these are making good growths, but are 
not flowering so well as those on the lighter soil. D. 
alpinus is very "freely grown from seed, which will 
flower the season after sowing. 
Thalictrum aquilegifolium. 
A very handsome and attractive Meadow Rue, growing 
from 2 ft. to 5 ft. in height. There are several varieties, 
all worth a place in the herbaceous border for their 
attractive flowers. The white-flowered variety is, 
however, the best; the flowers are in large panicles, 
standing clear of the foliage, and are very light and 
graceful, an effect in this plant due to the stamens, as 
the sepals quickly fall off, and petals are absent. The 
foliage of this plant is ornamental enough to entitle it 
to a place in the garden, without reference to the 
inflorescence. 
Dodecatheon Jeffeeyanum. 
For a shady border, where it can be given a little peat, 
nook, or bed, there is no more interesting and showy 
perennial than the subject of this note. The leaves 
are larger than those of the common American 
Cowslip, D. Meadia, and are distinguished by a very 
conspicuous reddish mid-rib. Flowers umbellate, 
peduncle about 2 ft. in height, with charming light 
rose-coloured flowers, tinted yellow at the centres. 
White Columbine. 
I send you with these notes a good white Aquilegia; 
the foliage is very robust and distinct, the flowers, as 
you will notice, a good clear white. We received the 
seed under the name of A. californica alba; the foliage, 
however, being more like A. 
sibirica, made me rathes 
doubt the nomenclature. 
At the Temple Show there 
was a group of it in one 
collection under the name of 
A. grandiflorum album. In 
the herbaceous grounds at 
Kew there are several 
plants of it in flower, one 1 
noticed being labelled A. 
californica, and others 
labelled A. sibirica alba. I 
suspect the latter is the 
true name ; will you kindly 
settle the point 1— J. W. 0., 
Pinner. [Is it not a white 
form of A. vulgaris ?—Ed.] 
The Geneva Bugle. 
Botanieally this is Ajuga 
genevensis, but is perhaps 
more frequently grown under 
the name of A. alpina. 
Our native Bugle is a pretty 
plant, but soon covers a 
large space of ground, owing 
to its long creeping stolons 
or runners. The Geneva 
Bugle also grows moderately 
rapid when grown in 
tolerably moist soil, but it 
always presents a compact 
and tufted appearance ; it 
grows to the height of 6 ins. 
or 9 ins., and sometimes 
more. The whorls of flowers 
are situated in the axils 
of the leaves or leafy bracts, 
but are sufficiently long 
enough to partly hide the 
bracts, and appear like a 
continuous spike. The 
blooms themselves are of a 
deep brilliant blue, and 
sometimes so intense as to 
appear almost of an indigo- 
blue with white lines in the 
throat. For rockwork it 
constitutes an admirable 
subject, and far more con¬ 
spicuous than A. reptans, pretty as it is, even when 
grown under very favourable conditions. 
The Pyrenean Horminium. 
At first sight this plant bears some resemblance to 
Wulfenia carinthiaca, a plant from the Carinthian Alps, 
but belonging to an altogether different natural order. 
One species only is known, viz., Horminium pyrenai- 
cum, which we do not meet with very frequently in 
gardens, but were pleased to notice it on the rockery at 
Rosefield, Sevenoaks. The dark green ovate leaves 
form a dense tuft, covering the surface of the ground, 
while the flower stems rise to a height of from G ins. to 
9 ins., bearing whorls of bloom, and arranged along one 
side for the greater part of its length. 
Maw’s Saxifrage. 
For size of flower and general conspicuousness Saxifraga 
Maweana is almost as good as S. Camposii, which is a 
more recent introduction from Spain, and generally 
known in gardens under the name of S. Wallacei. Both 
are admirably adapted for pot culture, but although 
Maw’s Saxifrage was introduced as early as 1827, it is 
the least common, owing probably to its being some- 
