June 29, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
695 
What can it Be ? 
I>r reference to the query made by “ E. W.,” p. 647, 
as to what the Herb of Prophecy in Mexico can be, the 
following extract from the Plong Kong Daily Press 
may elucidate, if 'it does not definitely make certain, 
the botanical name of the plant:—“ In his annual 
report for the year, 18S2, the colonial surgeon, Dr. 
Ayres, referred to the fact that cases of the use of 
Datura as a poison have cropped up very largely of 
late.” He then went on to say :—“ The prisoners in 
one case, after sentence, said that the Datura (probably 
D. Stramonium or Mad Apple) was the drug used, 
which grows freely in Hong Kong ; that they got 
the plant from native herbalists, and that they used 
Jasmine in the decoction they made, which modified 
the symptoms of Datura poisoning, and rendered the 
patient less noisy, though it increased the danger to 
life, and must be used very sparingly and with great 
care. They also stated that a decoction of Liquorice- 
root, well sweetened with coarse brown Chinese sugar, 
was an antidote ; and that if this was mixed with the 
decoction of Datura it destroyed its efficacy. This, no 
doubt, is only a popular delusion. The effects of 
Datura are well known all over the East ; it is very 
commonly used in India for drugging in the same way 
as here. It produces an appearance of intoxication, 
and this effect is produced very rapidly, and takes a 
long time to wear off, generally at least twenty-four 
hours. In the first stage the patient is talkative and 
merry, performing all sorts of odd antics ; as the 
effects progress it causes profound sleep, and if used in 
a poisonous dose, coma and death. As the sleepiness 
passes off, the delirium and antics occur again. The 
pupil of the eye is always largely dilated, and this 
symptom remains long after all others have disappeared. 
In India it is also used to produce an appearance of 
insanity, the patient being kept under the influence of 
the drug for weeks or months.”— B. E. 
Laxton’s Noble Strawberry. 
This first-rate new variety has proved itself with me 
to be the best early variety in cultivation, and I 
grow Strawberries somewhat extensively for market. 
Garibaldi has hitherto been a leading sort here for 
earliness, but Noble is some days earlier. A great 
cropper, fruit of good size, fine colour, firm, and of good 
flavour, with a slight acidity. I have a good breadth 
of yearling plants, planted as runners last year, and 
these are yielding a large crop, many of the plants with 
2 lbs. of fruit to each. Garibaldi and others are only 
just showing colour, whilst I have been gathering from 
Noble since the 16th of this month. The fruit generally 
is large and well formed, and as the fruit is firm it will 
be a good market sort. I also grow Laxton’s other new 
sorts, King of the Earlies and Jubilee. The former is 
not so early as Noble by a few days, as grown here. 
Jubilee is very late and a valuable variety, and I have 
discarded Elton Pine for it, as Jubilee is as good in 
flavour, and has a much better constitution. I send you 
a few fruits of Noble that you may see what it is.— 
James Bubb, Nurseryman, Solihull, Warwickshire. 
Successful Culture of Lilium auratum. 
A correspondent writes:—Amongst the many splendid 
examples of high-class cultivation to be seen in the 
well-kept gardens of Miss Cox, Clements Park, Lochee, 
near Dundee, are some specially well-grown specimens 
of Lilium auratum. There are four plants in 10-in. 
pots, all of which bear upwards of 100 flowers on each, 
and one has over 120 blooms, thirty-two of which are on 
one spike, and there are no less than nine stems from 
a single bulb. Lilium Harrisi is also well done, and 
several fine pots of this now popular Lily may be 
seen in perfection. Mr. Moir, the gardener, is to be 
congratulated on his success in their culture. 
Lilium Hansoni. 
In habit and general character this may be compared 
to the European L. Martagon, but the structure 
of the flowers is somewhat different. The lanceolate 
leaves are scattered at the base and apex of the 
stem, but on the middle are arranged in whorls of 
eight or twelve to each. The flowers are crowded in a 
short raceme at the top of the stem, and are of a 
beautiful reddish orange marked with blackish purple 
spots on the lower half of the segments. The latter are 
paler externally, remarkably thick and spongy, with 
great elevated midribs on the outer face of the three 
inner ones. The flowers are agreeably, not powerfully 
fragrant. Specimens were exhibited at Regent’s Park 
on the 19th inst. by Mr. T. S. "Ware, when a Flori- 
cultural Certificate was awarded. 
Anthuriums. 
I have often read of the necessity of re-potting these 
annually, but I think when roots are healthy and 
abundant, the flowering proclivity of this truly grand 
species is greatly promoted by keeping them in¬ 
tact, removing all old surface soil and giving 
them a good top-dressing with fibrous peat mixed with 
Thomson’s Vine and Plant Manure. Some huge plants 
which have not been re-potted for five years, and 
treated as indicated, bloom abundantly every season, 
and afford good supplies for the cut-flower boxes. 
While I write, an old plant in a Gardenia house has 
some half-hundred expanded spathes, and others are 
coming. A. Knightii is blooming less freely, however, 
but the flowers are very large and of fine colour. A. 
Andreanum I never grew, and have no desire to ; but 
I admire very much the majority of the other kinds. 
Their cultivation is so easy and their inflorescence is so 
abundant, that they are true friends to those who have 
many flowers to supply.— Stirling. 
-- 
HAMBURGH PARSLEY. 
This finds a place in wholesale catalogues of seeds, and 
yet it is very rarely found in gardens. When at Messrs. 
Hurst & Son’s trial ground at Chelmsford a few days 
ago, I saw among some trials of Parsley one of the 
Hamburgh ; the plants being of strong growth, and 
the leaves deeply cut. The botanical name of this 
plant is Petroselinum sativum ; it is known as the 
Turnip-rooted, the broad-leaved, and the large-rooted 
Parsley. From whence it comes, or when introduced 
into this country, I cannot say, but it is chiefly cul¬ 
tivated for its roots, which when properly grown 
attain to the size of a small Parsnip. The Parsley is a 
very old plant, and was known to the ancients, having 
received its distinctive name of Petroselinum from 
Dioscorides. 
It is said to be a native of Sardinia, from whence it 
was brought to England about the middle of the 
sixteenth century. Some have thought that the Parsley 
is indigenous to Britain ; at any rate it has become 
completely naturalised in this country. When the 
rooted type first came to be grown is not stated. 
To grow the rooted Parsley to perfection, a good 
depth'of rich soil is necessary. The seed is sown in 
February, and also in the two following months. It is 
best sown in drills in the open ground, and when the 
soil is good, to thin out the plants to 9 ins. apart, as 
this gives room for them to develop. It is scarcely 
necessary to state the hoe should be used to keep the 
surface free from weeds and the soil stirred, and by 
Michaelmas the roots will be ready for use. They are 
dug up as required, in the same way as Parsnips..— 
R. D. 
-- 
THE SMALLER RHODODEN¬ 
DRONS. 
R. punctatum. —This North American species must 
be placed in the first rank, because, although it may 
not be considered the prettiest, it is certainly the most 
useful, a very free-flowering species, and the most 
easily cultivated. It forms a dense spreading bush 
ranging from 2 ft. to 6 ft. in height, but is more 
usually seen about 3 ft. high. The stems branch freely, 
forming a twiggy, very compact growth, densely 
clothed with evergreen foliage. It may be readily 
recognised by its small, oval, or lance-shaped leaves, 
acute at either end, and densely covered on both 
surfaces, but especially beneath, with rusty, glandular 
dots. The flowers are moderate in size, but very 
plentifully produced in corymbs, and are of a soft 
rose-purple, spotted internally. The species was 
originally introduced to British gardens in 1786, or 
103 years ago, and is now pretty common, but more 
neglected than it ought to be. It is now in full bloom, 
while the larger-leaved hybrids of the Pontic and other 
hardy Rhododendrons are mostly out of flower. There 
is a major form of this species with larger flowers and 
leaves. 
R. ferrugineum.— Much smaller in all its parts 
than the last, this species may be said to accommodate 
itself more readily to small gardens, but it is more 
difficult to establish in the south, especially in town 
gardens subjected to the influence of smoke. A peat 
bed is necessary or almost indispensable to reconcile it 
to its surroundings, in order to keep the roots cool. 
Generally the stems do not exceed 1 ft. in height, and 
although healthy specimens are moderately dense in 
habit, the branches do not spread to any great extent. 
For this reason it is admirably adapted for planting in 
beds and forming masses in sheltered spots about the 
pleasure grounds. It may be readily distinguished by 
its small almost Box-like leaves, of a deep green above, 
and generally almost covered with rusty scales on the 
under surface. The flowers are developed in May, 
June, and July, and are bright rose, funnel-shaped, 
and deeply divided into five segments. It is a native 
of the Alps of Europe on the confines of ligneous 
vegetation, and together with R. hirsutum furnishes 
shepherds with the only fuel they can get for their 
fires. To British gardens it was first introduced in 
1752. 
R. hirsutum. —Being introduced in 1656, this species 
is an older inhabitant in British gardens than either of 
the two preceding, yet it is a scarcer plant at the 
present day than either. It is also a native of the 
European Alps, where it is known as the Alpine Rose, 
from its great plenty and the abundance of its pale or 
bright red flowers, which are funnel-shaped, but small 
in size. The plant forms a dwarf branching shrub, 
about 1 ft. or 2 ft. in height, furnished with tufts of 
ovate-lanceolate, or elliptic, hairy leaves. 
R. Cham.®cistus. —Introduced in the same year as 
R. ferrugineum. This species is the less common of the 
two, although as a true Alpine it is the prettier. 
Botanically it is hardly a Rhododendron, although very 
closely allied, and forms a dense, dwarf, branching bush 
about 6 ins. high, with the general appearance of an 
Azalea, and more resembling a Rock Rose than a 
Rhododendron in its small, elliptic, lance-shaped 
leaves. The pink or rosy purple flowers are produced 
during May and June. It is a native of the Alps 
of Eastern Europe, and in British gardens it would be 
most at home in a cool peat bed in a sheltered recess of 
the rocker} 7 . 
-—- 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
Odontoglossum Lehmanni. 
In habit and general appearance this bears a close 
resemblance to 0. Pescatorei, but on examination it 
is evidently a natural hybrid between that species and 
O. crispum, with the greatest leaning towards 0. 
Pescatorei. The lip appears to be a compound between 
the two, and instead of being pandurate or fiddle¬ 
shaped, is oblong or quadrate, and equally broad close 
to the involute and recurved tip as it is at the top of 
the claw. The disk is yellow, as well as the median 
three-toothed portion of the crest, and the lateral 
radiating processes are, like those of 0. Pescatorei, very 
much abbreviated. The wings of the column are 
obliquely oblong, deeply laciniated, striped with purple, 
and are more like those of 0. crispum than 0. 
Pescatorei, the wings of which are half-ovate, entire, 
and slightly striped with brown. The lateral sepals 
have a dark purple band on the upper edge, while the 
upper ones are purple externally, and the petals 
slightly flushed with the same colour. There is a 
flowering plant in the collection of A. H. Smee, Esq., 
The Grange, Wallington, Surrey. It is a pretty 
Orchid. 
Cattleya Mendelii, Miss Little. 
The petals of this beautiful variety are large, ovate, 
strongly undulated, crisped, and pure white as are the 
sepals. The lip is also white, with a horseshoe-shaped 
purple band on the lamina, and a yellow throat. It is 
also of great size and much undulated and crisped round 
the margin of the lamina. It was exhibited by Henry 
Little, Esq. (gardener, Mr. A. Howard), The Barons, 
Twickenham, at the second summer show of the Royal 
Botanic Society, when a Botanical Certificate was 
awarded to it. 
Cattleya Mossing, G. T. White. 
The flowers of this fine variety are pure white with the 
exception of the lip. All the parts are of good size 
and well formed. The lip shows the characteristic 
features of C. Mosske in the pale purple on the apex 
and middle lobe of the lip, forming a sort of reticulation 
or broken markings along the principal veins instead 
of being in one piece. The throat is pale yellow. A 
plant was shown in the group exhibited by Mr. G. T. 
White, Winchmore Hill, at Regent’s Park on June 19th, 
and a Botanical Certificate was awarded to it. 
Cattleya Gaskelliana, Cooke’s var. 
The summer-flowering form of C. labiata, best known 
in gardens under the name of C. Gaskelliana, is begin¬ 
ning to show somewhat of the variation which is so 
O 
characteristic of several others, such as C. 1. Mossiffi, 
C. 1. Trianse, and others. The special features of this 
attractive variety consist in the pleasing and uniform 
