504 
.THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 9, 1892. 
C. Baron de Rothschild; ground colour a mottled 
green, centre a rich blood-red with spots of the same 
colour. 
There are numerous grand hybrids in cultivation 
now, and very few of what may be termed " true 
species ” are grown ; having been superseded by the 
results of careful hybridising. Caladiums make use¬ 
ful decorative plants, but they should not be kept 
away from the hot-house more than a week or ten 
days at a time. By having a few plants and changing 
them occasionally, they do not lose their charming 
freshness nor suffer from being exposed in a living- 
room during summer. The same plants may be used 
more than once during the season, if they are not 
allowed to remain in the room too long at a time— 
Experience. 
-- 
Gardening Miscellany. 
AGLAONEMA COMMUTATUM. 
It is very seldom we meet with any of the species 
of this genus in private establishments, which is 
evidence that they are not very popular. By gar¬ 
deners they are compared to Diefenbachias, to which 
they are considered inferior for general decorative 
purposes. The best way of employing them is as a 
covering to a tree-fern stem or a wire-work frame 
filled with a suitable compost, into which they can 
root and form a covering, as in the case of several 
other Aroids. The chief beauty of the plant con¬ 
sists in the foliage, which is more or less copiously 
blotched with grey. The leaves are narrowly ovate, 
and evergreen, and 4 in. to 6 in. long. Flowers are 
not very plentifully produced, but this did occur at 
Hanger Hill House, Ealing, and the flowers were 
followed by fruit. The spathe may be compared to 
that of an Arum, but it is shorter, rolled round the 
spadix, white, and lasts but a short time in good 
condition. The fruit consists of a short, dense 
cluster of red berries about the size of the fruits of 
the Cherry Laurel ; but they do not all get properly 
fertilised, sc that out of a dozen or more only about 
four or five attain any size. 
PULMONARIA SACCHARATA 
There are evidently several forms of this species 
differing chiefly in time of flowering, and in the 
general colour as well as the markings of the leaves. 
A specimen sent us from Ireland is sometimes found 
in gardens under the name of P. grandiflora, a name 
given no doubt on account of the size of the flowers. 
It is also remarkable in flowering during the month 
of March, whereas the more typical form does not 
bloom till May or June. The form in question has 
large reddish-purple flowers and the leaves well 
blotched with grey, as well as more or less tinted 
with red. Another slight variety flowers later, and 
is most handsomely blotched with clear grey 
on a bright green ground. This often passes 
in gardens for P. sibirica, but the true plant 
coming under that name is Mertensia sibirica, 
a plant with glaucous or sea green, perfectly smooth 
leaves and smaller flowers of a light blue shade. 
This also is pretty common in collections of herba¬ 
ceous plants, and cannot be confused with any form 
of the plant under notice. 
COMMON MEZEREON. 
For ordinary decorative purposes the old-fashioned 
Daphne Mezereum may be considered one of the best 
if not the best of the genus. Truly it may be said 
that the bush is of little decorative value in summer 
when merely clothed with its unattractive and com¬ 
mon-place foliage, and less so in winter when its 
stems are naked. This however is more than com¬ 
pensated by the profusion of flowers in spring, and 
by the red berries in autumn; add to this the 
powerful and agreeable odour of the flowers which 
pervades the atmosphere for some considerable dis¬ 
tance around the plants on a dewy morning. The 
want of foliage at that time allows the flowers to be 
better seen, as they are closely set upon the branches 
and would have been partly hidden if the leaves had 
been evergreen as in the case of the other hardy 
species of Daphne in cultivation. Like D. Laureola 
this is also a native of Britain, but is found in so 
few places that it may really have been naturalised. 
It flowers in February, March, or April, earlier or 
later according to the season, and being late this year 
is only now in perfection. 
ABIES CEPHALONICA. 
Notwithstanding the beauty and hardiness of 
this tree, it is not planted so frequently as we 
should expect. It is said to stand well in 
exposed situations, and seeing that it is a native 
of the mountains of Greece and is of vigorous 
growth, it ought to stand better than several other 
of the species which are more popular, and yet less 
hardy. Amongst other trees, even when not immedi¬ 
ately surrounded by anything else, it makes great 
progress and attains a greater height in this country 
than it is stated to do in its native mountain home. 
There is a tree in the pleasure grounds at Stoke 
Park, Slough, which appears to be 80 ft. to 85 ft. in 
height. It isof pyramidal outline and perfect in form, 
whereas the Douglas Fir and several others had 
suffered considerable injury during the heavy fall of 
wet snow at Christmas, 1886. The leaves of the 
tree in a young state, are subulate, flat, and acute, 
but those of this specimen are quite blunt, a character 
they probably acquire as the tree gets aged. The 
base of the leaf, however, preserves the same peculiar 
twist. 
THE "NONSUCH” LAWN WEEDER. 
We have received from Mr. A. C. Sterry, 2, 
Marshalsea Road, S.E., one of his patent 
"Nonsuch’'’ Weeders, which we can recommend to 
all who take a pride in the possession of a clean 
lawn—and who does not ? —as being the simplest, 
strongest made, least liable to get out of order, and 
most efficient instrument of the kind that has come 
under our notice. Its great advantage is its pivoted 
fulcrum, which renders the work of extracting the 
roots of the tightest gripping weeds a very easy 
matter. 
ERICA CARNEA. 
There are sometimes complaints made of the 
difficulty of growdng hardy Heaths in the garden, but 
that cannot be said with regard to E. carnea, which 
grows and flowers with wonderful profusion in soils 
of various character. Ordinary garden soil is all 
that it requires, and for this reason it may be planted 
in various positions and for various purposes, such 
as edgings to beds and walks. For the latter pur¬ 
pose it might be used even in villa gardens if not 
overhung or injuriously overshaded by trees or large 
bushes in the vicinity. It would be equally beautiful 
and less ephemeral than Crocuses, which last but a 
few days, especially if the sun is bright; while in 
rainy weather the flowers get broken down. The 
flowers of the Heath in question are pale red or purple, 
and remain fresh for many weeks together, especi¬ 
ally if a mild winter should cause them to expand at 
any time during the first three months of the year. 
They are now in perfection, having been delayed 
much beyond their usual time by the cold weather. 
TILLANDSIA ANCEPS. 
Several different names are given to this species, 
including T. tricolor, and T. setacea. At a casual 
glance it bears a close resemblance to T. Lindeni in 
the form of the leaves and that of the spike, but the 
flowers are entirely different in colour, which, from a 
horticultural point of view, is very important. The 
leaves are arranged in a dense rosette, and are 12 in. 
long, arching, dark green and striated with red near 
the base. The scape varies from 6 in. to 12 in. long, 
and is furnished at the top with a dense two-edged 
spike of bracts, in the axils of which the flowers are 
developed in succession from the base upwards. 
The bracts are somewhat boat-shaped, keeled, pale 
in hue, and edged with red or pink. The sepals are 
pale yellow, but are almost completely hidden by 
the petals, which are broad, obovate, and mauve- 
purple, with a large white blotch at the base. Being 
of the same habit as T. Lindeni, it mighc well be 
grown in association with that species and its 
varieties, which differ in the colour of the bracts, but 
all agree in the rich dark blue of the flowers. 
T. anceps, under the name of T. tricolor, is now- 
flowering with Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons at, Chelsea. 
THE DOUBLE COCO-NUT. 
A plant of this wonderful Palm may now be seen in 
the tank of the Victoria house at Kew. It took two 
years to germinate, and the first leaf was about a 
yard in diameter. There are two or three plants in 
the establishment, and one of them was placed in 
the Victoria house on the 1st inst., so that the public 
have now a chance of seeing a plant that has never 
before been publicly exhibited in Europe. Botani- 
cally it is Lodoicea seychellarum, and was known for 
many years under the appellation of Coco-de-Mer, a 
name given to it when the tree was only known from 
the fruits picked out of the sea and before its habitats 
were known. The fruits were believed to be the 
produce of some plant in the sea, but it has now- 
been established for some years that the native home 
of the Palm is three of the Seychelle islands which 
lie to the north of Madagascar. The Double Coco¬ 
nut has also been germinated at the Jardin des 
Plants, Paris, but the plants are not so far advanced 
as that exposed to the public at Kew. The nuts are 
large enough to hold six or eight pints of water, and 
are still attached to the growing plants. 
AZALEA MOLLIS. 
The grand varieties of Azalea Mollis have entirely 
superseded the old Ghent varieties as early forcing 
plants, and they are indeed very beautiful things for 
early work, partaking largely of the character of 
Azalea pontica and sinensis, of vigorous habit with 
large trusses of well-formed rich-coloured flowers. 
They are now to be seen in extensive use in conser¬ 
vatories and for window decoration, and can be 
purchased at very moderate prices. Their treatment 
after blooming is sometimes uncertain. Occasionally 
after flowering they are turned out of doors to take 
their chance, and with such treatment they are of 
very little use for the following year, but if cut back 
and grown on in a vinery or intermediate house where 
they can be kept growing freely and are looked after, 
they very soon make good growth, and with hardening 
off set their blooms freely for the following winter’s use 
When planted out, they are supeib objects in the 
borders or beds, and do well where hardy Azaleas and 
Rhododendrons thrive. They are invaluable also 
for cutting and last well, and are bright and beauti¬ 
ful amongst other cut flowers.—IF. D. 
-—- 
CARNATION NOTES. 
The seedlings raised from the sowing made twelve 
months ago, and which have been wintered under glass, 
are now throwing up their flower stems freely,and some 
sown in October from seed saved last summer, and 
kept also on a shelf near the glass in store pots, 
having been pricked off in the autumn and potted 
in the early part of last month, are now feeling the 
influence of the life-invigorating warmth of the sun’s 
rays and making a vigorous and sturdy growth. 
These seedlings are singularly interesting, inasmuch 
as the plants vary considerably in habit of growth 
and in the colour of the grass-like foliage, some 
being especially dissimilar to the parent from which 
they originated, one of a batch saved from Mrs. 
Sanders and of the mcst lively deep green that I have 
ever seen. 
I have a plant from seed sown with the first batch 
which to me possesses great interest, as it has two 
very distinct growths from one stem, one being of a 
greyish hue and the other deep green, the character¬ 
istics of Germania and Mrs. Sanders respectively. 
Both are equally robust in growth, and are together 
starting their flowering stems. What the issue will be 
remains to be seen, but the “ freak of nature ” is the 
most distinct that has come under my notice during 
a long experience. 
The Carnation is now in common with many other 
plants drafted into the ranks for general cultivation, 
and with our means and appliances and extended 
knowledge the merest tyro can drill them into proper 
form and deportment. -Man of Kent. 
