June 14, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
649 
length. Some forms of Aspleniura marinum that have 
been grown, here for many years are notable for the 
length of their leaves, particularly A. m. elongatum, 
with leaves 2 ft. long ; A. m. ramosum, 12 ins. to 
18 ins.; and A. m. Justus, 12 ins. to 15 ins. In another 
stove the inflorescence of Pitcairnia Altensteinii, with 
its coral-red bracts and white flowers, was very con¬ 
spicuous ; and on the shelves behind stood a richly 
flowered specimen of Jacobina magnifica. Two plants 
of Musa coccinea also attested their presence by the 
brilliancy of their scarlet bracts. The variegated 
Pine Apple is not only ornamental, but useful, as its 
fruit is deliciously flavoured. Very different from 
Columnea repens in the colour of its flowers is 
C. nutilans, the gaping corollas of which are beau¬ 
tifully marked with brownish red on a yellow ground. 
In a greenhouse were some well-flowered specimens of 
Zephyranthes macrosiphon, with large rosy red flowers. 
Close by them were some richly-flowered specimens of 
an unnamed Petunia, with medium-sized but beau¬ 
tifully-shaped, double, pure white flowers, festooning 
the edge of a high shelf near 
the glass. 
Aquatics in the Nymphrea 
house receive a considerable 
amount of attention, and 
include some interesting 
and ornamental subjects. 
Amongst the Nymphreas 
in flower on the occasion 
of our visit were N. 
tuberosa, white; N. Dau- 
benyana, with proliferous 
leaves and pale sky-blue 
flowers ; N. stellata Berlin 
var., with bright sky-blue 
flowers ; N. s. cyanea, with 
very long, narrow, light 
sky-blue flowers ; and N. a. 
Madagascarensis, with large 
white flowers, tinted with 
sky-blue at the tips of 
the petals. A choice and 
beautiful variety is N. 
tuberosa flaveseens, with the 
sepals tinted with pink at 
the base, the petals of a 
bright sulphur, and golden 
yellow stamens. More in¬ 
teresting to some, perhaps, 
would be Sagittaria mon- 
tevidensis, the large white 
flowers of which have a rich 
brown spot on each petal. 
Near it was S. simplex, a 
pigmy in comparison, about 
8 ins. high, bearing white 
flowers in whorls of three, 
while the leaves were 
linear. The large yellow 
flowers and floating stems 
and leaves of Limnocharis 
Humboldtii are always in¬ 
teresting. The spotted 
leaves of Eiehardia maculata 
lend grace to the white 
spathes, with their dark 
purple eye spots. Arundo 
Donax is nearly hardy ; but 
the variegation of A. D. variegata is pleasingly 
developed in the moist warm atmosphere of the Water- 
Lily. house. 
The Open-air Collections. 
The grounds are now in fine condition, and will continue 
so during the next month at least, unless unusually 
dry weather intervenes. The trees, shrubs, and 
herbaceous plants in season were flowering abundantly, 
and others will in due time keep up the succession. 
Amongst herbaceous plants, Irises and Pseonies were at 
their best, including the dwarf globular-flowered P. 
officinalis lobata, with pale poppy-red incurved petals. 
Pentstemon Menziesii Scouleri, a sub-shrubby species, 
was flowering more freely and finely than we have pre¬ 
viously seen it. The leaves are small and leathery, 
while the flowers are large, lilac-purple, and quite 
different from any other Pentstemon in gardens. A 
fine clump of Pancratium illyricum flowering freely in 
the open air, testifies to the hardiness of the species, 
which ought to be more widely grown, for its white 
flowers and broad glaucous leaves, resembling those of 
Narcissus bicolor grandis, are both distinct and beau¬ 
tiful. Symphytum officinale bohemicum is not a bad 
garden plant, for it is dwarfer and more compact than 
the type, with velvety red flowers. The white-flowered 
Symphytum orientale had purer white flowers than is 
the case in some gardens where we have noted it. Its 
free flowering character under trees here, amply 
demonstrates that it is a plant admirably adapted for 
planting in shady places, where few other good 
herbaceous plants would give any satisfaction. A 
pretty little Ragwort is Senecio aureus, about 6 ins. 
high with golden yellow heads, roundly cordate, radical 
leaves, and oblong cauline ones. Another congener— 
namely, S. squalidus—holds its place on the top of the 
garden wall together with Linaria purpurea, another hand¬ 
some plant. The specific name squalidus is misleading, 
inasmuch as it is one of the finest included in the 
British flora. It is not aboriginally a native, however, 
but Oxford is one of the few places where it has become 
naturalised, it now occurs on old walls everywhere, 
and on bridges in and around the city. 
Amongst ornamental trees in flower on the occasion 
of our visit, were the Pavias aud Horse Chestnuts, a 
fine specimen of the Service Tree (Pyrus Sorbus) and 
Grout of Scotch Firs in West Wickham Wood. 
another of the Manna Ash (Fraxinus Ornus), about 45 ft. 
high, with a girth of 6 ft. at that height from the 
ground. Close by was a specimen of the Coeomilla 
Plum (Prunus Coeomilla) about 20 ft. high, with a 
spread of 30 ft. The flowers smell like Heliotrope. It 
flowers during April and May. Viburnum prunifolium, 
a tree about 25 ft. high, has leaves like those of 
a Prunus, and bears its white flowers in great abun¬ 
dance. A fine tree we cannot omit mentioning is 
a specimen of Gymnocladus canadensis, or the Kentucky 
Coffee Tree, about 50 ft. high, and forked from near the 
base. Very curious in its way is Laburnum vulgare 
quercifolium, the leaves of which consist of from three 
to five—generally the latter number—of leaflets, which 
are deeply pinnatifid or lobed above their middle. It 
is very floriferous, but the blooms do not seem to differ 
from those of the type. As in the case of Cytisus 
Adami, so in this case, the foliage of the Oak-leaved 
variety of Laburnum is not constant, for we noted that 
on several branches the leaves consisted of three leaflets 
only, and were therefore quite normal. 
Not far from the garden, and on the banks of the 
Cherwell, is the finest specimen of Planera Richardi, 
otherwise known as the Zelkona tree, or Siberian Elm 
(Orme de Siberie). It has a trunk of great thickness, 
but it branches very much at 6 ft. or 7 ft. from the 
ground, giving rise to a large number of branches or 
limbs of nearly equal thickness, rising to a height of 
70 ft. with a spread of 60 ft. The leaves closely 
resemble those of a species of Elm, to which it is, of 
course, closely allied. In the ditches close by, the 
Water Violet (Hottonia palustris), with pink and rose 
flowers, was simply charming. The flowers are pro¬ 
duced in whorls tier above tier, in outward appearance 
resembling a miniature Primula japonica, belonging to 
the same family. The leaves are, however, finely 
divided, more resembling those of a species of water 
Milfoil than a Primula. 
-o-X-c-- 
LATHYRUS SIBTHORPII. 
A plant has long been grown in the Oxford Botanic 
Garden under this name, and is generally supposed to 
have been introduced by Sibthorpe. There is a figure 
of the plant in Maund’s Botanic Garden, v., No. 511, 
under the name of L. rotun- 
difolius. In Sweet’s British 
Flower Garden , 2nd ser., 
vol. iv., 333, is another 
figure of it, under the 
name of L. rotundifolius 
ellipticus, and the specimens 
from which the coloured 
figure was drawn up were 
communicated from the 
Birmingham Botanic Garden 
in 1838. The nearest 
affinity of the plant is un¬ 
doubtedly L. rotundifolius ; 
but the stipules are subulate, 
with much smaller subulate 
auricles, while the leaflets 
are generally narrower and 
more elliptic. The stems 
are also dwaifer, about 
3 ft. high or even less; 
and require little support, 
as the stems are less inclined 
to climb than those of L. 
ellipticus. The flowers are 
large, magenta-purple, tinted 
with violet, and borne on 
long peduncles; whereas 
those of L. rotundifolius 
are smaller, brick-red, and 
borne on short peduncles. 
A more important dis¬ 
tinction, perhaps, for horti¬ 
cultural purposes is the fact 
that it flowers on an average 
a good month earlier than 
L. rotundifolius, and is, 
moreover, the first of the 
large-floweiing climbingsorts 
to come into bloom. It was 
at its best when we saw 
it in the last week of May, 
while L. rotundifolius along¬ 
side of it had not a single 
bloom open. The latter, it 
may not be out of place to 
mention, has frequently been 
grown in gardens and sold 
in nurseries under the title of L. Drummondi—a 
name given to it by Mr. Green when gardener to 
Mr. W. Wilson Saunders, at Reigate. 
There are three sheets of specimens in the Kew 
Herbarium under the name of L. Sibthorpii, Hort. 
Two of them were obtained from Constantinople under 
the name of L. rotundifolius ; the third one was sent from 
the Jardin des Plantes at Paris under that name 
likewise, but having large elliptic leaflets, is queried as 
to whether it does not belong to L. latifolius. That 
well-known plant is, by some, considered as a form of 
L. sylvestris, namely L. s. platyphyllus. L. sylvestris 
varies so immensely even in a wild state, that it must 
be reckoned a very variable and inconstant species. 
When such is the case one turns to L. Sibthorpii, 
and questions whether its characters are constant. 
Mr. W. G. Baker, the curator of the garden, is an 
enthusiastic plantsman, and the seedlings he has raised 
from L. Sibthorpii will no doubt prove interesting 
when they come into flower. If the affinity with L. 
rotundifolius is close, we might expect that some of the 
distinctive characters above given of L. Sibthorpii 
would break down when raised from seed. If not, we 
shall be all the more pleased, for it is a beautiful and 
highly ornamental early-flowering subject. 
