20 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
September 9, 1898. 
PLANTS RECENTLY CERTIFICATED. 
The undermentioned subjects were accorded certifi¬ 
cates by the Royal Horticultural Society, at the 
Agricultural Hall, Islington, on the 29th ult. 
Agave univittata var. —The leaves of this plant 
are ensiform, entire, terminating in a brown spine 
about one inch long, and of a deep velvety green, 
with a pale band running along the middle, and 
edged with a silvery white line. The stem of the 
specimen shown was only about 4 in. high, and to 
the top of the rigid leaves, the height was 18 in. It 
is a bold looking and beautiful plant, differing from 
the type in being devoid of spines at the margin. 
First-class Certificate. 
Agave Leopold H,— The leaves of this handsome 
plant are linear, biconvex, spiny pointed, but other¬ 
wise smooth, entire, and of a rich, dark, shining 
green. Their appearance is greatly enhanced by the 
filamentous, curly, white threads that break away 
and hang in somewhat curly fashion from their 
edges. Individual leaves of the plant shown would 
be about 18 in. long, and the whole plant about 2 ft. 
high. First-class Certificate. Both of the above 
plants were raised from seeds by Dr. W, B. Kellock, 
Stamford Hill, v/ho was the exhibitor. 
Lilium Henryi — A plant of this handsome new 
species grown in a pot was only 18 in. high, but 
strong bulbs in the open ground throw up stems 6 ft. 
to 8 ft. in height. The leaves are lanceolate, 
acuminate, narrowed into a very short stalk. The 
upper ones are ovate, then heartshaped and some 
are almost round in proximity to the flowers, and 
clasp the stem. These small leaves are crowded 
together and constitute one of the strongest character¬ 
istics by which the plant may be separated botani- 
cally from L. speciosum. The flowers have their 
face downwards with revolute segments, of a beautiful 
orange-apricot, thinly spotted with crimson on the 
lower half which is also tuberculated like L. 
speciosum, but less extensively perhaps. First-class 
Certificate. The exhibitors were Messrs. Wallace 
& Co., St. John Street, Colchester. 
Ex.acum macranthum. —• The leaves of this 
beautiful Gentianwort are oval or elliptic and three- 
nerved. The flowers are produced in terminal cymes 
and have a very short tube with a flat or horizontal, 
deep blue lamina. The stamens are yellow and stand 
up forming a column in the centre of the flower. 
First-class Certificate. The exhibitors were Messrs. 
J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea. 
CoRNus brachypoda variegata. —The branches 
of this hardy shrub are short with the leaves usually 
densely aggregated in tufts at their apices. On 
strong shoots they are, however, more scattered. 
The leaves are lanceolate-elliptic, long-pointed and 
of a soft green with broad but irregular white 
borders, often breaking into the green with variously 
shaped patches. First-class Certificate. Exhibited 
by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. 
Clerodendron dichotonum.— The leaves of 
this all but hardy species are broadly ovate, three- 
nerved at the base, deep dull green, and pubescent, 
especially beneath. The flowers are borne profusely 
in panicled cymes. The calyx is five-angled, and its 
green colour is mostly obscured by red. The corolla 
has a slender, reddish or pale coloured tube and a 
slightly unequal, five-lobed white lamina. First-class 
Certificate. Exhibited by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. 
Pentstemon Cleveland!. —The stems of this 
species are thickly leafy for half their length or 
more, with oblong-lanceolate, blunt, deeply glaucous 
leaves. The flowers are borne in short racemes or 
clusters forming a narrow panicle, and are slender, 
tubular, and bright crimson-scarlet, with a small, 
slightly oblique and shortly five-lobed lamina. On 
the whole it may be described as a pretty, interesting 
and very distinct species. Award of Merit. Ex¬ 
hibited by Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart, (gardener 
Mr. Bain), Burford Lodge, Dorking. 
Welgela Eva Rathke— This is said to be a 
perpetual bloomer. The flowers are moderate in size, 
funnel-shaped, and of a deep crimson-red with white 
stamens and stigma. The leaves are rather small, 
lanceolate, deep green, finely rugose and long-pointed. 
First-class Certificate. Exhibited by Mr. A. Waterer, 
Knap Hill, Surrey. 
Carnation IMrs. Leopold de Rothschild,— The 
flowers of this beautiful variety are large and open, 
that is, the petals are not crowded, but they are 
crenate at the edges, not fringed. The whole are of 
a rosy-pink very similar to those of Raby Castle, but 
the flowers are larger, a fact that is even more evi¬ 
dent at mid-winter, for it is a perpetual flowering 
sort and distinctly fragrant. Award of Merit. 
Exhibited by Mr. Geo. Reynolds, gardener to the 
Messrs, de Rothschild, Gunnersbury Park, Acton. 
Gladiolus Cassandra.— -This has large, flesh- 
coloured flowers tinted with salmon, and the throat 
is crimson. 
Gladiolus Bernice. —Thirteen blooms of this 
were fully expanded, of medium size, with sulphur 
segments slightly marked with red towards the 
edges, and crimson in the throat. 
Gladiolus Gertrude.— The edges of this sort 
are inclined to be red, while the rest is pink or flesh- 
coloured, giving the whole the aspect of a Picotee in 
the arrangement of the colours. 
Gladiolus Orlanda.— The flowers of this variety 
are orange-red and slightly flaked at the edges with 
slaty-blue or purple. All the four Gladioli were 
exhibited by Messrs. J. Burrell & Co., Howe House, 
Cambridge, and an Award of Merit was accorded in 
each case. 
Helianthus rigidus Miss Mellish.— The 
blooms of this Sunflower are of large size, and 
appearing semi-double from the fact that the golden 
yellow rays are arranged in three or four rows; they 
are revolute at the sides. The typical form grows 
ft. high, and the ordinary semi-double form 3J ft., 
while that under notice attains a stature of 5^ ft. 
Award of Merit The exhibitor was the Rev. W. 
Wilks, M.A., Shirley Vicarage, Croydon. 
Pink Ernest Ladhams. —This is said to be a new 
perpetual flowering Pink, and certainly the large 
bunches shown bore a profusion of large and fresh 
flowers and buds. The blooms have a short tube 
and are very large and double. The petals are flesh 
or pink, with a deep crimson blotch at the base, and 
slightly serrate at the apex. For border work it 
should be invaluable. Award of Merit. The 
exhibitor was Mr. B. Ladhams, Shirley Nurseries, 
near Southampton. 
Rose Duke of York.— The flowers of this China 
Rose are of moderate size and deep crimson, with 
the inner petals shaded with white or sometimes 
salmon. Award of Merit. It was shown by Messrs. 
Wm. Paul & Son, Waltham Cross. 
{For descriptions of new Dahlias, see p. iS). 
- 4 -- 
WORLD’S FAIR NOTES. 
In my last letter I promised you a few notes on 
some of the American exhibits in the Floricultural 
Section at Chicago, which as a whole does not give a 
creditable representation of the floriculture of the 
States, so far indeed is this from being the case that 
I fear many Europeans must have gone away with a 
false impression. In the first place, all the principal 
exhibitors hail from the East, the West contributing 
very little. The two largest collections of plants, 
viz., those of the New York State and Messrs. 
Pitcher & Manda, of Short Hills, had to travel a 
thousand miles and more, and apart from the great 
distance had to contend against bad weather, the 
effects of which they felt, especially on their arrival 
at Chicago, where the great dome proved anything 
but a desirable hospital for tender exotics. It is to 
be hoped that before passing judgment on the horti¬ 
culture of America from what they saw at Chicago, 
our visiting friends will kindly take this into considera¬ 
tion, or, better still, that they will pay a visit to some 
of our best trading establishments, when they will, I 
m sure, have a better opinion of us. 
Such establishments as Messrs. Pitcher & Manda’s 
with their 100,000 and more of Palms, and enormous' 
collections of Orchids and other exotics, to say 
nothing of hardy plants ; and the nurseries of Mr. 
J. L. Childs and Mr. C. H. Allen, at Floral Park, 
with their millions of Gladioli and hardy plants, as I 
saw them last week, were sights that would please 
any British horticulturist. But I am digressing, and 
must return to the "Fair," where the first-named 
firm take the lead as exhibitors, with a huge col¬ 
lection of plants which tightly filled some eighteen 
railway cars and cost many thousands of dollars for 
transport alone. The most noticeable specimens are 
to be found in a group of Araucarias which includes 
twenty-nine species and varieties, many of them 
very rare, and some of them very fine plants. Next 
come the tree Ferns, which are grand. A pair of 
Dicksonias are 27 ft. high, and a very conspicuous 
plant is a marvellous piece of Cibotium Schiedei. 
The Ferns include some eighty-two distinct forms. 
The fine-foliaged plants include some 200 specimens, 
comprising those that are new or rare and many sn 
old favourite. Palms they show in 152 distinct 
kinds, and most noticeable among these are a very 
fine plant of Pritchardia pacifica with nine extra 
fine leaves, and a Kentia Fosteriana 20 ft. high. 
They also have a group of Orchids which has 
attracted much notice and interested many thou¬ 
sands of visitors who had never seen these curious 
plants before. 
New York State has done marvels for the success 
of the display in general, and saved the Floricultural 
Section from utter failure. Chief Dean, with his in- 
bred Scottish perseverance, has performed his part 
nobly in the face of great difficulties, and deserves 
the highest praise. He has collected together from 
many sources a grand and valuable collection, and, 
with the aid of a young Scot named Donlan, has so 
arranged them that he gets the full decorative value, 
out of each specimen, and in this respect takes the 
premier position. 
Pennsylvania has a large collection of Cactaceous 
plants which is of very great interest, a very fine 
display of Caladiums, a large group of Palms, 
Cycads, etc., and a grand collection of Ferns. 
Outside their State building they have also a 
splendid bed of choice Crotons, so fine indeed as to 
be worth special mention. Many other States also 
exhibit, but their contributions are generally of little 
merit, and Illinois, the State in which the Fair is 
held, cuts a very sorry figure. One other trade 
exhibit is specially worthy of honourable mention. 
This is a collection of sixty-two distinct varieties of 
Begonia Rex shown by Messrs. E. G. Hill & Co., of 
Indiana, and which if they had only been given fair 
play would have made the finest group of its kind 
ever seen.—^) h. Cor. 
- ^ - 
SEA LAVENDER. 
For many years past the species of Sea Lavender or 
Statice have been objects of great regard amongst 
horticulturists, and rightly so. The shrubby species 
of the Canary Island type are popular and orna¬ 
mental subjects, both for conservatory decoration 
and exhibition purposes. The object of this article_ 
however, is to treat of the more common herbaceous 
perennial species which have intermittently received 
the attention of horticulturists for many years 
past, but at the present time are coming more to the 
front than formerly. Their utility for cut flower 
purposes deserves something more than passing 
attention. Some of the more grace^lly branched 
kinds might v/ell be largely used for mixing wiih 
floral arrangements in the same way as Gypsophila 
paniculata ; while all the larger ones are deserving 
of cultivation for border decoration, and even lor 
exhibition purposes amongst other herbaceous sub¬ 
jects, and for which they are well adapted. 
The first species calling for attention is S. 
Limonium, a native of our own shores as well as of 
continental Europe, North Africa, and North 
America. Plants having such a wide range are 
naturally variable, and such is the case with S. 
Limonium. Many of the variations are so distinct 
that they have received different names, and some of 
them have been made to rank as species. The typical 
S. Limonium in a wild state grows only bin. to 18 in. 
high, but under cultivation reaches 3 ft. or more 
easily. The obovate-lanceolate leaves are confined 
to the root-stock. The stems branch at the top 
only, and most or all of the branches produce flowers. 
The latter are blue-purple, with a darker purple 
throat, and are produced two or three together on 
short spiklets, but not in any way crowded. The 
cultivated plant is noticeable for its long naked 
stems. The variety S. L. Behen, with dense corym¬ 
bose panicles, and all the branches flowering, grows 
along the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight in 
saline marshes, and is very handsome, but does not 
seem to be in cultivation. A form in the way of S. L. 
serotina, with pyramidal panicles and ascending 
branches, many of which are barren, grows along 
some of the bays on the coast of Glamorgan. Both 
of these varieties grow 6 in. to 12 in, high as a rule, 
but would doubtless grow stronger under cultivation. 
S. L Behen is showy on account of the compact 
form of the panicle and the dense arrangement of 
the flowers. 
* 
Better known is the variety S. L rariflora or b. L. 
