.January 14, 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
Notes on the Illustrations in this Issue. 
Agave dasyiirioides. 
A well-grown specimen of the above plant is now flowering 
in the gardens of the Royal Botanic Society, Regent’s Park, 
where it is planted out in the conservatory on some rock work. 
Our illustration will give a correct idea of the general habit of 
the plant, which has not been twisted into the form as seen, 
but is merely the natural habit of the plant. 
The leaves vary from sixty to 100, arranged in a close rosette 
or tuft. They are much narrower and altogether different in 
appearance from those of the better-known American Agave. 
They are linear or somewhat sword-shaped, 2 ft. to 4 ft. long, 
and gradually narrowed from the middle to a short hard point. 
They are devoid of the big spines so characteristic of its 
American congener, being merely finely toothed on the margins 
and stiffly leathery, though sufficiently pliable to re¬ 
curve gracefully, recalling some species of Yucca rather 
than the more familiar Century Plant. 
The flowers are very numerous and sit directly upon 
the flower-stalk, forming a spike about 1-J- ft. to 2J, ft. 
long. The flowers are yellow and sufficiently rich in this 
hue to be ornamental. The flower-scape bends over 
above the middle quite in a natural fashion, so that the 
flowers hang downwards, this being characteristic of 
the plant. Each individual flower is about 11, in. in 
length. The plant which we represent would be about 
5 ft. from the base to the tip of the flower-spike. The 
species is a native of Mexico, from whence it was in¬ 
troduced in 1846. Those of our readers who have seen 
the Century riant in bloom will remember that the 
blossoms are arranged in candelabra fashion, so that the 
species here described is very distinct in its way. 
Cypripedium Nogi. 
The Cypripedium which we represent on this occasion 
was raised from C. Sallieri x insigne Sanderae. The 
leaves are strap-shaped, deep green above, paler be¬ 
neath, and have no markings of any kind, except on the 
very base outside of the sheath, where they are spotted 
with purple. The flower itself measured 4 in. from the 
tip of the dorsal sepal to the end of the lip. The dorsal 
sepal is the most attractive feature of the flower, being 
greenish-yellow all over the central portion, spotted 
with a dark shade of purple-brown. The- markings are 
of small size, except alongside the midrib, where they 
form larger spots or blotches more or less united and 
forming a continuous band of colour along the midrib. 
The very broad margin is pure white, and the whole 
segment of great texture. The petals are spatliulate, 
light shining brown, with dark brown midrib and finely 
speckled with brown at the base. The apex is, however, 
pure white, and this adds greatly to the beauty and 
value of the hybrid. The lip is more or less shaded 
with brown on a yellow ground, especially on the front. 
The staminode is clear bright yellow. The whole flower 
is of polished and shining appearance. 
Owing to the drooping habit of the petals, the flower does 
not give a full impression of its exact size. Each petal 
measures 21 in. long, sometimes more. The bloom from which 
our illustration was taken was given us by Messrs. James 
Cypher and Sons, Queen’s Road Nursery, Cheltenham, who 
grow Orchids extensively, but give special attention to Cypripe- 
diums, Dendrobiuins, Odontoglossoms, and Cattleyas. The 
variety is named in compliment to the victor at Port Arthur. 
The nearest relation to this is C. Troilus, from a similar 
parentage. 
Onerous coccinea splendens. 
Most gardeners are familiar with the more common form 
of the British Oak at least, hut relatively few have trees of the 
Scarlet Oak in their collection. While the trees are in their 
Usual summer green leafage it is necessary to inspect Oaks 
rather closely to see the diffei'ences amongst them. The leaves 
of the Scarlet. Oak to some extent resemble several of the 
Am erican species, but they are widely different from those of 
this country. Gardeners and employers who are at all in¬ 
terested in the autumn tiids to be seen amongst the dilb i - • 
species of tree could scarcely fail to be charmed with the i h 
hue assumed by the foliage of the Scarlet Oak. 
The leaves of this species which we represent were gathered 
from a varity named Q. c. splendens in the collection of M< 
J. Cheal and Sons, Lowfield Nurseries, Crawley, Sussex. Thi- 
represents a very choice variety selected from amongst seed¬ 
lings, and characterised by having a much richer colour tl. n 
those of an average Scarlet Oak. In October they were of a 
deej) shining red, while some of the older ones had a distinct 
bronzy-metallic-purple hue, more or less evident on the up[ er 
surface, while the lower surface was altogether brighter. 
We wish particularly to call attention to the beauty of form 
represented by these leaves. They are more or less deeply 
lobed, and those lobes again are distinctly toothed, each lobe 
Auave dasylieioides : Floweks yellowy 
and tooth ending in a point almost as fine as a hair. The 
largest leaf shown was 7 in. long and over 5 in. at the widest 
part. By comparison with our own species it will be seen that 
the leaves of this are larger, more deeply lobed, with much 
sharper divisions, thereby rendering the tree quite handsome, 
■whether in its summer or autumn garb. 
In its native country the tree reaches a height of 50 ft., and 
there seems no reason why it should not reach that height in 
this countiy. Even though only half that height it has a 
glorious appearance in the landscape during the latter half of 
October and until the leaves drop. The species was originally 
introduced from America in 1691. 
Hajiamelis. —The species of Hamainelis are now fast coming 
into bloom in the south, H. japoniea Zuccariniana and H. mollis 
leading the v r ay. The latter is the most recent introduction, 
and very bright. 
