57 2 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September 5, 1908. 
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6difoi?ial. 
Viola olympica. 
China as a 5ounce ot New ?iauis. 
Considering that China has been a 
civilised country for so many centuries, 
it is rather remarkable that so much of it 
still remains practically unexplored, as 
far as its flora is concerned. Early in its 
history the R.H.S. was instrumental in 
sending out plant collectors, when many 
of our more popular plants were intro¬ 
duced. Even now, after so many years, 
China seems capable of affording trees, 
r hrubs, herbaceous and alpine planfs 
hardy enough to thrive in the open air in 
.his country. 
In the Journal of the R.H.S., Vol. 33, 
Part II., Mr. E. H. Wilson, who has col¬ 
lected plants for Messrs. Veitch and Sons, 
and is at the present time travelling for 
the Director of the New York Botanical 
Garden, gives a brief account of the 
Chinese flora. In this he states that 140 
species of Rhododendron are known in 
China, and of these he succeeded in intro¬ 
ducing about fifty. About twenty of them 
were new to science. These Rhododen¬ 
drons occur on the mountains at eleva¬ 
tions extending from 5,000 to 15,000 ft., 
and that perhaps explains the reason why 
! hey have not been introduced sooner. 
The length of the journey, and the fact 
t h t it must largely be done by boat and 
on horseback, or on foot, would explain 
1 he difficulty in thoroughly ransacking 
ihe various districts of China. Mr. Wil¬ 
son says there is a complete absence of 
C uch well-known plants as Broom, Gorse, 
Heather and Rock Roses. He also thinks 
that the Chinese flora is really distinct 
from that of Japan, Corea and Siberia. 
There seems to be really more connection 
between the flora of China and that of 
the eastern side of the United States. The 
native home of the Peach is China, but 
that reached Europe by way of the 
old trade route overland. He thinks 
China as a source of new plants is very 
far from being exhausted. 
-+-M-- 
Viola olympica. 
The garden Violas are now of such a 
size that few people would care to gfow the 
wild species, unless they were admirers of 
such things for planting on the rockery. 
That is certainly the best place for them, 
but some of them are well worth growing 
there, and if planted in a soil that has 
recently been stirred with, perhaps, a 
fresh addition to the soil the'species under 
notice would prove well worthy of such 
attention. It belongs to the group repre¬ 
sented by the Pansy, rather than to the 
section which the sweet Violet represents. 
Amongst the early or older varieties of 
garden Violas, some of them were not 
unlike V. olympica in shape. What we 
mean can be seen by reference to the 
illustration, which was taken in the herba¬ 
ceous ground at Kew. The two top petals 
and the two side ones overlap one another, 
making a close flower, and in that respect 
they differ from V. cornuta, which has been 
more or less emploved as a parent for the 
garden Viola. The flower would have 
been highly improved from a garden point 
of view had the lip been broader, so as 
to make the outline of the flower more 
rounded. 
As a rock plant, however, we think the 
shape is excellent, and the colours being 
soft, it makes a charming flower from the 
early part of summer onward. This may 
[,Maclaren and Sons. 
be described as soft blue-purple, with a 
white centre to the lip. In spring the 
main stem is upright, and from it a num 
her of branches are given off, which 
radiate in different directions. Even from 
this flowers are given off at intervals, and 
are carried erect upon flower stems about 
4 in. long. This, of course, is the appear¬ 
ance of the plant early in the season, but 
by August other branches are given off, 
filling up all the intermediate spaces until 
we have a mass not quite represented by 
our photograph, which was taken toward; 
the end of June, when the plant was prac¬ 
tically in its first flush of beauty. 
The same plants in this clump are still 
flowering freely, showing that the plant 
is a continuous bloomer. It may, there 
fore, be utilised for the raising of a nev 
race of Violas of wiry habit and continu 
ous blooming. Although the species has; 
long been known to science, it does not 
seem to have been introduced to cultiva 
tion till quite recently. It is a native o: 
Asia Minor. 
-- 
Fragrant Cinnamon Fern. 
A correspondent of the America! 
“Fern Bulletin” points out that Os 
munda cinnamomea glandulosa is dis 
tixic1 1 y aromatic. If bruised earlv in the 
day it is of a spicy' fragrance. The evi 
dence appears to be against the sugges 
tion that to this fragrance the Fern owe: 
the origin of the name cinnamon. The 
editor observes that most glands on plant; 
secrete a volatile oil and that nearly al 
such oils , are odoriferous. A large num 
ber of these are w-hat we call fragrant 
but many' are quite otherwise. 
