78 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
varieties, but really there is but little or no difference 
between many of them, but a selection of one or more 
from the following descriptive list will prove to be per¬ 
fectly satisfactory: 
A. Mexicanum. Flowers lavender blue; the plant 
attains a height of from one and a half to two feet in 
height. 
A. Mexicanum album. Resembles the above in all 
particulars excepting in the color of the flowers, which 
are of a bluish white. This and the above are suitable 
for open-air culture only. 
A. Mexicanum variegatum, a variety of A. Mexica¬ 
num. having leaves distinctly margined with creamy 
white. A very desirable and effective decorative plant, 
succeeding well in the open air if given a very deep 
soil and copious waterings during dry weather. Propa¬ 
gation is effected by cuttings only. 
A. Lasseauxi. A very beautiful variety from Buenos 
Ayres, growing about a'foot and a half in height; the 
flowers are of a delicate shade of Rose. 
A. Imperial Dwarf. A variety of dwarf, compact 
habit, growing about a foot in height and having blue 
flowers. 
A. Imperial Dwarf, white. This variety proves to be 
identical with Wendland’s dwarf white. It is a variety 
of the above, with pure white flowers. These two varie¬ 
ties are the very best for winter flowering, and are also 
excellent bedding plants. 
A. Tom Thumb. A variety of dwarf, compact habit 
growing from four to five inches in height. The flow¬ 
ers which are produced in the greatest profusion, are of 
a pale or porcelain blue. 
A. Tom Thumb, white. Similar in all respects except 
in the color of its flowers, which are of a bluish white. 
A. John Douglas. This is considered the best blue for 
ribbon lines and massing. It grows about nine inches 
in height, and is of very compact habit. Although I have 
described some of the varieties as producing blue flow¬ 
ers, it may be proper to say that they are not really 
blue, but rather of a lavender color, and cultivators 
will do well to bear this in mind. And as a guide to 
the inexperienced, I should have mentioned the fact 
that when the plants are removed to the places they 
are intended to occupy they should be placed from one 
foot to six inches apart each way, according to the 
height of growth to which the respective varieties 
attain. Chas. E. Parnell. 
Queens, L. I. 
HARDY CLIMBERS—•( Contimied ). 
The Wistaria. 
This genus unquestionably contains some of the most 
ornamental hardy climbers which we possess. Their 
lovely panicles of dark purple, light purple, and pure 
white flowers, single and double, produced in the most 
wonderful profusion under almost any circumstances, 
are altogether without a rival. The most interesting of 
the species that compose this genus are natives of China 
and Japan, one species only is a native of this country, 
W. frutescens, which is common from Virginia to 
Illinois and southward. It is a splendid flowering plant, 
though not as showy as the Japan varieties. It differs 
also from them in flowering after its leaves appear, a 
valuable feature, as it keeps up a succession of bloom. 
Of this there are two or three varieties; one with nearly 
white flowers, and one, W. magnifica, a late-flowering 
variety, with purple flowers. 
The Chinese variety, W. Sinensis, is the most vigorous 
and 'rapid-growing of any of the species; it was intro¬ 
duced into England in 1816, and was for a long time 
grown as a greenhouse plant, until it was accidentally 
found to be hardy. There is no twiner that will mount so 
rapidly, or that will cover so great a space. Planted at the 
foot of a lightning-rod, it has been seen to mount to the 
top of a five-story house within four years after plant¬ 
ing. Mr. Fortune, the great botanist, gives the follow¬ 
ing of a famous vine which he saw in a Japanese city: 
“On our way we called at Nauka Nobu to see a large 
specimen of Wistaria Sinensis, which was one of the 
lions in this part of the country. It was evidently of 
great age. It (the trunk) measured at three feet from 
the ground, seven feet in circumference, and covered a 
space of trellis work 60 x 103 feet. The trellis was about 
eight feet in height, and many thousands of long ra¬ 
cemes of blossoms hung down nearly half-way to i he 
ground. One of them which I measured was three feet 
six inches in length. The thousands of long, drooping 
lilac racemes had a most extraordinary and beautiful 
appearance.” 
There are now many species and varieties under cul¬ 
tivation. In 1844, W. Sinensis alba, a variety of the 
above was introduced, and is a plant of rare beauty. 
It is quite as rapid a grower as the foregoing, and pro¬ 
duces its pure white flowers as freely. The effect pro¬ 
duced by growing the two together on the same support 
is very pleasing. 
A variety with double flowers was introduced from 
Japan, its native country, in 1869, by Francis Parkman, 
Esq., of Boston. The flowers of this variety are quite 
fragrant, and very beautiful. W. brachybotria is a 
variety with shorter racemes of more fragrant light-blue 
flowers. W. brachybotria rubra, is a pleasing variety, 
with reddish-purple flowers. 
The Japanese Wistarias are much finer than the 
Chinese. A few years ago, Mr. Thomas Hogg sent home 
from Japan a very choice collection, and among them 
W. Japonica, with purple flowers; W. Japonica alba, 
with white flowers; (this species we consider identical 
with W. Sinensis alba). W. Longi-raccmosa, purple, 
with panicles of immense length; also a double variety 
of this with fragrant flowers. In addition to these he 
sent a species with glossy leaves dotted with gold; and 
another species, a very delicate grower, the stems of 
which are not larger than goose-quills. The leaves of 
this are very small, and the racemes of flowers only 
three or four inches long. The flowers are pure white, 
and are produced in July and August. 
To many, cultural instructions for this family of 
plants would seem superfluous, yet it is our experience 
