48 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
July  18,  1901. 
So  it  was,  and  so  it  has  been.  The  same  vagaries  have  continued. 
Sometimes  the  erratic  pair  have  been  good,  very  good  ;  sometimes 
bad,  and  very  bad  ;  and  this  year  they  were  never  worse — never 
greener. 
The  subject  is  surrounded  by  mystery,  hence  possesses  a  fascination 
which  inevitably  invests  the  unknown  and  inexplicable.  Such  men 
as  Mohl,  Schiibler,  Funk,  and  others  of  high  rank  in  the  world  of 
scientific  research,  have  tapped  Nature’s  laboratory  to  extract  the 
secret  of  colouration,  but  tapped  in  vain  ;  the  secret,  thus  far,  remains 
well  kept.  Dr.  Lindley  thus  sums  up  the  results  of  their  observations 
and  his  own,  “There  is  no  subject  connected  with  the  vital  phenomena 
of  either  plants  or  animals  more  unintelligible  than  the  distribution  of 
colour  over  their  surface — a  distribution  which  is  evidently  caused  by 
some  fixed  rule  .  .  .  but  concen  ing  the  primary  cause  of  which  we 
are  as  much  in  the  dark  as  ever.”  Yet  botanical  research  or  chemical 
investigation  in  connection  with  it,  results  of  which  are  virtually 
nil,  need  not  detain.  Gardeners  are  nothing  if  not  practical.  A  dozen 
men  will  have  as  many  theories  of  particular  treatment  in  developing 
or  retaining  the  true  variegated  character.  Apart  from  inherent  traits 
which  are  beyond  control — that  “fixed  rule”  which  Nature  guards 
so  well — the  apparently  spasmodic  action  under  which  a  plant  will 
one  year  blaze  out  in  all  its  glory  of  characteristic  colouring,  and 
perverts  the  next,  proceeds  probably  from  external  influences  as  well 
as  predisposing  causes.  These  are  so  many  and  varied  as  to  necessitate 
particular,  and  very  often  diverse  treatment.  It  may  be  sunshine  or 
shade,  cold  <  r  heat,  soil  and  situation,  which  are  factors  in  the  economy 
of  colour  ;  and  what  one  plant  fairly  revels  in  another  wholly  rejects, 
deteriorating  into  mediocrity,  or  sinking  below  it  into  the  insignificance 
of  the  commonest  family  type. 
One  keen  observer  says  that  this  subject  has  troubled  him  for 
years;  whilst  others  have  said  that  they  cannot  be  botheied  with 
such  things.  “  If  a  plaDt  does,  it  does  ;  if  it  don’t,  it  don’t,  and  that’s 
the  end  of  it.”  But,  indeed,  it  is  but  the  beginning,  and  the  why  or 
wberetore  of  either  success  or  failure  must  ever  exercise  the  mind  of 
the  genuine  plant  lover.  Amongst  the  variegated  forms  of  various 
stove  and  greenhouse  plants  which  have  troubled  the  writer  are 
Cyperus  alternifolius,  Alocasia  macrorhiza,  some  varieties  of  Crotons, 
and  the  trailing  Tradescantiap.  Leaves  only  of  the  Cyperus  were 
obtained  this  spring  from  a  particularly  good  variegated  form,  some 
being  pure  albinos,  and  by  all  the  laws  of  heredity  they  should  keep 
so.  These  inserted  into  thumb  pots  are  now  perverted  into  grass 
green  plants.  Why  is  it  so  ?  A  critic  summarily  disposes  of  the 
matter  by  saying,  “  it  runs  in  the  blood,  same  as  human  beings.” 
Well!  Yes;  we  suppose  so,  same  as  wooden  legs.  Some  dozen 
plants  of  the  Alocasia,  the  pure  stock  of  an  old  exhibition  plant  of 
fine  form,  are  labelled  for  future  selection  as  “good,”  “very  good,” 
“  bad,”  “  very  bad.”  The  best  bearing  ivory-white  leaves  with  little 
more  than  a  suspicion  of  green ;  the  worst  showing  not  the  faintest 
ttace  of  variegation  in  their  coarse  but  handsome  foliage.  All  are 
growing  in  a  light,  low  stove,  slightly  shaded  on  the  sunny  side. 
Crotons  grown  in  an  ideal  position,  well  up  to  the  glass  without  any 
shade,  have,  indeed,  but  few  faults  in  their  colouration  beyond  those 
vagaries  from  which  even  they  are  not  exempt.  One  old  plant  of 
Croton  Junius,  some  6  feet  high,  was  lately  relegated  to  the  rubbish 
heap,  having  this  season  come  as  green  as  a  common  Laurel  without 
the  redeeming  features  ot  that  handsome  hardy  plant.  It  was  an  old 
plant  which  had  been  cut  back  several  times,  and  had  on  various 
occasions  been  particularly  well  coloured  ;  some  of  its  progeny  is 
at  the  present  time  in  fine  foim.  Again,  a  good  specimen  o>  Croton 
Prince  of  Orange  is  particularly  good,  some  of  the  leaves  being  of 
an  entire  deep  gold  ;  yet  one  branch  shows  the  old  Adam  in  its  vivid 
self-green. 
It  has  been  noticed  that  plants  in  which  the  variegation  consists  of 
venation  pure  and  simple  show  but  few,  if  any,  vagaries.  Some 
Crotons,  for  instance,  in  which  the  primary  and  lateral  leaf-ribs — 
veins — are  yellow  or  red,  retain  their  character,  and  some  of  our 
finest  foliage  plants  remain  constant  in  the;r  variations  from  the  type. 
That  fine  form  of  Ficus  elastica,  which  most  will  acknowledge  to  be  a 
decided  acquisition,  without  any  invidious  compari-on  between  it  and 
its  common  but  handsome  ancestor,  invariably  keeps  its  character 
under  all  conditions  of  culture.  Variegation  is  not,  however,  always 
an  acquisition.  In  the  craze  for  novelty  any  departure  from  the  type 
has  been  eagerly  sought  for  and  seized  upon  as  such,  though  the  gain 
may  not  only  be  doubtlul,  but  actually  disadvantageous  to  a  beautiful 
form  in  its  normal  colour.  The  influence  of  soil  upon  some  kinds  of 
variegation  canm  t  be  overlooked,  for  many  plants  in  which  it  is  not 
permanently  fixed  rapidly  run  back  to  their  original  state  when 
planted  or  potted  in  rich  compost.  This  is  n  ore  or  less  traceable  in 
Aspidi.-tra  lurida  and  Pandanus  Veitchi,  which  are  best  kept  on  the 
hungry  side  by  a  liberal  root  allowance  of  old  mortar.  Although 
research  has  done  nothing  towards  solving  the  problem  ol  colour  more 
than  possible  observation,  by  those  sufficiently  interested  in  the  subject, 
under  experimental  culture  may  throw  some  light  upon  the  vagaries 
of  variegation.— Iv  ,  Dublin. 
English  Wild  Flowers. 
In  commenting  upon  this  interesting  family  of  the  native  Orchids 
there  is  much  to  be  said  for  the  Pyramidal  Orchis,  frequently  found  on 
the  chalk  around  the  metropolis,  and  which  throws  up  a  dense  spike 
of  crimson  in  July  ;  a  delicate  variety  of  creamy  white  has  been  found, 
which  doe 8  not  change  by  removal.  This  Orchis  has  also  an  agreeable 
perfume,  observable  at  all  hours.  No  doubt  one  cause  why  failures  often 
happened  in  transplanting  was  insufficient  care  of  the  rootlets. 
The  smaller  wild  Orchises,  which  have  a  resemblance,  more  or  less 
marked,  to  various  insects,  do  not  seem  to  have  arrived  in  the  garden 
at  an  early  date.  Some  species  were  tried,  possibly,  and  proved 
difficult  to  grow,  or  their  likeness  to  insects  made  them  unpopular 
till  their  day  came  to  be  hunted  up  by  amateurs  as  rarities.  A  score 
of  years  ago,  or  more,  Mr.  Treidle,  gardener  to  the  Comte  de  Paris,  at 
Twickenham,  had  the  repute  of  being  the  best  grower  of  British 
species  of  all  kinds  ;  probably  he  has  successors  who  have  made  them 
a  speciality.  The  bee  and  fly  species  are  mentioned  in  oldish  books  on 
gardening.  Ophrys  apifera  is  rather  a  plant  of  meadows  than  of 
woods,  but  is  partial  to  chalk,  flowering  in  July.  A  little  way  off  the 
spike  does  suggest  a  cluster  of  bees  crawling  up  a  stem,  the  flowers 
being  large,  and  the  lip  brown  with  yellow  markings ;  similar,  but 
smaller,  is  0.  muscifera,  a  yet  rarer  native,  somewhat  like  the  insect 
tribe  after  which  it  is  named ;  both  species  have  only  a  small  number 
of  leaves.  They  cannot  be  raised  from  seed,  I  believe,  and  the  division 
method  is  apt  to  be  unsuccessful.  There  is  a  tradition  that  the 
Roman  ladies,  from  species  of  Ophrys,  extracted  a  dye  with  which 
they  used  to  darken  their  eyebrows. 
That  the  inconspicuous  Man  Orchis  (Aceras  anthropophcra)  which 
has  a  long  spike  of  crowded  scentless  flowers,  green,  touched  with 
brown,  had  a  few  cultivators,  is  a  fact  which  comes  from  Loudon’s 
reference  to  it,  as  a  species  which  could  be  raised  by  the  seeds.  The 
Biro’s  Nest  Orchis  (Listera  nidus-avis)  which  has  no  leaves,  and  is 
named  from  its  matted  root,  he  mentions  as  suitable  for  growing  under 
trees  in  a  light  soil.  I  do  not  think  that  Neottia  spiralis,  the  Ladies’ 
Tresses,  could  claim  to  be  ranked  amongst  garden  flowers,  yet  its 
white  and  green  twisted  spike  is  very  fragrant.  Some  of  the  old 
authors  call  it  “  ladies’  traces.” 
We  pass  now  to  a  very  different  tribe,  plants,  indeed,  that  resemble 
our  Orchids  in  being  of  humble  growth  and  having  often  succulent 
leaves.  The  Stonecrops  are  inhabitants  of  every  country,  but  the 
species  of  most  beauty  occur  in  tropical  regions.  No  explanation  is 
needed  of  the  popular  name ;  the  Latin  one  of  Sedum  belonging  to 
one  group,  which  means  to  sit,  implies  that  some  of  the  plants  look 
as  it  they  were  squatting  upon  the  earth.  For  centuries,  the  House- 
leek,  Sempervivum  tectorum,  has  been  a  familiar  object  on  Toofs, 
walls,  and  odd  corners  in  gardens,  though  now,  1  believe,  it  is 
rarely  found  growing  wild.  Though  the  large  rose-hued  flowers  are 
handsome,  an  old  superstition  regarded  their  appearance  as  a  sign  of 
bad  luck  when  a  plant  was  upon  a  roof.  Its  leaves  were  valued  for 
their  curative  powers,  not  only  externally,  for  the  juice  was  taken 
mixed  with  milk  or  ale,  and  the  Houseleek  upon  a  roof  was  supposed 
to  secure  it  against  lightning. 
At  one  time  the  tallest  of  our  native  Sedums  had  a  like  repute, 
or  the  Orpine,  Live-long,  or  Midsummer  Man,  was  also  called  the 
“  Thunder  Plant,”  and  cultivated  partly  for  the  reason  it  was  supposed 
to  afford  security  to  persons  near  it  during  electric  disturbances.  A 
popular  book  on  gardening  gives  a  list  of  Sedums,  including  several 
British  species,  but  does  not  mention  this,  S.  telephium,  so  I  assume 
it  is  seldom  cultivated  now,  though  at  the  beginning  of  last  century 
it  was  grown  on  rockwork.  One  reason  why  people  sought  the  plant 
was  that  the  flowerhead  being  hung  up,  its  bowing  to  the  right  or  the 
left  was  taken  to  indicate  the  faithfulness  of  a  lover,  or  the  reverse. 
The  species  used  to  occur  near  London,  about  Wimbledon  Common, 
for  instance.  Quite  a  contrast  in  size  is  S.  anglicum,  about  4  inches 
high,  having  crowded  leaves,  and  a  white  cyme  often  tinged  with 
pink.  It  is  annual,  and  grows  wild  chiefly  in  the  West  of  Eagland. 
This,  and  S.  album,  also  small,  have  been  planted  along  borders,  but 
they  are  apt  to  die  off  suddenly.  The  common  Stonecrop,  S.  acre,  is, 
in  its  variegated  form,  use'ul  as  an  edging;  it  is  perennial,  and  from 
the  pungency  of  the  plant  had  the  old  name  of  Wall  Pepper.  The 
Rock  Stonecrop,  S.  rupestre,  a  rare  native,  has  a  place  on  some  rough 
rock  gardens  ;  its  flowers  are  the  largest  of  any  native  species. 
Still  grown  in  some  I  emeries,  or  allowed  to  ramble  over  old  walls, 
the  Navel  wort  (Cotyledon  umbilicus)  stems  to  have  been  introduced 
into  gardens  because  of  its  shield-like  leaves  and  racemes  of  waxy, 
yellow  flowers.  It  is  a  plant  of  the  hills,  especially  in  Wales,  but 
Gerarde  remarks  that  he  saw  it  growing,  seemingly  wild,  on  a  wall  of 
Westminster  Abbey.  This  may  be  obtained  from  seed  or  by  division, 
and  is  very  partial  to  moisture.  It  is  stated  that  the  Roseroot 
(S.  rhodiola)  another  mountain  plant,  was  cultivated  formerly  on 
account  of  the  root,  which  has  a  powerful  odour  of  the  Rose,  and 
retains  it  even  if  dried. — J.  R.  S.  C. 
