The Scientific Notebooks of German Orchidologist Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Kränzlin

132 Alfred J. Ewart:

flowered forms to taller, more luxuriant and larger-leaved and flowered forms, in the following sequence:—

E. collina, R.Br., var. striata. (E. striata, R.Br.; E. alpina, var. humilis, Benth.).

E. collina, R.Br., var. alpina. (E. alpina, R.Br.; E. diemenica, Spreng.).

(Type form) var. typica (E. collina, R.Br.; E. tetragona, R.Br.; E. multicaulis, Benth.).

E. collina, R.Br., var paludosa. " " var. speciosa. (E. speciosa, R.Br.).

Further, the size of the flowers tends to increase in cultivated specimens, and the colour is highly variable.

KOCHIA VILLOSA, Lindl., 1848 (Salsolaceae)

Among some stored specimens at the Herbarium, probably derived from the Sonder collection, one was found from A. de Jusieu, dated 1832, E. Nova Hollandia, and named Rhogodia, Billardierii, R.Br., which proves to be the above. Hence this Kochia reached Europe long before it was described by Lindley, and the present is possibly the oldest Herbarium specimen of the plant. The label and specimen are pasted on the sheet, and hence there is no possibility of accidental transference having occurred.

LYONSIA STRAMINEA, R. Br., = L. STRAMINEA (R. br.), Benth. and Mueller. (Apocynaceae).

In pursuing some interesting archæological but hardly botanical, studies, Britten1 concludes the the L. reticula of F. v. Mueller, is the true L. straminea of R.Br., and proposes a new name (L. Brownii) for the plant, supposed to be Brown's L. straminea by Bentham and Mueller. A more confusing and unnecessary addition to synonymy could hardly be proposed, and it is interesting to note on p. 240, that Britten sharply criticizes Druce for a similar addition to synonymy based on no more certain grounds. Britten admits that "Brown published no detailed description of the species," but considers that de Candolle's description of L. straminea referred, "at any rate in

1 Journ. of Botany, vol xlv., 1907, p. 255

20 THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE [January 6, 1883.

the circumstances that many of the appointments and fixtures for the new year are not made till some weeks or months have elapsed, we have not been able to insert many of the dates of the smaller provincial exhibitions. The dates of all the more important exhibitions, whether in London or the provinces, have been included, as well as the usual Calendar information. The table of mean temperatures is taken from Mr. GLAISHER'S reduction of the Chiswick observations, and, representing the average of forty years, may be taken as an indication of the probable temperature in the vicinity of London. In the Southern Counties, and by the sea, the winter temperature is usually a little higher, in the North a little lower, than that of London and its vicinity. In spring, especially on the eastern side of the island, the temperature rules lower than about London.

— PALM SEEDS.—We hear from Mr. JOSEPH STEVENSON, Honorary Secretary, Agri-Horticultural Society's Garden, Madras, that he experiences great difficulty in making exchanges of Palm seeds. At the present time the garden authorities possess qualities of seeds of the following Palms:—Corypha umbraculifera, Livistona mauritania, Elæis guineensis, Caryota urens, Areca catechu, and several varities of Phœnix, and would be glad to receive offers in exchange from some of our readers.

— THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW.—The total number of visitors to the Royal Gardens, Kew, for the year 1882 was 1,244,167. This is 407,491 in excess of the number for 1881, which in its turn was greater by 111,254 than the number of visitors in any previous year. As in 1881 the Sunday visitors (606,935) were about equal in number to those on all the other days of the week put together (637,232).

— INDIRECT EVIDENCE.—The fact that the American Vines resist or do not succumb to the Phylloxera is being acted on in a large scale in France, the American Vines being used as stocks whereon to graft the better Vines of France. At first there was some doubt as to the real efficacy of the process for practical purposes, but that doubt is now settled, and, as if to prove it, thefts of American Vines from nursuries have become frequent. Thus, near Montpellier one night 850 plants were stolen, and from another nursery a number of cuttings, valued at £200. The variety most affected by the marauders is one namked Othello.

— — JAPANESE VINES.—In view of the everincreasing losses caused by the Phylloxera it is said that the French Government have despatched a Commission to studty the Vines of Japan, and which are cultivated in that country up to the snow line. M. PLANCHON is about to publish a description of the species, of which several are known in herbaria, and some are in cultivation.

— — ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.— The following is a summary of the privileges of Fellows and members for the current year:— A Fellow paying four guineas a year is entitled:— I. To two tickets, both of which are transferable, and will admit the Fellow or the bearer without payment to the Gardens and to the Great International Fisheries Exhibition to be held therein, and to all shows in connection therewith. Each ticket will also entitle the bearer to a season ticket holder's place at the opening ceremony of the Fisheries Exhibition, to be held in the Royal Albert Hall, for the reduced payment of 5s. 2. To admit daily (Sundays excepted) eight friends by written order to the garden at Chiswick. 3. To visit the shows at 12 o'clock, being an hour earlier than the general public. 4. To receive forty orders giving free admission on all occasions until April 15, from which date till May 1 the Gardens will be closed, except to Fellows. These orders will be available on the payment of 6d, during the Fisheries Exhibition on all shilling days. 5. To a share of such seeds, plants, and cuttings of Vines and fruit trees as the Society may have in sufficient numbers for distribution by ballot or otherwise. 6. To purchase the flowers, fruit, and vegetables grown at Chiswick, which may not be required for scientific purposes by the Scientific, Fruit and Floral Committees. 7. To receive a copy of the publications of the Society. 8. To the right of voting at all meetings. 9. To be relieved (on giving previous notice in writing) from the payment of subscriptions while resident abroad. 10. To free admission to the reading room and Lindley

Library. A fellow paying two guineas a year is entitled to one ticket giving the same privileges of admission as in No. I; half the privileges mentioned in Nos. 2, 4, and 5; the same as Nos. 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Present guinea members are entitled to one ticket, not transferable, giving the owner admission on all ordinary occasions, and to all shows at Chiswick and South Kensington, but not to the annual or special general meetings or fêtes or conversazione of the Society, and which does not entitle the member to vote on any matters relating to the affairs of the Society. Entrance fees of new Fellows joing are suspended for the present.

— TITHE COMMUTATION: SEPTENNIAL AVERAGES. — Mr. MONTAGUE MARRIOTT, Editor of Willich's Tithe Commutation Tables, writes:—As the result of the corn averages for the seven years to Christmas, 1882, published in the London Gazette of this evening—viz., Wheat, 5s. 10 1/4d. per imperial bushel; Barley, 4s. 4 1/2 d. per imperial bushel; Oats, 2s. 11 1/4d. per imperial bushel—I beg to state that each £100 of the tithe-rent charge will, for the year 1883 amount to £100 4s. 9 3/4d., or about 2 1/2 per cent. less than last year. The following shows the worth of £100 tithe-rent charge for the last seven years:—For the year 1877, £109 16s. 11 1/2d.; 1878 £112 7s. 5 1/4d.; 1879, £111 15s. 1 1/2d.; 1880, £109 17s. 9 1/2d.; 1881, £107 2s. 10 1/2d.; 1882, £102 16s. 2d.; 1883, £100 4s. 9 3/4d. The average of £100 tithe-rent charge for the forty-seven years elapsed since the passing of the Tithe Commutation Act is £103 2s. 0 1/2d.

— ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF IRELAND. —The dates of this Society's exhibitions for 1883 are as follows:—Spring exhibitions, Thursday, April 19, and Thursday, May 17; Summer show, Thursday July 5; Autumn show, Thursday, Sept. 6; Winter show, Thursday, Nov. 22.

—THE FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA.—We are glad to welcome another instalment (the ninth) of this very serviceable work, published by Sir JOSEPH HOOKER, with the assistance of other botanists (REEVE & CO.) The present part contains, among other orders, the Ericaceæ, Sapotaceæ, Oleaceæ (Jasminum) and various other orders elaborated by Mr. CLARKE, while Sir JOSEPH enumerates the Primulaceæ and Apocynaceæ. Rhododendrum lovers will be interested to see the latest revision of the Indian species by Mr. CLARKE, who has had the advantage of Sir JOSEPH's materials and co-operation, in addition to his own extensive collections and personal experience. The Malayan species (from which originate the so-called greenhouse species of gardens) are grouped together under the sub-genus, Vireya, characterised by the thin walls of the capsule twisting after dehiscence, and with very long-tailed seeds. Here come R. malayanum, jasminiflorum, javanicum. The true Rhodendrons are distinguished by a woody capsule, the valves of which do not twist, and by wingless seeds; here are placed R. arboreum and all the Sikkim species. The R. argenteum of gardens is referred to R. grande of Wight. R. æruginosum is reduced to R. campanulatum, R. Aucklandi to R. Griffithianum. Of the Primroses we have already spoken, but we add that P. imperialis is referred to R. prolifera. We may add that this part concludes the third volume, and as it has brought the record as far as Apocynaceæ it may be presumed that the work is now about half finished. The work comprises an immense geographical area, including the whole of India and Malaya.

— LONICERA STANDISHI.—A fine specimen of this—probably the earliest flowering of all the Honeysuckles —trained to the front of Museum No. 1 at Kew is now bearing numbers of its creamy-white very fragrant flowers. Though perfectly hardy it delights in such positions as the one just noticed, and although not a climber produces longer growths and flowers more freely against a wall than in the open. This species (figured in Bot. Mag., tab. 5709, and in Gard. Chron. 1878, vol. ix., p. 106) is sometimes confounded with the similarly fragrant L. fragrantissima and L. brachypoda. The two former were sent from Shanghai to the Horticultural Society by FORTUNE.

—BILBERGIA NUTANS.—A considerable number of Bromeliads are highly ornamental and desirable stove plants; but, in this country at least, the whole order is comparatively neglected, except in a few establishments. On the Continent the case is to a considerable extent reversed, and private collections of these interesting plants are not uncommon. Heat and moisture are the principal requirements of most of the showy species—where these can be given the cultivation is remarkably easy. Bilbergia nutans is not by any means one of the handsomest species, but its narrow bright green leaves, the central peduncle clothed with the large bright red bracts, the drooping flowers with bright green ovaries, sepals flushed pink, and petals green with deep blue margin, form a peculiarly pleasing combination. It is now in flower at Kew, and a good figure from Kew specimens is given in the Botanical Magazine, vol. 105, tab. 6423.

— TREATMENT OF FROZEN PLANTS.—In a climate like that of Britain, where in winter one week may be summer-like in its mildness, and the next almost arctic in character, bundles of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants sent by goods train must sometimes fare rather badly. As some of our readers might be puzzled how best to treat a frozen mass of vegetation, the following extract from vol. xvi. of the Iowa Horticultural Society may prove of interest:— "Two or three years ago I received, about the 1st of April, a bale of choice plants from Painesville, Ohio. The last of March had been summer-like, and all promised so fair, my order was packed and sent. By some mishap, I did not find the goods until they had been in the express office three or four days. The day they came the express man set the bale in an open coal-shed. That night a new winter came on. I received the package and brought it home as solid as a boulder. These were the choicest of plants: Strawberries, Raspberries, Roses, Peaches, flowering shrubs, &c. They had been nicely packed in wet moss. When I opened the bundle it was with difficulty I could break the packages apart. The ground was frozen 4 inches thick, so that nothing could be set out. I dug a pit and buried the plants in the earth. When the ground was fit for setting-out, I found the plants in the pit in good order; and setting them out I never lost a plant. A. D. Field, Indianola, Iowa."

— VEGETABLE PESTS.—As an instance of the rapidity and thoroughness in which several of the Cactaceæ naturalise themselves in many countries, the following clipping from a leading daily affords striking evidence:—"A Bill has been introduced into the New South Wales Legislative Assem- bly for the purpose of empowering the Government to devote a certain sum to the eradication of the wild Cactus plant, popularly known as the 'Prickly Pear.' So rapid has been the spread of this vegetable pest that whereas, according to the statement of one member, £50 would have sufficed thirty years ago to rid the colony of it, a million sterling will, before many years, be required for such a purpose. It was stated that one proprietor of land in the colony had spent £1000 on his property in trying to destroy this mischievously prolific plant, but had not yet succeeded."

— THE PHYLOXERA IN SOUTH-WEST FRANCE.—The Vigne Américaine gives the following statistics for the Department of Hérault, which may suffice to give our readers some notion of the extent of the disaster in one Department only. The number of hectares destroyed annually (a hectare = rather less than 2 1/2 acres) was as follows:—In 1880, 19,000; in 1881, 20,427; in 1882, 26,267. The number of hectares treated by submersion during the same years was respectively, 1588, 1626, and 2283. The number of hectares treated by carbon sulphide for the same period was 1875, 4632 and 3541 respectively. The number of hectares treated by sulfo-carbonate of potash was 868, 1578, and 751 for the years before mentioned. The number of American Vines used as stocks whereon to engraft the finer Vines has increased from 2624 in 1880 to 10,918 in 1882 in the Department in question.

— SENECIO MACROGLOSSUS.—Of the enormous genus to which it belongs this is, probably, with the single exception of the handsome New World species, S. pulcher, the largest flowered one. It is a striking plant with evergreen Ivy-like glossy leaves borne on long slender twining stems. Its large pale yellow flower-heads are produced in midwinter, and afford a fine contrast to the dark shining foliage. The plant is admirably adapted for trellis-work and well fitted for dwelling-room culture. At Kew a fine specimen trained to one of the rafters is, at present,