The Scientific Notebooks of German Orchidologist Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Kränzlin

MARCH 11, 1882.] THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 341

winter, and the plants are now producing their flowers in great abundance. The Anemone represents a group of most useful spring flowering plants, commencing with the scarlet A. fulgens, and follwoing on the Apennina, the varieties of Hepatica, stellata, cornonaria, sylvestris, and the varieties of A. nemorosa. All of them do well in the open ground, and when they become firmly established flourish with freedom and do a rare service in the garden.

— CLASSIFICATION OF POTATOS.—In the Revue Horticole is given an abstract of M. HENRY VILMORIN'S classification of Potatos. The main groups are five—yellow, rose, red, violet, and variegated. Each of these five main groups is subdivided according as the tubers are round, elongated, flattened, smooth, or notched. Further points of distinction are to be sought in the eyes, which are violet, yellow, rose, or white, and in the colour of the flowers—grey, lilac, white.

— CAMELLIAS AND HYACINTHS.—On Wednesday Messrs. WILLIAM PAUL & SON, of Waltham Cross, opened an extensive and very interesting exhibition of Camellias and Hyacinths, &c., in the Royal Botanic Society's Garden, Regent's Park. Intending visitors should make a point of going early in the ensuing week.

— SEEDLING POTATOS.—The judging of seedling Potatos by the International Committee at the Exhibition of September 20 and 21 is intended to be as thorough and comprehensive as possible. Raisers of seedlings will find the terms stated in the schedule under classes P, Q, R, S, but it may prevent mistakes and disappointments if we at once endeavour to state the case clearly. An intending exhibitor must at once forward "a sufficient number of tubers of each variety" to Mr. BARRON, Royal Horticultural Gardens, Chiswick, and a memorandum on the subject to the Secretary of the International Potato Exhibition, 23, Upper Thames Street. The judges will require to have before them on September 20 a dish of nine samples of each competing seedling, and an extra parcel of six for cooking, and as a matter of course these should not be exposed to the light in any way, The judges will act on the report as to cropping, on the report as to tasting, and on the appearance of the exhibition samples. The object of all this trouble is, of course, to render the final decisions as much as possible beyond question, and of real public importance.

— THE WEATHER.—General remarks on the temperature, rainfall, and duration of bright sunshine, for agricultural and sanitary purposes, during the week ending March 6, issued by the Meteorological Office, London:—The weather has been very unsettled and dull, with rather heavy rain in the south, and rain, snow, or sleet in the north. The temperature, though lower than during last week, has still been above the mean in England and Ireland, but in Scotland it was slightly below. The thermometer was generally highest on the 5th or 6th, the maxima ranging from 51[degrees] in "Scotland, W." to 55[degrees] at some of our southwestern stations, and 57[degrees] at Hereford. The minima were lower than of late, and varied from 27[degrees] in the "Midland Counties" to 35[degrees] in "Ireland, S." The rainfall has been more than the mean in all districts, the excess in the west and north-west being rather large. Bright sunshine shows a decrease in the extreme north-east but an increase elsewhere. The percentage was greatest (38) in "England, S.," and least (11) in "England, N.W." Depressions observed:—At the commencement of the period the barometer was rising in all parts of our area, with moderate southerly or south-westerly winds; but by 8 A.M. on March 1 the mercury had fallen rapidly, and an irregularly-shaped area of low pressure, around which were steep gradients, was shown over England and Ireland. This disturbance caused at first strong easterly winds or gales in the north, and fresh or strong westerly gales in the south; but as it slowly filled up the force of the wind gradually abated, and by the evening of the 3d had become very light from the east on all our coasts. From the 4th until the close of the period the barometer was highest in the southern part of our area, while depressions travelled in an easterly direction across our northern coasts, giving us south-westerly to north-westerly winds, which occasionally increased to a strong breeze or fresh gale.

HOW TO DISTINGUISH ORCHIDS OUT OF FLOWER* IN the Gardeners' Chronicle, n.s., xiv. p. 750, there is a translation of an analytical key to the vegetative characters of various Orchids and groups of Orchids, originally published by Dr. Pfitzer in the Verhandlungen des Naturhist.-Med. Vereins zu Heidelberg; and in an introductory note thereto most of the technical terms there and here employed are explained. What is there set forth in a tabular form is elaborated and illustrated by additional examples in the book before us. Ignoring altogether the floral characters, Dr. Pfitzer attempts to construct a comparative classification or subordination of Orchids from the characters afforded by their vegetative

[black and white illustration]] W.G.S. FIG. 51.—AERIDES SCHRŒDERI. An example of a monopodial Orchid, in which the main stem continues to grow at the point, the inflorescence shoots being given off at the sides from the axil of the leaves.

organs—that is to say, their stems, leaves, and inflorescences; but partly in consequence of teh great value of living plants of many species, partly in consequence of many species and genera being only known from portions of plants preserved in herbaria, this classification, as the author acknowledges, though embracing all the tribes of the order, is fragmentary and incomplete. Nevertheless, it may serve as a basis for further researches in the same branch of knowledge, and the author has done well to publish the results of his labours at once, instead of delaying it until he could fill up the gaps. At the same time, it is disappointing to find that this massive quarto volume contains nothing nearer finality in the classifi- [classification]

*Grundsüge einer vergleichenden Morphologie der Orchideen (Outlines of a Comparative Morphology [of the Vegetative Organs] of the Orchideæ). Von Dr. Ernst Pfitzer, O. Professor der Botanik an der Universität Heidelberg. 4to, pp. 194. with one coloured and three uncoloured plates and thirty-five woodcuts. Carl Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung, 1882.

[classification] cation of Orchids according to their vegetative characters than does the abstract referred above. It might have been expected that the author would exhaustively examine the results obtained, and have indicated how far they might be used in conjunction with the characters of the floral organs in a systematic classificatin of the order; but he has not done so. Neither has he attempted the classification of all the species of a single large genus. What he has done is to study a number of species of barious genera—as many, it may be presumed, as offered sufficient materials—and to construct a framework of a classification from their vegetative characters. It is not clear whe value the author himself attaches to his work, or how far he anticipates that characters of the vegetative organs can be utilised in a systematic classification. At p. 7

he mentions that Mr. Bentham, in his essay on the tribes of the Orchideæ,* makes no use of the abstract published in this journal and elsewhere, from which it might be inferred that he considers use might have been made of it. At p. 8 he distinctly states that he would not think of classifying Orchids by their habit alone; yet he does not say how far he would go. We are left to determine how far this is feasible as best we may from the body of work.

With regard to the genera Bletilla, Preptanthe, and the relationship of Phaius, Calanthe, and Limodorum, alluded to at p. 4 as instances of Orchids closely allied in vegetative characters, and even in their floral characters, except the pollinia, it may be mentioned that Blume and Bentham have stated that Bletilla and Preptanthe were separated from Bletia and Calanthe respectively, owing to a mistaken view as to the nature of their pollen. And Mr. Bentham would

*Journal of the Linnean Society, xviii, pp. 281—360.

342 THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. [MARCH 11, 1882.

refer Limatodes rosea to the genus Calanthe, hence, if this view be correct, a hybrid between the former and C. vestita is no very extraordinary phenomenon. In these instances it appears to have been proved that the supposed differences in the pollen did not exist, therefore there can be no justification for establishing new genera, and placing them in different places in the system. But now with reference to the value of vegetative characters in classification it seems pretty clear that, although the great divisions of flowering plants (dicotyledons and monocotyledons) are with some few exceptions distinguishable from each other by evident vegetative characters, yet generally speaking vegetative characters cannot be employed in teh successive divisions until we come to the subdivision of genera. Judging from Dr. Pfitzer's results this holds good for Orchids, as well as other families of plants. We are not losing sight of the fact that certain orders, sub-orders, and tribes are characterised by habit as well as floral affinities. But very little investigation teaches us that certain vegetative types—physiognomical types, they might be designated—are repeated in numberous natural orders of teh most distant affinities, showing that they are the outcomes of external conditions, such as climate, medium, and associations. We must, however, be careful to distinguish between purely physiognomical modifications of vegetative organs, and those that coincide with or accompany the genetic affinities. Dr. Pfitzer recognises the fact that certain vegetative Orchid types are repeated in genera possessing widely different floral structure; but he also states that his primary vegetative characters are genetic rather than physiognomical. He primarily divides Orchids into those which grow continuously in one direction (monopodial), and those in w hich the growth is arrested at one point and continued from another (sympodial). These definitions, if not absolutely exact, are sufficiently so for all practical purposes. Monopodial Orchids have stems which lengthen indefinitely at the tip, season after season, and bear lateral inflorescences, as in Aërides Schrœderi (see fig. 51). In sympodial Orchids the growth of the main axis soon ceases, usually at the end of the growing period, and a lateral shoot continues the further development. The first is a comparatively small group, comprising, as far as at present known, most of Bentham's sub-tribe Sarcantheæm the American genus Dichæa, of the sub-tribe Maxillarieæ, and the widely-spread Neottineous genus Vanilla. The genera Vanda, Renanthera, Sarcanthus, Aërides, and Phalænopsis, belong here, and mostly inhabit Africa and Asia. The sympodial Orchids are again divided into two groups, the Pleuranthæ, and the Acanthæ—in other words, into those having lateral inflorescences, ad Dendrobium, Oncidium, and Angræcum Scottianum (fig. 52), but not in other Angræcums, and those in which the inflorescence terminates the stems, as in Epidendrum, Cypripedium, and Cattleya (fig. 53). For further particulars we must again refer the reader to the abstract, ante, vol xiv, n.s., p. 750. That abstract, or key, has a somewhat formidable appearance, but it is very simple when we know that the plan of its construction is a succession of contrasted characters. Thus, in tracing out the affinity of a plant, supposing it has not the character of I., we pass on to II., and under that, if it has not a lateral inflorescence, as defined under A., we pass to B., and so on. Incomplete as it is, the key contains a vast deal of information respecting the vegetative organs of Orchids in a spall space; and, although in no case do the primary and secondary divisions correspond to the whole of a tribe or trives, yet the ternary division leads us to the Ophrydeæ and the Neottineæ, and, what is of more importance, to large genera. But, as we have already stated, we anticipate greater usefulness from the characters afforded by the vegetative organs inthe subdivision of genera and in the description of species. Practised nurserymen are able to distinguish species and varieties of shrubs and trees by their vegetative characters to an extent that seems unattainable to the beginner, but such knowledge could never be learnt from a book, even if it could be put into words, and it is not likely that descriptive vegetative characters alone will lead to the identification of Orchids. We have little space left to notice Dr. Pfitzer's concluding chapters on the habitats and mode of life, &c., of Orchids, &c., but it may be mentioned that one of the points upon which he most strongly insists is, that Orchids, with comparatively few exceptions, love the sun, and would

thrive better under cultivation were they not shaded so much. In the circumscription of teh genera Dr. Pfitzer follows Mr. Bentham, but it would have been better in the references to have cited the names employed in the places to which reference is made. Thus at p. 21 we are referred to the Gard. Chron., n.s., i., p. 478, for the dimensions of a plant of Stauropsis lissochiloides, Benth., which is very perplexing, if the reader has overlooked the fact, recorded at p. 14, that Vanda Batemani (Fieldia lissochiloides) is a synonym as that is the name used in the place referred to. In the same way Vanda Cathcartii becomes Arachnanthe Cathcartii; and in the index Blume's genus Arachnanthe is inadvertently attributed to Reichenbach. Vanda Lowei )Renanthera Lowei) should also have been referred to Arachnanthe. One word with regard to the title of the book. As it stands it is misleading, and needs the qualification expressed by the words "of the vegetative organs." The work is copiously illustrated with woodcuts, most of which have appeared in these columns, and of which due acknowledgement is made. W. B. Hemsley.

FIG. 52.—ANGRÆCUM SCOTTIANUM. An example of a sympodial Orchid; the main stem here ends in an inflorescence which bends downwards, and so appears opposite to a leaf (not in the axil), while the originally side-shoot becomes terminal, and continues to grow in the direction of the main stem.

HOME CORRESPONDENCE.

Continental Express Parcel Post.—Some of us have been looking forward to this as likely to give long-desired facilities for getting a rapid delivery of parcels of fresh plants from distant parts of Europe. I may say that it is an arrangement concerted between the cheife European Continental states, by which parcels under 10 lb. in weight should be carried at a cheap rate as quickly as letters, and that it came into operation on the first day of this year. But nothing seems to have been done in England to enable us to derive any advantage from the arrangement. A parcel stated on the addres to be plants, and requiring immediate delivery, was sent to me from Erfurt last week. It seems that the English agents for the Continental Parcel Post are not, as one would hope, the Post-office authorities, nor any large railway company, but a firm of private carriers. The parcel was handed over to them fully and very legibly addressed to me; it was then forwarded to the local agent of these private carriers, a woman who keeps a small fancy shop at a country town 9 miles distant from me. She wrote to me by post saying a parcel had arrived for me from Germany which I might

have by sending for it and paying the carriage. I finally got it when it had been in her keeping for three days. C. Wolley Dod, Edge Hall, Malpas, March 2.

Stephanotis in Fruit.—We have a plant of Stephanotis floribunda that has been planted out for several years, and has always flowered freely, but never till now has borne fruit. It has one about the size of a turkey's egg, and like a Plum in shape. I shall be glad to know whether any of your correspondents have ever fruited it. [Yes; many of them. ED.] J. Baylis, Leiston Old Abbey, Suffolk.

To Prevent Birds from Eating Fruit-Buds. —Reading Mr. Grieve's excellent article on the Gooseberry in your last issue it occurred to me to make known to you the plan I adopt here to preserve the buds of Gooseberries, Currants, and Plums from the depredations of birds. As soon as the attack on the buds begins the whole of teh bushes and trees are at once pruned, and a large quantity of limewash is prepared sufficiently thin to admit of its passing through a course syringe. With this a man follows the pruners, squirty it plentifully over both bushes and trees. If done on a dry day it dries in two hours, and no

amount of rain will the wash it off, neither will any bird even perch on bush or tree. Four years ago this winter I walked about gun in hand from morn till eve day after day to keep the bullfinches in check, as I had planted a great many young bushes and Plum trees; but the birds, in spite of me, cleared every bush, so that they were only skeletons when spring came. Ever since I have used limewash, as stated above, and have no trouble in securing immunity from birds. W. Armstrong, Ford Manor.

Pendell Court.—Amongst the many novelties in the houses at Pendell Court Sir. G. Macleay's), Bletchingley, worthy of notice now, is a fine specimen of Coffea arabica, about 9 feet high and 6 feet through, which is bearing a fine crop of berries, some of the shoots having over fifty berries, which come in threes and fours from the axils of the leaves. Also a grand specimen of the noble Platycerium grande, which measures over 5 feet in diameter, and is in splendid condition. The lovely Canna iridiflora, var. Ehemanni, is still in flower; it is nearly 10 feet high, and has fine spikes of its bright crimson flowers; it has been in bloom over seven months. The rare and beautiful fine cut-leaved Anemone capensis is just opening its flowers; a new Asplenium pterioides is very distinct, and will prove to be a lovely greenhouse