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VOL. XXXV NOVEMBER, 1934 No. 419 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN A CENTURY- OLD AMERICAN HERBARIUM JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART THE 1934 DAHLIA COLLECTION MARSHALL A. HOWE WINTER INJURY OF HYBRID RHODODENDRONS HENRY TEUSCHER ARISTOLOCHIA GRANDIFLORA T. H. EVERETT THE REPUBLICATION OF FUNDAMENTAL BOTANICAL WORKS OF JAPAN E. D. MERRILL YEAR- BOOK OF AMERICAN AMARYLLIS SOCIETY T. H. EVERETT TWO AGED EPIPHYTIC ORCHIDS JOHN K_ SMALL A GLANCE A T CURRENT LITERATURE CAROL H. WOODWARD NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT PUBLISHED FOR THE GARDEN AT LIME AND GREEN STREETS, LANCASTER, PA. T H E SCIENCE PRESS PRINTING COMPANY Entered at the post- offlce in Lancaster, Pa., as second- class matter. Annual subscription $ 1.00 Single copies 10 cents Free to members of the Garden THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF MANAGERS I. ELECTIVE MANAGERS Until 1935: L. H. BAILEY, THOMAS J. DOLEN, MARSHALL FIELD, MRS. ELON HUNTINGTON HOOKER, JOHN L. MERRILL ( Vice- president and Treasurer), and H. HOBART PORTER. Until 1936: ARTHUR M. ANDERSON, HENRY W. DE FOREST ( President), CLARENCE LEWIS, E. D. MERRILL ( Director and Secretary), HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE, JR. ( Assistant Treasurer & Business Manager), and LEWIS RUTHER-FURD MORRIS. Until 1937: HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN ( Vice- president), GEORGE S. BREWSTER, CHILDS FRICK, ADOLPH LEWISOHN, HENRY LOCKHART, JR., D. T. MACDOUGAL, and JOSEPH R. SWAN. II. EX- OFFICIO MANAGERS FIORELLO H. LAGUARDIA, Mayor of the City of New York. ROBERT MOSES, Park Commissioner. GEORGE J. RYAN, President of the Board of Education. III. APPOINTIVE MANAGERS TRACY E. HAZEN, appointed by the Torrey Botanical Club. R. A. HARPER, SAM F. TRELEASE, EDMUND W. SINNOTT, and MARSTON T. BOGERT, appointed by Columbia University. GARDEN STAFF E. D. MERRILL, SC. D Director MARSHALL A. HOWE, PH. D., SC. D Assistant Director H. A. GLEASON, P H . D Head Curator JOHN K. SMALL, P H . D., SC. D Chief Research Associate and Curator A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories FRED J. SEAVER, P H . D., SC. D Curator BERNARD O. DODGE, P H . D Plant Pathologist FORMAN T. MCLEAN, M. F., P H . D Supervisor of Public Education JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D.. . Bibliographer and Admin. Assistant PERCY WILSON Associate Curator ALBERT C. SMITH, P H . D Associate Curator SARAH H. HARLOW, A. M Librarian H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections FLEDA GRIFFITH Artist and Photographer ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Research Associate in Bryology E. J. ALEXANDER . . . . Assistant Curator and Curator of the Local Herbarium HAROLD N. MOLDENKE, P H . D Assistant Curator CLYDE CHANDLER, A. M Technical Assistant ROSALIE WEIKERT Technical Assistant CAROL H. WOODWARD, A. B Editorial Assistant THOMAS H. EVERETT, N. D. HORT Horticulturist HENRY TEUSCHER, HORT. M Dendrologist G. L. WITTROCK, A. M Docent ROBERT HAGELSTEIN Honorary Curator of Myxomycetes ETHEL ANSON S. PECKHAM, Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections WALTER S. GROESBECK Clerk and Accountant ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds JOURNAL OF The New York Botanical Garden VOL. XXXV NOVEMBER, 1934 No. 419 A CENTURY- OLD AMERICAN HERBARIUM A very interesting American collection of dried plants, more than a hundred years old, has recently been presented to The New- York Botanical Garden by Mrs. Emma L. Oeder, of Ashland, Oregon. It was not an heirloom, and the donor knew nothing of its history.* Fortunately, however, it contains abundant internal evidence of its original source. The fly- leaf bears the name of David L. Coe, and the collection was certainly brought together by him. Even now, after a century, it comprises nearly 500 specimens, mounted in a large volume of 96 pages. A few are of cultivated plants, but nearly all are native in the regions where they were collected: eastern New York, adjacent New England, and Ohio. Who was this David L. Coe? His name is unknown to the present generation of botanists. Yet here is his herbarium, nearly * A subsequent letter from Mrs. Oeder explains how this herbarium came into her hands: " Ashland is a small town, whose early settlers in ' 45 came from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York. . The city dumps have afforded me a fruitful hunting ground, for sometimes really rare things have been sent out there, by descendants no doubt, who tired of caring for old things. " On these city dumps is a very old lady. She pokes about collecting materials to sell. To her I have said ' . anything that looks old or curious, always lay aside and show me. .' One day she called my attention to this book, asking if I could use it. " Every evening all burnable, waste material is destroyed upon the Ashland city dump, so you see that if ' Grandma's' watchful eyes had not salvaged the collection, the careful work of David L. Coe and Elias \ Y. Leavenworth would have been burned and lost forever." 241 242 every specimen correctly named in accordance with the knowledge of his day; the common name usually added after the scientific one; the locality, habitat, and month of collection frequently noted. The specimens are of course small, as they must be to average five to a page, but they are well chosen to illustrate the characters of the plants, and are as good as are customarily found in herbaria of that period, when paper for mounting specimens was expensive and difficult to secure. There are no exact dates with the specimens, but as we shall see the herbarium was probably begun in 1817, and completed essentially as it now exists in 1822. And now let us direct our attention to Williams College, in the year 1817, when that institution was less than twenty- five years old. Chester Dewey ( 1784- 1867) had been on the faculty from 1808, and had held the professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy from 1810. His field was large, but he stressed botany, and was widely known as a student of the genus Carex. It was doubtless through his influence that Amos Eaton ( 1776- 1842) was secured to give a series of popular lectures on mineralogy at Williams. Eaton was never a member of the faculty, but his magnetic personality made an astonishing impression upon the students. His services were secured to give a course of botanical lectures in the spring of 1817. But how was he to teach satisfactorily without a text- book describing succinctly the plants likely to be met with? No such work existed, so he prepared one, and this was published semi-anonymously, at Albany, the expense being borne by those who planned to attend the lectures. This was the first edition of " A manual of botany for the Xorthern States" which in seven subsequent editions up to 1840 was the most popular work in the field that had been opened by it. This first edition was prefaced by a dedication " to the author of Richard's Botanical dictionary" ( Eaton), which was dated at Williams College, " 8th April, 1817"; it was signed by every member of the senior, junior, and sophomore classes, and nearly all of the freshmen. There were 63 names in all, and among them we find " David L. Coe." David Lyman Coe was born at Granville, Massachusetts, in 1795. Soon after his graduation, in 1818, he went to the " Western Reserve" in Ohio, where he taught in various schools. It was at Charlestown, Ohio, that he penciled on the fly- leaf of his herba- 243 rium, under his name, " Oct. 1822. This book contains about five hundred and forty- five species [ of] plants." ( There are still about 475, after the vicissitudes of a century, and many more may yet be salvaged, now lying loose between the leaves of the book.) He was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Charlestown from 1828 to 1832, and then resumed his profession as a teacher, at Tall-madge, Ohio. He died at Richfield, Ohio, 20 July, 1836, at the early age of forty. But a large proportion of the plants in his herbarium were not collected by him. On page 47 he wrote this note: '' Nearly all the specimens from this page to the end were collected and presented to me by Mr. Elias W. Leavenworth of Great Barrington, [ collected] during the years i82[ o]- 2i- 22 at Gt. Bar-rington, Willi am stown and Newhaven. I hope ever to rem [ em]- ber his generosity in presenting] these specimens as well as for his many friendly attentions to me. D. L. Coe, Charlestown, Oct. 1822." It is impossible to distinguish the Coe and Leavenworth collections with certainty, although many of the specimens bear collection- numbers which are probably all those of Leavenworth. Many of the finest and rarest specimens seem to have come from him, but they were evidently duplicates from his herbarium; one label shows that he had divided his meager material with Coe. Evidently his was no mere schoolboy collection, for it showed the same care in preparation and labeling and contained some greater rarities. In October, 1822, Leavenworth was not yet nineteen years old, but he had already come under the influence of Chester Dewey at " Williams and Eli Ives ( 1779- 1861) at Yale, both among the most eminent American botanists of that day. Elias Warner Leavenworth was born at Canaan, Columbia County, New York, 20 December, 1803, but removed with his parents before his third birthday to Great Barrington, Mass., and this was his home until 1827. In 1820 he entered Williams College as a sophomore, and a year later entered Yale, where the standards were a trifle higher, again as a sophomore. It seems, therefore, that he was still an undergraduate when his gifts approximately doubled Coe's herbarium. He was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1823, and in the following year was graduated with the degree of B. A. He then began his law studies, and it was from this time, if not earlier, that his interest in botany was crowded 244 out; in fact, I have found no reference to his early botanical studies in an)- account of his life, even in the 18- page autobiography in his genealogy of the Leavenworth family ( 1873). He studied law with William Cullen Bryant ( 1794- 1878) at Great Barrington, and at the Litchfield ( Connecticut) Law School, and in 1827 went to Syracuse, New York, where he practiced his profession until 1850, and lived until his death. He was long one of the most honored citizens of Syracuse; president of the village twice, and later twice mayor of the city, member of the state legislature, Secretary of State of New York and one of the Regents of the State University, and for one term a Member of Congress. His great interest in parks and in the state geological survey may have resulted from his early studies in natural science. He died in Syracuse, 25 November, 1887. And now a few words more about the herbarium. Many of the original specimens have been broken or torn from the strips with which they were mounted, apparently by careless handling, but there is little if any evidence of depredation by insects; this is perhaps explained by a note at the bottom of page 30: " From this page a mercurial preparation is used." Many of the specimens bear no indication of locality or habitat; frequently there are such annotations as " wet land," " side of the road," " pine woods," or " margin of a pond." Some are definitely placed, from the standpoint of the label- writer, but would now be unidentifiable, such as " Mrs. Gridley's," " Mr. Day's," " Burying ground," and " S. bay." Most of the plants collected by Coe himself seem to have come from Columbia County, New York, where I imagine that he must have lived while in college ( Hudson, Claverack, Mount Washington— this last was the highest peak of the Taconic range, on the Massachusetts state line, not the famous mountain of the same name in New Hampshire), a number were from the Catskill Mountains ( labeled Caatskill M., or C. Mount., or C. Mountains), and some from Charlestown ( Ohio) and Burton ( Ohio, not many miles north of Charlestown). Leavenworth's chief localities were Great Barrington, Sheffield, and Deerfield, all in western Massachusetts, and a few labeled " N. H." ( New Haven, Conn., not New Hampshire). A few specimens that might have been collected by either Coe or Leavenworth are labeled " Williams College," " Mount Saddle" ( now called Saddle Mountain, southeast of Williamstown), or 245 " Pownal" ( north of Williamstown, just over the state line in Vermont). Of course scattered specimens of plants collected in America at much earlier dates are to be found in various herbaria, but a collection such as this that has remained virtually intact since 1822 is certainly noteworthy. JOHN HENDLEY BARXHART. THE 1934 DAHLIA COLLECTION The 1934 dahlia season may be considered to rank among the most successful of the seventeen in which the collection of dahlias has been a special feature at The New York Botanical Garden. July and August were a bit dry, but September brought nearly ten inches of rain. On some days the precipitation was heavier than was desirable and on two occasions the accompanying wind caused a considerable amount of breakage, but, on the whole, the copious September rainfall appeared to be distinctly favorable. The main collection, as m recent years, consisted of about 1100 plants, representing somewhat more than 400 varieties. In addition, the special bed of 160 essentially disease- free plants of two especially susceptible varieties, was maintained at a distance from the main planting. And numerous dahlias were to be found in the general flower borders north, east, and west of Conservatory Range No. 1. The collection, as usual, continued to exhibit a few of the reliable old- timers, like the pompon Brunette ( 1885) and the cactus variety Countess of Lonsdale ( 1896), but the newer kinds, one to five years old, and a few not yet introduced to the trade, constituted the more conspicuous parts of the display. As is the case with irises, peonies, and roses, many of recent introduction represent little or no advance over the older varieties, yet a comparison of the leading varieties of 1934 with the favorites of 1914 or 1924 would show striking progress. Such a comparison indicates that the older varieties are being rapidly replaced by the newer ones. Of the 458 varieties grown at The New York Botanical Garden in 1924, only 20 persist in the collection of 410 kinds grown here in 1934. In the newer varieties increases in the size of the flower and in the strength of the stem have been attained and wonderful **** JiSill^^ fl ' ^ S m *^ 1 '^• iBi ^ y! M m ; ' * -' *-;• •••- . ' tihMMf p - ^ / i ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1 Sty. -* » ^ i^%|| BnH^^ I^^^^^^^^^ H^ B ' ^^^"";£"=!^ K| J jj^^ p ^ fl^^^^^^^^ HBrf * Wmk ^ M^^^^ Mr *- W '•;''' « Pt< l * ., J?*''„;;' M ,. l/ i! Vf, « ''.* P V6& sW% E5*>' WrW\ M ^ H ^ ^ ^ W H H • fe: ' • • . • • . • - * * 1 5 247 new combinations of color are now exhibited. With the diameters of the flowers of certain varieties now reaching 16 or 17 inches, it would seem that there need be no further effort to produce bigger ones, but there is still a field for the development of vigorous disease- resistant varieties. The balloting on Saturday and Sunday afternoons for the best-liked variety, initiated in October of last year, has been continued this season, beginning on the last Sunday of September. The favorites naturally vary with the progress of the season and the condition of individual plants at the moment. And it may happen that top- notch varieties, for one cause or another, may not be doing themselves full justice at any time during the whole season in our particular collection. The last Sunday afternoon in September, Pastel Glow, a large informal decorative, white, with an orchid-violet flush, was the favorite. The early and mid- October vote favored Adirondack Sunset, a scarlet informal decorative, usually with old- gold edges and backs. A close rival was Lord of Autumn, a large canary- yellow informal decorative. Other leading favorites were Spotlight, Snowdrift, Buckeye King, Ching, Goldene Sonne, Maryland's Glory, Monmouth Champion, Christinas Candy, Rainbow's End, Lugdunum Batavorum, King of the Blacks, Star of Bethlehem, Orchid Moonlight, Yankee Royal, Man o'War, and White Knight. The dahlias were killed by frost the morning of November 3. For supplying roots and green plants of the newer and better kinds, the Garden is indebted especially to the following firms and individuals: Dahliadel Nurseries, Vineland, N. J.; Success Dahlia Gardens, 171 Ferry St., Lawrence, Mass.; Sanhican Gardens, Trenton, N. J.; Albert Parrella, 3380 Ely Avenue, Bronx, N. Y. C.; Parkway Dahlia Gardens, 1012 E. 178th St.; Ruschmohr Dahlia Growers, 52 S. Kensington Ave., Rockville Center, N. Y.; William Meshirer, 43- 55 Robinson St., Flushing, N. Y.; C. Louis Ailing, 251 Court St., West Haven, Conn.; F. Ed. Spooner, Summit, N. J.; Dr. A. B. Scott, Fairmont, W. Va.; Golden Rule Dahlia Farm, Lebanon, Ohio; E. L. Kunzman, New Albany, Ind.; J. E. Hulin, 5964 24th Ave.. S. W., Seattle, Wash.; A. A. Tower, Arlington, Wash.; A. G. Goodacre, Gardena, Calif.; Stephenson Dahlia Gardens, 2318 Hill St., Santa Monica, Calif.; Richard W. Petrie, Gardena, Calif.; Carl Salbach, 657 Woodmont Ave., Berkeley, Calif.; 248 BpSSIF c>?#^ J\" t?. iJ^*- LC' W* ' i%^ t. *'~-~ 5t fc^ tei swW^ mS& WlXti J^ tSfcJifflj^^ L *- 3| ^^^^ mSLTt ^ x- . • r i ^ ^ % * * i ^ ^ ^ ; - SJ^"^ L^ V^ » '"' rt^ pP% rT « . >' *": ? V B L A .• \ g k : ,' TW~*!^':- *_, \ • , ^.. IS^^ S^ vQPi^ B * ISHfc^ # 1 J2* [ ^ R ' wlSME^^ iH^ Hi ^ liP^ s ifljgfn^ ~^ E3T$ W& * » * • 2* SM « mOT^.' lB'^ K ite&\,. •'? » ^ HRHra 53 M km —. o « c KS < 0 3 " SJ ^ 49 Alice Meussdorffer, 4S7 Hanover St.. San Francisco, Calif.: N. Harold Cottam & Son, Wappingers Falls, X. Y.; John Toth, Fairfield, Conn.; W. J. Etherington, 125 Lexington Ave.. Westwood, X. J.; A. H. Schlesinger. Rochelle Park. X. J . : Thomas L. Galvin, 4 Bedford St.. Peabodv. Mass.: Badettv Bros., Huntington. X. Y.; Edward A. Jelile. 9218- 215 Place, Queens Village, X. Y.; W. E. Birrell & Sons. Summerville, Ontario; Vincent Sigismundi. 2 Manor Court, Teaneck, X. J.; F. A. Greenough. 25 French St., Braintree, Mass.; Salem Dahlia Gardens, 236 Grant St.. Salem. X. J.; Frederick E. Dixon, Scotch Plains. X. J.; Supreme Dahlias, Tiverton Four Corners. R. I . ; Chautauqua Dahlia Fields. Mayville, N. Y.: Walter Bissell. Austiuburg, Ohio: Dr. H. Trossbach, Bogota. X. Y.; Valeria Home. Oscawana. X. Y.; Bertha Linduff. Xew Cumberland, W. Va.; Lee Cochran, 21} X. 8th St.. Martins Ferry, Ohio: S. W. Smith. Port Jervis, X. Y.; L. X. Davis. Stoneham, Mass.: Fred Gresh. Zionsville, Ind.; Shelby E. Taylor. R. 3, Morgantown. W. Va.; Charles H. Smith. Mav's Landing. X. J.; and Mrs. J. C. Maxwell. Brevard. X. C. Mr. Stanley G. Ranger generously purchased roots of some of the newer English miniatures and mignons and presented them to the Garden. Interesting novelties were three Australian varieties presented by L. Fitzgerald, 35 Barrow St.. Brunswick, Xo. 10, Victoria, Australia. Besides the regular Saturday afternoon lantern- slide lecture on " Dahlias" in tlie Museum Building on September 29. there was a largely attended informal talk on the lawn in front of the Dahlia Border on Sunday afternoon, October 14. Informal talks were given also to visiting delegations from the Woman's Club of Port Chester on October 15 and from the Chappaqua Garden Club on October 17. The New York Times published statements to the effect that tlie dahlias were seen by 5,000 people on September 30, by 10.000 on October 7, and by 9,000 on October 14. While these figures are doubtless exaggerated, it is a fact that the dahlias attracted the attention of thousands of admiring visitors on each of these Sundays and of smaller crowds on week- days. For tlie success of the 1934 Dahlia Border, the undersigned owes much to tlie helpful cooperation of Director Merrill. Horticulturist Thomas H. Everett. Foreman Gardener Patrick J. McKenna. and Miss Rosalie Weikert. For their devoted and efficient care of the plants great credit should be given to Gardener James Cahill and his volunteer assistant, J. Leslie Heitel. MARSHALL A. HOWE. 250 WINTER INJURY OF HYBRID RHODODENDRONS The hybrid evergreen rhododendrons of our gardens behaved last winter in a way that has been quite puzzling to many of their special friends. Here in the eastern states we are wont to consider a western or at least partly northern exposure as most favorable for evergreen rhododendrons. Last spring it could be observed, however, that in many instances rhododendrons flowered more satisfactorily in a southern than in a northwestern exposure, which seems to be in contradiction to all previous experience. But we have to consider that the past winter was abnormal in more than its extremely low temperature; and the blasting of the buds in northwestern exposure can readily be blamed on the strong and very cold northwest winds which we had to experience twice during February. Even if this be taken into account, however, strange differences in the behavior of individual plants remain unexplained. These were most puzzling to those garden owners who did not realize that the varieties which made up their rhododendron groups were hybrids, and that they showed in their varying hardiness their varying affinity to their respective parents. There are in particular six species which have been crossed and recrossed to produce our garden Rhododendrons, and these can readily be classified into two groups: ( i ) the hardy R. catawbiense, R. caucasicum, and R. maximum, and ( 2) the quite tender R. ponticum, the still more tender R. arboreum, and of late also the quite tender R. Griffithianum. The hybrids among these which we have in our gardens are rarely straight crosses between two species, but are usually quite complicated. A combination like the following, for instance, is frequent: [{ catawbiense x arboreum) x {{ catawbiense x arboreum) X catawbiense] ] x ( ponticum album x caucasicum). There are four parent species involved in this cross, one of them three times, and one twice. If from such a complicated hybrid one collects seeds and raises plants from them, it can readily be imagined what will happen. Among the offspring some of the grandparents— or even more remote ancestors— will reappear almost pure; other plants are likely to combine in them undesirable traits of several of the in- 251 252 volved species. Their behavior, if they are exposed to a severe winter, will be according to their inherited qualities. The accompanying picture shows this quite clearly. The two rhododendron plants in the foreground belong to the same set of seedlings, raised from the seeds of some hybrid variety. They are growing side by side in a nursery row under entirely identical conditions, and have been treated alike in every way. The conspicuous difference in their reaction to the severe winter can be referred only to their different genetic make- up, which, in this case, is quite evident also in their outward appearance. The left plant resembles very closely R. catawbiense and, as the picture shows, has proved just as hardy. It is in full bloom, and not one of its flower- buds showed signs of injury. The right plant looks very much like R. ponticum which, apparently, was one of the species used in the original cross. This plant shows the tenderness inherited from R. ponticum in its flower-buds, which were all killed during the past winter. HENRY TEUSCHER. ARISTOLOCHIA GRANDIFLORA Aristotochia grandiflora is a tropical relative of the common Dutchman's Pipe ( A. macrophylla). It is a native of several of the West Indian Islands and of northern South America and is remarkable because of the strikingly handsome flowers it produces. The peculiar shape of these earn for this species the common names of Pelican Flower, Swan Flower, Goose Flower, and Duck Flower, all names suggested by the resemblance which the unopened buds bear to the body and head of a bird. The flowers are large, with a curiously curved and inflated tube, which expands into a heart- shaped limb several inches in diameter. From this limb depends a long twisted ciliate tail. The showy part of the flower is really the petaloid calyx for, as in all Aristo-lochias, the corolla is wanting. In color the flowers are creamy-white, attractively reticulated and blotched with purple and towards the center and in the throat becoming a rich vinous- purple self. They remain expanded for only about forty- eight hours and during the earlier part of this period emit a most disgusting odor, which is said to attract carrion- loving insects. 253 FIGURE I. The pelican- flower, Aristolochia grandiflora, in bloom. 254 Aristolochia grandiflora is rarely seen in cultivation and a plant bloomed for the first time at the Garden in mid- October. This specimen was raised from seeds received from the Botanic Garden at Copenhagen, Denmark, eighteen months ago, and the flower produced measured more than seven inches across and had a tail eleven inches long. The cultivation of the tropical Aristolochias presents no particular difficulties. They are readily raised from seed or from cuttings of young growth taken in the spring. The plants thrive in a well- drained, loamy soil, in a greenhouse where a winter minimum temperature of from 58 to 60 degrees is maintained. Full exposure to sun is desirable and during the growing season they should be sprayed freely with clear water. Well- established specimens benefit from regular feeding with liquid organic fertilizers. Although in its native state Aristolochia grandiflora is a woody climber, it is advisable under greenhouse cultivation to prune the plants severely each spring and train up the annual shoots which will produce flowers in the late summer and fall. T. H. EVERETT. THE REPUBLICATION OF FUNDAMENTAL BOTANICAL WORKS OF JAPAN The botanical public is under obligations to Professor T. Nakai for his interest in furthering the republication of various fundamental works pertaining to the flora of Japan. These are being republished by the offset process and are hence exact reproductions of the originals. They are printed on excellent paper and are well bound. Among those already issued are Thunberg's Flora Japonica ( 1786), issued by Inoue Shotan, Morikawa- Cho, Tokyo, in 1933; Thunberg's Icones Plantarum Japonicarum, five parts, 1794- 1805, issued by Syokubuth Bunken Kankokai, 4 Kobikichiyo, Kyoba-shiku, Tokyo, Japan. Other publications that have similarly been reproduced are Siebold & Zuccarini: Flora Japonica ( 1843- 46), and Siebold: Synopsis Plantarum Oeconomicarum ( 1827). Plans are now being perfected for similarly reproducing the first edition of the fundamental Linnaeus' Species Plantarum, and various papers pertaining to the Japanese flora written by Thunberg. 255 The original editions of all these publications are long out of print, many of them are exceedingly rare and expensive, and are hence not available to numerous individuals who need to have access to them. These modern offset reproductions, now being published in Japan at nominal rates, will enable many botanists and botanical institutions, not only in Japan but elsewhere, to acquire copies of these fundamental works at nominal cost. This project is financed by an anonymous Japanese patron of science as a service to Japanese botanists. E. D. MERRILL. YEAR- BOOK OF AMERICAN AMARYLLIS SOCIETY The American Amaryllis Society was organized in 1933 with the object of promoting interest in Suborder I, Amarylleae, and Suborder II, Alstroemerieae, Order Amaryllideae ( Baker, J. G., Handbook of Amaryllideae, 1888). In February of the present year the Society published its first year- book, a very creditable production of 106 pages, well printed and carefully edited. This year- book contains, in addition to the constitution and by- laws of the Society, a reprint of the keys to the genera of Suborder T— Amarylleae, Suborder II— Alstroemerieae and the species of the genera Hippeastrum and Amaryllis according to Baker. A preliminary check- list of horticultural varieties of Hippeastrum and a number of important articles dealing with the breeding and hybridizing of Amaryllids, their culture and the insect and fungoid pests to which they are subject, are also included. The group of plants to which the American Amaryllis Society devotes interest comprises 54 genera and is of great importance horticulturally. It would seem that the society can be of very real service to growers and fanciers of these subjects. The year- book is apparently available only to members of the Society. Annual dues are $ 2.00. Wyndham Howard, 2240 Fairbanks Avenue, Winter Park, Florida, is Secretary. T. H. EVERETT. 256 TWO AGKD EPIPHYTIC ORCHIDS On one of our collecting trips to I lie lower Florida Keys in J 928, two prodigious plants of a native epiphytic orchid were found, growing on an island east of Key West. The locality was a small hammock near the ocean front. The size of the plants may he realized from the fact that a family of raccoons occupied the top of each for a nesting place. Each plant or colony consisted of approximately twelve hundred green pseudobulbs. How many pseudobulbs had naturally died and dried up during the life of the colonies we do not know. As the multiplicafion of pseudobillbs is apparently a slow process, one may assume lb, it ; i colony of twelve hundred represents a considerable age. FJOORE 1. A very old plant of lituyrlia tamf> ensis composed of about 1200 pseudobulbs. The flowers are of a yellow ground- color with markings and splotches of purple and brown on the sepals and petals. 257 During the season following the bringing of the plants to the Garden they flowered while hanging from the rafters in Conservatory Range number j . Several hundred flower stems on each plant bloomed simultaneously, each stem bearing from three to eight mainly yellow flowers with some of the parts marked with brown and purple. The accompanying photograph of one side of one of the plants in flower will give an idea of the plant in the flowering stage. Furthermore, this orchid, Encyclia tampensis. normally flowers once a year, but these plants for some reason flowered in a desultory way out of season. JOHN K. SMALL. A GLANCE AT CURRENT LITERATURE1 In " The Iris' Near- of- kin" in the Gardeners' Chronicle of America for October, Claire Norton describes many plants which are said to be fascinating even to the amateur grower, but too infrequently seen. In the same number, Edith H. Banghart explains what she calls the " moraine or scree idea." by which certain rock garden plants are made to thrive by allowing their roots to reach cool moist earth. * * * * Although " Common Weeds" by Paul C. Standley, published as Botanical Leaflet ly of the Field Museum, refers directly to the Chicago region, the contents of the booklet are applicable over a much wider area. On the strictly scientific side, Mr. Standley has lately produced " The Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Panama"— a manual whose descriptive introduction fires both scientist and traveler with a desire to start at once for this fascinating isle in Gatun Lake. It appears as Contributions from the Arnold Arboretum— V. * * * * The October Bulletin of the Horticultural Society of . Yrtc York announces that the afternoon and evening meetings this season will take place the same day of each month— the third Wednesday— to enable out- of- towners to attend both sessions during one trip, and 1 All publications mentioned here— and many others— are to be found in the library of The New York Botanical Garden, in the Museum Building. 258 also to enable those at the evening meetings to see at least part of the afternoon floral display. * * * * In the test garden for new roses, which was revived this year under the auspices of the American Rose Society in Elizabeth Park, Hartford, Conn., 148 plants were under observation. These represented, according to the American Rose Magazine for September- October, 17 originators from America, France, Spain, Belgium, and Holland, and included 18 American roses. * * * * Sweet Corn is the subject of Part 3 of Volume 1 of Vegetables of Nczv York, being published by the State Agricultural Experiment Station. The present part, which contains, besides magnificent colored illustrations, sections on the history and systematic botany of maize, its development, and complete descriptions of varieties, has been prepared by William T. Tapley, Walter D. Enzie, and Glen P. Van Eseltine. * * * * From May 15 to July 1 is the most desirable time to scout for the Dutch elm- disease, according to the September Nursery Disease Notes of the Xew Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. Lack of funds, the article points out, has kept many diseased trees standing ( 1600, for example, in New Jersey). These should be removed before April 1, 1935, it emphasizes, if control is to be successful. * * * * A convenient table for planting twenty kinds of bulbs for the winter window garden is given in Horticulture for September 15. Two articles on fall and winter decoration, in which wild plants are principally used, are included in the October Flower Grower. Rex D. Pearce contributes to that issue an article on the autumn wild flowers of Xew Jersey, and Carleton Yerex " A Critical Consideration of Hybrid Lilies.'' CAROL H. WOODWARD. 259 NOTES. NEWS. AND COMMENT We much regret to record the death of Mr. Kenneth Kent Mackenzie, which occurred at his home in Maplewood, X. J., on October 22, at the age of 57 years. He was a member of the Board of Managers of The Xew York Botanical Garden since 1933 and for several years was one of its executive committee. A lawyer by profession, Mr. Mackenzie had won distinction among botanists as an authority on the genus Carex. Dr. A. B. Stout spent several days during the autumn in Maine with Dr. E. J. Schreiner in an inspection of the nursery and the experimental plantings of poplars established by the Oxford Paper Company. About 10,000 seedling poplars, obtained by hybridization, have now had eight years of growth in a forestation planting and several have already flowered. Dr. H. A. Gleason has been appointed to the National Research Council for Biology and Agriculture for a period of three years. Dr. and Mrs. Agesilau A. Bitancourt,. of Sao Paulo, Brazil, visited the Garden late in September while spending a few days in the Lnited States on their return from Europe. Dr. Bitancourt, who is subdirector of the Instituto Biologico at Sao Paulo, has been inspecting Brazilian fruit in European markets. Dr. P. A. van der Bijl, professor of plant pathology and mycology at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, who has been visiting laboratories of phytopathology and mycology in the United States., was a caller at The New York Botanical Garden on Octobers. Dr. E. D. Merrill addressed an audience at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences the evening of October 16 on plant life of the Philippines. A large exhibit of wild flowers of Long Island, prepared bv The New \ ork Botanical Garden, was awarded a special prize at Brooklyn's Fall Flower Show, held in the Fourteenth Regiment Armory, September 25 to 29. 260 The tall sugar- palm from Malaysia, Arenga pinnata ( A. sac-charifera), which has been growing in Conservatory Range i for about 25 years, until it now reaches the top of the 90- foot dome, began blooming for the first time in September this year. A second inflorescence appeared in October, and more will appear in sequence for a year or more, it is expected, each from the next lower leaf- axil. In the production of the small greenish flowers, which are like beads along pendent branches about three feet in length, great quantities of starch which has been gradually stored in the trunk are utilized. So, after the fruits are produced, the entire tree dies. The inflorescences, which yield an abundance of sap when cut, are an important source of palm sugar in the Orient. Soon after this palm began blooming, the Illawarra palm, Ar~ chontophoenix Cunninghami, from Australia, which has been growing in the same house, put forth a tassel of rose- colored flowers, which hang from a point on the trunk about three feet below the lowest leaf. Announcement is made that Norman Taylor, editor for botany of the new Webster's Dictionary, has been engaged by Houghton Mifflin Company as editorial and promotion advisor in the field of garden books and others in the realm of natural science and outdoor life. With Mr. Taylors cooperation the publishers contemplate more active publication of books on gardening, flowers, insects, geology, exploration, and kindred subjects, including tree books and forestry. He will carry on his work at the Xew York office of Houghton Mifflin Company. Air. Taylor was formerly Assistant Curator of The New York Botanical Garden and later Curator of Plants at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He is the author of the " Flora of the Vicinity of New York: a Contribution to Plant Geography," which constituted Volume V of the Memoirs of The Xew York Botanical Garden. MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION Arthur M. Anderson * Mrs. Arthur M. Anderson George Arents, Jr. Mrs. George Arents, Jr. Vincent Astor John W. Auchincloss Dr. Raymond F. Bacon • Mrs. Robert Bacon Prof. L. H. Bailey Mrs. James Baird Stephen Baker Henry de Forest Baldwin Sherman Baldwin Prof. Charles P. Berkey C. K. G. Billings George Blumenthal • Mrs. Edward C. Bodman Col. Marston T. Bogert Prof. William J. Bonisteel George P. Brett George S. Brewster • Mrs. Jonathan Bulkley Dr. Nicholas M. Butler Prof. Gary N. Calkins • Mrs. Andrew Carnegie Prof. W. H. Carpenter • Miss Mabel Choate • Miss E. Mabel Clark W. R. Coe Richard C. Colt Mrs. Jerome W. Coombs Charles Curie Mrs. C. I. DeBevoise Henry W. de Forest Moreau Delano Rev. Dr. H. M. Denslow Julian Detmer • Mrs. Charles D. Dickey Thomas J. Dolen • Mrs. John W. Draper Benjamin T. Fairchild Marshall Field William B. 0 . Field Harry Harkness Flagler • Mrs. Mortimer J. Fox Childs Frick • Miss Helen C. Frick * Mrs. Carl A. de Gersdorff Murry Guggenheim Edward S. Harkness Prof. R. A. Harper T. A. Havemeyer Prof. Tracy E. Hazen A. Heckscher • Mrs. A. Barton Hepburn Capt. Henry B. Heylman Mrs. Christian R. Holmes • JMrs. Elon H. Hooker Dr. Marshall A. Howe Archer M. Huntington Adrian Iselin Pierre Jay * Mrs. Walter Jennings * Mrs. Delancey Kane * § Mrs. F. Leonard Kellogg * Mrs. Gustav E. Kissel Clarence Lewis Adolph Lewisohn Frederick J. Lisman Henry Lockhart, Jr. * Mrs. William A. Lockwood Dr. D. T. MacDougal * Mrs. David Ives Mackie Mrs. H. Edward Manville Edgar L. Marston George McAneny Parker McCollester * Mrs. John R. McGinley Dr. E. D. Merrill John L. Merrill * Mrs. Roswell Miller, Jr. Ogden L. Mills George M. Moffett H. de la Montagne, Jr. Col. Robert H. Montgomery Barrington Moore Mrs. William H. Moore J. Pierpont Morgan Dr. Lewis R. Morris Dr. Robert T. Morris B. Y. Morrison Prof. Henry F. Osborn Chas. Lathrop Pack * Mrs. Augustus G. Paine * Mrs. James R. Parsons Rufus L. Patterson * Mrs. Wheeler H. Peckham • Mrs. George W. Perkins Howard Phipps F. R. Pierson James R. Pitcher H. Hobart Porter * Mrs. Harold I. Pratt * Mrs. Henry St. C. Putnam Stanley G. Ranger Johnston L. Redmond Ogden Mills Reid John D. Rockefeller Prof. H. H. Rusby Hon. George J. Ryan • Mrs. Herbert L. Satterlee John M. Schiff * Mrs. Arthur H. Scribner Prof. Edmund W. Sinnott • Mrs. Samuel Sloan John K. Small Valentine P. Snyder James Speyer J. E. Spingarn Mrs. Charles H. Stout Nathan Straus, Jr. Frederick Strauss • Mrs. Theron G. Strong Joseph R. Swan B. B. Thayer Dr. William S. Thomas Charles G. Thompson Robert Thorne Raymond H. Torrey Prof. Sam F. Trelease • Mrs. Harold McL. Turner Felix M. Warburg Allen Wardwell William H. Webster • Mrs. Louise Beebe Wilder •|| Mrs. Nelson B. Williams Bronson Winthrop Grenville L. Winthrop John C. Wister • Mrs. William H. Woodin Richardson Wright • Member also of the Advisory Council. t Chairman of the Advisory Council. jjSecjfiJgrv^ tjje A^ vi^ rx^ ouncil. GENERAL INFORMATION Some of the leading features of The New York Botanical Garden are: Four hundred acres of beautifully diversified land in the northern part of the City of New York, through which flows the Bronx River. A native hemlock forest is one of the features of the tract. Plantations of thousands of native and introduced trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. Gardens, including a new rock garden, a large rose garden, a perennial border, small model gardens, and other types of plantings. Greenhouses, containing thousands of interesting plants from America and foreign countries. Flower shows throughout the year— in the spring, summer, and autumn displays of daffodils, tulips, lilacs, irises, peonies, roses, lilies, water- lilies, dahlias, and chrysanthemums; in the winter, displays of greenhouse-blooming plants. A museum, containing exhibits of fossil plants, existing plant families, local plants occurring within one hundred miles of the City of New York, and the economic uses of plants. An herbarium, comprising more than 1,700,000 specimens of American and foreign species. Exploration in different parts of the United States, the West Indies, Central and South America, for the study and collection of the characteristic flora. Scientific research in laboratories and in the field into the diversified problems of plant life. A library of botanical literature, comprising more than 43,500 books and numerous pamphlets. Public lectures on a great variety of botanical topics, continuing throughout the year. Publications on botanical subjects, partly of technical, scientific, and partly of popular, interest. The education of school children and the public through the above features and the giving of free information on botanical, horticultural and forestral subjects. The Garden is dependent upon an annual appropriation by the City of New York, private benefactions, and membership fees. It possesses now nearly two thousand members, and applications for membership are always welcome. The classes of membership are: Benefactor single contribution $ 25,000 Patron single contribution 5,000 Fellow for Life single contribution 1,000 Member for Life single contribution 250 Fellowship Member annual fee 100 Sustaining Member annual fee 25 Annual Member annual fee 10 Contributions to the Garden may be deducted from taxable incomes. The following is an approved form of bequest: / hereby bequeath to The New York Botanical Garden incorporated under the Laws of New York, Chapter 285 of 1891, ihe sum of . Conditional bequests may be made with income payable to donor or any designated beneficiary during his or her lifetime. All requests for further information should be sent to THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BRONX PARK, NEW YORK, N. Y.
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Contributor | New York Botanical Garden |
Date | 1934-11 |
Description-Table Of Contents | A Century-old American Herbarium; The 1934 Dahlia Collection; Winter Injury of Hybrid Rhododendrons; Aristolochia grandiflora; The Republication of Fundamental Botanical Works of Japan; Year-Book of American Amaryllis Society; Two Aged Epiphytic Orchids; A Glance at Current Literature; Notes, News, and Comment. |
Format | application/pdf |
Format-Extent | 51 v. : ill. ; 25 cm. |
Identifier | 0885-4165 |
Language | eng |
Publisher | Bronx : New York Botanical Garden, 1900-1950 |
Relation-Is Part Of | Journal of the New York Botanical Garden : v. 1, no. 1-v. 51, no. 612 |
Relation-IsVersionOfURI | http://opac.nybg.org/record=b1104879 |
Rights | http://www.nybg.org/library/ |
Subject | Plants--Periodicals; Gardening--Periodicals; Plants, Cultivated--Periodicals; New York Botanical Garden--Periodicals. |
Title | Journal of the New York Botanical Garden |
Volume, Number | Vol. 35, no. 419 |
Type | text |
Transcript | VOL. XXXV NOVEMBER, 1934 No. 419 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN A CENTURY- OLD AMERICAN HERBARIUM JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART THE 1934 DAHLIA COLLECTION MARSHALL A. HOWE WINTER INJURY OF HYBRID RHODODENDRONS HENRY TEUSCHER ARISTOLOCHIA GRANDIFLORA T. H. EVERETT THE REPUBLICATION OF FUNDAMENTAL BOTANICAL WORKS OF JAPAN E. D. MERRILL YEAR- BOOK OF AMERICAN AMARYLLIS SOCIETY T. H. EVERETT TWO AGED EPIPHYTIC ORCHIDS JOHN K_ SMALL A GLANCE A T CURRENT LITERATURE CAROL H. WOODWARD NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT PUBLISHED FOR THE GARDEN AT LIME AND GREEN STREETS, LANCASTER, PA. T H E SCIENCE PRESS PRINTING COMPANY Entered at the post- offlce in Lancaster, Pa., as second- class matter. Annual subscription $ 1.00 Single copies 10 cents Free to members of the Garden THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF MANAGERS I. ELECTIVE MANAGERS Until 1935: L. H. BAILEY, THOMAS J. DOLEN, MARSHALL FIELD, MRS. ELON HUNTINGTON HOOKER, JOHN L. MERRILL ( Vice- president and Treasurer), and H. HOBART PORTER. Until 1936: ARTHUR M. ANDERSON, HENRY W. DE FOREST ( President), CLARENCE LEWIS, E. D. MERRILL ( Director and Secretary), HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE, JR. ( Assistant Treasurer & Business Manager), and LEWIS RUTHER-FURD MORRIS. Until 1937: HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN ( Vice- president), GEORGE S. BREWSTER, CHILDS FRICK, ADOLPH LEWISOHN, HENRY LOCKHART, JR., D. T. MACDOUGAL, and JOSEPH R. SWAN. II. EX- OFFICIO MANAGERS FIORELLO H. LAGUARDIA, Mayor of the City of New York. ROBERT MOSES, Park Commissioner. GEORGE J. RYAN, President of the Board of Education. III. APPOINTIVE MANAGERS TRACY E. HAZEN, appointed by the Torrey Botanical Club. R. A. HARPER, SAM F. TRELEASE, EDMUND W. SINNOTT, and MARSTON T. BOGERT, appointed by Columbia University. GARDEN STAFF E. D. MERRILL, SC. D Director MARSHALL A. HOWE, PH. D., SC. D Assistant Director H. A. GLEASON, P H . D Head Curator JOHN K. SMALL, P H . D., SC. D Chief Research Associate and Curator A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories FRED J. SEAVER, P H . D., SC. D Curator BERNARD O. DODGE, P H . D Plant Pathologist FORMAN T. MCLEAN, M. F., P H . D Supervisor of Public Education JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D.. . Bibliographer and Admin. Assistant PERCY WILSON Associate Curator ALBERT C. SMITH, P H . D Associate Curator SARAH H. HARLOW, A. M Librarian H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections FLEDA GRIFFITH Artist and Photographer ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Research Associate in Bryology E. J. ALEXANDER . . . . Assistant Curator and Curator of the Local Herbarium HAROLD N. MOLDENKE, P H . D Assistant Curator CLYDE CHANDLER, A. M Technical Assistant ROSALIE WEIKERT Technical Assistant CAROL H. WOODWARD, A. B Editorial Assistant THOMAS H. EVERETT, N. D. HORT Horticulturist HENRY TEUSCHER, HORT. M Dendrologist G. L. WITTROCK, A. M Docent ROBERT HAGELSTEIN Honorary Curator of Myxomycetes ETHEL ANSON S. PECKHAM, Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections WALTER S. GROESBECK Clerk and Accountant ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds JOURNAL OF The New York Botanical Garden VOL. XXXV NOVEMBER, 1934 No. 419 A CENTURY- OLD AMERICAN HERBARIUM A very interesting American collection of dried plants, more than a hundred years old, has recently been presented to The New- York Botanical Garden by Mrs. Emma L. Oeder, of Ashland, Oregon. It was not an heirloom, and the donor knew nothing of its history.* Fortunately, however, it contains abundant internal evidence of its original source. The fly- leaf bears the name of David L. Coe, and the collection was certainly brought together by him. Even now, after a century, it comprises nearly 500 specimens, mounted in a large volume of 96 pages. A few are of cultivated plants, but nearly all are native in the regions where they were collected: eastern New York, adjacent New England, and Ohio. Who was this David L. Coe? His name is unknown to the present generation of botanists. Yet here is his herbarium, nearly * A subsequent letter from Mrs. Oeder explains how this herbarium came into her hands: " Ashland is a small town, whose early settlers in ' 45 came from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York. . The city dumps have afforded me a fruitful hunting ground, for sometimes really rare things have been sent out there, by descendants no doubt, who tired of caring for old things. " On these city dumps is a very old lady. She pokes about collecting materials to sell. To her I have said ' . anything that looks old or curious, always lay aside and show me. .' One day she called my attention to this book, asking if I could use it. " Every evening all burnable, waste material is destroyed upon the Ashland city dump, so you see that if ' Grandma's' watchful eyes had not salvaged the collection, the careful work of David L. Coe and Elias \ Y. Leavenworth would have been burned and lost forever." 241 242 every specimen correctly named in accordance with the knowledge of his day; the common name usually added after the scientific one; the locality, habitat, and month of collection frequently noted. The specimens are of course small, as they must be to average five to a page, but they are well chosen to illustrate the characters of the plants, and are as good as are customarily found in herbaria of that period, when paper for mounting specimens was expensive and difficult to secure. There are no exact dates with the specimens, but as we shall see the herbarium was probably begun in 1817, and completed essentially as it now exists in 1822. And now let us direct our attention to Williams College, in the year 1817, when that institution was less than twenty- five years old. Chester Dewey ( 1784- 1867) had been on the faculty from 1808, and had held the professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy from 1810. His field was large, but he stressed botany, and was widely known as a student of the genus Carex. It was doubtless through his influence that Amos Eaton ( 1776- 1842) was secured to give a series of popular lectures on mineralogy at Williams. Eaton was never a member of the faculty, but his magnetic personality made an astonishing impression upon the students. His services were secured to give a course of botanical lectures in the spring of 1817. But how was he to teach satisfactorily without a text- book describing succinctly the plants likely to be met with? No such work existed, so he prepared one, and this was published semi-anonymously, at Albany, the expense being borne by those who planned to attend the lectures. This was the first edition of " A manual of botany for the Xorthern States" which in seven subsequent editions up to 1840 was the most popular work in the field that had been opened by it. This first edition was prefaced by a dedication " to the author of Richard's Botanical dictionary" ( Eaton), which was dated at Williams College, " 8th April, 1817"; it was signed by every member of the senior, junior, and sophomore classes, and nearly all of the freshmen. There were 63 names in all, and among them we find " David L. Coe." David Lyman Coe was born at Granville, Massachusetts, in 1795. Soon after his graduation, in 1818, he went to the " Western Reserve" in Ohio, where he taught in various schools. It was at Charlestown, Ohio, that he penciled on the fly- leaf of his herba- 243 rium, under his name, " Oct. 1822. This book contains about five hundred and forty- five species [ of] plants." ( There are still about 475, after the vicissitudes of a century, and many more may yet be salvaged, now lying loose between the leaves of the book.) He was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Charlestown from 1828 to 1832, and then resumed his profession as a teacher, at Tall-madge, Ohio. He died at Richfield, Ohio, 20 July, 1836, at the early age of forty. But a large proportion of the plants in his herbarium were not collected by him. On page 47 he wrote this note: '' Nearly all the specimens from this page to the end were collected and presented to me by Mr. Elias W. Leavenworth of Great Barrington, [ collected] during the years i82[ o]- 2i- 22 at Gt. Bar-rington, Willi am stown and Newhaven. I hope ever to rem [ em]- ber his generosity in presenting] these specimens as well as for his many friendly attentions to me. D. L. Coe, Charlestown, Oct. 1822." It is impossible to distinguish the Coe and Leavenworth collections with certainty, although many of the specimens bear collection- numbers which are probably all those of Leavenworth. Many of the finest and rarest specimens seem to have come from him, but they were evidently duplicates from his herbarium; one label shows that he had divided his meager material with Coe. Evidently his was no mere schoolboy collection, for it showed the same care in preparation and labeling and contained some greater rarities. In October, 1822, Leavenworth was not yet nineteen years old, but he had already come under the influence of Chester Dewey at " Williams and Eli Ives ( 1779- 1861) at Yale, both among the most eminent American botanists of that day. Elias Warner Leavenworth was born at Canaan, Columbia County, New York, 20 December, 1803, but removed with his parents before his third birthday to Great Barrington, Mass., and this was his home until 1827. In 1820 he entered Williams College as a sophomore, and a year later entered Yale, where the standards were a trifle higher, again as a sophomore. It seems, therefore, that he was still an undergraduate when his gifts approximately doubled Coe's herbarium. He was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1823, and in the following year was graduated with the degree of B. A. He then began his law studies, and it was from this time, if not earlier, that his interest in botany was crowded 244 out; in fact, I have found no reference to his early botanical studies in an)- account of his life, even in the 18- page autobiography in his genealogy of the Leavenworth family ( 1873). He studied law with William Cullen Bryant ( 1794- 1878) at Great Barrington, and at the Litchfield ( Connecticut) Law School, and in 1827 went to Syracuse, New York, where he practiced his profession until 1850, and lived until his death. He was long one of the most honored citizens of Syracuse; president of the village twice, and later twice mayor of the city, member of the state legislature, Secretary of State of New York and one of the Regents of the State University, and for one term a Member of Congress. His great interest in parks and in the state geological survey may have resulted from his early studies in natural science. He died in Syracuse, 25 November, 1887. And now a few words more about the herbarium. Many of the original specimens have been broken or torn from the strips with which they were mounted, apparently by careless handling, but there is little if any evidence of depredation by insects; this is perhaps explained by a note at the bottom of page 30: " From this page a mercurial preparation is used." Many of the specimens bear no indication of locality or habitat; frequently there are such annotations as " wet land," " side of the road," " pine woods," or " margin of a pond." Some are definitely placed, from the standpoint of the label- writer, but would now be unidentifiable, such as " Mrs. Gridley's," " Mr. Day's," " Burying ground," and " S. bay." Most of the plants collected by Coe himself seem to have come from Columbia County, New York, where I imagine that he must have lived while in college ( Hudson, Claverack, Mount Washington— this last was the highest peak of the Taconic range, on the Massachusetts state line, not the famous mountain of the same name in New Hampshire), a number were from the Catskill Mountains ( labeled Caatskill M., or C. Mount., or C. Mountains), and some from Charlestown ( Ohio) and Burton ( Ohio, not many miles north of Charlestown). Leavenworth's chief localities were Great Barrington, Sheffield, and Deerfield, all in western Massachusetts, and a few labeled " N. H." ( New Haven, Conn., not New Hampshire). A few specimens that might have been collected by either Coe or Leavenworth are labeled " Williams College," " Mount Saddle" ( now called Saddle Mountain, southeast of Williamstown), or 245 " Pownal" ( north of Williamstown, just over the state line in Vermont). Of course scattered specimens of plants collected in America at much earlier dates are to be found in various herbaria, but a collection such as this that has remained virtually intact since 1822 is certainly noteworthy. JOHN HENDLEY BARXHART. THE 1934 DAHLIA COLLECTION The 1934 dahlia season may be considered to rank among the most successful of the seventeen in which the collection of dahlias has been a special feature at The New York Botanical Garden. July and August were a bit dry, but September brought nearly ten inches of rain. On some days the precipitation was heavier than was desirable and on two occasions the accompanying wind caused a considerable amount of breakage, but, on the whole, the copious September rainfall appeared to be distinctly favorable. The main collection, as m recent years, consisted of about 1100 plants, representing somewhat more than 400 varieties. In addition, the special bed of 160 essentially disease- free plants of two especially susceptible varieties, was maintained at a distance from the main planting. And numerous dahlias were to be found in the general flower borders north, east, and west of Conservatory Range No. 1. The collection, as usual, continued to exhibit a few of the reliable old- timers, like the pompon Brunette ( 1885) and the cactus variety Countess of Lonsdale ( 1896), but the newer kinds, one to five years old, and a few not yet introduced to the trade, constituted the more conspicuous parts of the display. As is the case with irises, peonies, and roses, many of recent introduction represent little or no advance over the older varieties, yet a comparison of the leading varieties of 1934 with the favorites of 1914 or 1924 would show striking progress. Such a comparison indicates that the older varieties are being rapidly replaced by the newer ones. Of the 458 varieties grown at The New York Botanical Garden in 1924, only 20 persist in the collection of 410 kinds grown here in 1934. In the newer varieties increases in the size of the flower and in the strength of the stem have been attained and wonderful **** JiSill^^ fl ' ^ S m *^ 1 '^• iBi ^ y! M m ; ' * -' *-;• •••- . ' tihMMf p - ^ / i ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1 Sty. -* » ^ i^%|| BnH^^ I^^^^^^^^^ H^ B ' ^^^"";£"=!^ K| J jj^^ p ^ fl^^^^^^^^ HBrf * Wmk ^ M^^^^ Mr *- W '•;''' « Pt< l * ., J?*''„;;' M ,. l/ i! Vf, « ''.* P V6& sW% E5*>' WrW\ M ^ H ^ ^ ^ W H H • fe: ' • • . • • . • - * * 1 5 247 new combinations of color are now exhibited. With the diameters of the flowers of certain varieties now reaching 16 or 17 inches, it would seem that there need be no further effort to produce bigger ones, but there is still a field for the development of vigorous disease- resistant varieties. The balloting on Saturday and Sunday afternoons for the best-liked variety, initiated in October of last year, has been continued this season, beginning on the last Sunday of September. The favorites naturally vary with the progress of the season and the condition of individual plants at the moment. And it may happen that top- notch varieties, for one cause or another, may not be doing themselves full justice at any time during the whole season in our particular collection. The last Sunday afternoon in September, Pastel Glow, a large informal decorative, white, with an orchid-violet flush, was the favorite. The early and mid- October vote favored Adirondack Sunset, a scarlet informal decorative, usually with old- gold edges and backs. A close rival was Lord of Autumn, a large canary- yellow informal decorative. Other leading favorites were Spotlight, Snowdrift, Buckeye King, Ching, Goldene Sonne, Maryland's Glory, Monmouth Champion, Christinas Candy, Rainbow's End, Lugdunum Batavorum, King of the Blacks, Star of Bethlehem, Orchid Moonlight, Yankee Royal, Man o'War, and White Knight. The dahlias were killed by frost the morning of November 3. For supplying roots and green plants of the newer and better kinds, the Garden is indebted especially to the following firms and individuals: Dahliadel Nurseries, Vineland, N. J.; Success Dahlia Gardens, 171 Ferry St., Lawrence, Mass.; Sanhican Gardens, Trenton, N. J.; Albert Parrella, 3380 Ely Avenue, Bronx, N. Y. C.; Parkway Dahlia Gardens, 1012 E. 178th St.; Ruschmohr Dahlia Growers, 52 S. Kensington Ave., Rockville Center, N. Y.; William Meshirer, 43- 55 Robinson St., Flushing, N. Y.; C. Louis Ailing, 251 Court St., West Haven, Conn.; F. Ed. Spooner, Summit, N. J.; Dr. A. B. Scott, Fairmont, W. Va.; Golden Rule Dahlia Farm, Lebanon, Ohio; E. L. Kunzman, New Albany, Ind.; J. E. Hulin, 5964 24th Ave.. S. W., Seattle, Wash.; A. A. Tower, Arlington, Wash.; A. G. Goodacre, Gardena, Calif.; Stephenson Dahlia Gardens, 2318 Hill St., Santa Monica, Calif.; Richard W. Petrie, Gardena, Calif.; Carl Salbach, 657 Woodmont Ave., Berkeley, Calif.; 248 BpSSIF c>?#^ J\" t?. iJ^*- LC' W* ' i%^ t. *'~-~ 5t fc^ tei swW^ mS& WlXti J^ tSfcJifflj^^ L *- 3| ^^^^ mSLTt ^ x- . • r i ^ ^ % * * i ^ ^ ^ ; - SJ^"^ L^ V^ » '"' rt^ pP% rT « . >' *": ? V B L A .• \ g k : ,' TW~*!^':- *_, \ • , ^.. IS^^ S^ vQPi^ B * ISHfc^ # 1 J2* [ ^ R ' wlSME^^ iH^ Hi ^ liP^ s ifljgfn^ ~^ E3T$ W& * » * • 2* SM « mOT^.' lB'^ K ite&\,. •'? » ^ HRHra 53 M km —. o « c KS < 0 3 " SJ ^ 49 Alice Meussdorffer, 4S7 Hanover St.. San Francisco, Calif.: N. Harold Cottam & Son, Wappingers Falls, X. Y.; John Toth, Fairfield, Conn.; W. J. Etherington, 125 Lexington Ave.. Westwood, X. J.; A. H. Schlesinger. Rochelle Park. X. J . : Thomas L. Galvin, 4 Bedford St.. Peabodv. Mass.: Badettv Bros., Huntington. X. Y.; Edward A. Jelile. 9218- 215 Place, Queens Village, X. Y.; W. E. Birrell & Sons. Summerville, Ontario; Vincent Sigismundi. 2 Manor Court, Teaneck, X. J.; F. A. Greenough. 25 French St., Braintree, Mass.; Salem Dahlia Gardens, 236 Grant St.. Salem. X. J.; Frederick E. Dixon, Scotch Plains. X. J.; Supreme Dahlias, Tiverton Four Corners. R. I . ; Chautauqua Dahlia Fields. Mayville, N. Y.: Walter Bissell. Austiuburg, Ohio: Dr. H. Trossbach, Bogota. X. Y.; Valeria Home. Oscawana. X. Y.; Bertha Linduff. Xew Cumberland, W. Va.; Lee Cochran, 21} X. 8th St.. Martins Ferry, Ohio: S. W. Smith. Port Jervis, X. Y.; L. X. Davis. Stoneham, Mass.: Fred Gresh. Zionsville, Ind.; Shelby E. Taylor. R. 3, Morgantown. W. Va.; Charles H. Smith. Mav's Landing. X. J.; and Mrs. J. C. Maxwell. Brevard. X. C. Mr. Stanley G. Ranger generously purchased roots of some of the newer English miniatures and mignons and presented them to the Garden. Interesting novelties were three Australian varieties presented by L. Fitzgerald, 35 Barrow St.. Brunswick, Xo. 10, Victoria, Australia. Besides the regular Saturday afternoon lantern- slide lecture on " Dahlias" in tlie Museum Building on September 29. there was a largely attended informal talk on the lawn in front of the Dahlia Border on Sunday afternoon, October 14. Informal talks were given also to visiting delegations from the Woman's Club of Port Chester on October 15 and from the Chappaqua Garden Club on October 17. The New York Times published statements to the effect that tlie dahlias were seen by 5,000 people on September 30, by 10.000 on October 7, and by 9,000 on October 14. While these figures are doubtless exaggerated, it is a fact that the dahlias attracted the attention of thousands of admiring visitors on each of these Sundays and of smaller crowds on week- days. For tlie success of the 1934 Dahlia Border, the undersigned owes much to tlie helpful cooperation of Director Merrill. Horticulturist Thomas H. Everett. Foreman Gardener Patrick J. McKenna. and Miss Rosalie Weikert. For their devoted and efficient care of the plants great credit should be given to Gardener James Cahill and his volunteer assistant, J. Leslie Heitel. MARSHALL A. HOWE. 250 WINTER INJURY OF HYBRID RHODODENDRONS The hybrid evergreen rhododendrons of our gardens behaved last winter in a way that has been quite puzzling to many of their special friends. Here in the eastern states we are wont to consider a western or at least partly northern exposure as most favorable for evergreen rhododendrons. Last spring it could be observed, however, that in many instances rhododendrons flowered more satisfactorily in a southern than in a northwestern exposure, which seems to be in contradiction to all previous experience. But we have to consider that the past winter was abnormal in more than its extremely low temperature; and the blasting of the buds in northwestern exposure can readily be blamed on the strong and very cold northwest winds which we had to experience twice during February. Even if this be taken into account, however, strange differences in the behavior of individual plants remain unexplained. These were most puzzling to those garden owners who did not realize that the varieties which made up their rhododendron groups were hybrids, and that they showed in their varying hardiness their varying affinity to their respective parents. There are in particular six species which have been crossed and recrossed to produce our garden Rhododendrons, and these can readily be classified into two groups: ( i ) the hardy R. catawbiense, R. caucasicum, and R. maximum, and ( 2) the quite tender R. ponticum, the still more tender R. arboreum, and of late also the quite tender R. Griffithianum. The hybrids among these which we have in our gardens are rarely straight crosses between two species, but are usually quite complicated. A combination like the following, for instance, is frequent: [{ catawbiense x arboreum) x {{ catawbiense x arboreum) X catawbiense] ] x ( ponticum album x caucasicum). There are four parent species involved in this cross, one of them three times, and one twice. If from such a complicated hybrid one collects seeds and raises plants from them, it can readily be imagined what will happen. Among the offspring some of the grandparents— or even more remote ancestors— will reappear almost pure; other plants are likely to combine in them undesirable traits of several of the in- 251 252 volved species. Their behavior, if they are exposed to a severe winter, will be according to their inherited qualities. The accompanying picture shows this quite clearly. The two rhododendron plants in the foreground belong to the same set of seedlings, raised from the seeds of some hybrid variety. They are growing side by side in a nursery row under entirely identical conditions, and have been treated alike in every way. The conspicuous difference in their reaction to the severe winter can be referred only to their different genetic make- up, which, in this case, is quite evident also in their outward appearance. The left plant resembles very closely R. catawbiense and, as the picture shows, has proved just as hardy. It is in full bloom, and not one of its flower- buds showed signs of injury. The right plant looks very much like R. ponticum which, apparently, was one of the species used in the original cross. This plant shows the tenderness inherited from R. ponticum in its flower-buds, which were all killed during the past winter. HENRY TEUSCHER. ARISTOLOCHIA GRANDIFLORA Aristotochia grandiflora is a tropical relative of the common Dutchman's Pipe ( A. macrophylla). It is a native of several of the West Indian Islands and of northern South America and is remarkable because of the strikingly handsome flowers it produces. The peculiar shape of these earn for this species the common names of Pelican Flower, Swan Flower, Goose Flower, and Duck Flower, all names suggested by the resemblance which the unopened buds bear to the body and head of a bird. The flowers are large, with a curiously curved and inflated tube, which expands into a heart- shaped limb several inches in diameter. From this limb depends a long twisted ciliate tail. The showy part of the flower is really the petaloid calyx for, as in all Aristo-lochias, the corolla is wanting. In color the flowers are creamy-white, attractively reticulated and blotched with purple and towards the center and in the throat becoming a rich vinous- purple self. They remain expanded for only about forty- eight hours and during the earlier part of this period emit a most disgusting odor, which is said to attract carrion- loving insects. 253 FIGURE I. The pelican- flower, Aristolochia grandiflora, in bloom. 254 Aristolochia grandiflora is rarely seen in cultivation and a plant bloomed for the first time at the Garden in mid- October. This specimen was raised from seeds received from the Botanic Garden at Copenhagen, Denmark, eighteen months ago, and the flower produced measured more than seven inches across and had a tail eleven inches long. The cultivation of the tropical Aristolochias presents no particular difficulties. They are readily raised from seed or from cuttings of young growth taken in the spring. The plants thrive in a well- drained, loamy soil, in a greenhouse where a winter minimum temperature of from 58 to 60 degrees is maintained. Full exposure to sun is desirable and during the growing season they should be sprayed freely with clear water. Well- established specimens benefit from regular feeding with liquid organic fertilizers. Although in its native state Aristolochia grandiflora is a woody climber, it is advisable under greenhouse cultivation to prune the plants severely each spring and train up the annual shoots which will produce flowers in the late summer and fall. T. H. EVERETT. THE REPUBLICATION OF FUNDAMENTAL BOTANICAL WORKS OF JAPAN The botanical public is under obligations to Professor T. Nakai for his interest in furthering the republication of various fundamental works pertaining to the flora of Japan. These are being republished by the offset process and are hence exact reproductions of the originals. They are printed on excellent paper and are well bound. Among those already issued are Thunberg's Flora Japonica ( 1786), issued by Inoue Shotan, Morikawa- Cho, Tokyo, in 1933; Thunberg's Icones Plantarum Japonicarum, five parts, 1794- 1805, issued by Syokubuth Bunken Kankokai, 4 Kobikichiyo, Kyoba-shiku, Tokyo, Japan. Other publications that have similarly been reproduced are Siebold & Zuccarini: Flora Japonica ( 1843- 46), and Siebold: Synopsis Plantarum Oeconomicarum ( 1827). Plans are now being perfected for similarly reproducing the first edition of the fundamental Linnaeus' Species Plantarum, and various papers pertaining to the Japanese flora written by Thunberg. 255 The original editions of all these publications are long out of print, many of them are exceedingly rare and expensive, and are hence not available to numerous individuals who need to have access to them. These modern offset reproductions, now being published in Japan at nominal rates, will enable many botanists and botanical institutions, not only in Japan but elsewhere, to acquire copies of these fundamental works at nominal cost. This project is financed by an anonymous Japanese patron of science as a service to Japanese botanists. E. D. MERRILL. YEAR- BOOK OF AMERICAN AMARYLLIS SOCIETY The American Amaryllis Society was organized in 1933 with the object of promoting interest in Suborder I, Amarylleae, and Suborder II, Alstroemerieae, Order Amaryllideae ( Baker, J. G., Handbook of Amaryllideae, 1888). In February of the present year the Society published its first year- book, a very creditable production of 106 pages, well printed and carefully edited. This year- book contains, in addition to the constitution and by- laws of the Society, a reprint of the keys to the genera of Suborder T— Amarylleae, Suborder II— Alstroemerieae and the species of the genera Hippeastrum and Amaryllis according to Baker. A preliminary check- list of horticultural varieties of Hippeastrum and a number of important articles dealing with the breeding and hybridizing of Amaryllids, their culture and the insect and fungoid pests to which they are subject, are also included. The group of plants to which the American Amaryllis Society devotes interest comprises 54 genera and is of great importance horticulturally. It would seem that the society can be of very real service to growers and fanciers of these subjects. The year- book is apparently available only to members of the Society. Annual dues are $ 2.00. Wyndham Howard, 2240 Fairbanks Avenue, Winter Park, Florida, is Secretary. T. H. EVERETT. 256 TWO AGKD EPIPHYTIC ORCHIDS On one of our collecting trips to I lie lower Florida Keys in J 928, two prodigious plants of a native epiphytic orchid were found, growing on an island east of Key West. The locality was a small hammock near the ocean front. The size of the plants may he realized from the fact that a family of raccoons occupied the top of each for a nesting place. Each plant or colony consisted of approximately twelve hundred green pseudobulbs. How many pseudobulbs had naturally died and dried up during the life of the colonies we do not know. As the multiplicafion of pseudobillbs is apparently a slow process, one may assume lb, it ; i colony of twelve hundred represents a considerable age. FJOORE 1. A very old plant of lituyrlia tamf> ensis composed of about 1200 pseudobulbs. The flowers are of a yellow ground- color with markings and splotches of purple and brown on the sepals and petals. 257 During the season following the bringing of the plants to the Garden they flowered while hanging from the rafters in Conservatory Range number j . Several hundred flower stems on each plant bloomed simultaneously, each stem bearing from three to eight mainly yellow flowers with some of the parts marked with brown and purple. The accompanying photograph of one side of one of the plants in flower will give an idea of the plant in the flowering stage. Furthermore, this orchid, Encyclia tampensis. normally flowers once a year, but these plants for some reason flowered in a desultory way out of season. JOHN K. SMALL. A GLANCE AT CURRENT LITERATURE1 In " The Iris' Near- of- kin" in the Gardeners' Chronicle of America for October, Claire Norton describes many plants which are said to be fascinating even to the amateur grower, but too infrequently seen. In the same number, Edith H. Banghart explains what she calls the " moraine or scree idea." by which certain rock garden plants are made to thrive by allowing their roots to reach cool moist earth. * * * * Although " Common Weeds" by Paul C. Standley, published as Botanical Leaflet ly of the Field Museum, refers directly to the Chicago region, the contents of the booklet are applicable over a much wider area. On the strictly scientific side, Mr. Standley has lately produced " The Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Panama"— a manual whose descriptive introduction fires both scientist and traveler with a desire to start at once for this fascinating isle in Gatun Lake. It appears as Contributions from the Arnold Arboretum— V. * * * * The October Bulletin of the Horticultural Society of . Yrtc York announces that the afternoon and evening meetings this season will take place the same day of each month— the third Wednesday— to enable out- of- towners to attend both sessions during one trip, and 1 All publications mentioned here— and many others— are to be found in the library of The New York Botanical Garden, in the Museum Building. 258 also to enable those at the evening meetings to see at least part of the afternoon floral display. * * * * In the test garden for new roses, which was revived this year under the auspices of the American Rose Society in Elizabeth Park, Hartford, Conn., 148 plants were under observation. These represented, according to the American Rose Magazine for September- October, 17 originators from America, France, Spain, Belgium, and Holland, and included 18 American roses. * * * * Sweet Corn is the subject of Part 3 of Volume 1 of Vegetables of Nczv York, being published by the State Agricultural Experiment Station. The present part, which contains, besides magnificent colored illustrations, sections on the history and systematic botany of maize, its development, and complete descriptions of varieties, has been prepared by William T. Tapley, Walter D. Enzie, and Glen P. Van Eseltine. * * * * From May 15 to July 1 is the most desirable time to scout for the Dutch elm- disease, according to the September Nursery Disease Notes of the Xew Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. Lack of funds, the article points out, has kept many diseased trees standing ( 1600, for example, in New Jersey). These should be removed before April 1, 1935, it emphasizes, if control is to be successful. * * * * A convenient table for planting twenty kinds of bulbs for the winter window garden is given in Horticulture for September 15. Two articles on fall and winter decoration, in which wild plants are principally used, are included in the October Flower Grower. Rex D. Pearce contributes to that issue an article on the autumn wild flowers of Xew Jersey, and Carleton Yerex " A Critical Consideration of Hybrid Lilies.'' CAROL H. WOODWARD. 259 NOTES. NEWS. AND COMMENT We much regret to record the death of Mr. Kenneth Kent Mackenzie, which occurred at his home in Maplewood, X. J., on October 22, at the age of 57 years. He was a member of the Board of Managers of The Xew York Botanical Garden since 1933 and for several years was one of its executive committee. A lawyer by profession, Mr. Mackenzie had won distinction among botanists as an authority on the genus Carex. Dr. A. B. Stout spent several days during the autumn in Maine with Dr. E. J. Schreiner in an inspection of the nursery and the experimental plantings of poplars established by the Oxford Paper Company. About 10,000 seedling poplars, obtained by hybridization, have now had eight years of growth in a forestation planting and several have already flowered. Dr. H. A. Gleason has been appointed to the National Research Council for Biology and Agriculture for a period of three years. Dr. and Mrs. Agesilau A. Bitancourt,. of Sao Paulo, Brazil, visited the Garden late in September while spending a few days in the Lnited States on their return from Europe. Dr. Bitancourt, who is subdirector of the Instituto Biologico at Sao Paulo, has been inspecting Brazilian fruit in European markets. Dr. P. A. van der Bijl, professor of plant pathology and mycology at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, who has been visiting laboratories of phytopathology and mycology in the United States., was a caller at The New York Botanical Garden on Octobers. Dr. E. D. Merrill addressed an audience at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences the evening of October 16 on plant life of the Philippines. A large exhibit of wild flowers of Long Island, prepared bv The New \ ork Botanical Garden, was awarded a special prize at Brooklyn's Fall Flower Show, held in the Fourteenth Regiment Armory, September 25 to 29. 260 The tall sugar- palm from Malaysia, Arenga pinnata ( A. sac-charifera), which has been growing in Conservatory Range i for about 25 years, until it now reaches the top of the 90- foot dome, began blooming for the first time in September this year. A second inflorescence appeared in October, and more will appear in sequence for a year or more, it is expected, each from the next lower leaf- axil. In the production of the small greenish flowers, which are like beads along pendent branches about three feet in length, great quantities of starch which has been gradually stored in the trunk are utilized. So, after the fruits are produced, the entire tree dies. The inflorescences, which yield an abundance of sap when cut, are an important source of palm sugar in the Orient. Soon after this palm began blooming, the Illawarra palm, Ar~ chontophoenix Cunninghami, from Australia, which has been growing in the same house, put forth a tassel of rose- colored flowers, which hang from a point on the trunk about three feet below the lowest leaf. Announcement is made that Norman Taylor, editor for botany of the new Webster's Dictionary, has been engaged by Houghton Mifflin Company as editorial and promotion advisor in the field of garden books and others in the realm of natural science and outdoor life. With Mr. Taylors cooperation the publishers contemplate more active publication of books on gardening, flowers, insects, geology, exploration, and kindred subjects, including tree books and forestry. He will carry on his work at the Xew York office of Houghton Mifflin Company. Air. Taylor was formerly Assistant Curator of The New York Botanical Garden and later Curator of Plants at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He is the author of the " Flora of the Vicinity of New York: a Contribution to Plant Geography," which constituted Volume V of the Memoirs of The Xew York Botanical Garden. MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION Arthur M. Anderson * Mrs. Arthur M. Anderson George Arents, Jr. Mrs. George Arents, Jr. Vincent Astor John W. Auchincloss Dr. Raymond F. Bacon • Mrs. Robert Bacon Prof. L. H. Bailey Mrs. James Baird Stephen Baker Henry de Forest Baldwin Sherman Baldwin Prof. Charles P. Berkey C. K. G. Billings George Blumenthal • Mrs. Edward C. Bodman Col. Marston T. Bogert Prof. William J. Bonisteel George P. Brett George S. Brewster • Mrs. Jonathan Bulkley Dr. Nicholas M. Butler Prof. Gary N. Calkins • Mrs. Andrew Carnegie Prof. W. H. Carpenter • Miss Mabel Choate • Miss E. Mabel Clark W. R. Coe Richard C. Colt Mrs. Jerome W. Coombs Charles Curie Mrs. C. I. DeBevoise Henry W. de Forest Moreau Delano Rev. Dr. H. M. Denslow Julian Detmer • Mrs. Charles D. Dickey Thomas J. Dolen • Mrs. John W. Draper Benjamin T. Fairchild Marshall Field William B. 0 . Field Harry Harkness Flagler • Mrs. Mortimer J. Fox Childs Frick • Miss Helen C. Frick * Mrs. Carl A. de Gersdorff Murry Guggenheim Edward S. Harkness Prof. R. A. Harper T. A. Havemeyer Prof. Tracy E. Hazen A. Heckscher • Mrs. A. Barton Hepburn Capt. Henry B. Heylman Mrs. Christian R. Holmes • JMrs. Elon H. Hooker Dr. Marshall A. Howe Archer M. Huntington Adrian Iselin Pierre Jay * Mrs. Walter Jennings * Mrs. Delancey Kane * § Mrs. F. Leonard Kellogg * Mrs. Gustav E. Kissel Clarence Lewis Adolph Lewisohn Frederick J. Lisman Henry Lockhart, Jr. * Mrs. William A. Lockwood Dr. D. T. MacDougal * Mrs. David Ives Mackie Mrs. H. Edward Manville Edgar L. Marston George McAneny Parker McCollester * Mrs. John R. McGinley Dr. E. D. Merrill John L. Merrill * Mrs. Roswell Miller, Jr. Ogden L. Mills George M. Moffett H. de la Montagne, Jr. Col. Robert H. Montgomery Barrington Moore Mrs. William H. Moore J. Pierpont Morgan Dr. Lewis R. Morris Dr. Robert T. Morris B. Y. Morrison Prof. Henry F. Osborn Chas. Lathrop Pack * Mrs. Augustus G. Paine * Mrs. James R. Parsons Rufus L. Patterson * Mrs. Wheeler H. Peckham • Mrs. George W. Perkins Howard Phipps F. R. Pierson James R. Pitcher H. Hobart Porter * Mrs. Harold I. Pratt * Mrs. Henry St. C. Putnam Stanley G. Ranger Johnston L. Redmond Ogden Mills Reid John D. Rockefeller Prof. H. H. Rusby Hon. George J. Ryan • Mrs. Herbert L. Satterlee John M. Schiff * Mrs. Arthur H. Scribner Prof. Edmund W. Sinnott • Mrs. Samuel Sloan John K. Small Valentine P. Snyder James Speyer J. E. Spingarn Mrs. Charles H. Stout Nathan Straus, Jr. Frederick Strauss • Mrs. Theron G. Strong Joseph R. Swan B. B. Thayer Dr. William S. Thomas Charles G. Thompson Robert Thorne Raymond H. Torrey Prof. Sam F. Trelease • Mrs. Harold McL. Turner Felix M. Warburg Allen Wardwell William H. Webster • Mrs. Louise Beebe Wilder •|| Mrs. Nelson B. Williams Bronson Winthrop Grenville L. Winthrop John C. Wister • Mrs. William H. Woodin Richardson Wright • Member also of the Advisory Council. t Chairman of the Advisory Council. jjSecjfiJgrv^ tjje A^ vi^ rx^ ouncil. GENERAL INFORMATION Some of the leading features of The New York Botanical Garden are: Four hundred acres of beautifully diversified land in the northern part of the City of New York, through which flows the Bronx River. A native hemlock forest is one of the features of the tract. Plantations of thousands of native and introduced trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. Gardens, including a new rock garden, a large rose garden, a perennial border, small model gardens, and other types of plantings. Greenhouses, containing thousands of interesting plants from America and foreign countries. Flower shows throughout the year— in the spring, summer, and autumn displays of daffodils, tulips, lilacs, irises, peonies, roses, lilies, water- lilies, dahlias, and chrysanthemums; in the winter, displays of greenhouse-blooming plants. A museum, containing exhibits of fossil plants, existing plant families, local plants occurring within one hundred miles of the City of New York, and the economic uses of plants. An herbarium, comprising more than 1,700,000 specimens of American and foreign species. Exploration in different parts of the United States, the West Indies, Central and South America, for the study and collection of the characteristic flora. Scientific research in laboratories and in the field into the diversified problems of plant life. A library of botanical literature, comprising more than 43,500 books and numerous pamphlets. Public lectures on a great variety of botanical topics, continuing throughout the year. Publications on botanical subjects, partly of technical, scientific, and partly of popular, interest. The education of school children and the public through the above features and the giving of free information on botanical, horticultural and forestral subjects. The Garden is dependent upon an annual appropriation by the City of New York, private benefactions, and membership fees. It possesses now nearly two thousand members, and applications for membership are always welcome. The classes of membership are: Benefactor single contribution $ 25,000 Patron single contribution 5,000 Fellow for Life single contribution 1,000 Member for Life single contribution 250 Fellowship Member annual fee 100 Sustaining Member annual fee 25 Annual Member annual fee 10 Contributions to the Garden may be deducted from taxable incomes. The following is an approved form of bequest: / hereby bequeath to The New York Botanical Garden incorporated under the Laws of New York, Chapter 285 of 1891, ihe sum of . Conditional bequests may be made with income payable to donor or any designated beneficiary during his or her lifetime. All requests for further information should be sent to THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BRONX PARK, NEW YORK, N. Y. |
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