|
|
|
VOL. XXXII MAY, 1931 No. 377 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN A DESTRUCTIVE RED- CEDAR RUST DISEASE B. O. DODGE SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO VENEZUELA H. A. GLEASON BEGONIAS AS HOUSE PLANTS BESSIE W. BUXTON THE WATER- LILIES OF THE UNITED STATES JOHN K. SMALL NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT ACCESSIONS PUBLISHED FOR THE GARDEN AT LIME AND GREEN STREETS, LANCASTER, PA. THE SCIENCE PRESS PRINTING COMPANY Entered at the post- office in Lancaster, Fa., 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 HENRY W. DE FOREST, President CLARENCE LEWIS HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN, Vice President ADOLPH LEWISOHN F. K. STURGIS, Vice President HENRY LOCKHART, JR. JOHN L. MERRILL, Treasurer D. T. MACDOUGAL E. D. MERRILL, Secretary KENNETH K. MACKENZIE EDWARD D. ADAMS H. DE LA MONTAGNE, JR. RAYMOND F. BACON J, PIERPONT MORGAN CHARLES P. BERKEY LEWIS RUTHERFURD MORRIS MARSTON T. BOGERT H. HOBART PORTER GEORGE S. BREWSTER HENRY H. RUSBY N. L. BRITTON GEORGE J. RYAN NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER MORTIMER L SCHIFF THOMAS A. EDISON EDMUND W. SINNOTT CHILDS FRICK SAM F. TRELEASE R. A. HARPER WILLIAM H. WEBSTER JAMES J. WALKER, Mayor of the City of New York WALTER R. HERRICK, President of the Department of Parks SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS R. A. HARPER, P H . D., SC. D., Chairman D. T. MACDOUGAL, P H . D., LL. D. RAYMOND F. BACON, P H . D., SC. D. HENRY H. RUSBY, M. D., SC. D. CHARLES R BERKEY, P H . D SC. D. G J R LL D MARSTON T. BOGERT, SC. D., LL. D. " J . , , ' _ ~ NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, P H . D., EDMUND W. SINNOTT, P H . D. LL. D., LITT. D. SAM F. TRELEASE, P H . D. DIRECTOR EMERITUS N. L. BRITTON, P H . D., SC. D., LL. D. GARDEN STAFF E. D. MERRILL, SC. D Director- in- Chief MARSHALL A. HOWE, P H . D., SC. D Assistant Director JOHN K. SMALL, P H . D., SC. D Head Curator of the Museums A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories P. A. RYDBERG, P H . D Curator H. A. GLEASON, P H . D Curator FRED J. SEAVER, P H . D Curator ARTHUR HOLLICK, P H . D Paleobotanist 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 PERCY WILSON Associate Curator PALMYRE DE C. MITCHELL Associate Curator SARAH H. HARLOW, A. M Librarian H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections ELIZABETH G. BRITTON Honorary Curator of Mosses MARY E. EATON Artist ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Administrative Assistant E. J. ALEXANDER Assistant Curator ALBERT C. SMITH, A. B Assistant Curator CLYDE CHANDLER, A. M Technical Assistant MARJORIE E. SWIFT, A. M Assistant Pathologist ROSALIE WEIKERT Technical Assistant KENNETH R. BOYNTON, B. S Head Gardener G. L. WITTROCK, A. M Docent H. M. DENSLOW, A. M., D. D Honorary Custodian of Local Herbarium ROBERT HAGELSTEIN Honorary Curator of Myxomycetes E. B. SOUTHWICK, P H . D Custodian of Herbaceous Grounds ETHEL ANSON S. PECKHAM. Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections JOHN R. BRINLEY, C. E Landscape Engineer WALTER S. GROESBECK Clerk and Accountant ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds V JOURNAL OF The New York Botanical Garden VOL. XXXII MAY, 1931 Xo. 377 A DESTRUCTIVE RED- CEDAR RUST DISEASE1 Two years ago Dr. G. P. Clinton, preparing a program for the Fifth National Shade Tree Conference, asked the writer to discuss methods of controlling the apple rusts without removing the cedar host. This was, in effect, a request to defend the red cedar, Juniperus virginiana, against the charge of being a public nuisance, brought against it by apple- growers of this country. It is claimed that the apple is subject to attack by species of rusts belonging to the genus Gymnosporangium, which cause losses up to 50 per cent or more in cases of certain varieties. The red cedar is well known to be the alternate host for these criminal fungi. Furthermore, it has been found that the ordinary spray schedules followed to control other fungi and insect pests of apples are not effective in preventing great losses due to the two cedar- apple rusts. Of the two alternate hosts the apple is the only one, it is claimed, that suffers. Only in rare cases are the cedars so loaded with the galls as to suffer much damage. The galls characteristic of these two species develop only from leaf tissue and the tree rids itself of the individual infections naturally after two or three years, because the fungus mycelium does not become perennial by penetrating down into the branches. In recent years it has been proved that a third species of rust, Gymnosporangium germinale ( G. clavipes), severely attacks the fruit of several varieties of apple, rendering it unsalable. This species is perennial in the limbs and trunk of the cedar. The fungus develops largely in the outer cortex just beneath the corky bark, however, so that it does not seriously affect the cedar host. 1 Studies in the genus Gymnosporangium— V-IOI FIGURE I. Explanation on opposite page. 103 Thus on three counts the red cedar is condemned, and the only remedy, the apple- growers say, is to destroy all red cedars. Some states, notably New York and Virginia among others, have passed laws designed to compel property owners in certain sections to cut down all red cedars on their premises which are within infecting distance from commercial orchards. As the apple- growers are usually well organized, these laws are more or less effective and have been upheld in the higher courts. Against the claim that the red cedar is of no special account as an ornamental may be cited the remark of a gentleman who had just brought an apple orchard in Virginia into bearing at considerable expense: " If it comes to a question of the apple tree against the cedar," he said, " we shall have to cut down the apples." The stately old cedars had long stood guard about his colonial dwelling and they were not to be sacrificed. This note is not particularly a defense of the red cedar as an ornamental or as a welcome break in a dreary Long Island landscape, or as cooling shade for domestic animals in old New England pastures. Rather it is to direct attention to a rust disease which is slowly but surely contributing to the mortality of red cedars in the East. Few places in this part of the country can boast of such beautiful old trees of various species as can be seen in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. On the east slope of the ridge on which stands Lee Mansion, overlooking the city of Washington, are, naturally, a number of red cedars. Ten years ago there were to be found any number of examples of the destructive effects of what appears to be the effuse type of infection by Gymnosporangium Nidus- avis. Limbs up to six inches in diameter are frequently roughly scarred for several feet, and every year such limbs as have died are cut out. There is scarcely a tree still standing that does not show several serious trunk and limb infections. The natural alternate hosts for G. Nidus- avis are species of Amelanchier, but, as has been confirmed by others since then, the writer has proved conclusively that the apple can also be infected. FIGURE I. A. Portion of trunk of a young red cedar three years after inoculation with Gymnosporangium. Nidus- avis. B. The same as A after having been wet to cause the rust sori to swell. Natural size. 104 FIGURE 2. Explanation on opposite page. IO5 It is interesting to see, however, in such places as The New York Botanical Garden and other parks, that red cedars planted in recent years show no sign of infection by this fungus, although one can infect Amelanchier readily with the rust from the old cedars. While making a study of the cedar rusts some fifteen years back, it was observed how destructive to the cedar some of the species could be. It is a pleasure to acknowledge here again the valuable assistance in that work, rendered by Professor R. A. Harper, in the form of enthusiasm and material things. To quote from a paper written in 1918 : 2 " The red cedars on Long Island and in the vicinity of New York are badly infected with a Gymnosporangium which, if the infections are due to a single species, is certainly multiform in its manifestations. Amelanchier and Malus have been infected with spores taken from each of the following forms, although the inoculations were not made in each case with a single sorus: ( 1) Sori in the axils of densely crowded acerose leaves; ( 2) sori caulicolous, large branches forming coarse witches'- brooms; ( 3) trunk infections, sori appearing in deep fissures in the thickened bark. There is perhaps another form recognized by the presence of long parallel cork ridges, about one centimeter in width, that mark the location of sori of former years." Of one tree it was said: " The trunk of this tree is heavily infected for a distance of several feet and has developed a large spindle- shaped swelling three feet long about ten feet above the ground." The rate with which trunk infections spread is shown in FIGURE 1. As compared with pear blight, the spread here might not seem very rapid. It is because of this rather slow rate that the ultimate damage done by this rust has heretofore not been realized. The small potted cedar was inoculated by spraying it with a suspension of aeciospores taken from apple leaves previously infected with teliospore material from a witches'- broom which involved large branches. Infection first showed two years later 2 Dodge, B. O. Studies in the genus Gymnosporangium— II. Report on cultures made in 1915 and 1916. Bull. Torrey Club 45: 287- 300. 1918. FIGURE 2. Red cedar showing swelling of trunk and excessive growth of strips of bark in the region infected with the rust fungus Gymnosporangium Nidus- avis, completely encircling the tree. The black strip on the side of the other cedar shows a more localized trunk infection by another species of rust. io6 FIGURE 3. Explanation on opposite page. 107 in the form of two stem sori at a point about the middle of the spindle- shaped portion of the small trunk shown in this figure. The infection spread at least six inches vertically in both directions and completely around the stem during the first three years. Some of the sori were at least two inches long. At the left in the picture is shown the infected section of the trunk in a dry condition. At the right the same part in a slightly different position is shown as it appeared two hours later, after it had been wet to cause the sori to swell. Just how long such a tree infected in nature in this manner would have lived is uncertain. The picture of a cedar by the roadside in Long Island shown in FIGURE 2 is of a similar type of infection which must have been of many years' standing. In such cases there are strips of cambium and inner bark which run up and down, connecting in a zigzag fashion, so that there is still provision for the flow of foods. The corky strips of bark which develop over the wounded portions between the sori are characteristic of this type of infection. A piece of limb having the same kind of infection is shown in FIGURE 3, A. The irregular orientation of the swollen sori is plainly indicated in this picture. The most destructive type of infection occurs when the fungus travels straight up and down, causing the development of long, parallel, closely- set ridges, as shown in FIGURE 3, B, C. The lower figure shows a piece of limb that had died because the fungus had completely circled the limb for two or three feet. In the center figure the region covered by the lower four or five ridges is dead. The fungus is moving slowly around the limb, as evidenced by the two rows of swollen sori beyond which ( above in the picture) the fungus has not as yet penetrated. Small boys are sometimes said to relish the cedar- apples stimulated to form by Gymnosporangium Juniperi- virginiae. This may well be believed, because if one had cut out the ridge- like galls shown in this figure in the spring of the year when they were alive, he would have found them composed of rather firm cortical tissue FIGURE 3. A. Telial sori of Gymnosporangium Nidus- avis on a limb of red cedar. Sori irregularly oriented. B. Below are seen four or five ridges denoting the location of sori of previous years. Above are two or three rows of swollen sori showing that this part of the limb is still alive. G. Remains of ridge- like galls on a limb killed by a long- standing infection of the effuse type. Natural size. io8 filled with rich foodstuffs of a pleasant nutty flavor. Instead of forming " cedar- apple " galls, this species causes truncate ridgelike galls well supplied with food for the development of the sori to be formed. After the teliospores have matured, the gall tissue becomes brown, more or less suberized, and transformed into a ridge which seems to serve as a sort of cork callus. Recent observations on the condition of trees now as compared with what they showed fifteen years ago bear out the predictions made at that time. Many of the old familiar trees have disappeared, some of them no doubt strangled by poison ivy; others, perhaps, as some have thought, were unable to withstand continued infestation by " red spiders." It is clear that when large numbers of branches of the tree are infected with G. Nidus- avis so that witches'- brooms are formed all over the tree, considerable damage is bound to follow. Nevertheless, it is the deep- seated trunk infections which destroy the cambium and inner bark that are the most serious, and when this parasite in its effuse form becomes firmly established on the large limbs and main trunk, the tree is, to say the least, seriously handicapped. The great damage done the southern white cedar, Chamaecyparis thyoides, by two other species of Gymnosporangium will be described in a later note. B. O. DODGE. SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO VENEZUELA The Pacaraima- Venezuela Expedition has recently published a handsomely printed and illustrated prospectus, setting forth the plans for the proposed expedition, which is expected to leave New York late in the summer for an extended and comprehensive survey of the unexplored mountain range lying on the border between Brazil and Venezuela. This expedition will be of special interest to members and friends of The New York Botanical Garden, since the Garden is an active participant. This is the first expedition ever undertaken as a cooperative project from three leading metropolitan institutions, the other two being the American Museum of Natural History and the American Geographical Society. The difficulty and expense involved in reaching this remote region make a cooperative effort essential, 109 while the fact that it is an almost completely unexplored region gives promise of results of the highest importance in several lines of scientific investigation, extending beyond the fields of any one of the three organizations. In order to facilitate the conduct of the expedition, an independent company has been incorporated under the laws of the State of New York governing membership corporations, with H. E. Anthony, of the American Museum, as president, H. A. Gleason, of the Garden, vice- president, and Raye R. Piatt, of the Geographical Society, secretary. The other members of the corporation are the directors of the three cooperating institutions. The charter gives the expedition all necessary powers to carry on the exploration, distribute the material collected, and publish the scientific results. The Pacaraima Mountains cover an area about as large as the State of Maine, extending some 400 miles in an east- west direction. Only the mountains at the eastern and western ends of the range have been mapped by geographers or studied by biologists. This exploration has centered until recently around the famous Mt. Roraima, rising to a height of about 8,600 feet at the point where Venezuela, Brazil, and British Guiana meet. Its lower slopes have been explored, mostly at long intervals, by various scientists during the last 90 years, but are still imperfectly known because of the relatively inaccessible location, entailing much expense and difficulty in transporting supplies. The mountain has been ascended by several persons and the flora of its small flat summit is fairly well known. Mt. Duida, at the western end of the range, rises to a height of more than 7,500 feet above the Orinoco lowlands in southern Venezuela. Although known to geographers and biologists for more than a century, it was never ascended until 1929, when Mr. G. H. H. Tate spent several weeks on its broad summit and returned with a remarkable collection of plants and animals. His botanical collections were presented to the Garden by the American Museum and represent the sole basis of our limited knowledge of its flora. Between these two extremes lies the vast unexplored range of the Pacaraimas, as yet unknown biologically and only partially and probably inaccurately mapped. Robert Schomburgk crossed the range in four places nearly a century ago and located a few points by astronomical observations. Koch- Grunberg made some studies of the Indians in 1904. More recently Desmond Hol-dredge, of the Brooklyn Institute, has penetrated the range at a different place. Maps generally show various rivers rising in these mountains and flowing south toward the Amazon or north into the Orinoco. The existence of such rivers is certain, but their exact location, their connection with lowland rivers, or the height of the mountains is unknown and the information given by existing maps is largely hypothetical. The plans of the expedition include the use of aeroplanes to reach the Pacaraimas. An airport has already been established at Ciudad Bolivar, on the lower Orinoco, and from there the upper reaches of the Caroni River can be reached in a three- hour flight. This method of transport will not only save some two or three months of laborious travel on foot, but will save the expense of a pack- train of probably three hundred Indians. Finding so many Indians is itself difficult, and organizing and feeding them adds still more trouble to the conduct of an expedition. Three aeroplanes will be used by the party, two of them capable of carrying each a thousand pounds of pay- load, and the third a light plane for scouting. Several trips will be necessary to get the whole part)', with its several tons of supplies and equipment, to the base- camp. After that, the planes will be used in aerial mapping of the region, In transporting its members to various temporary camps, in returning collections to the sea- coast for shipment to New York, and for bringing in mail and fresh supplies. The leader of the expedition is H. E. Anthony, of the American Museum, a man of wide experience in field work, and he will be assisted by G. H. H. Tate, who has a personal acquaintance with some of the Indians of the region, made during his trip to Mt. Roraima a few years ago. Geographical work will be cared for by C. B. Hitchcock, who has already mapped Mt. Duida. The aerial geographical survey is assigned to A. C. McKinley, who was aerial photographer on the recent Byrd expedition to Antarctica. G. C. Graves, 2nd, and W. B. Millar, Jr., are the geologists; C. H. Curran, entomologist; A. G. Hassler, herpetologist; and G. A. Thorne, chief pilot, late of the Byrd Expedition; two or three other members will be chosen later. The botanical interests of the party will be cared for by two men, A. C. Smith, of the Garden staff, and N. Y. Sand with, of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, England. Mr. Smith has already made two extensive trips in South America, the first through Colombia in 1926- 27 and the second across Peru and down the Amazon in 1929. Mr. Sandwith is noted as a student of the flora of northern South America and wras a member of the Oxford University expedition to British Guiana in 1929. Both of these men are unusually well qualified for their positions on such an expedition. If sufficient funds are available, an expert collector of live plants will also be attached to the party. Some of the remarkable floristic features of this region became known when the Schomburgk brothers first collected there nearly a century ago, although their botanical activities reached only the extreme eastern end of the range, around Mt. Roraima. Since then Roraima has been known as a center for a peculiar flora, characterized by an extraordinary number of local endemic species and by an unusually large proportion of plants with large and beautiful flowers. Although several other collectors have since then penetrated to Roraima or actually reached its summit, it is probable that not more than half of its plant inhabitants are as yet known. At the other extremity of the range, Mt. Duida has been ascended but once, and the limited collections made by Mr. Tate, a zoologist, in his spare time, contained no less than 166 species of flowering plants and ferns unknown to science. Experience with South American plants leads one to expect not less than 2,000 species for an area of such size, while Tate collected only about 400. If the same proportion of unknown species continues, there are probably more than 500 unknown kinds of plants still awaiting discovery on Duida alone. No less than 207 species of plants find their only known home on higher altitudes of Roraima and this number will probably be doubled by adequate exploration. Between these two mountains lie the unexplored parts of the Pacaraimas, with a flora which may be conservatively estimated to contain 4,000 different kinds of plants. Those from the lowlands will probably be mostly well- known species, but the higher elevations contain possibly a thousand or even more species still unknown to botanical science. Naturally we can not even guess what these plants will be, but we may logically expect to find among them many of great scientific or horticultural interest, if they follow the precedent set on Roraima and Duida. Persons whose experience with plants is limited to the United States do not always appreciate one of the fundamental features of plant distribution in the tropics, which I may illustrate by comparison. Westchester and Putnam counties, New York, each have a native flora of approximately a thousand species, and of this thousand, all but a very few are found in both counties. There are comparatively very few plants found in one county but not in the other, and in general the flora is uniform throughout both. In the tropics, on the other hand, an area of equivalent size will shelter about twice as many species and there will be a great difference between adjacent areas. This is particularly true in a mountainous region, where every summit has its own endemic species. We already know that the principle holds for the Pacaraimas. A few of the Roraima species occur on Duida, but each peak has a very large proportion of species known from the one mountain only. Undoubtedly the same condition prevails on all of the unknown and unexplored mountains which lie between them, and which will be the field for the expedition. What is the value of such exploratory work in a region so far from civilization, so completely remote from any of our ordinary American activities? Each line of work which the expedition proposes to carry on has its own important features, such as the mapping of the longest unsurveyed boundary in America by means of aerial photography, but the botanical results may be anticipated under five general heads. First, it is the duty of botanical science to make known the plant life of the world, and here is a region as large as Maine whose plant life is completely unknown. Secondly, the collection of these plants will throw light on the nature of evolution in general. The different forms of plants on the various mountains show the direction which evolution takes and by comparison give some idea of what their ancestors were. Third, a better knowledge of the plants and animals together will aid the geologist in reconstructing the past geological history of the country, which at present is also unknown. There is a theory that these mountains were once continuous across the Orinoco valley westward to the Andes. If the " 3 flora shows a considerable proportion of plants with Andean affinities, this theory will be much strengthened. Fourthly, the plants include many highly ornamental species which will be a distinct asset to American horticulture, either grown under glass in the northern states or in the open in Florida and California, and every effort will be made to get seeds, roots, or cuttings of many of these back to New York for cultivation or propagation. If sufficient funds become available, an expert horticulturist will be attached to the expedition for this particular purpose. Fifthly, there is always the possibility of discovery of new and valuable medicinal plants, now in use by the Indians but still unknown to medical practice. Space does not permit a discussion of further details of this remarkable flora, and a single example must suffice. The largest pitcher- plants in the world, so far as known, grow in the Pacaraimas, one kind on Roraima and three other kinds on Duida. Possibly still others will be found somewhere between these two mountains. The Duida species are the larger, standing as much as five feet tall with flowers five inches in diameter. The pitchers have a little hole in the side about half way from bottom to top, so that the water which they always contain never rises beyond this level. In another year we hope to see some of these remarkable plants growing in the greenhouses of The New York Botanical Garden. H. A. GLEASON. BEGONIAS AS HOUSE PLANTS1 Begonias make ideal house plants, because some varieties enjoy a sunny window, and others are quite content with little or no sun. They bloom at different seasons, also, so one may plan for a succession of bloom by growing a number of varieties. The begonia was named for Michel Begon, a French botanist who lived on the island of Santo Domingo from 1638 to 1710. There are from four hundred to five hundred species in the warm countries of the world, a great many being found in Central and South America. 1 Abstract of a lecture given March 14, 1931, at The New York Botanical Garden by the Corresponding Secretary of the National Council of State Garden Club Federations. 114 The best soil for begonias is a light, porous one, composed of two parts sandy loam, one part sand, one part old leaf- mould, and one part old cow- manure. This should be thoroughly mixed. If it is not possible to get these materials, any greenhouse man will sell properly mixed soil. Begonias should be watered sparingly, for they do not like wet feet. Some fresh air should be admitted every day, but direct draughts should be avoided, as this will cause the leaves to drop. If the air is hot and dry, this, too, will cause falling leaves. There are various ways of humidifying the air, the simplest and best being a constantly steaming tea kettle. ( Incidentally, this will prevent the furniture from cracking, and the family will be less apt to have head colds.) Pans of wet gravel may be kept under the pots, and dishes of water set on the radiators will help to keep the air moist. The best time to propagate begonias is in the spring, when cuttings may be rooted in moist sand. A home substitute for a greenhouse propagating bed may be made from a Wardian case, an aquarium with a sheet of glass for a cover, or a glass display jar partly filled with sand. Set this jar in a sunny window, so that the sand may become warm, but shield the cuttings with a paper or cloth. Care must be taken to admit some air when steam appears on the glass. After the cuttings are well rooted, which usually takes three or four weeks, they may be transplanted into small pots of soil. The blooming varieties need a sunny window, but the Rex and spotted- leaf varieties grow nicely in a north window. For house plants, winter- blooming kinds are most desirable. The semperfiorens, true to name, blooms constantly. Nitida, the oldest begonia, was introduced into England in 1777 from Jamaica. This, as well as its fragrant seedling, odorata alba, has smooth green leaves and white flowers. Rosea gigantea is a seedling of the semperfiorens, with large, glossy, green leaves and great sprays of rose- red flowers, freely produced. It begins to bloom about Christmas, and is constantly in flower for many months. Schmidtiana, a Brazilian species, has small, grayish- green, velvety leaves, red underneath. The small, white, pink- tinted flowers are both plentiful and constant. Tcmplinii is another excellent winter- bloomer. This is a tall shrubby variety with beauti- i i5 fully mottled leaves of green and cream- yellow, with rose tints. The large trusses of flowers are rose pink. This needs a sunny window. For the north window, we may choose the old favorite, argentea guttata— the " trout begonia " our grandmothers called it — or any of the spotted- leaf varieties. The so- called " star " begonias— B. heracleifolia and its seedlings— do well in a north window, although a little morning sun is enjoyed by any begonia. This plant, with its deeply cut dark- green leaves and red- spotted, hairy stems, is handsome at any time, but when the tall sprays of rose- pink blooms come, from January to March, it is the joy of all beholders. Haageana is a tall, shrubby begonia, a native of Brazil, the best known of the red- hairy type. It is very hardy, and a good bloomer. It has big trusses of waxy- white flowers, with a few red hairs on the under side of the petals. Pres. Carnot and Mme. de Lesseps will both thrive in a northeast window. Both make tall, shrubby plants that bloom well from January on. They are somewhat alike in leaf, but Carnot has bright carmine-red flowers, and De Lesseps white, pink- tinged. In hanging pots, we may grow manicata aureo- macidata, of large, smooth, waxy leaf of light green with blotches of yellowish white, tinged with pink. It begins to bloom in February with feathery sprays of tiny, pale- pink flowers. This begonia needs a sunny window, but Begonia glaucophylla, with small, shiny, green leaves and brick- red flowers, will do well in a northeast window. This begonia may be grown on a trellis or in a hanging pot, as it is quite vine- like. It is a native of Brazil, and a good winter-bloomer. Begonia foliosa may also be grown in a hanging pot in a north window. It comes from Colombia, and might well be taken for a fern. The insignificant white flowers hang from the axils of the leaves, under the flat, fern- like sprays. The most difficult part of begonia culture is to get the begonia. Florists say frankly that they are slow sellers. And people seeking the choicer varieties say it is useless to go to the florists, as they carry only a few of the old varieties. But the demand of the amateur becomes, in time, the mainstay of the florist's business. So if we keep on demanding begonias— and buying them— the florist will hunt them out and grow them for us, and we shall all be happy. BESSIE W. BUXTON. n6 i i7 THE WATER- LILIES OF THE UNITED STATES1 Water- lilies are now horticultural subjects, some of them very attractive, but for many centuries before their horticultural vogue, these plants were esteemed from a culinary standpoint. The aborigines made use of both the rootstocks and the seeds for food. Since water- lilies are suggestive of wet country, we are not disappointed in finding on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, the ultimate drainage land of the interior highlands, a considerable development of aquatic flowering plants. These aquatics occur in sizes ranging from the gigantic Thalia to the almost microscopic Wolffiella. Some are firmly anchored in the mud, others are free- floating. Some grow only in still water, others in flowing water. Some thrive in deep water, others in shallow water, while some readily adapt themselves to quite sudden changes in the water level. Some have erect leaves and flowers, others have floating leaves and flowers, while still others have floating leaves and erect flowers. Some are floriferous and fructiferous; others are completely barren. Some are active throughout the year; others are dormant for a period during each year. Some have rather small flowers; others have both large and attractive and even showy flowers. Following is a table of the species native in the United States: Castalia ampla ( white or pink- tinged)— southern Texas ( Mexico and West Indies to Brazil). Castalia elegans ( blue or pale- violet)— southern Florida and southern Texas ( Mexico). Castalia flava ( yellow)— Florida. Castalia lekophylla ( white or pinkish)— southern Georgia and Florida to Louisiana ( West Indies, Mexico.) Castalia mexicana ( yellow)— southern Louisiana and Texas ( Mexico). Castalia minor ( white or pink)— Florida to Louisiana, and New Jersey. Castalia odorata ( white or pink)— Florida to Louisiana, Manitoba and Nova Scotia. Castalia tetragona ( white)— southern Canada to northern Idaho. Castalia tuberosa ( white)— New Jersey and Oklahoma to Michigan and Vermont. 1The following notes and illustrations were made possible mainly by exploration carried on through the interest of friends of the Garden. n8 There are eight or nine species2 of Castalia in North America north of Mexico. About half of them are confined to the Atlantic and the Gulf Coastal Plain, while the other half occur in various plant provinces, some of them also in the Coastal Plain. The geographic range of the extra- Coastal Plain species in the United States is often erratic. For example, Castalia tetragona, which ranges nearly across southern Canada, reappears in northern Asia and ranges southward to the Himalaya mountain region. On the other hand, Castalia ampla, which occurs in southern Texas, ranges southward through Mexico and the West Indies to Brazil. Of the three extra- Coastal Plain species, Castalia odorata ( FIGURE I ) , the common water- lily, has the widest range— growing naturally from Florida to Louisiana to Manitoba and Nova Scotia. Castalia tuberosa ranges from New Jersey and Oklahoma to Michigan and Vermont. The geographic range of the third species, Castalia minor, as far as we know it, extends from Florida to Louisiana and New Jersey. White or pink flowers comprise the variety in these more generally distributed water-lilies. The species confined to the Coastal Plain show the variety of the other group, and in addition more color— cream, yellow, and purple— and more variety in habit. Castalia ampla, a species with white or pink- tinged flowers, ranges from the tropics of Brazil and the West Indies through Mexico up to the Rio Grande region of Texas. One of the outstanding species of the Gulf States— following by color ( pink) or lack of color ( white)— is Castalia lekophylla ( FIGURE 4) ( C. rcniformis Nash, not Walter). It has the largest leaves and the largest flowers of all the North American species. It ranges from Florida and southern Georgia to Louisiana ( and Texas?), through the West Indies and Mexico, and apparently into other parts of tropical America. Now for a change of color. In Castalia flava ( FIGURE 2) and C. mexicana we find cream- colored and yellow flowers. Our studies have not yet let us decide whether these two names represent distinct species or a single species. Castalia flava came originally from Florida, while C. mexicana was described from Mexican specimens. This geography is also represented in Castalia elegans ( FIGURE 3), which was recently discovered in south- " Nine species, if Castalia flava and C. mexicana are distinct. ng G- S S. s SE - aE • s s a >> G t FIGURE 4. Castalia lekophylla in a pond near Tallahassee, Florida. This is our largest- leaved and largest- flowered water- lily. The leaf-blades measure up to about two feet across, frequently turning up their edges after the manner of " Victoria." The white flowers often measure nearly a foot across the corolla. ern peninsular Florida. Otherwise it grows naturally in southern Texas and in Mexico. An additional color appears with this plant, a blue or pale- violet. These aquatics occupy either still or flowing water. For some reasons they have developed habitat characteristics. The white-flowered species have, as a rule, floating leaves and floating flowers. Castalia lekophylla sometimes elevates its large flowers above the surface of the water. In the yellow- flowered species, for some reason, the leaves and the flowers may be either erect or floating. The purple- flowered species, Castalia elegans, in Florida, at least, is stable in character of having floating leaves and well- elevated flowers. The genus Castalia is characteristic of both boreal and temperate regions in the United States. The northern plants are thoroughly hardy and grow well during their short season. The southern plants with a growing season represented by the whole year—- although the plants have more or less of a resting season — often grow with astonishing luxuriance. JOHN K. SMALL. NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT A photostat has recently been purchased by the Botanical Garden and will soon be in operation. Its cost has been covered by a special grant from the Carnegie Corporation. The Gardeners' Chronicle of February 7 carries an appreciative biographical sketch, with portrait, of Dr. A. B. Stout, Director of the Laboratories of The New York Botanical Garden. It reviews his work with diseases of lilies, in hybridizing daylilies ( Hemerocallis), in breeding seedless grapes, in discovering synchronous and reciprocating dichogamy in avocados, in investigating sterilities of various plants, etc. On another page of the same issue is a discussion of " The diseases of lilies," based largely on the results of Dr. Stout's studies and illustrated by photographs furnished by him. Instead of attempting the well- nigh impossible task of trying to pick out ten or twelve days in advance the one day on which The New York Botanical Garden's display of Narcissus flowers might be expected to be at its climax and calling it " Daffodil Day," the management this year issued to the members and friends of the Garden a card announcing that the collection was expected to reach its general climax of beauty in the period between April 20 and April 30. There is a spread of about a month between the blooming of the earliest and the latest of the 150 varieties in the collection, so that not all of the varieties can be found in bloom at any one time. The naturalized plantings, designed by Mrs. Wheeler H. Peckham, now cover four to five acres and it is probable that this year's display included nearly a half million individual flowers. Meteorology for April. The maximum temperatures recorded at The New York Botanical Garden for each week or part of a week were: 650 F. on the 4th; 690 on the n t h ; 76° on the 18th; and 710 on the 21st. The minimum temperatures recorded were: 37u on the 3rd ; 32° on the 12th; $ 7U on the 16th ; 35" on the 24th; and 340 on the 30th. The total precipitation for the month was 3.45 inches. 123 ACCESSIONS MUSEUMS AND HERBARIUM 80 specimens of plants from the Marquesas Islands. ( By exchange with Mr. E. P. Mumford.) 12 specimens of flowering plants from the northeastern United States. ( Given by Dr. J. A. Drushel.) 200 specimens of flowering plants from the West Indies. ( By exchange with the Riksmuseum, Stockholm.) 984 specimens of plants from New Caledonia. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 89 specimens of plants from Kwangtung, China. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 954 specimens of plants from Kwangsi, China. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 103 specimens of plants from Anhwei, China. ( By exchange with the National University, Nanking.) 558 specimens of plants from Yunnan, China. ( By exchange with the Edinburgh Botanic Garden.) 99 specimens from Malaya. ( By exchange with the Singapore Botanical Garden.) i l l specimens of Chinese plants. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 1 photograph of Solidago sp. from Ft. Meade, Florida. ( Given by Mr. W. M. Buswell.) 106 specimens of Philippine ferns. ( By exchange with the University of California.) 2054 specimens of Chinese plants, the Bonati herbarium. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 1485 specimens of Philippine plants. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 120 specimens of H. Handel- Mazzeti Chinese plants. ( By exchange with the Vienna Museum of Natural History.) 1223 specimens of plants from Sumatra. ( Given by Mr. H. S. Yates.) 305 specimens of plants from Borneo. ( Given by Mr. D. D. Wood.) 83 specimens of plants from the Fiji Islands. ( By exchange with the British Museum.) 85 specimens from Rarotonga. ( By exchange with the University of California.) 225 specimens of Chinese plants. ( Given by Mr. C. Y. Chiao.) 156 specimens of Yunnan plants. ( By exchange with the Vienna Museum of Natural History.) 119 specimens from Kwangtung, China. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 60 specimens of Asiatic plants. ( By exchange with the Singapore Botanical Garden.) 2 specimens of Cuban mosses. ( By exchange with Brother Leon.) 12 specimens of mosses. ( By exchange with Rev. C. H. Demetrio.) 6 specimens of plants from Venezuela. ( By exchange with Mr. Henri Pittier.) 124 8 specimens of mosses from Jamaica, West Indies, and Costa Rica. ( Given by Mr. Edwin B. Bartram.) 2 specimens of mosses from China. ( Given by Mr. A. P. Jacot and Mr. George Marshall.) 4 specimens of mosses from Maine. ( Given by Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Lowe.) 5 specimens, types of moss species. ( By exchange with the Botanical Garden, Dahlem, Berlin.) 2 specimens of mosses from South Dakota. ( By exchange with Mr. A. C. Mcintosh.) i specimen of moss from Peru. ( Given by Professor F. L. Herrera.) I specimen of moss from Washington. ( Given by Miss Patchin.) 13 specimens of mosses from England, Scotland, and Wales. ( Given by Mr. J. Burtt Davy.) 4 specimens of mosses from Texas, Costa Rica, and Jamaica. ( Given by Mr. Edwin B. Bartram.) 4 specimens of Peruvian mosses. ( By exchange with the Field Museum of Natural History.) 9 specimens of mosses of Michigan and Wisconsin. ( By exchange with the Field Museum of Natural History.) 9 specimens of mosses from Louisiana, Arizona, New Mexico, Mexico, and Jamaica. ( By exchange with Mr. Edwin B. Bartram.) 25 specimens, " Musci Americani Perfecti," nos. 126- 150. ( By exchange with Dr. A. J. Grout.) 66 specimens of flowering plants from Samoa. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 87 specimens of Malayan plants. ( By exchange with the Singapore Botanical Garden.) 281 specimens of Siberian plants. ( By exchange with the University of Tomsk.) 146 specimens from Nanking Province, China. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 132 specimens of Formosan plants. ( By exchange with Dr. T. Tanaka.) 1209 specimens of plants from Borneo. ( Collected by Dr. A. D. E. EJmer.) 45 specimens of plants from Kwangtung, China. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 1705 specimens, " Filices Exsiccatae." ( Distributed by Rosenstock.) 18 specimens of Mexican mosses. ( By exchange with Brother Leon.) 6 specimens of mosses from Tennessee and Mississippi for naming. ( By exchange with Rev. C. H. Demetrio.) 173 specimens of mosses from Peru. ( By exchange with Professor F. L. Herrera.) 5 specimens of Pentstemon from North America. ( Given by the Carnegie Institution.) MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION Edward D. Adams * Mrs. Arthur Anderson Vincent Astor John W. Auchincloss Dr. Raymond F. Bacon * Mrs. Robert Bacon Stephen Baker Henry de Forest Baldwin Sherman Baldwin Edmund L. Baylies Prof. Charles P. Berkey C K. G. Billings * Mrs. T. Whitney Blake George Blumenthal * Mrs. Edward C. Bodman Prof. Marston T. Bogert George P. Brett George S. Brewster Prof. N. L. Britton * Mrs. Jonathan Bulkley Dr. Nicholas M. Butler * Mrs. Andrew Carnegie Prof. W. H. Carpenter * Miss E. Mabel Clark Richard C Colt Marin Le Brun Cooper James W. Cromwell Henry W. de Forest Rev. Dr. H. M. Denslow • Mrs. Charles D. Dickey •$ Mrs. John W. Draper Thomas A. Edison Benjamin T. Fairchild Marshall Field William B. O. Field Childs Frick * Miss Helen C Frick * Mrs. Carl A. de Gersdorff Murry Guggenheim • Miss Elizabeth S. Hamilton Edward S. Harkness Prof. R. A. Harper tMrs. E. Henry Harriman T. A. Havemeyer A. Heckscher • Mrs. A. Barton Hepburn • Mrs. Robert C Hill Anton G. Hodenpyl • Mrs. Elon H. Hooker Dr. Marshall A. Howe Archer M. Huntington Adrian Iselin • Mrs. Robert Irving Jenks Walter Jennings • Mrs. Walter Jennings Otto H. Kahn • Mrs. Delancey Kane • Mrs. F. Leonard Kellogg Darwin P. Kingsley • Mrs. Gustav E. Kissel Clarence Lewis Adolph Lewisohn Frederick J. Lisman Henry Lockhart, Jr. • Mrs. William Lockwood Dr. D. T. MacDougal Kenneth K. Mackenzie •|| Mrs. David Ives Mackie Parker McCollester • Mrs. John R. McGinley Edgar L. Marston George McAneny Dr. E. D. Merrill John L. Merrill • Mrs. Roswell Miller Hon. Ogden L. Mills H. de la Montagne, Jr. Barrington Moore J. Pierpont Morgan Dr. Lewis R. Morris Dr. Robert T. Morris Hugh Neill Frederic R. Newbold Prof. Henry F. Osborn Chas. Lathrop Pack * 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 • Mrs. James Roosevelt Prof. H. H. Rusby Hon. George J. Ryan Mortimer L. Schiff • Mrs. Arthur H. Scribner Henry A. Siebrecht Dr. Edmund W. Sinnott • Mrs. Samuel Sloan John K. Small Valentine P. Snyder James Speyer J. E. Spingarn • Mrs. Charles H. Stout Frederick Strauss • Mrs. Theron G. Strong F. K. Sturgis B. B. Thayer Dr. William S. Thomas Charles G. Thompson Robert Thorne Louis C Tiffany Prof. Sam F. Trelease • Mrs. Harold McL. Turner Felix M. Warburg Paul M. Warburg Allen Wardwell William H. Webster H. H. Westinghouse • Mrs. Louise Beebe Wilder • Mrs. Nelson B. Williams Bronson Winthrop Grenville L. Winthrop • Mrs. William H. Woodin • Member also of the Advisory Council, t Honorary member of the Advisory Council. t Chairman of the Advisory Council. II Secretary of the Advisory Council. 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 beautiful rose garden, a rock garden of rock- loving plants, and fern and herbaceous gardens. Greenhouses, containing thousands of interesting plants from America and foreign countries. Flower shows throughout the year— in the spring, summer, and autumn displays of narcissi, daffodils, tulips, lilacs, irises, peonies, roses, lilies, water- lilies, gladioli, 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 one million 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 41,000 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 forestal 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 too 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, the 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 T H E NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BRONX PARK, NEW YORK, N. Y.
Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.
Contributor | New York Botanical Garden |
Date | 1931-05 |
Description-Table Of Contents | A Destructive Red-cedar Rust Disease; Scientific Expedition to. Venezuela; Begonias as House Plants; The Water-Lilies of the United States; Notes, News, and Comment; Accessions. |
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. 32, no. 377 |
Type | text |
Transcript | VOL. XXXII MAY, 1931 No. 377 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN A DESTRUCTIVE RED- CEDAR RUST DISEASE B. O. DODGE SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO VENEZUELA H. A. GLEASON BEGONIAS AS HOUSE PLANTS BESSIE W. BUXTON THE WATER- LILIES OF THE UNITED STATES JOHN K. SMALL NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT ACCESSIONS PUBLISHED FOR THE GARDEN AT LIME AND GREEN STREETS, LANCASTER, PA. THE SCIENCE PRESS PRINTING COMPANY Entered at the post- office in Lancaster, Fa., 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 HENRY W. DE FOREST, President CLARENCE LEWIS HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN, Vice President ADOLPH LEWISOHN F. K. STURGIS, Vice President HENRY LOCKHART, JR. JOHN L. MERRILL, Treasurer D. T. MACDOUGAL E. D. MERRILL, Secretary KENNETH K. MACKENZIE EDWARD D. ADAMS H. DE LA MONTAGNE, JR. RAYMOND F. BACON J, PIERPONT MORGAN CHARLES P. BERKEY LEWIS RUTHERFURD MORRIS MARSTON T. BOGERT H. HOBART PORTER GEORGE S. BREWSTER HENRY H. RUSBY N. L. BRITTON GEORGE J. RYAN NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER MORTIMER L SCHIFF THOMAS A. EDISON EDMUND W. SINNOTT CHILDS FRICK SAM F. TRELEASE R. A. HARPER WILLIAM H. WEBSTER JAMES J. WALKER, Mayor of the City of New York WALTER R. HERRICK, President of the Department of Parks SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS R. A. HARPER, P H . D., SC. D., Chairman D. T. MACDOUGAL, P H . D., LL. D. RAYMOND F. BACON, P H . D., SC. D. HENRY H. RUSBY, M. D., SC. D. CHARLES R BERKEY, P H . D SC. D. G J R LL D MARSTON T. BOGERT, SC. D., LL. D. " J . , , ' _ ~ NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, P H . D., EDMUND W. SINNOTT, P H . D. LL. D., LITT. D. SAM F. TRELEASE, P H . D. DIRECTOR EMERITUS N. L. BRITTON, P H . D., SC. D., LL. D. GARDEN STAFF E. D. MERRILL, SC. D Director- in- Chief MARSHALL A. HOWE, P H . D., SC. D Assistant Director JOHN K. SMALL, P H . D., SC. D Head Curator of the Museums A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories P. A. RYDBERG, P H . D Curator H. A. GLEASON, P H . D Curator FRED J. SEAVER, P H . D Curator ARTHUR HOLLICK, P H . D Paleobotanist 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 PERCY WILSON Associate Curator PALMYRE DE C. MITCHELL Associate Curator SARAH H. HARLOW, A. M Librarian H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections ELIZABETH G. BRITTON Honorary Curator of Mosses MARY E. EATON Artist ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Administrative Assistant E. J. ALEXANDER Assistant Curator ALBERT C. SMITH, A. B Assistant Curator CLYDE CHANDLER, A. M Technical Assistant MARJORIE E. SWIFT, A. M Assistant Pathologist ROSALIE WEIKERT Technical Assistant KENNETH R. BOYNTON, B. S Head Gardener G. L. WITTROCK, A. M Docent H. M. DENSLOW, A. M., D. D Honorary Custodian of Local Herbarium ROBERT HAGELSTEIN Honorary Curator of Myxomycetes E. B. SOUTHWICK, P H . D Custodian of Herbaceous Grounds ETHEL ANSON S. PECKHAM. Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections JOHN R. BRINLEY, C. E Landscape Engineer WALTER S. GROESBECK Clerk and Accountant ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds V JOURNAL OF The New York Botanical Garden VOL. XXXII MAY, 1931 Xo. 377 A DESTRUCTIVE RED- CEDAR RUST DISEASE1 Two years ago Dr. G. P. Clinton, preparing a program for the Fifth National Shade Tree Conference, asked the writer to discuss methods of controlling the apple rusts without removing the cedar host. This was, in effect, a request to defend the red cedar, Juniperus virginiana, against the charge of being a public nuisance, brought against it by apple- growers of this country. It is claimed that the apple is subject to attack by species of rusts belonging to the genus Gymnosporangium, which cause losses up to 50 per cent or more in cases of certain varieties. The red cedar is well known to be the alternate host for these criminal fungi. Furthermore, it has been found that the ordinary spray schedules followed to control other fungi and insect pests of apples are not effective in preventing great losses due to the two cedar- apple rusts. Of the two alternate hosts the apple is the only one, it is claimed, that suffers. Only in rare cases are the cedars so loaded with the galls as to suffer much damage. The galls characteristic of these two species develop only from leaf tissue and the tree rids itself of the individual infections naturally after two or three years, because the fungus mycelium does not become perennial by penetrating down into the branches. In recent years it has been proved that a third species of rust, Gymnosporangium germinale ( G. clavipes), severely attacks the fruit of several varieties of apple, rendering it unsalable. This species is perennial in the limbs and trunk of the cedar. The fungus develops largely in the outer cortex just beneath the corky bark, however, so that it does not seriously affect the cedar host. 1 Studies in the genus Gymnosporangium— V-IOI FIGURE I. Explanation on opposite page. 103 Thus on three counts the red cedar is condemned, and the only remedy, the apple- growers say, is to destroy all red cedars. Some states, notably New York and Virginia among others, have passed laws designed to compel property owners in certain sections to cut down all red cedars on their premises which are within infecting distance from commercial orchards. As the apple- growers are usually well organized, these laws are more or less effective and have been upheld in the higher courts. Against the claim that the red cedar is of no special account as an ornamental may be cited the remark of a gentleman who had just brought an apple orchard in Virginia into bearing at considerable expense: " If it comes to a question of the apple tree against the cedar," he said, " we shall have to cut down the apples." The stately old cedars had long stood guard about his colonial dwelling and they were not to be sacrificed. This note is not particularly a defense of the red cedar as an ornamental or as a welcome break in a dreary Long Island landscape, or as cooling shade for domestic animals in old New England pastures. Rather it is to direct attention to a rust disease which is slowly but surely contributing to the mortality of red cedars in the East. Few places in this part of the country can boast of such beautiful old trees of various species as can be seen in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. On the east slope of the ridge on which stands Lee Mansion, overlooking the city of Washington, are, naturally, a number of red cedars. Ten years ago there were to be found any number of examples of the destructive effects of what appears to be the effuse type of infection by Gymnosporangium Nidus- avis. Limbs up to six inches in diameter are frequently roughly scarred for several feet, and every year such limbs as have died are cut out. There is scarcely a tree still standing that does not show several serious trunk and limb infections. The natural alternate hosts for G. Nidus- avis are species of Amelanchier, but, as has been confirmed by others since then, the writer has proved conclusively that the apple can also be infected. FIGURE I. A. Portion of trunk of a young red cedar three years after inoculation with Gymnosporangium. Nidus- avis. B. The same as A after having been wet to cause the rust sori to swell. Natural size. 104 FIGURE 2. Explanation on opposite page. IO5 It is interesting to see, however, in such places as The New York Botanical Garden and other parks, that red cedars planted in recent years show no sign of infection by this fungus, although one can infect Amelanchier readily with the rust from the old cedars. While making a study of the cedar rusts some fifteen years back, it was observed how destructive to the cedar some of the species could be. It is a pleasure to acknowledge here again the valuable assistance in that work, rendered by Professor R. A. Harper, in the form of enthusiasm and material things. To quote from a paper written in 1918 : 2 " The red cedars on Long Island and in the vicinity of New York are badly infected with a Gymnosporangium which, if the infections are due to a single species, is certainly multiform in its manifestations. Amelanchier and Malus have been infected with spores taken from each of the following forms, although the inoculations were not made in each case with a single sorus: ( 1) Sori in the axils of densely crowded acerose leaves; ( 2) sori caulicolous, large branches forming coarse witches'- brooms; ( 3) trunk infections, sori appearing in deep fissures in the thickened bark. There is perhaps another form recognized by the presence of long parallel cork ridges, about one centimeter in width, that mark the location of sori of former years." Of one tree it was said: " The trunk of this tree is heavily infected for a distance of several feet and has developed a large spindle- shaped swelling three feet long about ten feet above the ground." The rate with which trunk infections spread is shown in FIGURE 1. As compared with pear blight, the spread here might not seem very rapid. It is because of this rather slow rate that the ultimate damage done by this rust has heretofore not been realized. The small potted cedar was inoculated by spraying it with a suspension of aeciospores taken from apple leaves previously infected with teliospore material from a witches'- broom which involved large branches. Infection first showed two years later 2 Dodge, B. O. Studies in the genus Gymnosporangium— II. Report on cultures made in 1915 and 1916. Bull. Torrey Club 45: 287- 300. 1918. FIGURE 2. Red cedar showing swelling of trunk and excessive growth of strips of bark in the region infected with the rust fungus Gymnosporangium Nidus- avis, completely encircling the tree. The black strip on the side of the other cedar shows a more localized trunk infection by another species of rust. io6 FIGURE 3. Explanation on opposite page. 107 in the form of two stem sori at a point about the middle of the spindle- shaped portion of the small trunk shown in this figure. The infection spread at least six inches vertically in both directions and completely around the stem during the first three years. Some of the sori were at least two inches long. At the left in the picture is shown the infected section of the trunk in a dry condition. At the right the same part in a slightly different position is shown as it appeared two hours later, after it had been wet to cause the sori to swell. Just how long such a tree infected in nature in this manner would have lived is uncertain. The picture of a cedar by the roadside in Long Island shown in FIGURE 2 is of a similar type of infection which must have been of many years' standing. In such cases there are strips of cambium and inner bark which run up and down, connecting in a zigzag fashion, so that there is still provision for the flow of foods. The corky strips of bark which develop over the wounded portions between the sori are characteristic of this type of infection. A piece of limb having the same kind of infection is shown in FIGURE 3, A. The irregular orientation of the swollen sori is plainly indicated in this picture. The most destructive type of infection occurs when the fungus travels straight up and down, causing the development of long, parallel, closely- set ridges, as shown in FIGURE 3, B, C. The lower figure shows a piece of limb that had died because the fungus had completely circled the limb for two or three feet. In the center figure the region covered by the lower four or five ridges is dead. The fungus is moving slowly around the limb, as evidenced by the two rows of swollen sori beyond which ( above in the picture) the fungus has not as yet penetrated. Small boys are sometimes said to relish the cedar- apples stimulated to form by Gymnosporangium Juniperi- virginiae. This may well be believed, because if one had cut out the ridge- like galls shown in this figure in the spring of the year when they were alive, he would have found them composed of rather firm cortical tissue FIGURE 3. A. Telial sori of Gymnosporangium Nidus- avis on a limb of red cedar. Sori irregularly oriented. B. Below are seen four or five ridges denoting the location of sori of previous years. Above are two or three rows of swollen sori showing that this part of the limb is still alive. G. Remains of ridge- like galls on a limb killed by a long- standing infection of the effuse type. Natural size. io8 filled with rich foodstuffs of a pleasant nutty flavor. Instead of forming " cedar- apple " galls, this species causes truncate ridgelike galls well supplied with food for the development of the sori to be formed. After the teliospores have matured, the gall tissue becomes brown, more or less suberized, and transformed into a ridge which seems to serve as a sort of cork callus. Recent observations on the condition of trees now as compared with what they showed fifteen years ago bear out the predictions made at that time. Many of the old familiar trees have disappeared, some of them no doubt strangled by poison ivy; others, perhaps, as some have thought, were unable to withstand continued infestation by " red spiders." It is clear that when large numbers of branches of the tree are infected with G. Nidus- avis so that witches'- brooms are formed all over the tree, considerable damage is bound to follow. Nevertheless, it is the deep- seated trunk infections which destroy the cambium and inner bark that are the most serious, and when this parasite in its effuse form becomes firmly established on the large limbs and main trunk, the tree is, to say the least, seriously handicapped. The great damage done the southern white cedar, Chamaecyparis thyoides, by two other species of Gymnosporangium will be described in a later note. B. O. DODGE. SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO VENEZUELA The Pacaraima- Venezuela Expedition has recently published a handsomely printed and illustrated prospectus, setting forth the plans for the proposed expedition, which is expected to leave New York late in the summer for an extended and comprehensive survey of the unexplored mountain range lying on the border between Brazil and Venezuela. This expedition will be of special interest to members and friends of The New York Botanical Garden, since the Garden is an active participant. This is the first expedition ever undertaken as a cooperative project from three leading metropolitan institutions, the other two being the American Museum of Natural History and the American Geographical Society. The difficulty and expense involved in reaching this remote region make a cooperative effort essential, 109 while the fact that it is an almost completely unexplored region gives promise of results of the highest importance in several lines of scientific investigation, extending beyond the fields of any one of the three organizations. In order to facilitate the conduct of the expedition, an independent company has been incorporated under the laws of the State of New York governing membership corporations, with H. E. Anthony, of the American Museum, as president, H. A. Gleason, of the Garden, vice- president, and Raye R. Piatt, of the Geographical Society, secretary. The other members of the corporation are the directors of the three cooperating institutions. The charter gives the expedition all necessary powers to carry on the exploration, distribute the material collected, and publish the scientific results. The Pacaraima Mountains cover an area about as large as the State of Maine, extending some 400 miles in an east- west direction. Only the mountains at the eastern and western ends of the range have been mapped by geographers or studied by biologists. This exploration has centered until recently around the famous Mt. Roraima, rising to a height of about 8,600 feet at the point where Venezuela, Brazil, and British Guiana meet. Its lower slopes have been explored, mostly at long intervals, by various scientists during the last 90 years, but are still imperfectly known because of the relatively inaccessible location, entailing much expense and difficulty in transporting supplies. The mountain has been ascended by several persons and the flora of its small flat summit is fairly well known. Mt. Duida, at the western end of the range, rises to a height of more than 7,500 feet above the Orinoco lowlands in southern Venezuela. Although known to geographers and biologists for more than a century, it was never ascended until 1929, when Mr. G. H. H. Tate spent several weeks on its broad summit and returned with a remarkable collection of plants and animals. His botanical collections were presented to the Garden by the American Museum and represent the sole basis of our limited knowledge of its flora. Between these two extremes lies the vast unexplored range of the Pacaraimas, as yet unknown biologically and only partially and probably inaccurately mapped. Robert Schomburgk crossed the range in four places nearly a century ago and located a few points by astronomical observations. Koch- Grunberg made some studies of the Indians in 1904. More recently Desmond Hol-dredge, of the Brooklyn Institute, has penetrated the range at a different place. Maps generally show various rivers rising in these mountains and flowing south toward the Amazon or north into the Orinoco. The existence of such rivers is certain, but their exact location, their connection with lowland rivers, or the height of the mountains is unknown and the information given by existing maps is largely hypothetical. The plans of the expedition include the use of aeroplanes to reach the Pacaraimas. An airport has already been established at Ciudad Bolivar, on the lower Orinoco, and from there the upper reaches of the Caroni River can be reached in a three- hour flight. This method of transport will not only save some two or three months of laborious travel on foot, but will save the expense of a pack- train of probably three hundred Indians. Finding so many Indians is itself difficult, and organizing and feeding them adds still more trouble to the conduct of an expedition. Three aeroplanes will be used by the party, two of them capable of carrying each a thousand pounds of pay- load, and the third a light plane for scouting. Several trips will be necessary to get the whole part)', with its several tons of supplies and equipment, to the base- camp. After that, the planes will be used in aerial mapping of the region, In transporting its members to various temporary camps, in returning collections to the sea- coast for shipment to New York, and for bringing in mail and fresh supplies. The leader of the expedition is H. E. Anthony, of the American Museum, a man of wide experience in field work, and he will be assisted by G. H. H. Tate, who has a personal acquaintance with some of the Indians of the region, made during his trip to Mt. Roraima a few years ago. Geographical work will be cared for by C. B. Hitchcock, who has already mapped Mt. Duida. The aerial geographical survey is assigned to A. C. McKinley, who was aerial photographer on the recent Byrd expedition to Antarctica. G. C. Graves, 2nd, and W. B. Millar, Jr., are the geologists; C. H. Curran, entomologist; A. G. Hassler, herpetologist; and G. A. Thorne, chief pilot, late of the Byrd Expedition; two or three other members will be chosen later. The botanical interests of the party will be cared for by two men, A. C. Smith, of the Garden staff, and N. Y. Sand with, of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, England. Mr. Smith has already made two extensive trips in South America, the first through Colombia in 1926- 27 and the second across Peru and down the Amazon in 1929. Mr. Sandwith is noted as a student of the flora of northern South America and wras a member of the Oxford University expedition to British Guiana in 1929. Both of these men are unusually well qualified for their positions on such an expedition. If sufficient funds are available, an expert collector of live plants will also be attached to the party. Some of the remarkable floristic features of this region became known when the Schomburgk brothers first collected there nearly a century ago, although their botanical activities reached only the extreme eastern end of the range, around Mt. Roraima. Since then Roraima has been known as a center for a peculiar flora, characterized by an extraordinary number of local endemic species and by an unusually large proportion of plants with large and beautiful flowers. Although several other collectors have since then penetrated to Roraima or actually reached its summit, it is probable that not more than half of its plant inhabitants are as yet known. At the other extremity of the range, Mt. Duida has been ascended but once, and the limited collections made by Mr. Tate, a zoologist, in his spare time, contained no less than 166 species of flowering plants and ferns unknown to science. Experience with South American plants leads one to expect not less than 2,000 species for an area of such size, while Tate collected only about 400. If the same proportion of unknown species continues, there are probably more than 500 unknown kinds of plants still awaiting discovery on Duida alone. No less than 207 species of plants find their only known home on higher altitudes of Roraima and this number will probably be doubled by adequate exploration. Between these two mountains lie the unexplored parts of the Pacaraimas, with a flora which may be conservatively estimated to contain 4,000 different kinds of plants. Those from the lowlands will probably be mostly well- known species, but the higher elevations contain possibly a thousand or even more species still unknown to botanical science. Naturally we can not even guess what these plants will be, but we may logically expect to find among them many of great scientific or horticultural interest, if they follow the precedent set on Roraima and Duida. Persons whose experience with plants is limited to the United States do not always appreciate one of the fundamental features of plant distribution in the tropics, which I may illustrate by comparison. Westchester and Putnam counties, New York, each have a native flora of approximately a thousand species, and of this thousand, all but a very few are found in both counties. There are comparatively very few plants found in one county but not in the other, and in general the flora is uniform throughout both. In the tropics, on the other hand, an area of equivalent size will shelter about twice as many species and there will be a great difference between adjacent areas. This is particularly true in a mountainous region, where every summit has its own endemic species. We already know that the principle holds for the Pacaraimas. A few of the Roraima species occur on Duida, but each peak has a very large proportion of species known from the one mountain only. Undoubtedly the same condition prevails on all of the unknown and unexplored mountains which lie between them, and which will be the field for the expedition. What is the value of such exploratory work in a region so far from civilization, so completely remote from any of our ordinary American activities? Each line of work which the expedition proposes to carry on has its own important features, such as the mapping of the longest unsurveyed boundary in America by means of aerial photography, but the botanical results may be anticipated under five general heads. First, it is the duty of botanical science to make known the plant life of the world, and here is a region as large as Maine whose plant life is completely unknown. Secondly, the collection of these plants will throw light on the nature of evolution in general. The different forms of plants on the various mountains show the direction which evolution takes and by comparison give some idea of what their ancestors were. Third, a better knowledge of the plants and animals together will aid the geologist in reconstructing the past geological history of the country, which at present is also unknown. There is a theory that these mountains were once continuous across the Orinoco valley westward to the Andes. If the " 3 flora shows a considerable proportion of plants with Andean affinities, this theory will be much strengthened. Fourthly, the plants include many highly ornamental species which will be a distinct asset to American horticulture, either grown under glass in the northern states or in the open in Florida and California, and every effort will be made to get seeds, roots, or cuttings of many of these back to New York for cultivation or propagation. If sufficient funds become available, an expert horticulturist will be attached to the expedition for this particular purpose. Fifthly, there is always the possibility of discovery of new and valuable medicinal plants, now in use by the Indians but still unknown to medical practice. Space does not permit a discussion of further details of this remarkable flora, and a single example must suffice. The largest pitcher- plants in the world, so far as known, grow in the Pacaraimas, one kind on Roraima and three other kinds on Duida. Possibly still others will be found somewhere between these two mountains. The Duida species are the larger, standing as much as five feet tall with flowers five inches in diameter. The pitchers have a little hole in the side about half way from bottom to top, so that the water which they always contain never rises beyond this level. In another year we hope to see some of these remarkable plants growing in the greenhouses of The New York Botanical Garden. H. A. GLEASON. BEGONIAS AS HOUSE PLANTS1 Begonias make ideal house plants, because some varieties enjoy a sunny window, and others are quite content with little or no sun. They bloom at different seasons, also, so one may plan for a succession of bloom by growing a number of varieties. The begonia was named for Michel Begon, a French botanist who lived on the island of Santo Domingo from 1638 to 1710. There are from four hundred to five hundred species in the warm countries of the world, a great many being found in Central and South America. 1 Abstract of a lecture given March 14, 1931, at The New York Botanical Garden by the Corresponding Secretary of the National Council of State Garden Club Federations. 114 The best soil for begonias is a light, porous one, composed of two parts sandy loam, one part sand, one part old leaf- mould, and one part old cow- manure. This should be thoroughly mixed. If it is not possible to get these materials, any greenhouse man will sell properly mixed soil. Begonias should be watered sparingly, for they do not like wet feet. Some fresh air should be admitted every day, but direct draughts should be avoided, as this will cause the leaves to drop. If the air is hot and dry, this, too, will cause falling leaves. There are various ways of humidifying the air, the simplest and best being a constantly steaming tea kettle. ( Incidentally, this will prevent the furniture from cracking, and the family will be less apt to have head colds.) Pans of wet gravel may be kept under the pots, and dishes of water set on the radiators will help to keep the air moist. The best time to propagate begonias is in the spring, when cuttings may be rooted in moist sand. A home substitute for a greenhouse propagating bed may be made from a Wardian case, an aquarium with a sheet of glass for a cover, or a glass display jar partly filled with sand. Set this jar in a sunny window, so that the sand may become warm, but shield the cuttings with a paper or cloth. Care must be taken to admit some air when steam appears on the glass. After the cuttings are well rooted, which usually takes three or four weeks, they may be transplanted into small pots of soil. The blooming varieties need a sunny window, but the Rex and spotted- leaf varieties grow nicely in a north window. For house plants, winter- blooming kinds are most desirable. The semperfiorens, true to name, blooms constantly. Nitida, the oldest begonia, was introduced into England in 1777 from Jamaica. This, as well as its fragrant seedling, odorata alba, has smooth green leaves and white flowers. Rosea gigantea is a seedling of the semperfiorens, with large, glossy, green leaves and great sprays of rose- red flowers, freely produced. It begins to bloom about Christmas, and is constantly in flower for many months. Schmidtiana, a Brazilian species, has small, grayish- green, velvety leaves, red underneath. The small, white, pink- tinted flowers are both plentiful and constant. Tcmplinii is another excellent winter- bloomer. This is a tall shrubby variety with beauti- i i5 fully mottled leaves of green and cream- yellow, with rose tints. The large trusses of flowers are rose pink. This needs a sunny window. For the north window, we may choose the old favorite, argentea guttata— the " trout begonia " our grandmothers called it — or any of the spotted- leaf varieties. The so- called " star " begonias— B. heracleifolia and its seedlings— do well in a north window, although a little morning sun is enjoyed by any begonia. This plant, with its deeply cut dark- green leaves and red- spotted, hairy stems, is handsome at any time, but when the tall sprays of rose- pink blooms come, from January to March, it is the joy of all beholders. Haageana is a tall, shrubby begonia, a native of Brazil, the best known of the red- hairy type. It is very hardy, and a good bloomer. It has big trusses of waxy- white flowers, with a few red hairs on the under side of the petals. Pres. Carnot and Mme. de Lesseps will both thrive in a northeast window. Both make tall, shrubby plants that bloom well from January on. They are somewhat alike in leaf, but Carnot has bright carmine-red flowers, and De Lesseps white, pink- tinged. In hanging pots, we may grow manicata aureo- macidata, of large, smooth, waxy leaf of light green with blotches of yellowish white, tinged with pink. It begins to bloom in February with feathery sprays of tiny, pale- pink flowers. This begonia needs a sunny window, but Begonia glaucophylla, with small, shiny, green leaves and brick- red flowers, will do well in a northeast window. This begonia may be grown on a trellis or in a hanging pot, as it is quite vine- like. It is a native of Brazil, and a good winter-bloomer. Begonia foliosa may also be grown in a hanging pot in a north window. It comes from Colombia, and might well be taken for a fern. The insignificant white flowers hang from the axils of the leaves, under the flat, fern- like sprays. The most difficult part of begonia culture is to get the begonia. Florists say frankly that they are slow sellers. And people seeking the choicer varieties say it is useless to go to the florists, as they carry only a few of the old varieties. But the demand of the amateur becomes, in time, the mainstay of the florist's business. So if we keep on demanding begonias— and buying them— the florist will hunt them out and grow them for us, and we shall all be happy. BESSIE W. BUXTON. n6 i i7 THE WATER- LILIES OF THE UNITED STATES1 Water- lilies are now horticultural subjects, some of them very attractive, but for many centuries before their horticultural vogue, these plants were esteemed from a culinary standpoint. The aborigines made use of both the rootstocks and the seeds for food. Since water- lilies are suggestive of wet country, we are not disappointed in finding on the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, the ultimate drainage land of the interior highlands, a considerable development of aquatic flowering plants. These aquatics occur in sizes ranging from the gigantic Thalia to the almost microscopic Wolffiella. Some are firmly anchored in the mud, others are free- floating. Some grow only in still water, others in flowing water. Some thrive in deep water, others in shallow water, while some readily adapt themselves to quite sudden changes in the water level. Some have erect leaves and flowers, others have floating leaves and flowers, while still others have floating leaves and erect flowers. Some are floriferous and fructiferous; others are completely barren. Some are active throughout the year; others are dormant for a period during each year. Some have rather small flowers; others have both large and attractive and even showy flowers. Following is a table of the species native in the United States: Castalia ampla ( white or pink- tinged)— southern Texas ( Mexico and West Indies to Brazil). Castalia elegans ( blue or pale- violet)— southern Florida and southern Texas ( Mexico). Castalia flava ( yellow)— Florida. Castalia lekophylla ( white or pinkish)— southern Georgia and Florida to Louisiana ( West Indies, Mexico.) Castalia mexicana ( yellow)— southern Louisiana and Texas ( Mexico). Castalia minor ( white or pink)— Florida to Louisiana, and New Jersey. Castalia odorata ( white or pink)— Florida to Louisiana, Manitoba and Nova Scotia. Castalia tetragona ( white)— southern Canada to northern Idaho. Castalia tuberosa ( white)— New Jersey and Oklahoma to Michigan and Vermont. 1The following notes and illustrations were made possible mainly by exploration carried on through the interest of friends of the Garden. n8 There are eight or nine species2 of Castalia in North America north of Mexico. About half of them are confined to the Atlantic and the Gulf Coastal Plain, while the other half occur in various plant provinces, some of them also in the Coastal Plain. The geographic range of the extra- Coastal Plain species in the United States is often erratic. For example, Castalia tetragona, which ranges nearly across southern Canada, reappears in northern Asia and ranges southward to the Himalaya mountain region. On the other hand, Castalia ampla, which occurs in southern Texas, ranges southward through Mexico and the West Indies to Brazil. Of the three extra- Coastal Plain species, Castalia odorata ( FIGURE I ) , the common water- lily, has the widest range— growing naturally from Florida to Louisiana to Manitoba and Nova Scotia. Castalia tuberosa ranges from New Jersey and Oklahoma to Michigan and Vermont. The geographic range of the third species, Castalia minor, as far as we know it, extends from Florida to Louisiana and New Jersey. White or pink flowers comprise the variety in these more generally distributed water-lilies. The species confined to the Coastal Plain show the variety of the other group, and in addition more color— cream, yellow, and purple— and more variety in habit. Castalia ampla, a species with white or pink- tinged flowers, ranges from the tropics of Brazil and the West Indies through Mexico up to the Rio Grande region of Texas. One of the outstanding species of the Gulf States— following by color ( pink) or lack of color ( white)— is Castalia lekophylla ( FIGURE 4) ( C. rcniformis Nash, not Walter). It has the largest leaves and the largest flowers of all the North American species. It ranges from Florida and southern Georgia to Louisiana ( and Texas?), through the West Indies and Mexico, and apparently into other parts of tropical America. Now for a change of color. In Castalia flava ( FIGURE 2) and C. mexicana we find cream- colored and yellow flowers. Our studies have not yet let us decide whether these two names represent distinct species or a single species. Castalia flava came originally from Florida, while C. mexicana was described from Mexican specimens. This geography is also represented in Castalia elegans ( FIGURE 3), which was recently discovered in south- " Nine species, if Castalia flava and C. mexicana are distinct. ng G- S S. s SE - aE • s s a >> G t FIGURE 4. Castalia lekophylla in a pond near Tallahassee, Florida. This is our largest- leaved and largest- flowered water- lily. The leaf-blades measure up to about two feet across, frequently turning up their edges after the manner of " Victoria." The white flowers often measure nearly a foot across the corolla. ern peninsular Florida. Otherwise it grows naturally in southern Texas and in Mexico. An additional color appears with this plant, a blue or pale- violet. These aquatics occupy either still or flowing water. For some reasons they have developed habitat characteristics. The white-flowered species have, as a rule, floating leaves and floating flowers. Castalia lekophylla sometimes elevates its large flowers above the surface of the water. In the yellow- flowered species, for some reason, the leaves and the flowers may be either erect or floating. The purple- flowered species, Castalia elegans, in Florida, at least, is stable in character of having floating leaves and well- elevated flowers. The genus Castalia is characteristic of both boreal and temperate regions in the United States. The northern plants are thoroughly hardy and grow well during their short season. The southern plants with a growing season represented by the whole year—- although the plants have more or less of a resting season — often grow with astonishing luxuriance. JOHN K. SMALL. NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT A photostat has recently been purchased by the Botanical Garden and will soon be in operation. Its cost has been covered by a special grant from the Carnegie Corporation. The Gardeners' Chronicle of February 7 carries an appreciative biographical sketch, with portrait, of Dr. A. B. Stout, Director of the Laboratories of The New York Botanical Garden. It reviews his work with diseases of lilies, in hybridizing daylilies ( Hemerocallis), in breeding seedless grapes, in discovering synchronous and reciprocating dichogamy in avocados, in investigating sterilities of various plants, etc. On another page of the same issue is a discussion of " The diseases of lilies," based largely on the results of Dr. Stout's studies and illustrated by photographs furnished by him. Instead of attempting the well- nigh impossible task of trying to pick out ten or twelve days in advance the one day on which The New York Botanical Garden's display of Narcissus flowers might be expected to be at its climax and calling it " Daffodil Day," the management this year issued to the members and friends of the Garden a card announcing that the collection was expected to reach its general climax of beauty in the period between April 20 and April 30. There is a spread of about a month between the blooming of the earliest and the latest of the 150 varieties in the collection, so that not all of the varieties can be found in bloom at any one time. The naturalized plantings, designed by Mrs. Wheeler H. Peckham, now cover four to five acres and it is probable that this year's display included nearly a half million individual flowers. Meteorology for April. The maximum temperatures recorded at The New York Botanical Garden for each week or part of a week were: 650 F. on the 4th; 690 on the n t h ; 76° on the 18th; and 710 on the 21st. The minimum temperatures recorded were: 37u on the 3rd ; 32° on the 12th; $ 7U on the 16th ; 35" on the 24th; and 340 on the 30th. The total precipitation for the month was 3.45 inches. 123 ACCESSIONS MUSEUMS AND HERBARIUM 80 specimens of plants from the Marquesas Islands. ( By exchange with Mr. E. P. Mumford.) 12 specimens of flowering plants from the northeastern United States. ( Given by Dr. J. A. Drushel.) 200 specimens of flowering plants from the West Indies. ( By exchange with the Riksmuseum, Stockholm.) 984 specimens of plants from New Caledonia. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 89 specimens of plants from Kwangtung, China. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 954 specimens of plants from Kwangsi, China. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 103 specimens of plants from Anhwei, China. ( By exchange with the National University, Nanking.) 558 specimens of plants from Yunnan, China. ( By exchange with the Edinburgh Botanic Garden.) 99 specimens from Malaya. ( By exchange with the Singapore Botanical Garden.) i l l specimens of Chinese plants. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 1 photograph of Solidago sp. from Ft. Meade, Florida. ( Given by Mr. W. M. Buswell.) 106 specimens of Philippine ferns. ( By exchange with the University of California.) 2054 specimens of Chinese plants, the Bonati herbarium. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 1485 specimens of Philippine plants. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 120 specimens of H. Handel- Mazzeti Chinese plants. ( By exchange with the Vienna Museum of Natural History.) 1223 specimens of plants from Sumatra. ( Given by Mr. H. S. Yates.) 305 specimens of plants from Borneo. ( Given by Mr. D. D. Wood.) 83 specimens of plants from the Fiji Islands. ( By exchange with the British Museum.) 85 specimens from Rarotonga. ( By exchange with the University of California.) 225 specimens of Chinese plants. ( Given by Mr. C. Y. Chiao.) 156 specimens of Yunnan plants. ( By exchange with the Vienna Museum of Natural History.) 119 specimens from Kwangtung, China. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 60 specimens of Asiatic plants. ( By exchange with the Singapore Botanical Garden.) 2 specimens of Cuban mosses. ( By exchange with Brother Leon.) 12 specimens of mosses. ( By exchange with Rev. C. H. Demetrio.) 6 specimens of plants from Venezuela. ( By exchange with Mr. Henri Pittier.) 124 8 specimens of mosses from Jamaica, West Indies, and Costa Rica. ( Given by Mr. Edwin B. Bartram.) 2 specimens of mosses from China. ( Given by Mr. A. P. Jacot and Mr. George Marshall.) 4 specimens of mosses from Maine. ( Given by Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Lowe.) 5 specimens, types of moss species. ( By exchange with the Botanical Garden, Dahlem, Berlin.) 2 specimens of mosses from South Dakota. ( By exchange with Mr. A. C. Mcintosh.) i specimen of moss from Peru. ( Given by Professor F. L. Herrera.) I specimen of moss from Washington. ( Given by Miss Patchin.) 13 specimens of mosses from England, Scotland, and Wales. ( Given by Mr. J. Burtt Davy.) 4 specimens of mosses from Texas, Costa Rica, and Jamaica. ( Given by Mr. Edwin B. Bartram.) 4 specimens of Peruvian mosses. ( By exchange with the Field Museum of Natural History.) 9 specimens of mosses of Michigan and Wisconsin. ( By exchange with the Field Museum of Natural History.) 9 specimens of mosses from Louisiana, Arizona, New Mexico, Mexico, and Jamaica. ( By exchange with Mr. Edwin B. Bartram.) 25 specimens, " Musci Americani Perfecti," nos. 126- 150. ( By exchange with Dr. A. J. Grout.) 66 specimens of flowering plants from Samoa. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 87 specimens of Malayan plants. ( By exchange with the Singapore Botanical Garden.) 281 specimens of Siberian plants. ( By exchange with the University of Tomsk.) 146 specimens from Nanking Province, China. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 132 specimens of Formosan plants. ( By exchange with Dr. T. Tanaka.) 1209 specimens of plants from Borneo. ( Collected by Dr. A. D. E. EJmer.) 45 specimens of plants from Kwangtung, China. ( Given by Dr. E. D. Merrill.) 1705 specimens, " Filices Exsiccatae." ( Distributed by Rosenstock.) 18 specimens of Mexican mosses. ( By exchange with Brother Leon.) 6 specimens of mosses from Tennessee and Mississippi for naming. ( By exchange with Rev. C. H. Demetrio.) 173 specimens of mosses from Peru. ( By exchange with Professor F. L. Herrera.) 5 specimens of Pentstemon from North America. ( Given by the Carnegie Institution.) MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION Edward D. Adams * Mrs. Arthur Anderson Vincent Astor John W. Auchincloss Dr. Raymond F. Bacon * Mrs. Robert Bacon Stephen Baker Henry de Forest Baldwin Sherman Baldwin Edmund L. Baylies Prof. Charles P. Berkey C K. G. Billings * Mrs. T. Whitney Blake George Blumenthal * Mrs. Edward C. Bodman Prof. Marston T. Bogert George P. Brett George S. Brewster Prof. N. L. Britton * Mrs. Jonathan Bulkley Dr. Nicholas M. Butler * Mrs. Andrew Carnegie Prof. W. H. Carpenter * Miss E. Mabel Clark Richard C Colt Marin Le Brun Cooper James W. Cromwell Henry W. de Forest Rev. Dr. H. M. Denslow • Mrs. Charles D. Dickey •$ Mrs. John W. Draper Thomas A. Edison Benjamin T. Fairchild Marshall Field William B. O. Field Childs Frick * Miss Helen C Frick * Mrs. Carl A. de Gersdorff Murry Guggenheim • Miss Elizabeth S. Hamilton Edward S. Harkness Prof. R. A. Harper tMrs. E. Henry Harriman T. A. Havemeyer A. Heckscher • Mrs. A. Barton Hepburn • Mrs. Robert C Hill Anton G. Hodenpyl • Mrs. Elon H. Hooker Dr. Marshall A. Howe Archer M. Huntington Adrian Iselin • Mrs. Robert Irving Jenks Walter Jennings • Mrs. Walter Jennings Otto H. Kahn • Mrs. Delancey Kane • Mrs. F. Leonard Kellogg Darwin P. Kingsley • Mrs. Gustav E. Kissel Clarence Lewis Adolph Lewisohn Frederick J. Lisman Henry Lockhart, Jr. • Mrs. William Lockwood Dr. D. T. MacDougal Kenneth K. Mackenzie •|| Mrs. David Ives Mackie Parker McCollester • Mrs. John R. McGinley Edgar L. Marston George McAneny Dr. E. D. Merrill John L. Merrill • Mrs. Roswell Miller Hon. Ogden L. Mills H. de la Montagne, Jr. Barrington Moore J. Pierpont Morgan Dr. Lewis R. Morris Dr. Robert T. Morris Hugh Neill Frederic R. Newbold Prof. Henry F. Osborn Chas. Lathrop Pack * 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 • Mrs. James Roosevelt Prof. H. H. Rusby Hon. George J. Ryan Mortimer L. Schiff • Mrs. Arthur H. Scribner Henry A. Siebrecht Dr. Edmund W. Sinnott • Mrs. Samuel Sloan John K. Small Valentine P. Snyder James Speyer J. E. Spingarn • Mrs. Charles H. Stout Frederick Strauss • Mrs. Theron G. Strong F. K. Sturgis B. B. Thayer Dr. William S. Thomas Charles G. Thompson Robert Thorne Louis C Tiffany Prof. Sam F. Trelease • Mrs. Harold McL. Turner Felix M. Warburg Paul M. Warburg Allen Wardwell William H. Webster H. H. Westinghouse • Mrs. Louise Beebe Wilder • Mrs. Nelson B. Williams Bronson Winthrop Grenville L. Winthrop • Mrs. William H. Woodin • Member also of the Advisory Council, t Honorary member of the Advisory Council. t Chairman of the Advisory Council. II Secretary of the Advisory Council. 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 beautiful rose garden, a rock garden of rock- loving plants, and fern and herbaceous gardens. Greenhouses, containing thousands of interesting plants from America and foreign countries. Flower shows throughout the year— in the spring, summer, and autumn displays of narcissi, daffodils, tulips, lilacs, irises, peonies, roses, lilies, water- lilies, gladioli, 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 one million 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 41,000 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 forestal 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 too 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, the 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 T H E NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BRONX PARK, NEW YORK, N. Y. |
|
|
|
A |
|
B |
|
C |
|
G |
|
J |
|
L |
|
M |
|
N |
|
P |
|
T |
|
|
|