Journal of the New York Botanical Garden

              VOL. XXXIX
No. 466
OCTOBER, 1938 PAGES
221— 248
JOURNAL
of
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
Published monthly by The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York, N. Y.
Entered at the Post Office in New York, N. Y., as second- class matter.
Annual subscription $ 1.00 Single copies 10 cents
Free to members of the Garden
JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
CAROL H. WOODWARD, Editor
OCTOBER, 1938
RED OAK ( Quercus rubra), ONE OF THE NATIVE TREES STILL
STANDING ALONG RIVERSIDE DRIVE NEAR 180TH ST.
Cover Photograph by Fleda Griffith
TREES AND SHRUBS IN N EW YORK CITY AND SOME OBSERVATIONS
ON THEIR GROWTH Nelson Miller Wells 221
HABITAT HUNTING IN MOUNTAINS OF THE SOUTHEAST W I TH
STUDENT GARDENERS E. J. Alexander 228
WOODY PLANTS W H I C H THRIVE IN N EW YORK'S LESS CONGESTED
ZONES Photographs by Fleda Griffith and
Nelson Miller Wells 234- 235
T H E GARDENERS FORUM 240
CURRENT LITERATURE AT A GLANCE Carol H. Woodward 241
REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 242
NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT 246
PERIODICALS AND BOOKS
Scientists and laymen alike are served by the publications of The New
York Botanical Garden. With T^ orth American Flora, which eventually
will contain a monograph of every plant family of this continent, taxono­mists
are kept informed of the identification of every known kind of plant
of the United States, Mexico, Central America and the adjacent islands,
and, on the north, Canada, Alaska and Greenland.
Brittonia, named in honor of the founder and first director of the
Garden, contains technical articles on plant identification and descriptions
of new species. Addisonia, named in honor of Addison Brown, Dr. N. L.
Britton's collaborator in preparing the famous Britton fe? Brown volumes on
the flora of North America, gives complete descriptions and full- page
colored plates of flowering plants of exceptional interest which have been
successfully raised at The New York Botanical Garden or which are native
to North America.
Mycologia is the official organ of the Mycological Society of America.
Issued every other month, it contains technical material, illustrated, on all
forms and phases of the fungi.
The Garden's Journal, on the other hand, is meant to be popular, and
vet to present in authoritative manner to its readers articles of interest on
horticulture and botany, nature study, and kindred subjects, besides a
survey of the current activities of the Garden.
" Plants of the Vicinity of New York" by H. A. Gleason is also intended
for the people. This convenient volume dealing with flowering plants
which grow within 100 miles of New York, is a simple guide to the flowers
of woods and fields usable by anyone who can distinguish a petal from
a leaf.
While Rydberg's " Flora of the Prairies and Plains of Central North
America" is a bofanist's handbook, like Britton 6? Brown's " Illustrated
Flora of the Northern United States and Canada", it can be used to
advantage by the amateur.
Such works, which are merely representative of the Botanical Garden's
productions, are one of the institution's major services to the world of
science and to popular education.
JOURNAL
of
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
VOL. XXXIX OCTOBER, 1938 No. 466
Trees and Shrubs In £ New York Qity
cAnd Some Observations
On Their Growth « y ^ ehon miier Weiu
'-' Landscape Architect
The Second Zone
' | ' HE exact boundaries of the second zone of plant tolerance
-*- in New York City are not clearly defined. From the edge of
the first zone, where the paramount factors are those which limit
the successful growth of plants, the second zone extends through­out
the built- up business sections and hotel and residential areas,
where tall buildings and pavements are practically continuous.
About the same growing conditions exist here as in the areas
defined as the first zone except for the somewhat less intense
pollution of the atmosphere. Substructures which ramify in the
soil affect the movement of soil waters; topsoil of a quality suffi­cient
to support plant life exists in only meagre quantities; natu­ral
rainfall is collected into storm sewers without benefiting the
soil; and dense shade is created by the tall buildings.
The plants mentioned as tolerant in the first zone stand a better
chance for success in the second, and in addition there are a
number of others which will grow here although they vary in
the degree of their success.
Among the trees, Norway maples and pin oaks have been con­sidered
appropriate and each kind has been quite freely planted
over a period of years. The pin oak appears to have been the
more successful of the two, although it usually loses its excurrent
habit and assumes a stunted appearance. Very likely if they were
221
222
tried, the red, scarlet, and shingle oaks would be as good as or
better than the pin oaks. Even the Turkey and mossy- cup oaks
are reasonably good in Central Park.
Pin oaks, having a fibrous root system, transplant easily, even
when they have not been nursery grown. The roots of red oaks
are coarse and are seldom kept adequately pruned in nurseries;
the trees are therefore more risky to transplant. This difference
is undoubtedly one reason for the prevalence of pin oaks and the
scarcity of reds, though the heavy, glossy leaves of red oaks
stand up well during summer droughts while pin oak leaves fre­quently
appear shriveled.
Other trees which are reasonably thrifty under these conditions
include the horse- chestnuts, honey- locusts and mulberries. Hack-berries
have seeded themselves into strange corners and seem
capable of withstanding considerable drought and reflected heat.
Perhaps they are resistant also to smoky air. They are usually
stunted however and heavily laden with witches' brooms.
Likewise appearing as a natural growth in waste areas and
certain parks are frequent examples of the common black cherry.
If it were not for the annual crop of tent caterpillars and some
of the other nuisance qualities possessed by this tree it might
enjoy a reputation as a desirable subject for city conditions, for
it has a picturesque habit of growth, the foliage is good, and it
will appear happy even when growing on thin dry soil.
The Chinese scholar- tree, though rarely seen, is an excellent
tree for this zone. Several specimens have been planted here
successfully. Among the lindens, the common, the silver, and
the weeping linden appear to be the best, although most of the
small- leaved European varieties are also good. They all suffer,
however, from summer drought and some species, such as the
American linden, lose all their leaves in late summer.
Occasionally an Osage orange has been planted in the city and
it is found to be exceptionally thrifty. If this tree were not so
uncommon in our eastern market perhaps it would be used more
freely. Where the bald cypress has been planted as a street tree
in a limited area of Flushing, and also in the few places where
it exists in the larger parks, it has endured for many years.
These are all such luxuriant trees that the species might be ex­pected
to withstand even greater adversities.
Among the small- growing trees and large shrubs there are a
number of good representatives. Hawthorn, witch- hazel, mag-
223
nolia, and cork- trees are about the best, although two of the small
maples— the English hedge maple and the Amur maple— as well
as the buckthorns and flowering cherries can each be found in
this district.
All of the common kinds of hawthorn, such as the Washington
and thicket thorns, seem to do well, but the glossy- leaved species
are the best. The cockspur thorn belongs to this class, and old
plants of Carriere hawthorn, with its large varnished leaves, have
endured for many years in a thrifty condition in the Broadway
plots in mid- Manhattan. Woolly and green aphids are quite seri­ous
pests on the hawthorns, but these plants appear to be reason­ably
free from diseases.
Magnolias and witch- hazels seem absolutely incongruous in the
city but a number of kinds of each are surprisingly successful.
Two of the viburnums also are good. One, the native blackhaw,
will grow on poor, thin soil and straggle up to a small tree,
although in its youthful stage, when fresh from the nursery, its
habit is compact and it has fine specimen qualities. Siebold
viburnum is another and, like the specimen at City Hall Park,
Manhattan, it will reach a height of twelve feet and appear quite
thrifty.
Several vines make their appearance in this zone. English ivy
is fairly good, especially as a ground- cover. Wisterias will grow
several stories high. Matrimony- vines, fleece- vines and the
Japanese honeysuckles can each be found on fences, walls and
covering the ground. Some of the woodbines are also occasionally
found here.
The Third Zone
The third zone of plant tolerance covers a very large portion
of the city. It extends from the second zone through the less
intensively developed portions of the unrestricted business zones,
including the areas of three- story attached and semi- detached
houses in residential areas. It has as its outer limits those por­tions
of the city where suburban conditions prevail. In the
suburbs, where houses are spaced on at least 60- foot lots, there
is a greatly increased amount of undeveloped land; air and
moisture conditions are better, and there is an opportunity for
almost any kind of planting that will endure the climate.
The line between the second and third zones is quite indefinite.
Some of the plants mentioned for the third zone may survive in
224
zone two, and many from that zone are likely to be a great deal
more successful here. It is noteworthy that the largest part of
the trees and shrubs which appear for the first time in this list
are native to this region. They include the American ash, sassa­fras,
sour- gum, sweet- gum, persimmon, and American larch.
From other sources come the Japanese larch, sourwood or sorrel,
and the European beech. The ash and sweet- gum make good
street trees in this zone, while the others are usually found in
parks or as lawn shade trees.
Several additional large shrubs or small- growing trees appear.
These include the goldenrain- tree, the hornbeams ( both native
and European species), cornelian cherry, silverbell, snowbell,
hazelnut, and Russian olive.
Among the native shrubs are the chokeberries. cornels, sumacs,
various viburnums, and blueberries, and the shadblow, spicebush,
winterberry, and summersweet. Also several of the distinctly
gardenesque flowering shrubs can be seen, such as Japanese
quinces, bush honeysuckles, hydrangeas, forsythias, rose acacias,
prairie and rugosa roses, Japanese barberries, and the winged
euonymus and its relative, the European burning bush.
Of course there are numerous other kinds of woody plants to
be found within this zone, but the ones mentioned here appear
to be the best. Some species seem better than others in the same
genus, and where there is a preference only the better kinds are
noted in the accompanying lists. The most surprising instance I
have discovered is a number of bottlebrush buckeyes in a fairly
thrifty state growing in the Broadway plots where they have
survived for many years in the heat and dust of that busy
thoroughfare.
Notes on Special Plants
Evergreens
We all seem to have a longing to use a certain amount of ever­green
material in our plantations. Even though we know they
are not going to be entirely successful in the city we cannot resist
trying some of them. In general they have to be treated like
annuals and replaced as often as they fail. Some kinds, however,
will tolerate the city conditions better than the others.
Austrian pine is about the best of the evergreen conifers, al­though
it soon languishes if the air is bad. The yews, particularly
225
Carnegie
A city garden li\ e this, in which hroad- leaved evergreens are a
dominant feature, must be replaced with fresh material every four or
five years. The scene is in the private garden of Mrs. Andrew
Carnegie, overlooking Central Par\ from Fifth Avenue, in ?\[ eu/
York City.
226
the various forms of Japanese yew, are being used extensively.
Some will endure possibly for several years but the best planta­tions
are those which have their sickly plants replaced each year.
Some of the broad- leaved evergreens are standing very well.
The hollies are among the best. Even the native American holly
is occasionally seen. The native inkberry and different forms of
Japanese holly are especially good. Firethorns are equally suc­cessful.
Where the cultural conditions are favorable a variety of
evergreen rhododendrons together with andromedas, leucothoes,
and such azaleas as amoena and indica types do surprisingly well.
Evergreen ground- covers like periwinkle, Japanese spurge and
evergreen bittersweet are not generally dependable.
Plants that are Not Successful
Some plants seen around the city are invariably in a weakened
and sickly condition. Such kinds should always be avoided where
atmospheric conditions are unfavorable.
Evergreen trees are the most conspicuous failures. Hemlock,
spruce, fir, Douglas fir, and pine are the normally large- growing
kinds used in landscape plantations with dwarf pine, juniper,
arborvitae and Japanese cypress for low and intermediate heights.
None of these has been observed in the cit}' in anything like a
thrifty condition.
Among the deciduous plants that do not appear to be able to
survive in New York City are red and sugar maples. Even the
sycamore maple does not like the smoky air. American beech,
flowering dogwood, the birches, and two of the viburnums, the
Japanese snowball and the linden viburnum, and most of the
spireas are poor in growth. In places like Prospect Park, Brook��lyn,
some of these may be seen in a fairly healthy condition but
they do not do well in Central Park or in situations where the
conditions are more adverse.
Excepting for the evergreen trees the range of plants is quite
extensive for city planting. Trial and error afford the surest test.
A certain plant may fail in one particular area but thrive exceed­ingly
well in a similar exposure just a few blocks distant.
In the following lists, plants which are most suitable for the
second and third zones are named.*
* Through an unaccountable oversight, the rose- of- Sharon mentioned last
month in the list of plants for the first zone was given the botanical name
of the hollyhock instead of its rightful name, Hibiscus syriacus.
227
The Second Zone
English Hedge Maple
Amur Maple
Norway Maple
Horse- chestnut
Hackberry
Carriere Hawthorn
Thicket Hawthorn
Washington Thorn
Cockspur Thorn
Honey- locust
English Ivy
Witch- hazel
Japanese Honeysuckle
Matrimony- vine
Osage Orange
Magnolia
Mulberry
Cork- tree
Chinese Fleece- vine
Black Cherry
Flowering Cherries
Turkey Oak
Scarlet Oak
Shingle Oak
Mossy- cup or Bur Oak
Pin Oak
Red Oak
Buckthorn
Chinese Scholar- tree
Bald Cypress
Small- leaved European Linden
Weeping Linden
Silver Linden
Common Linden
Blackhaw
Siebold Viburnum
Wisteria
Acer campestre
Acer Ginnala
Acer platanoidcs
Acsculus Hippocastanum
Celtis occidentalis
Crataegus Lavallei
Crataegus intricata
Crataegus Phaenopyrum
Crataegus Crus- galli
Gleditsia triacanthos
Hedera Helix and varieties
Hamamelis spp.
Loniccra japonica
Lycium halimifolium
Madura poniifera
Magnolia spp.
Mortis spp.
Phcllodendron spp.
Polygonum Aubertii
Primus serotina
Prunus spp. and vars.
Quercus Cerris
Quercus coccinca
Quercus imbricaria
Quercus macrocarpa
Quercus palustris
Quercus rubra
Rhamnus spp.
Sophora japonica
Taxodium distichum
Tilia cordata
Tilia petiolaris
Tilia tomentosa
Tilia vulgaris
Viburnum prunifolium
Viburnum Sieboldii
IVistcria spp.
The Third Zone
Bottlebrush Buckeye
Shadblow
Red Chokeberry
Black Chokeberry
Spicebush
Japanese Barberry
European Hornbeam
American Hornbeam
Summersweet
Cornelian Cherry
Gray Dogwood or Cornel
Hazelnut
Japanese Quince
Persimmon
Russian Olive or Oleaster
Winged Euonymus
European Spindle- tree or
Burning Bush
Acsculus parviflora
Auiclanchicr spp.
Aronia arbutifolia
Aronia melanocarpa
Benzoin aestivale
Bcrbcris Thunbergii
Carpinus Bctuhts
Car pinus caroliniana
Clethra alnifolia
Cornus mas
Cornus paniculata and similar
species
Corylus spp.
Chaenomeles japonica
Diospyros virginiana
Elaeagnus angustifolia
Euonymus alatus
Euonymus europaeus
228
European Beech
Forsythia
White Ash
Silverbell
Hydrangea
Winterberry
Goldenrain- tree
American Larch
Japanese Larch
Sweet- gum
Bush Honeysuckle
Sour- gum
Sorrel- tree
Sumac
Rose- acacia
Rugosa Rose
Prairie Rose
Sassafras
Japanese Snowbell
Blueberry
Withe- rod
Nanny- berry
Viburnum
Fagus sylvatica
Forsythia spp.
Fraxinus americana
Halesia Carolina
Hydrangea spp. and vars.
Ilex verticillata
Koelreuteria paniculata
Larix laricina
Larix Kaempferi
Liquidambar Styraciflua
Lonicera spp.
Nyssa sylvatica
Oxydendrum arborcum
Rhus spp.
Robinia hispida
Rosa rugosa
Rosa setigera
Sassafras variifoliuni
Styrax japonica
Vaccinium spp.
Viburnum cassinoides
Viburnum Lentago
Viburnum molle
Habitat Hunting In zMountains
Of the Southeast With
Student Qardeners By E. J. Alexander
When four of the student gardeners of The Neiv York Botanical Garden
chose to spend their vacations this year by making a collecting trip through
a portion of the southern Appalachians, they gave themselves the oppor­tunity
of seeing in native habitats - many plants zvhich they zvere cultivating
at the Botanical Garden. A large proportion of these had been collected on
the Garden's Southern Appalachian Expedition of 1933, while others among
the newer ones had been acquired by members of the staff on subsequent
independent trips. Sonic, on the other hand, were species commonly culti­vated,
but ones zvhich the students had formerly not associated with the
zvild state. In addition, they observed many plants entirely nczv to them
and brought back seed or living specimens of a number of subjects zvhich
may be nczv to horticulture.
Part of their usual outside zvork as student gardeners consists in making
herbarium collections of the local flora. To their specimens gathered on
previous jaunts in the vicinity of Nczv York, each of them added about 160
nczv subjects, all representing plants zvhich do not grozv north of central
Pennsylvania.
Thus, while on a vacation trip these four student gardeners— Ralph Pinkus,
Samuel Bridge, A. I. Bisaillon, and Donald Samson— became acquainted
zvith an important floral region of the United States, increased their own
collections of plants for study and reference, and added nearly a thousand
plants of fifty or more herbaceous species, besides a number of zvoody ones,
to the Botanical Garden through their collections of seeds and living mate­rial.
Their guide on the trip zvas E. I. Alexander, zvho took them over
much of the region coz'crcd fiz'c years previously on the Garden's official
expedition in search of plants.— C. H. W.
229
Into the Southern Appalachians
THE shale- barren region along and around the Virginia- West
Virginia state line was the first objective on the student
gardeners' trip. This area is the home of several interesting and
attractive plants, some of which were introduced to cultivation by
the Garden's Southern Appalachian Expedition of 1933. Since a
few of these plants had presented difficulties in cultivation the
students wished to study them in their natural habitats to try
and find the conditions necessary for their well- being. The large-flowered
Oenothera argillicola was not yet in bloom, but many
plants were seen in their young stages. The small gray- foliaged
ragwort, Senecio antennariifolius was past flowering, but its seeds
were ripe and it is hoped yet to introduce this plant to rock
gardens.
One of the greatest rarities of the region, the little purplish-flowered
Astragalus distortus, which had proved most unamenable
to cultivation, was sought and found in both flower and fruit.
Growing as it does in a dry hardpan mixture of shale fragments
and their residual clay, it will probably still prove a difficult though
desirable subject. Trifolium virginicuin, the stemless endemic
clover of the region, was found also in flower and fruit.
The shale- barren region is not continuous, so we found a dif­ferent
type of habitat to investigate by visiting a partly wooded
cliff area adjacent. Plere in crevices and on steep slopes were
seen the little white- flowered crucifer, Draba ramosissima. In
loose cushions on the cliff edges were large patches of a sandwort,
Arenaria stricta, and back among the trees the shooting- star,
Dodecatheon Meadia, and the pale- pink- flowered Sedum telephi-oides,
a rather coarse but attractive plant. The purple- flowered
wood- mint, Blephilia ciliata, was quite common in this area, mak­ing
large clumps on open slopes. Nearby we found frequent
colonies of Linum perenne naturalized along the roadside. So far
as we know, this is the first record of this European species in
this region.
Near the headwaters of the Potomac river, we came across
numerous stands of Anemone riparia in open limestone woods.
This plant with its handsome, rather large, white flowers would
be a worthy denizen of the shaded wild garden if amenable in
cultivation. On the mountains east of Monterey, Va., we stopped
to look at plants of Mensiesia pilosa, an ericaceous shrub with
230
dull yellowish- orange flowers, and in searching through the neigh­boring
woods we found the lily- of- the- valley in full flower. This
plant is strangely enigmatical in its occurrence in the European
mountains, the southern Alleghenies, and in eastern Asia. It is
the only plant known with a natural distribution in the temperate
zone of three continents.
In damp hollows nearby were attractive colonies of the filmy-flowered
Heuchera villosa and the white heads of Clintonia
umbellulata.
One more shale- barren was visited where, in August and Sep­tember
great drifts of Eriogonum Alleni cover the steep unstable
slopes with a yellow glow. 1 Here also are colonies of the shrubby
Clematis ovata, with dull purple nodding bells. The white- flowered
Sedum Nevii- is common throughout the southern Appalachians,
but nowhere does it reach better development than in the shale-barren
area.
A side trip was made in West Virginia to visit a colony of the
rare box- huckleberry, Gaylussacia brachycera, each colony of
which is said to consist of a single plant. In the same region we
found the recently described Phlox Buckleyi in full flower, some
plants having flowers with laciniate petals. In southwestern
Virginia, nearby mountain- slopes and hillside pastures were fre­quently
buried under a pink avalanche of mountain laurel, one
of the finest sights of the trip.
Reaching the crystalline Blue Ridge, we began to see more and
more frequently the typical southern mountain plants which are
either confined to or reach their best development in the higher
altitudes. Those which first became plentiful were Magnolia
acuminata, M. Fraseri, Oxydcndrum arbor cum, Clethra acuminata,
Azalea calcndulacea, Galax aphylla, Silene virginica3 and Sedum
ternatum. All have been long in cultivation, but it was of great
interest to the students to see them in their native stands.
In northwestern North Carolina and northeastern Tennessee,
it was of botanical interest to note frequent occurrences of
Hieracium pratense. which is not listed in the manuals as
occurring south of Virginia.
1 For a description of Eriogonum Alleni see Addisonia 20: No. 3. 1938.
2 Sedum Nez'ii is now well established in the Thompson Memorial Rock
Garden, where it is making an increasingly splendid show of white bloom
every year in late spring.
3 Though a difficult subject in the north, Silene virginica now seems to
be holding its own with its fiery blossoms in the Thompson Memorial
Rock Garden. For a description, see Addisonia 19: No. 2. 1935.
231
Photograph by A. J. Bisaillon
The upper portion of Mount Pisgah, 5,749 feet in altitude, is a
heath'bald in an advanced stage. The middle slopes of this great
landmar\ west of Asheville are covered with a typical southern
Appalachian forest. The saxifrage shown on page 238 was photo­graphed
on its upper slope.
Traveling on steep grades and long winding and twisting roads,
first up one mountain range, then down another and back up still
another, as it can only be done in North Carolina, we finally
arrived at Asheville, the center of the mountain region. Here we
visited Mr. and Mrs. G. L. Clement at the Nik- Nar Nursery,
through whose efforts many rare native plants are being brought
into cultivation. Accompanied by our friends we visited the
232
famous swamp at Flat Rock where in its type locality we saw
Sarracenia Joncsii. Associated together in this same swamp is a
curious mixture of coastal, mountain and northern plants. Some
of the more prominent among them were Helenium brevifolium
and Pogonia divaricata from the coastal plain; Amianthium mus-caetoxicum
and Azalea arborsecens, generally from the moun­tains
; Myrica Gale and Azalea viscosa, which are distinctly
northern species; and Kalmia Carolina and Scutellaria integrifolia,
which may be found both in the mountains and along the coast.
On Chimney Rock mountain, the high scenic point of the
Hickorynut Gap section, we saw such typically southern Appa­lachian
plants as Heuchera parviflora, Philadelphus inodorus,
P hirsutus, Selaginella Shcrzvoodii, Rhododendron carolinianuni,
Tsuga caroliniana, Pinus pungens, Trautvctteria carolinensis,
Talinum tcretifolium, Phacelia bipinnatiftda, and Penstemon
canescens. There were of course many other plants, but those
named are in exceptionally well- developed natural stands and
furnished the best examples for study. In the nearby warm valley
region, we saw a fine colony of the hardy native passion- flower,
Passiflora incarnata,
Mt. Pisgah, a beautifully shaped mountain west of Asheville,
has a fine heath- bald development, making it an area especially
well worth visiting. In the forests on the middle slopes are great
festoons of Aristolochia macrophylla and fine thickets of Azalea
calendidacea. On the upper elevations, Saxifraga Icucanthemifolia
and Houstonia purpurea form the great mass of cliff- face plants,
the woods around being well supplied with Hugeria erythrocarpa,
Ilex monticola and Mcnzicsia pilosa. On the uppermost areas,
Hypericum Buckleyi and Potentilla tridcntata form heavy sods in
open stretches, while Rhododendron carolinianuni and R. cataw­biense
form the heavy thickets just below the summit. On the
summit itself is one of the most finely developed stands known
of Pieris floribunda, where a trail runs for a mile or so through
its gnarled, headtopping growth. Off the western slopes we saw
handsome colonies of Phlox Carolina and Eryngium yuccifolimn.
and in the Nantahala Gorge we had a long- drawn- out search for
some of the large colonies of the rare sedge, Cymophyllus Fraseri.
The rocky walls here were also well- decorated with Dicentra
cximia. Crossing into the Tennessee River valley we saw the only
bit of southern lowland flora of the trip, where along the river-
233
banks were heavy thickets of Ulmus alata and Quercus nigra and
scrambling over them Vitis rotundifolia, Bignonia crucigera and
Cocculus carolinus. Ascending the Great Smokies from the west,
we admired the great forests and the thickets of rhododendron
and laurel, and on the summit ridge made several side trips into
the heavy growth of Abies Frascri and Picea rubens. The more
interesting things seen were a handsome purple- flowered form of
Hydrophyllum virginiamtm, occasional patches of Claytonia caro-liuiana
and Pamassia asarifolia and quantities of Solidago
glomerata and that interesting endemic of the Smokies, Senecio
Rugelia4. Back in North Carolina we found along the bank of
Alarka creek a nice stand of Rhododendron minus. In open
thickets along the stream were scattered plants of Thcrmopsis
caroliniana. a common enough garden plant, but extremely rare
in the wild. Leaving the gorge and climbing over the ridge, we
found near the top colonies of the parasitic shrub, Pyrularia
pubera, its pearlike fruits half- formed. Many splendid specimen
plants of Silene virginica, the fire- pink, were seen in this section.
As we approached Wayah Bald, splendid stands of Rhododendron
maximum and Kalmia latifolia 25- 30 feet high were seen, and
great colonies of the endemic huckleberry, Gaylussacia ursina,
mingled with Indian paint- brush, Castilleja coccinca, and the
bunch- flower, Mclanthium latifolium, the latter a useful plant for
shady woodland planting. On the summit of the mountain, the
fine stand of Azalea arborescens Richardsonii was just coming
into flower, the yellow blotch on its upper petal easily distinguish­ing
it from the species. Near the summit was the finest plant we
saw of Azalea calcndidacea; it measured about 15 feet in diameter
and height and was ablaze from top to bottom with bloom. In
some of the deep ravines on the lower slopes were frequent
colonies of Diphylleia cymosa, a relative of the May- apple, with
leaves a foot in diameter.
Near Highlands, we went to see one of the finest known colonies
of Stewartia pentagyna and near it the velvet- leaved, dwarf holly,
Ilex Beadlei.
But now our troubles started. It was decided after a council-meeting
to go into the Whitewater country in South Carolina to
see Shortia galacifolia in its natural habitat. It would probably
make an interesting afternoon trip of 20 or 30 miles and we
could easily reach Asheville again by dark. So we went blithely
4 Senecio Rugelia is described in Addisonia 20: No. 2. 1937.
1. Wisteria reaching to the roof on one of
the early houses at Washington
Square.
2. An American holly 28 feet high grow­ing
in Owl's Head Par\ in Brooklyn.
3. A row of young pin oa\ s, recently
planted, giues promise of a fine ave­nue
along 195th St. between Jerome
and Reservoir.
4. The shfrigle oak. often assumes a'flat-topped
appearance in the city. It
holds its foliage well during the
summer.
WOODY PLANTS WI
THRIVE IN NEW YO
LESS CONGESTED ZC
^: M¥" *? f^ Kt rf.',;>:-,,:-.-^
• p.-' ii,, '\ :,''?£:•' ;<:';"; ^ ^ ^ w
*"""' ' ]|| fi|| 1ll|| lii> K:'!" ljilsil!!:
j £
s r a^
p'ff*
On the grounds of Mother Cahrini
Memorial Hospital is a thrifty plant­ing
which includes a paulownia,
American plane, hac\ berry, and
Lombardy poplar, all bordered by
privet.
The large glossy leaves of Crataegus
Lavallei appear luxuriant even after
many years on Broadway, m one of
the plots near 80th St.
7. Paulownia, the empress- tree,
reaches its northern limit in
7^ ew Tor\, and grows even
within the city into an ap­propriately
majestic tree.
This one is in Central Par\.
236
Photograph by A. J. Bisaillon
Galax aphylla is one of the commonest of woodland cover plants in the
southern Appalachians. This was found on Mount Mitchell. Ralph Pin\ us
is shown examining one of the candle- li\ e spires of white bloom above the
glossy evergreen leaves.
down into Horse Cove, from which we turned into a side road
winding down one mountain after another. We knew that our
plant grew in damp rhododendron thickets, and we examined
many of them. Of course we were not in the Whitewater valley
and we knew it, but why should Shortia not grow in other valleys
where the habitat was similar? We did find beautiful colonies
of the large- flowered wild ginger, Asarum Shuttlczvorthii and
one patch of the rare Ophrys Smallii, a tiny orchid with rather
237
drab- colored flowers, and many a beautiful woodland stand of
Amianthium muscaetoxicum?
Black clouds rolled up and rumbles of thunder came nearer and
nearer.
Many a head- high thicket of Leucothoe Catesbaei, 0 in most per­fect
development did we see, but no Shortia; neither could we
find South Carolina, although we had left Horse Cove only three
miles from the state line. Finally we crossed the Chattooga
River and, quite positive we were in South Carolina, stopped at
the first mountain cabin we saw to do some inquiring.
A rather shabby- looking man, a woman, and six children were
tilling a small garden patch. The man came over and after a few
pleasant amenities, we asked if he had ever seen " little coltsfoot"
in this section. He had never heard of it, but stated he was
familiar with all the flowers of the region, so we went through
all the " common names" under which the plant has been listed
in books, but not one did he recognize. In final exasperation a
piece of paper was produced and a picture of the plant drawn.
Immediately his eyes lit up. " Oh," said he, " We calls that
Shortia." He then stated that it grew 15 or 20 miles away in
South Carolina, and recommended that we go to Salem, for any­one
there could direct us to it.
To Salem we went, finding it only after using the hit- and- miss
system in threading a maze of clay farm roads. No one we could
find in that town had ever heard of the plant, but said they knew
all the plants in the region. One man however knew where White­water
Falls was and directed us to the place. The road twisted
through great thickets of farkleberry, JTaccinium arboreum, and
finally started to ascend the mountains. It became almost im­passable
at times with its mudholes and steep stony grades but
we blundered through for 18 miles to the accompaniment of fre­quent
rolls of thunder, until we heard the roar of a great water­fall.
There in a deep gorge was the 300- foot plunge of the
5 A description of Amianthium muscaetoxicum will appear in the next
number of Addisonia.
6 Other southeastern plants mentioned here which have been illustrated
and described in Addisonia are: Rhododendron carolinianitm. Vol. 1. No. 1 ;
Cymophyllus Fraseri 1. No. 4; Oxydcndrum arboreum 4. No. 2; Leucothoe
Catesbaei 4. No. 4; Gaylussacia brachycera 6. No. 2: Shortia ( Sherzvoodia)
galacifolia 10. No. 1 ; Asalea viscosa glauca 11. No. 3; Eryngium yucci-folium
( aauaticum) 11. No. 3; Azalea calendulacea 13. No. 2; Sedum terna-tum
13. No. 2; Dicentra ( Bicueulla) eximia 14. No. 4; Oenothera argilli-cola
17. No. 4; Pogonia ( Clcistes) divaricata 18. No. 3; Stezvartia ( Mala-chodendrou)
pentagyna grandiflora 19. No. 1 ; Asalea arborescens 19. No. 2.
238
SCENERY AND PLANTS FROM
THE STUDENT GARDENER'S
VACATION TRIP
" Whitewater Falls in
South Carolina is in a
remote mountain section
near the tri- state corner.
Rhododendron minus
stands in the foreground
here.
Photographs by E. J
Saxifraga leucanihemifolia, which stands about a foot high, frequents wet cliffs and
streamsides in the southeastern mountains, but it is not well \ nown in cultivation. From
which the student gardeners brought bac\ from their trip it is hoped to establish this airyli
saxifrage in gardens. Shortia glacifolia " grows li\ e a weed" in its native haunt in a smai
in the " Whitewater country in South Carolina.
239
Whitewater River, the cliffs all around covered with Rhododen­dron
minus in full flower, truly a glorious sight. Still no Shortia.
Several hours later we came out on the state highway in North
Carolina, with an extensive knowledge of where Shortia did not
grow. At the last mountain cabin, however, ten or twelve miles
back, we had found an old man who had given us the exact
locality, and who clearly knew what he was talking about. It was
in the Whitewater valley but on the opposite side from where
we had been. We spent the night at Lake Toxaway and held
another council to decide if the elusive Shortia was worth another
day— and concluded that it was. We went to Rosman and took
the main road into South Carolina, since this road skirted the
far side of the Whitewater valley, and finally found someone
who knew where Jocassee was. It was this " village" we had
been told to look for. It was necessary for us to be led by an­other
car through the maze of farm roads to an old rambling
building which looked as though it had once been a country hotel.
It was labeled Camp Jocassee. . . Small wonder it was on no map!
We stood on the banks of the Whitewater River in front of
Jocassee and wondered what next. Down the road came a bare­footed
farmer and we drew him into conversation. We asked
for this and that place, arousing his curiosity until he asked what
we were looking for. Again we drew a picture. " Oh, that weed,"
he said, " it grows around the spring right over here." We fol­lowed
him across a bridge into the rhododendron. Yes, it was
there, in quantity, carpeting the ground, the stream bed, and the
steep walls of ravines through the thickets. We were assured it
was a common weed throughout the region, and were also told
we were about eight miles from Salem. Shortia's associates were
Asarum virginicum, Viola hirsutula, V. Iiastata, V pollens, V
rotundifolia, Viburnum nudum, and the climbing hydrangea rela­tive,
Decumaria barbara. The habitat was exactly what we had
thought: wet rhododendron thickets.
Mt. Mitchell, highest point in the eastern states, was our next
goal. There, accompanied by no difficulties we saw splendid speci­mens
of Robinia viscosa, very rare in the wild, frequent colonies
of Thcnuopsis fraxinifolia, and Galax aphylla. This region gave
us by far the finest display of Azalea calendulacea of the trip, to
say nothing of the great carpets of Houstonia scrpyllifolia and
H. purpurea which fairly outdid themselves. At one place a colony
of pure albino H. scrpyllifolia was found. Above 5,000 feet.
240
Rhododendron catawbiense ran riot, in all shades of magenta,
rosy- purple, and even rose.
The last day was spent in a highly educational trip through
the famous Biltmore Estate, where we saw many surpassingly
fine plantings of both common and rare plants, native and exotic.
On the way out of North Carolina, we found good colonies of
Symplocos tinctoria Ashei, an early spring- flowering shrub which
is to be tested for hardiness. At Blowing Rock, the crevices were
draped with the silvery heads of Paronychia argyrocoma inter­spersed
with the rare Liatris Helleri.
In the northwestern corner of the state and in adjacent Ten­nessee
we found Crepis capillaris, unrecorded before from this
far south. On the way back through Virginia, stops were made
to see the rather rare Pachistima Canbyi and Clematis Addisonii,
as well as the more common Anemone lancifolia, Phlox ovata,
Allium cernuum and Delphinium tricornc.
Perhaps the greatest value of this 2,000- mile trip was the oppor­tunity
of seeing many ornamental and rare native plants in their
natural habitats and in the areas where they reach their greatest
development. Many of the plants here mentioned are now com­monly
cultivated, some of them through having been introduced
by The New York Botanical Garden, but a fair number still re­main
to be placed in cultivation or to have their horticultural
possibilities worked out. Practically all are being tried out at this
institution, for their hardiness and ornamental value.
Of equal value was the sight in the Nik- Nar Nursery and in
the private nursery of Mr. C. D. Beadle, Superintendent of the
Biltmore Estate, of a number of native rarities which we did not
have time to seek out in the wild. These were taking their first
steps along the road leading to American gardens.
The Qardeners Forum
A S AN unofficial organization among the student gardeners
and other members of the gardening staff of The New York
Botanical Garden, the Gardeners Forum began its eighth year of
activity at the annual meeting held Sept. 19.
P. J. McKenna was re- elected chairman for the year; Joseph
Tansey was chosen vice- chairman to succeed Franklin C. Moore;
and Wilbur Wright was made secretary- treasurer, succeeding
241
J o h n T. Moss. Assisting Mr. W r i g h t in planning the subjects
for discussion d u r i n g the year will be George McGregor and
Samuel Bridge.
M e e t i n g twice a month d u r i n g the autumn and winter, the
G a r d e n e r s F o r u m gives its members an o p p o r t u n i t y to present
p a p e r s on h o r t i c u l t u r a l topics and to discuss the subjects after­ward.
Last year, when H o w a r d Swift and Ronald Townsend
were on the committee with Mr. Moss in p l a n n i n g the p r o g r a m s,
the following subjects were p r e s e n t e d by the g a r d e n e r s named:
Fraser MacCartney
Edward J. Brennan
John T. Moss
Donald Moss
LILIES
SOILS AND FERTILIZERS
PROPAGATION OF TREES AND SHRUBS
NOTEWORTHY TREES AND SHRUBS
SOME CURRENT METHODS USED IN THE PROPAGATION
AND CULTURE OF PLANTS
THE TREND OF HORTICULTURE
GREENHOUSE INSECTS AND THEIR CONTROL
LANDSCAPING THE SMALL HOME GROUNDS
RHODODENDRONS AND AZALEAS
THE ROLE OF LIGHT IN THE LIFE OF PLANTS
LAWNS: CONSTRUCTION AND CARE
THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCIAL FLORICULTL* RE
Ronald B. Townsend
Frank G-. Mackaness
George McGregor
C Nicholas A. Pecora
Ralph Pinkus
A. E. McKay
Donald Samson
Samuel Bridge
Current Literature*
At a Glance
By Carol H. Woodward
Mushroom Culture. Edmund B. Lam­bert,
writing in the Botanical Review for
July, deals with a subject of wide ap­peal,
scientific, practical and popular—
the principles and problems of mushroom
culture. Besides the common Agaricus
campestris, he mentions a number of other
mushrooms which may be subj ected to
cultivation, though he goes into greatest
detail in treating the field mushroom of
the American market.
Galapagos. The vegetation of the curi­ous
island which for years has been a
goal of both scientists and explorers is
treated in Spanish in a recent paper-covered
volume entitled ( in translation)
" Galapagos Observed Phytologically.''
M. Acosta Solis is the author of the
book, which is published by the Central
University of Quito, Ecuador.
* Ali publications mentioned here— and many
others— mav he found in the Library of The
Botanical Garden, in the Museum Building.
Plant Influence. The possibility that
ethylene emanation from fruits may have
some purpose or usefulness not yet dis­covered
is suggested by F. E. Weiss in
an article headed " The Influence of One
Plant on Another," which appears in the
April Journal of the Royal Horticultural
Society. He refers particularly to the
discovery of Molisch that the presence of
apples promoted the growth of callus in
cuttings of poplar and willow and stimu­lated
root formation on willows.
Small Bulbs. Crocuses which flower
in autumn are the leading subject in the
National Horticultural Magazine for July.
Alfred Bates, in this article, describes
more than 20 species and varieties. In
the same issue B. Y. Morrison, editor,
treats of " Various Muscari." Besides
photographs of the flowers he shows
sketches of the bulbs of many species in
natural size.
House Plants. What to do with potted
plants when they are brought indoors at
the end of the summer is told by Esther
C. Grayson in the September number of
the American Home.
242
Reviews of Recent < Hooks
( All publications reviewed here may be consulted in the Library of
The New York Botanical Garden.)
Growing Plants in
Chemical Solutions
SOILLESS GROWTH OF PLANTS.
Carleton Ellis and Miller W. Swaney.
155 pages, illustrated, indexed. Rein­hold,
New York, 1938. $ 2.75.
CHEMICAL GARDENS AND HOW
TO CARE FOR THEM. Revised
Edition. Anonymous. 19 pages. 1938.
Chemical Garden Co., Evanston, 111.
25<*.
GROWING PLANTS WITHOUT
SOIL BY THE WATER CULTURE
METHOD. D. R. Hoagland and D. I.
Arnon. 16 pages, mimeographed, 1938.
University of California, College of
Agriculture, Berkeley, Calif.
Popular interest in the growth of plants
without soil has been aroused by consid­erable
publicity in the newspapers. This
method of growing plants has been vari­ously
called water culture, tray agricul­ture,
tank farming, hydroponics, chemical
gardening, and so on. The three publica­tions
mentioned above were written in re­sponse
to this interest.
The book by Ellis and Swaney is the
most ambitious of the three. Its presen­tation
of the subject is largely uncritical
and it contains considerable erroneous
and dubious botanical information. In ad­dition
to discussing the growth of plants
in water culture and in sand or cinder
media, other topics— for example, auxins,
colchicine and heavy water— which have
recently attracted popular notice receive
attention from the authors. They discuss
their own experiments, including tho^ e on
rocking troughs simulating the conditions
if plants are grown in soilless cultures on
ships at sea, as well as experiments by
others.
The pamphlet by the Chemical Garden
Company gives a straightforward descrip­tion
of the equipment, chemicals, and pro­cedure
which may be used in the " water
culture" system and incidentally adver­tises
its own products.
Hoagland and Arnon in a mimeo­graphed
circular from the California
Agricultural Experiment Station give a
conservative discussion of the water cul­ture
method and procedures for growing
plants by the water culture method. They
do not believe the water culture methoc
offers advantages over soil. They say
" There is no magic in the growth o
plants in water culture," and " . .
present indications are that over th<
course of a year the yield of fruit pei
unit area or per plant, of plants grow:
in fertile soil, will not be significant!}
different from that of plants grown ii
water culture.''
W. J. ROBBINS.
Forests in Germany
GERMAN FORESTRY. Franz Heske
342 pages, illustrated with photographs
charts, and maps; indexed. Yale Uni
versity Press, New Haven. 1938. $ 3
The management of forests in German}
as a natural resource to be maintainec
on a sustained yield basis has long beei
recognized as a precept to be followec
by every other country which has becomt
conscious of its timber heritage. Profes­sor
Heske, representing the oldest foresl
school of academic rank in the world, has
presented the background, the develop­ment,
and the present structure of this
management, in an effort to make its
technique more available to foresters ir
other countries. We are indebted to thf
Trustees of The Oberlaendcr Trust anc
to members of the Carl Schnrz Memorial
Foundation for this volume, for they in­vited
Dr. Heske of the Forstliche Hoch-schnle,
Tharandt bei Dresden, to make 2
brief survey of American forestry ir
1934, and subsequently to conduct a grour
of American foresters and lumbermer
through Germany and Austria. Out oi
these mutual experiences there developec
this volume in German, now made avail­able
to English- speaking people by Prof
Recknagel of Cornell University anc
several collaborators.
It is especially interesting to note thai
until recently forest management in Ger­many
was the concern of individual state;
rather than of the national government
and that only in 1934 was an organiza
tion developed comparable to the Ameri
can Forest Service in its scope and cen-
243
tralizing objective. A year later, private
forests, which have long played an im­portant
role in the sum total of German
forestry, came under national supervision,
not by way of confiscation, but by tech­nical
guidance coupled with self- adminis­tration
in a manner to avoid bureaucratic
tutelage. This national administration, as
would be expected in Germany, is highly
organized, and each state has its own
counterpart. In addition to these strictly
governmental agencies, the National So­cialist
Party has its own forestry agency,
the principal purpose of which is said to
be the coordination of the entire German
forestry structure.
With respect to the natural woodland
resources of Germany, we are reminded
that the forests no longer are natural
forests but cultivated areas, for centuries
of colonization have completely removed
the primeval stands and therewith have
in many cases seriously altered the asso­ciation
of plants. The result today is a
land covered with fifteen different types
of vegetation, namely, the heath region of
northwestern Germany, the western Baltic
beech region, the broadleaf and pine re­gion
of Pomerania, the spruce region of
East Prussia, the north German pine re­gion,
the pine- spruce- fir region of Upper
Silesia, the spruce- beech- fir region of
central and southern Germany, the pine
and oak region of the Upper Palatinate
and Central Franconia, the alpine spruce
region, the broadleaf region of southern
Germany, the broadleaf region of western
Germany, the oak region of the lower
Rhine and Westphalia, the pine and
broadleaf region of the Rhine, the bot­tomland
region, and the black soil re­gions.
The total forest area covers 27
per cent of the country, exclusive of the
Saar, and this area is not considered
adequate to meet Germany's forest needs.
In fact, the country has not been self-sustaining
in these matters and great
amounts of pulp wood have long been
imported from Scandinavia.
In addition to these items, culled from
this interesting volume, there are chapters
dealing with forestry education, the de­velopment
of land use in Germany, the
management of all the various types of
forests, employment of labor and other
social problems, and finally with forest
taxation and fires, two of the most vex­ing
questions concerning our own forest
heritages in the United States.
E. H. FULLING.
Five Pounds on Gardening
THE GARDENER'S OMNIBUS.
Edited for the Massachusetts Horti­cultural
Society by Edward I. Farring­ton.
886 pages, illustrated, indexed.
Hale, Cushman & Flint, Boston, 1938.
$ 3.50.
" Thirty- nine books in one" is the an­nouncement
which accompanies The Gar­dener's
Omnibus of the 109- year- old Hor­ticultural
Society which has its head­quarters
up in Boston. The subjects of
the " books" vary from the Garden Cal­endar,
resembling the column which has
appeared each week in Horticulture for
many years, to rock gardens, and include
a special section on each of the impor­tant
groups of plants, such as roses, wild
flowers, hedge plants, bulbs, and trees,
besides discussions of garden pests, labels,
pruning, greenhouses, and many other
topics.
Most of the material has appeared in
Horticulture and the whole book is made
up in the style of that weekly magazine
— which means that its 886 large pages
with heavy covers weigh five pounds.
Nearly every page contains at least one
photograph of a plant subject being dis­cussed.
While many names of experts
appear at the ends of articles, the bulk
of the book is admittedly written by and
for amateurs. Though many statements
are made with New England conditions
in mind, the articles cover the country in
application from coast to coast and from
the Gulf beyond the border into Canada.
CAROL H. WOODWARD.
A Fungus- Insect Relationship
THE GENUS SEPTOBASIDIUM.
John N. Couch. 480 pages, indexed.
Illustrated with text- figures and plates.
University of North Carolina Press,
Chapel Hill, 1938. $ 5.
A volume entitled The Genus Sep-tobasidium
by Dr. John N. Couch, Pro­fessor
of Botany at the University of
North Carolina, has recently appeared.
This work was started more than ten
years ago, and at that time this fungus
genus was represented by about 75
species, while the present volume con­tains
descriptions of 176 species, many
of which have been described as new
by the author of the work.
The introduction presents a description
of the life histories of some of the typical
244
species of this genus, and the account
reads like a fairy story. The interesting
and intimate correlation of the fungus
with its insect host is almost unbeliev­able.
All of the species of this genus
are parasitic on scale insects, which in
turn suck their nourishment from the
plant host on which they live. The fun­gus
appears not to be able to live with­out
the insect on which to feed. The
insect, on the other hand, is able to live
but fails to prosper in isolation.
As the author points out, this is not
a clear case of parasitism where the
fungus lives purely at the detriment of
its insect host. In return for its enforced
hospitality the fungus very generously
provides minute houses in which the in­sects
live and by which thev are pro­tected
from the attacks of their natural
enemies. Under this arrangement, which
is referred to by the author of the book
as a symbiotic relationship, many of the
individual insects must sacrifice them­selves
to the well- be; ng of the fungus,
but others that are not so sacrificed re­ceive
the protection of the fungus and
in turn are able to reproduce their kind
and thus continue their own existence
at the same time insuring the continual
existence of their fungus protector.
Mycologists will find this one of the
most interesting volumes that has ap­peared
in recent times, and the author
is to be congratulated on his valuable
contribution to science.
F. J. SEAVER.
Exploring in Burma
And Tibet
PLANT HUNTER'S PARADISE. F.
Kingdon Ward. 347 pages, illustrated
with nhotographs; appendix; index.
Macmillan, New York. 1938. $ 3.50.
Looking down the 1 ist of names of
plants that have been introduced into
horticulture directly through the explora­tions
of Mr. Kinedon Ward, one sees
such already familiar names as Aster
himalaicus, Cotoneaster micro phylla, En-kianthus
pancif torus, and Prunus Pud-dum
( P. ccrasoides). And if one were
living in the British Isles, where the
less hardy species of Rhododendron
thrive, where Meconopsis can be grown
and where certain species of Primula and
Berberis do not turn up their toes in the
heat of midsummer or cold of winter, one
would find many more names that in
recent years have entered catalogs, gar
dens, and flower shows.
In the appendix to Plant Hunter';
Paradise there are listed some 300 name;
of plants which the author has been re
sponsible for introducing. Each time tha
he writes a new chapter ( the story o
his fourteenth expedition into Asia is
now running in the Gardeners' Chronich
of London), he mentions newly discov
ered plants which offer possibilities foi
the still greater enrichment of gardens.
In Plant Hunter's Paradise he give;
a tantalizing glimpse of his lifetime wort
in search of Asiatic plants which maj
be introduced into gardens on other con
tinents. This is the story of his entr}
into Tibet over a pass unknown to whitt
men from the valley of the Adung rivei
in upper Burma. It is lightly, pleasingl}
written, with just enough plant descrip
tion to satisfy the botanist without an
noying other readers with technicalities
It is a good tale, both as a story o
travel and adventure and as a backgrounc
for the plants to be grown in tomorrow':
gardens.
CAROL H. WOODWARD.
Tree Care for the Amateur
OUR SHADE TREES. Ephrain
Porter Felt. 187 pages, illustratec
with photographs, indexed. Orangi
Judd, New York, 1938. $ 2.
Of the many books and periodicals pub­lished
on the care of trees few if anj
contain such a wealth of helpful informa­tion
as this popular- priced book by th<
well known entomologist and tree author­ity,
Dr. E. P. Felt. Little more coulc
be said in as simple and understandablt
a manner on such a subject.
Each of the eight chapters is outlinec
in the table of contents. Dr. Felt thei
commences with a general discussion oi
the place of trees in the world, theii
economic and historical importance, thei'
relation to man and to the tree exper
himself. Ensuing chapters deal with en
vironmental factors affecting trees; tr&
wounds and cavities; the selection am
planting of trees, and a full chapter oi
the pests and diseases of trees and thei
control. Such a synopsis might seem com
plete, but no, we find thirty- one inter
esting illustrations as well as severa
helpful graphs. The whole book, includ
ing the captions to the photographs, l
admirably readable, and shows th
245
author's keen sense of tree problems and
of the important place of trees in the
community.
Throughout there is a general feeling
that only experts are capable of man­aging
the various difficulties encountered
in the culture of trees. It is true there
is no one better equipped to cope with
problems of tree culture than the expert,
but it would be more gratifying to the
amateur if he could handle many of the
smaller problems which this book fails
to explain in adequate detail. This can
readily be overlooked when such other
more important problems have been so
thoroughly treated— for example, the de­tection
and knowledge of tree deficiencies.
After all, the analysis of symptoms is
the prime requisite for any successful
diagnosis.
JOSEPH W. TANSEY.
Auxins and Other Compounds
PLANT GROWTH SUBSTANCES.
Hugh Nicol. 108 pages. Indices of
substances, authors, and plants. Leonard
Hill Limited, London, 1938.
This is the fourth book on plant
growth substances which has come to the
reviewer's attention; the others are the
text by Boysen- Jensen, the translation
and revision by Avery and Burkholder
of Boysen- Jensen's book, and the text by
Went and Thimann. Although entitled
" Plant Growth Substances" this book is
largely limited to a discussion of the
" auxins'' and compounds having similar
effects. Brief reference is made to vita­min
C as a growth substance, to panto­thenic
acid, thyroxin, male and female
sex hormones, Bottomley's auximones
and other substances, but rather sur­prisingly
no mention is made of bios or
of the thiamin ( vitamin Bi) system.
The first two chapters are addressed
to the lay reader but the absorption of
the author in the chemical aspects of the
structure, synthesis, and origin of the
growth substances discussed makes the
balance of the book heavy reading for
the laity.
It is apparent from the author's dis­cussion
of the use of potassium perman­ganate
on rooting that he is unfamiliar
with the extensive work of Curtis on this
subject. He is apparently unaware also
of the negative results of Deuber in ex­periments
designed to test Oddo and
Pollacci ' s report of the substitution of
magnesium 2- pyrrole- carboxyIate for iron
in the growth of plants. Altogether the
book is a stimulating discussion, and,
though not exhaustive, it should be a
part of the library of any one especially
interested in plant growth substances.
WILLIAM J. ROBBINS.
Darwin— A New Portrait
Of the Naturalist
As a Man
CHARLES DARWIN. Geoffrey West.
359 pages, illustrated, indexed. Yale
University Press, New Haven, 1938.
$ 3.50.
It is not merely as the great naturalist
who formulated the theory of natural se­lection
as the basic mechanics of organic
evolution that Geoffrey West paints his
portrait of Darwin in this latest biog­raphy
; it is rather of a fanatically honest
and inoffensive man who, in spite of
almost insurmountable handicaps of life­long
ill health, became so obsessed with
an idea that its ultimate publication more
profoundly influenced the thinking of sub­sequent
biologists than any previous or
succeeding idea.
The story begins, as must all tales of
Charles Darwin, two generations before
his birth, for at that time the association
of two prominent lineages had its incep­tion.
Physician Doctor Erasmus Darwin
attended his patient Josiah Wedgwood
and both became life- time friends as well
as the grandfathers of Charles. The
botanical publications of the versatile
Erasmus were numerous and significant,
and among them was foreshadowed that
idea of a struggle for existence which
was so immortally promulgated later by
his grandson Charles.
But many years intervened before the
day of the Great Work, as Charles Dar­win
regarded it. In the meantime we
read of Charles' happy days at Shrews­bury,
at a time when all Europe was
astir over the Napoleonic struggles, but
to which Charles paid little heed. He
was in school at the time, slow to learn
and not at all scholarly. His father a
physician, he too entered the profession,
not from any desire to do so, but rather
to please his forbear. It was all in vain,
however, and next he entered the clergy
" where any man, wise or foolish, studi­ous
or sporting, could find a niche ac­cording
to his talents."
Soon, however, his interests wandered
into natural science, into collecting, and
246
particularly into geology. And then
came the great opportunity, Charles' ac­ceptance
of which haunted him for many
years to come, for he feared he had dis­pleased
his father, as he probably had.
It involved his becoming naturalist on
the famous round- the- world voyage of
the Beagle, an adventure which took him
from England five long years. Teneriffe,
the Cape Verde Islands, the Brazilian
jungles, the Rio Plata, Patagonia, Tierra
del Fuego, Chile, the Galapagos, Tahiti
and New Zealand, lay ahead of him and
in each of these places he spent varying
periods of time. He was only twenty-three
at the time when the voyage be­gan,
but his earlier excursions into nat­ural
history had already gained for him
the recognition necessary for this appoint­ment.
It was with an open mind, devoid
of preconceptions, and still as a student
of the Gospel, that he undertook the
assignment and labored through the long
journey, still hoping for his father's for­giveness.
Frequent spells of sea- sickness
were the nemesis of his folly, but despite
his recurring periods of misery Darwin's
keen powers of observation and his col­lecting
mania have since made the voy­age
memorable in the annals of science.
Finally he returned to England with a
diary of some 189,000 words and a con­stitution
so impoverished that for nearly
forty years, it was said, " he never knew
one day of the health of ordinary men.*'
It was his stomach that wrought such
misery during the remainder of his days
and incapacitated him so severely that for
years at a time he was unable to work
more than a few hours a day. Had it
not been that he chose an ideal wife in
his cousin Emma Wedgwood his misery
might have been even greater and the
world deprived not only of immortal scien­tific
contributions, but of an inspiring ex­ample
of industry despite ill health. By
way of compensation, Darwin was finan­cially
independent, the beneficiary of the
family fortune which permitted him to
pursue his studies and leisurely life un­hampered
by any bread- earning respon­sibilities.
He had long enjoyed an annual
income of perhaps £ 1500, but his father's
death raised it to nearly £ 5000.
Fifty years were devoted to studying
and writing about geology, coral reefs,
insect pollination, and variation of plants
and animals under domestication, as well
as sexual selection, earthworms and other
phases of natural history. The culmina­tion
of it all was the announcement ii
1858 of the Theory of Evolution by Nat
ural Selection, and the publication u
1859 of The Origin of Species. By 187.
this work was in its sixth and last edi
tion and despite the inevitable criticisri
of all great works it had withstood th
test and was established as a great con
tribution.
Darwin frequently feared lest publica
tion of his ideas offend people. Thi:
angle of his nature bothered him par
ticularly when he was led into a con
sideration of Man himself. Finally, hi:
convictions prevailed and " The Descen
of Man" appeared. But the most inter
esting incident bearing on the human re
lations of this man was with respect tt
Alfred Russell Wallace, his contemporary
In the midst of Darwin's labors he re
ceived an essay from this colleague whicl
contained the very essence of Darwin's
long pondered ideas and which seemed tc
take all originality from his own work
But Darwin knew no malice and passec
the essay on for publication. His re­ward
lay in the greater fame attached
to his own work later and in the friend­ship
and recognition which came from
Wallace.
EDMUND H. FULLING.
Notes, News, and Comment
Storm Damage. In the heavy storm
which struck New York Sept. 21, The
New York Botanical Garden lost about
fifty sizeable trees, practically all of
which were native species, particularly
oaks and ashes, besides a few elms. These
large and usually durable trees succumbed
to the wind chiefly because the rocky
ground had long impeded their root-growth
and they did not have sufficient
anchorage for their heavy tops. There
was less damage than had been expected
in the Hemlock Grove, where thirty trees
were uprooted beyond the point of re­claiming
them. Many other conifers were
leaning after the storm, but they have
been straightened and braced. The orna­mental
plantings of collection material
suffered comparatively little damage.
Most of the uprooted trees were at the
edge of the woods and around the site
of the old Lorillard Mansion.
While branches were broken from
many of the dahlias, which were just
entering a promising season of bloom,
247
and the hardy asters, just beginning to
open, were whipped almost beyond recog­nition,
both plantings recovered enough
to present an excellent showing of flowers
around the first week in October. The
hardy chrysanthemums did not seem to
feel the effects of the storm.
At the Arnold Arboretum Dr. E. D.
Merrill reported the damage from the
storm to have been the worst in the his­tory
of the institution. " A hurried sur­vey
made the next morning," he wrote,
" shows that approximately 1,500 trees
were either uprooted, broken off, or their
tops so badly damaged that they will
have to be removed." Wind velocity 12
miles distant was recorded, he said, at
187 miles an hour, and certainly it blew
well over 100 miles an hour at the Arnold
Arboretum at Jamaica Plain.
Autumn Flowers. In The Garden's
display of autumn flowers this year
around the main conservatory, an an­nouncement
of which was sent to mem­bers
Sept. 30, 900 dahlias in 400 varieties
are being shown, and 70 different kinds
of hardy asters (" Michaelmas daisies")
occupy a border containing 2,500 plants.
Chrysanthemums are expected to be in
good bloom around the middle of Octo­ber.
Of these there are 3,000 plants in
72 varieties. The hardy and tropical
waterlilies have been exceptionally fine
this year and their blooming has been
continued well into the autumn.
Board. Mr. Pierre Jay, President of
the Fiduciary Trust Company, was elected
to the Board of Managers of the Botani­cal
Garden in the class of 1939 at a
meeting of the Board Sept. 16.
In Chicago. Dr. W. H. Camp was in­vited
to lecture at the Field Museum in
Chicago October 1 on " Winter in
Oaxaca." He also spoke at Northwestern
University. Before returning to New
York he went to St. Louis to investigate
species of Vaccinium from the Ozark
Mountains at the Missouri Botanic
Garden.
Geneva. Dr. A. B. Stout spent a week
at Geneva, N. Y., the middle of Septem­ber
to study and evaluate the season's
work in the breeding of hardy seedless
grapes. While there he attended the meet­ing
of the New York State Fruit Test­ing
Association, where he spoke briefly
on the new seedless grapes.
Visitors. Dr. David Crawford, Presi­dent
of the University of Hawaii, visited
The New York Botanical Garden Sept. 6
on his return from a three months' tour
of Europe. He was at one time pro­fessor
of botany at Pomona College.
F. G. Walsingham, Director of the
Harvard Botanical Garden in Cuba, spent
several days at the end of September at
The New York Botanical Garden study­ing
the living collections of tropical
plants. He was on his way back to Cuba
after three months spent at Kew Gar­dens
in England on a special commission
for working with tropical plants.
Prof. William Randolph Taylor, spe­cialist
in algae, stopped at the Garden in
mid- September on his return to the Uni­versity
of Michigan from Woods Hole,
Mass., where he had passed the summer.
Frank G. Mackaness, who was return­ing
from a summer at his former home
in England, visited the Botanical Garden
early in September before going to New
Orleans, where he is heading the horti­cultural
department at Dillard University.
Bernice G. Schubert of the Gray
Herbarium spent a week at the Garden
in September working on the genus
Desmodium.
Rev. John Brett Langstaff has been
a frequent visitor in his search for bio­graphical
material on Dr. Samuel Bard,
the nineteenth century physician who
took over the practice of Dr. David
Hosack to enable the latter to spend
more time on the Elgin Botanic Garden
of which he was the founder.
Joseph A. Manda, retired orchid
grower of West Orange, N. J., came to
the Garden during September, bringing
a number of fine orchids with him.
E. P. Killip of the Smithsonian Insti­tution
spent a week working on a col­lection
of Venezuelan plants at the Gar­den
in September.
Among others who have registered in
the Library during recent weeks are
Theodore L. Steiger of Wellesley Col­lege;
E. P. Felt of the Bartlett Tree
Research Laboratories, accompanied by
G. M. Codding; E. D. Merrill of Har­vard
University; A. LeRoy Andrews of
Cornell University; Kenneth F. Baker of
Honolulu; Arthur Herrington of the In­ternational
Flower Show ; Margaret Mc­Kenny
; Dr. William S. Thomas; M. L.
Fernald of the Gray Herbarium; F.
Raymond Fosberg of the University of
Pennsylvania; Henry Teuscher of the
248
Montreal Botanic Garden; Leon Croizat
of the Arnold Arboretum; Ernest Rou­leau
of the University of Montreal;
Wanda K. Farr of the Boyce Thompson
Institute; Clyde Fisher of the American
Museum of Natural History and Mile.
Germaine Plouse of Bordeaux, France,
who is doing pathological research at
Louisiana State University this year.
Lectures. Opening the first of a series
of lectures arranged for patrons of the
flower show in Greenwich, Conn., T. H.
Everett spoke the evening of Sept. 20
on " Rock Gardens." The show is spon­sored
by the Westchester and Fairfield
Horticultural Society, with the co- opera­tion
of the Greenwich, Riverside, and
Hortulus Garden Clubs, the Little Garden
Club of Rye, The Green Fingers, and the
Woman's Club Gardeners. Mr. Everett
addressed the Westport Club in Con­necticut
Sept. 16 : on " Garden Soils and
Their Improvement" and the South
Orange Garden Club Sept. 28 on " Bulbs
and Annuals from South Africa."
Dr. H. N. Moldenke lectured to the
Mount Vernon Garden Club Sept. 19 on
" Botanizing in Florida." On Sept. 25
he led a combined field trip of the Tor­rey
Botanical Club, Newark Museum
Nature Club, and the Naturalists' Club
of Newark in the Watchung Mountains.
Dr. B. O. Dodge spoke at Baraboo,
Wise, before the University Club with
the Garden Club as guests Sept. 18 on
" Growing Healthy Plants at The Xew
York Botanical Garden."
Mycological Foray. Traveling to
Duchesnay, northwest of Quebec, where
the Forest Rangers School acted as hosts,
Dr. B. O. Dodge, Dr. F. J. Seaver, and
Mr. Robert Hagelstein were among the
70 persons who attended the annual foray
of the Mycological Society of America,
beginning August 23 and continuing to
the end of the week. Two weeks of rain
which were followed by fairer weather,
combined with the royal entertainment
which was offered throughout the ses­sion,
made the foray an unusually suc­cessful
one. Mr. Hagelstein addressed
the group on myxomycetes and Dr. E. B.
Mains of the University of Michigan
gave a lecture on color photography. The
events also included, outside of collecting
trips, excursions to the surrounding
country and motion pictures of Canadian
scenery and life.
The Gardening Staff. Donald Dodds, ;
former student gardener, who was at tht
Botanical Garden until December 1935
returned to the Garden in September as
assistant foreman gardener in the green­house
and has been assigned to Range 2
He has been greenhouse assistant undei
Mr. J. G. Esson at the Mrs. Roswell
Eldridge estate at Great Neck since leav­ing
the Garden.
John Borin, who has been assistanl
foreman at Range 2, is being transferrec
to Range 1 as assistant foreman.
M. Truman Fossum, formerly assistanl
foreman at Range 1, has enrolled this
fall at Cornell University.
Stephen G. Cutting returned from
Europe October 1. After a year as ex­change
student gardener at Kew, he had
arranged for a year of work at the
Berlin- Dahlem Botanic Garden, but left
after little more than three months there.
After a season spent working in a
nursery in Switzerland, Albert Gebert, a
former gardener at the Botanical Garden
and a graduate of the science course, also
returned to this country in September.
To Yale. John T. Moss, a student
gardener who received his certificate from
the Garden's science course last spring, is
leaving October 15 to organize a new
department for the propagating of plant
material for Yale University's orna­mental
gardens. The work, which will
come under the management of the
Bureau of Planting, will chiefly be done
in the greenhouse of a small estate which
has recently been bequeathed to the Uni­versity.
The place is adjacent to the
botanical garden at Yale in New Haven
Mr. Moss began work at The New York
Botanical Garden two years ago as ar
apprentice, and shortly after was ap­pointed
a student gardener.
Inez Mexia. Having contracted E
chronic illness while collecting botanica!
specimens last spring in Oaxaca and ad
joining states of southern Mexico, Mrs
Inez Mexia died July 12 in Berkeley
Calif., at the age of 58. Her specimens
located in the various herbaria of tht
world, including The New York Botani
cal Garden, leave evidence of her Ions
continued activities as a plant collectoi
in the relatively little known portions o
the western hemisphere from Alaska intc
South America.
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
BOARD OF MANAGERS
I. ELECTIVE MANAGERS
Until 1939: ARTHUR M. ANDERSON ( Treasurer), CLARENCE LEWIS, PIERRE
JAY, E. D. MERRILL, HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE ( Secretary and Assistant
Treasurer), WILLIAM J. ROBBINS, and J. E. SPINGARN.
Until 1940: HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN ( Vice- president), CHILDS FRICK,
ALLYN R. JENNINGS, HENRY LOCKHART, JR., D. T. MACDOUGAL, and JOSEPH
R. SWAN ( President).
Until 1941: MARSHALL FIELD, MRS. ELON HUNTINGTON HOOKER, JOHN L.
MERRILL ( V'ice- president), COL. ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY, and H. HOBART
PORTER.
II. EX- OFFICIO MANAGERS
FIORELLO H, LAGUARDIA, Mayor of the City of New York.
ROBERT MOSES, Park Commissioner.
JAMES MARSHALL, President of the Board of Education.
III. APPOINTIVE MANAGERS
TRACY E. HAZEN, appointed by the Torrey Botanical Club.
R. A. HARPER, SAM F. TRELEASE, EDMUND W. SINNOTT, and MARSTON T.
BOGERT, appointed by Columbia University.
GARDEN STAFF
WILLIAM J. ROBBINS, P H . D., SC. D Director
H. A. GLEASON, P H . D Assistant Director and Head Curator
HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE Assistant Director
A. B. STOUT, P H . D Curator of Education and Laboratories
FRED J. SEAVER, P H . D. f S c D Curator
BERNARD O. DODGE, P H . D Plant Pathologist
JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D Bibliographer
PERCY WILSON Associate Curator
ALBERT C. SMITH, P H . D Associate Curator
HAROLD N. MOLDENKE, P H . D Associate Curator
ELIZABETH C. HALL, B. S Librarian
H, H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections
FLEDA GRIFFITH Artist and Photographer
ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Research Associate in Bryology
E. J. ALEXANDER Assistant Curator and Curator of the Local Herbarium
W. H. CAMP, P H . D Assistant Curator
CLYDE CHANDLER, A. M Technical Assistant
ROSALIE WEIKERT Technical Assistant
FREDERICK KAVANAGH, M. A Technical Assistant
CAROL H. WOODWARD, A. B Editorial Assistant
THOMAS H. EVERETT, N. D. HORT Horticulturist
G. L. WITTROCK, A. M Docent
OTTO DEGENER, M. S Collaborator in Hawaiian Botany
ROBERT HAGELSTEIN Honorary Curator of Myxomycetes
ETHEL ANSON S. PECKHAM. . Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections
ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds
A. C. PFANDER Assistant Superintendent
MEMBERSHIP IN THE GARDEN
Established as a privately endowed institution, aided partially by City appro-priations,
The New York Botanical Garden is dependent for its progress largely
upon benefactions and memberships. Through these means, though young as botani­cal
gardens go, it has become the third largest institution of its kind, its library,
herbarium, and horticultural collections ranking among the finest and most complete
in any country.
Membership in The New York Botanical Garden, therefore, means promotion
of scientific research in botany and the advancement of horticultural interests.
Scientifically, the Garden is able to serve as a clearing- house of information for
students and botanists all over the world; horticulturally, it often serves as a link
between the plant explorer or breeder and the gardening public.
Through memberships and benefactions, provision is made at the Botanical
Garden for the training of young scientists and student gardeners; hundreds of new
books are added annually to the library, which is open daily to the public for re­search
and reading; free exhibits are maintained in the museum, the greenhouses,
and gardens, and lectures, courses, and free information in botany and gardening
are given to the public.
Each individual member of the Garden receives:
( 1) A copy of the Journal every month.
( 2) A copy of Addisonia twice a year, each number illustrated with
eight colored plates of unusual plants, accompanied by complete descrip­tions
and other pertinent information.
( 3) A share of surplus plant material of interesting or new varieties
whenever it is distributed.
( 4) Announcements of special floral displays at the Garden from
season to season.
( 5) Credit, to the extent of the membership fee paid, toward courses
of study offered by the Garden.
A limited number of garden clubs are accepted as affiliates. The privileges of
affiliation are a subscription to the Journal, announcements of displays, a specially
conducted tour of the grounds and greenhouses, and a lecture once a year by a
selected member of the staff.
Fellowships or scholarships for practical student- training in horticulture or for
botanical research may be established by bequest or other benefaction either in
perpetuity or for a definite period.
The classes of membership and types of benefaction are as follows:
Annual Member
Sustaining Member
Garden Club Affiliation
Fellowship Member
Member for Life
Fellow for Life
Patron
Benefactor
annual fee
annual fee
annual fee for club
annual fee
single contribution
single contribution
single contribution
single contribution
$ 10
25
25
100
250
1,000
5,000
25,000
Contributions to the Garden may be deducted from taxable incomes. The
following is a legally approved form of bequest:
J hereby bequeath to The New Tor\ Botanical Garden incorporated under ihe
Laws of New Yor\, 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 addressed to The New York
Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York, N. Y.