Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]
[graphic]

lanceolate, very stiff; elongated at the apex. Flower-stem branched at the base; branches simple. Flowers orbiculate, bell-shaped. (Sims.) The leaves are very long, straight, and tapering to a long point, with a very few scattered threads on the margin. They are of a deep green, edged with yellow. The flowers are globular, greenish, with a purplish tinge, and large. The flower-stem is about 4 ft. or 5 ft. high, growing very upright, and branching at the base. It was found in Carolina by Lyon, and introduced about

1817.

6. Y. RECURVIFO`LIA Salisb. The recurved-leaved Yucca. Identification. Salisb. in Parad. Lond., 31.; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 228. Synonyme. Y. recúrva Hort.

Spec. Char., &c. With a stem. Leaves linear-lanceolate; green, recurved, deflexed, slightly thready on the margin. Petals broad in the interior. (Salisb.) Stem about 3 ft. high. Flowers a greenish yellow, with a tinge of purple. Found on the sandy shores of Georgia by Le Comte; flowering in July and August. Introduced in 1794.

7. Y. FILAMENTO'SA. The filamentose Yucca, or thready Adam's Needle. Identification. Lin. Sp., 457.; Reich., 2. 84.; Willd., 2. p. 184.; Trew Ehret, t. 37.; Mart. Mill. No. 4.; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., 2. p. 291.; N. Du Ham., 3. p. 147.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836; Bon Jard., ed. 1837.

Synonymes. Y. foliis filamentòsis Moris. Hist., 2. 419.; Y. virginiana, &c., Pluk. Alm., 396.
Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 900.; and our fig. 2397.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves serrated

and thready. (Willd.) The stalk and leaves are like those of Y. gloriòsa; but the leaves are obtuse, and have no spines at their ends. The flower-stalk rises 5 ft. or 6 ft. high, and is generally covered with flowers for most of its length. The flowers are larger and whiter than those of Y. gloriòsa, and sit close to the stalk. On the sides of the leaves are long threads, which hang down. Morison states that he saw this

[merged small][graphic]

species bearing seeds in the garden of Mr. George Crook of Waterstock, near Oxford, in 1675; and that the capsules were 3-sided and 3-celled. It is a native of Virginia, and flowers in September and

[graphic]

October. It is perfectly hardy.

8. Y. (F.) ANGUSTIFOLIA Pursh. The narrow-leaved
Yucca.

Identification. Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 227.; Nuttall Gen. Pl.
Amer., 1. p. 218.; Sims in Bot. Mag., t. 2236.
Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 2236.; and our fig. 2398.

Spec. Char., &c. Without a stem. Leaves long-linear,
rigid; margin slightly_filamentose. Capsules large,
obovate-cylindrical. (Pursh.) This species has been
sometimes confounded with Y. stricta; but the leaves
are narrower, and more recurved, and the threads
on the margin much longer. The whole plant is of
humbler growth: the flower-stem is not branched; and

the flowers are more oblong than round, and of a greenish white, without any tinge of purple. Found by Nuttall on the banks of the Missouri; and

described by Pursh, from the specimen in Nuttall's herbarium. Closely resembling Y. filamentòsa. Introduced in 1811.

9. Y. FLA'CCIDA Haw. The flaccid-leaved Yucca.

Identification. Haw. Supp., p. 35.; Lindl. in Bot. Reg., vol. xxii., under Y. draconis.

Engravings. Bot. Reg. ; and our fig. 2399.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves all very flaccid, weak, bent below the middle and recurved, very long and lanceolate, flat, concave and mucronulate at the apex, roughish; marginal filaments strong, yellowish. (Haworth Suppl., p. 35.) "A pretty and apparently distinct species, well marked by its thread-edged scabrous leaves, and pale flowers, which appear in July." Introduced from Georgia in 1819.

2399

[graphic]

10. Y. GLAUCE'SCENS Haw. The glaucescent Yucca. Identification. Haw. Sup. Pl. Suc., p. 35.; Swt. Brit. Fl.-Gard., t. 53. Engravings. Brit. Flow.-Gard., t. 53. ; and our fig. 2400. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves linear-lanceolate, entire, concave, glaucescent, straight; margin slightly filamentose. (Swt.) A stemless species, with very stiff concave leaves, of a dull glaucous colour, terminating in a sharp horny spine; margin entire, with here and there a slender white thread, slightly twisted. Flowers of a greenish white, tinged with yellow. A native of North America. Introduced by Mr. John Lyons in 1819. This plant was first given to the nurseries from High Clere, where it flowers freely every year. It has the habit of Y. filamentòsa, with larger and more numerous blossoms, and more elegant sharp-pointed foliage. (See Gard. Mag., vol. x. p. 254.)

[graphic]

HALF-HARDY

CHAP. CXVII.

MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS, DESERVING A PLACE
IN THE BRITISH ARBORETUM.

FOURCROY'A longa va Karw. et Zuccar, Trans. Munich, vol. xvi. part 2. t. 48, 49. A splendid plant, brought from South America to Europe, in 1828, by the Baron Karwinski; and introduced into England by M. Francis Rauch, in 1833. A tree, with a straight cylindrical trunk, 40 ft. or 50 ft. high, and from 12 in. to 18 in. in diameter, and surmounted by a flower-stem from 36 ft. to 40 ft. high. It is found on the summit of Mount Tanga, in the province of Oaxaca in Mexico, at an elevation of 10,000 ft. above the level of the sea, growing in declivities

[graphic]

along with oaks and arbutuses. It flowers there in May, and ripens its fruit in the following winter. Baron Karwinski mentioned to M. Rauch, in 1833,

[graphic]

that, where he found the plant, the ground was covered with snow and ice; so that there can be no doubt of its being hardy in the climate of London. It is of such remarkably slow growth in its native habitats, that the inhabitants say it flowers only once in 400 years. Fig. 2402., reduced from Baron Karwinski's plate to a scale 1 in. to 12ft., shows the general appearance of the fullgrown plant, with its noble spike of flowers. Fig. 2401. shows the flowers of the natural size. Only seven plants were introduced, one of which was purchased by the Duke of Devonshire, and the rest sold to Messrs. Loddiges. Price five guineas each.

F. gigantèa Vent., Bot. Mag., t. 2250., is an agave-like plant, with leaves 7 ft. long, and a flower-stem 30 ft. high; a native of South America: introduced in 1690. It flowered in 1821, at the Earl of Powis's seat at Wallcot, Shropshire.

Littæ a gemmiflora Brig.; Aga've gemmiflora Ker; Bonapartea júncea Haw., Hort. Journ. Roy. Inst., iii. t. 1.; and our fig. 2403.; is a native of Peru, introduced in 1800; and, though commonly kept in the green-house, it is probably as hardy as some kinds of Yucca. The plant of which our figure is a portrait, with a single flower of the natural size, flowered in the conservatory of Knight's Exotic Nursery, King's Road, in 1826. The flower-stem first appeared about the

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[graphic]

Chamaerops humilis L.; Phoenix hùmilis Cav.; Pálma hùmilis Bauh.; Palmiste E'ventail, Fr.; Zwergpalme, Ger.; the dwarf Fan Palm, or Palmetto; N. Du Ham., iii. t. 58., and our fig. 2404.; is a native of the south of Europe, and, in dry warm situations in England, will stand the winter with very little protection.

Though this palm is designated dwarf, yet, according to the Nouveau Du Hamel, it grows to the height of 30 ft. or 40 ft. in Spain; and one in the Jardin des Plantes, in a tub, attained the height of 30.ft. In England, one is an old conservatory at Buckeridge House, near Godalming, was, in 1836, upwards of 12 ft. high. The trunk of plants of this size is cylindrical, perfectly naked from the ground to within a short distance of the leaves, where scales commence, of a reddish hue, being the bases of the footstalks, which remain for some years after the leaves and petioles have dropped off; and which scales, with great plausibility, have been considered as giving the first hint for the foliaged capitals of Corinthian columns. As this palm produces abundance of seed in Italy and Sardinia, if large quantities of it were imported, and the plants raised from it exposed to the frost, some would doubtless be found more hardy than others; and these might be perpetuated from the suckers, The soil which this palm prefers is a which rise abundantly from the roots. deep sand; in which soil it is said to grow in the south of Europe, and spread

« AnteriorContinua »