Exotic plant

“ When you come across a colony of these queer-looking objects, no wonder it never occurs to you that the first flower of spring is at hand. The great shiny hoods look more like snails than like flowers; and indeed usually the flowers are not in sight at all, so well are they shielded by these hood-like leaves.
But each little hidden flower has four flower leaves, four stamens, and one pistil. When they have been dusted with pollen by fly visitors, and are preparing to turn into fruit, the purple hoods wither away. Then the plant sends up clusters of large bright green leaves. ”

“ In the first place, such an association of florets makes a far more conspicuous advertisement than a single flower, one that can be seen by insects at a great distance; for most of the composite plants live in large colonies, each plant, as well as each floret, helping the others in attracting their benefactors' attention. The facility with which insects are enabled to collect both pollen and nectar makes the goldenrods exceedingly popular restaurants. ”

“ It is no doubt the most cosmopolitan plant that grows, and is to be seen in about the same beauty and diffuses its fragrance in the same degree in nearly all parts of the world. All the trees seen growing south of the equator appeared foreign to those growing in the United States. ”

“ A valuable quality of the plant is, that in any light soil it spreads freely, and it is quite hardy. For dry places between shrubs, for dry or sandy banks (either wooded or bare) , copses, or heathy places, this plant is admirable. I have noticed it thriving in the shade of fir trees. It is interesting as being a South American plant, thriving in any open soil.
Marsh Mallow, Althæa.—These are plants rarely seen out of botanic gardens now–a–days, and yet, from their vigour and showy flowers, they may afford unique effects in the wild garden. ”

“ Commonest of all with us is this rank weed, which possesses the dignity of a rubber plant. Much more attractive to human eyes, at least, than the dull, pale, brownish-pink umbels of flowers are its exquisite silky seed-tufts. But not so with insects. Knowing that the slightly fragrant blossoms are rich in nectar, bees, wasps, flies, beetles, and butterflies come to feast. ”

“ It is customary to speak of the British flora as consisting for the most part of species introduced into this country by natural means, while some plants owe their introduction to human agency or are 'escapes' from cultivation. It is by no means an easy task in some instances to decide whether a species is native or introduced, but in some cases, a few of which are mentioned, there is no doubt as to the alien nature of the plants. ”

“ To them we are indebted for our tulip-trees, our magnolias, our maples, our robinias, our western platanus, and a host of other noble trees, that already share the forest, and contest with our native species, the right to our soil.
At no period of the world has the number of plant-hunters been so great as at present. Will you believe it, hundreds of men are engaged in this noble and useful calling? ”

“ There are several species hardy and well suited for flower-garden purposes, and, more advantageous still, distinct from each other. The effect afforded by them, when well developed, is equal to that of any hothouse plant that we can venture in the open air for the summer, while they are green and ornamental at all seasons. ”

“ The secret of our discontent, possibly, lies in the fact that variegation in plants that are normally green is not, in its essence, a sign of health but of wasting sickness. In any case, whatever our feelings may be on this particular point, it is well worth while to weigh the merits of each shrub, variegated or green, before we plant it, not only individually, but in relation to its neighbourhood to other garden associates, and more especially with regard to its winter aspect. ”

“ And what is an orchid? How are we to know that this blossom which we plucked is an orchid? The average reader will exclaim, "Because it is an air-plant"—the essential requisite, it would seem, in the popular mind. Of over 3000 known species of orchids, it is true a great majority are air-plants, or epiphytes—growing upon trees and other plants, obtaining their sustenance from the air, and not truly parasitic; but of the fifty-odd native species of the northeastern United States, not one is of this character, all growing in the ground, like other plants. ”

“ There is something so very striking and remarkable in this plant, that it is not surprizing the Egyptians and the Indians, fond of drawing allusions from natural objects, should have considered it as emblematic of creative power. The leaves of the succeeding plant are found involved in the middle of the seed, perfect, and of a beautiful green. When the sun goes down, the large leaves that spread themselves over the surface of the water close like an umbrella, and the returning sun gradually unfolds them. ”

“ Such flowers as the carnation, common tulip, and hyacinth, which are believed to be descended, each from a single wild form, present innumerable varieties, differing almost exclusively in the size, form, and colour of the flowers. These and some other anciently cultivated plants which have been long propagated by offsets, pipings, bulbs, etc., become so excessively variable, that almost each new plant raised from seed forms a new variety, “all of which to describe particularly,” as old Gerarde wrote in 1597, “were to roll Sisyphus’s stone, or to number the sands.” ”

“ God gives the seed a body "as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed its own body."
It is true that what are called "varieties" can be produced among cultivated plants, as among birds and animals, by change of food and climate, and by care and training. The same plant will soon look very different if taken from a dry, sunny spot, and placed in a damp, shady corner. I have heard that if plants are moved from their home on the seashore, and placed in a dry, hot place, their thick, fleshy leaves will in time quite change their character, becoming thin and hairy. ”

“ The old native growths, which afforded grand botanic specimens, have been ruthlessly destroyed, never to be restored, and a few of the most common pines of Europe occupy their place. Let no one expect in visiting these Gardens to find any plant either native, rare, curious, or attractive, worthy of notice. ”

“ As one travels along the mountain roads, in addition to new kinds of palms, one sees screw-pines and beautiful tree-ferns, splendid white rock-orchids and purple parasitic varieties, red and white rhododendrons and heaths, cranberries, blackberries, ivy, passion-flowers, yews, quinine-trees, aloes of all kinds, small bamboos, silver-ferns, and all manner of beautiful flowering shrubs and plants, for it is here and not in the hotter tropical regions that we have the greatest variety of colour and the most beautiful floral scenery. ”

“ Plants with this method of getting their food, must of course grow in places where dead and decaying vegetation is plentiful, and often as such soil is turned up there may be noted a peculiar dank odor, suggestive not only of its origin, but of the fact that these “rotten plants” make their home in it. Some of our most beautiful orchids grow in this fashion, but even there, in spite of flowers that for beauty of form are without rivals, the plants have no green coloring matter in their leaves, which are often reduced or even wanting altogether. ”

“ It is well known to all who have arranged flowers for the table that the green of the leaves of different plants varies greatly in its shade and tint. Many greens do not match special flowers at all, but it is the fact that the green of any one plant is always quite harmonious, and agrees well with its own flowers!
Besides varied and beautiful colours, sweet or strong scents and supplies of honey or nectar are provided for insects. ”

“ Though our country’s vegetation has lost in scientific interest, it has gained vastly in both economic and æsthetic value by the introduction of useful and ornamental plants from all the Temperate regions of the world; and besides, a large number of species have followed in man’s footsteps, and, taking advantage of the disturbance of the native flora caused by his operations, endeavour with more or less success to establish a footing in the country. ”

“ As the best marked varieties of a wild species occur on the confines of the area which it inhabits, so the best marked varieties of a cultivated plant, are those last produced by the gardener. Cabbages, for example, wall fruit, and cerealia, show no disposition, when neglected, to assume the characters of the wild states of these plants. Hence the difficulty of determining what are the true parent species of most of our cultivated plants. ”

“ Our stock of European hardy plants (whether herbs or shrubs) is small, and consists of the commonest and oldest-fashioned things in cultivation. These, and every Californian, Oregon, and Texan plant of which you have duplicates to spare us (or seeds) , whether hardy or not,—these are the plants I am just now most desirous to accumulate. Greenhouse plants are scarcely less welcome, but of those I will write more particularly hereafter. ”

“ The long stems are clothed with large and handsome pinnate leaves, and the yellowish-green inflorescence appears towards the end of summer. The male plant has long been known as a very strong, graceful, and effective herb. The female plant, however, remains green much longer than the male, and when profusely laden with fruit, each shoot droops and the whole plant improves in aspect. It should not be forgotten in any selection of hardy plants of free growth and imposing aspect. ”

“ The tendency has always been to suppose that a plant from another country than our own was a subject requiring much attention, not thinking that the conditions that occur in such places as mentioned above, are, as a rule, quite as favourable as those that obtain in nature throughout the great northern regions of Europe, Asia, and America. Here some common plants of the woods of the Eastern States are considered rarities and coddled accordingly to their destruction. ”

“ And in the woods at this season you find the yellow adder’s tongue, spring beauty, anemone, wake-robin, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wild ginger, and Solomon’s seal. Each of these plants has stores of food hidden in its [Pg 217] underground stem. This may take the shape of a bulb, or a tuber, or a rootstock; but in any case it shows you at once that it is a little storehouse of food.
A collection of the different kinds of underground stems which serve as storehouses for the early-flowering plants would be quite as interesting to work over as a collection of plant packages. ”

“ Many of the species and varieties are tall herbs yielding a wealth of bloom throughout the summer and early autumn. These require a deep, rich, and rather heavy loam, and a cool, moist position to flourish.
The dwarf perennial species and varieties, the “ moss pinks ” of gardens, are charming plants for the rockery and as edging to beds and borders. They are trailing and tufted in habit, the branches rooting at the nodes. They succeed in poorer soil, and drier situations than the tall kinds. ”

“ Plantains, too, spread their green succulent leaves—sunshades of nature’s own contriving—to protect the tender growths that love to live beneath them. Every tree seemed strangling in the coils of trailing vines and climbers; real ropes, pendents, and streamers of brilliant blossoms, fit resting-places for the birds and butterflies, themselves like living flowers. Wondrous19 orchids, grotesque in form and colouring, grew everywhere, springing alike from the living and the dead; for amidst this flood of vegetable life, decay and beauty, like twin sisters, walk hand-in-hand. ”

“ The Seed Plants, then, achieved their wonderful abundance and variety owing to the highly stimulating conditions offered by a terrestrial existence; we must assign to all the existing types a long terrestrial ancestry. How, then, about the water plants whose leaves and flowers so decorate our lakes? There seems no doubt [13] that they are species which have left the land to resume the aquatic habits of their remote ancestors. With few exceptions they retain the aerial mode of pollination which is the pride of the specialized land plants. ”

“ In botany, an extensive and important natural order of exogenous trees and shrubs, found exclusively in the temperate and tropical parts of the Old World, and unknown in a wild state in America. The fruit is pulpy, succulent, sub-acid, and eatable, and separated into cells by membranous partitions, and is covered with a leathery aromatic skin or rind. Some of the genera embrace plants of great beauty and utility. A few of the Indian species are climbers. The genus CIT′RUS, which includes the orange, lemon, citron, lime, bergamot, and shaddock, is that best known in Europe. ”

“ Distribution--From New Brunswick and Ontario southward to our Southern states, westward to Nebraska.
Of the six floral leaves which every orchid, terrestrial or aerial, possesses, one is always peculiar in form, pouch-shaped, or a cornucopia filled with nectar, or a flaunted, fringed banner, or a broad platform for the insect visitors to alight on. Some orchids look to imaginative eyes as if they were masquerading in the disguise of bees, moths, frogs, birds, butterflies. A number of these queer freaks are to be found in Europe. ”

“ A noble plant which needs a deep, rich, moist soil, and an open situation, to insure the full degree of stateliness, but it will make a very good figure in any border where it can enjoy a glimmer of sunshine. There are several distinct varieties, the flowers of which range in colour from palest yellow to the deepest shade of orange and reddish buff, and there are others which have variegated leaves. They should be planted in autumn eighteen inches apart, allowing from four to six inches of soil above the crowns. ”

“ In garden flowers, also, we see most striking results of continuous selection. By taking advantage of the tendency of stamens and carpels to change occasionally into petals, and of petals to increase in number, “double flowers” have been effected. When “doubling” is complete—that is, when the conversion into petals is thorough—no seed can of course be produced, and the plants must be propagated by cuttings. Different other slight natural variations, exaggerated by selection and cultivation, have been the source of innumerable “varieties” in our gardens. ”