\ 955

MussouRI JBOTANICAL
GARDEN |JBULLETIN

VOLUME XLII

19355

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

PUBLISHED MONTHLY EXCEPT JULY AND AUGUST,
BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: $2.50 A YEAR

MissouR! BOTANICAL
GARDEN LIBRARY

MISSOURI BO"

ANICAL

GARDEN BU

sALETIN

CONTENTS

A Series of Ozark Bulletins

The Ozarks—Their Past, Present,
and Future

The Annals of the Missouri
Botanical Garden

western

Volume XLIII

January, 1955

Book Reviews: Benson and Darrow’s
“Trees and Shrubs of the South-
Deserts” ;
“Manual of the Plants of Colorado” ;
Christopher’s “Pruning Manual”

Harrington’s

Number 1

Cover: Lower outlet Greer Spring. Photograph by Julian A. Steyermark.

Office of publication: 306 E. Simmons Street, Galesburg, Illinois.

Editorial Office: Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 Tower Grove Avenue,
St. Louis, 10, Missouri

Published monthly except July and August by the Board of Trustees of the
Missouri Botanical Garden. Subscription price: $2.50 a year.

Entered as second-class matter January 26, 1942, at the post-office at Gales-
burg, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Please: Do not discard a copy of the Bulletin. If you have no further use for yours
pass it along toa friend or return it to the Garden. Return postage guaranteed.

Missour1 Botanical
Garden Bulletin

Vol. XLII JANUARY, 1955 No. 1

A SERIES OF BULLETINS ABOUT THE OZARKS

To a biologist the outstanding thing about St. Louis is that it is the front
door to the Ozark plateau. Geographically, this area begins in the edge of
metropolitan St. Louis and extends southwesterly almost to the very corner
of the state. Most of the plateau is within Missouri, though its southern
edge reaches down into Arkansas where it joins onto the Boston Mountains.

In the last quarter-century St. Louisans have become increasingly in-
terested in the Ozarks; the future of this area and the future of St. Louis
are now seen to be intertwined and part of one general problem. The
BULLETIN is therefore planning to devote from time to time a considerable
portion of its pages to the past and future of the Ozarks. Articles by a
number of different authors are scheduled, people of different backgrounds
and with differing points of view. The opinions these writers express will
be their own, uncensored in any way. They will certainly disagree about
details, and some of them may even disagree about fundamentals. It will be
a healthy thing if they do. Out of this clashing of opinion will come a
wider scattering of facts about the Ozarks and a better understanding of
the problems of that arean—EpGar ANDERSON.

Fig. 1. A gravel bar at a bend of Jacks Fork.
(1)

2 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

THE OZARKS—THEIR PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

JULIAN A. STEYERMARK!

Before a bank loans money, an investigation is made of the borrower’s
past and present background. Before prescribing curative treatments or
perfcrming operations, the physician or surgeon inquires into the patient’s
case history. Detailed study of the earth’s strata and structure precedes the
discovery of new oil flows and gold or other valuable mineral deposits. In
the same manner, it would be foolish to speculate on what may happen to

the Ozarks without first inquiring into their past history.

PREHISTORIC

The Ozarks have an earth history that takes us back millions of years.
Looking at them now—a highly dissected forested plateau criss-crossed by
innumerable streams, springs, v-shaped rugged ravines, high bluffs, and
plenty of rocky openings—it is difficult to realize that they were once
covered by sea water. Twice since that time (after the close of the Paleo-
zoic era) the Ozark land surface has been worn down to a low, comparatively
level plain with swamps and with slow-flowing streams meandering through
a largely forested area. Such a prehistoric scene might best be exemplified
today by the forested tracts in Big Oak State Park and in other sections of
the southeastern Missouri Lowlands. Twice also (once at the close of the
Cretaceous period about 100 million years ago, and again towards the close
of the Tertiary period about one million years ago) this low-lying Ozark
land was gradually raised upwards a few hundred feet to over a thousand
feet to become “high and dry.”

Such a change resulted in this region taking on a “new look.” Instead
of the sluggish streams, swamps, poor drainage, and land near or a few
hundred feet above sea-level, there appeared clear, dashing, mountain streams,
and well-drained land with newly exposed rock strata. The giant forces of
weathering and erosion carved and chiselled the rocks and produced new

irregularities on the contour of the land. The original low swampy area

covered mostly with a dense and luxurious forest of bald cypress, swamp
cottonwood, swamp hickory, water elm, overcup oak, basket oak, cork oak,
water locust, swamp red maple, swamp tupelo, and pumpkin ash, some of
whose ancestors (generically) can be traced back in the fossil record to the
Mesozoic era—gradually changed into one resembling the present Ozark
landscape with its diversity of trees and shrubs.

'Dr. Steyermark, of the Chicago Natural History Museum staff, is an authority not only
on the Ozark flora but of the floras of Central America and Venezuela as well. He is a
native St. Louisan who acquired his strong interest in our native flora as a boy in our city
schools and went on to Washington University and to graduate work in the Henry Shaw
School of Botany. We are proud to have him as a consulting member of our staff and to
assist in a small way with his continuing studies of the flora of Missouri.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 3

Fig. 2. Huzzah Creek.

The change-over to an upland of rocky drier soils and a dissected well-
drained land surface obliterated from most of the Ozark area the dominant
vegetation of the low-lying swamp forests, but some of it persisted. Cane
(Arundinaria gigantea), southern red oak (Quercus falcata), possum haw
(Ilex decidua), carolina buckthorn (Rhamnus caroliniana), supple-Jack
(Berchemia scandens), and fringe tree (Chionanthus virginica) held out or
adapted themselves (over a period of thousands of years) on the higher,
drier, and often rocky ground. Refugee plants of some of the swampy areas
persisted in depressions of the upland in sink-hole ponds, the vegetation of
which is mostly reminiscent of the Coastal Plain. Other survivors of the
last uplift that were characteristic of this swampy forest followed the course
of the White River and its tributaries in southwestern Missouri and along
Eleven Points, Black, and Current rivers in southeastern Missouri.

Then gradually resulted a shifting to and occupation of various soils and
habitats. Fresh rock exposures in the form of bluffs, “glades”’, and “barrens”
became available to plant life over a long period of time. The surface soils
of the upland, overlying largely a sandstone or chert or granite mantle, sup-
ported a much sparser and thinner forest cover than the ravines, valleys, and
limestone slopes. Certain species of plants favored the exposed limestone
strata, while others took to the more acidic sandstone, cherts, and igneous
granites and trachytes. Various oaks and hickories eventually dominated the
upland surface. Flowering dogwood and redbud became dominants in the
forest understory. Chinquapin oak, blue ash, and sugar maple came to
occupy the more limey soils, while southern yellow pine, red maple, and sour

gum established themselves along ravine slopes, narrow ridges, and the tops

4 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

of bluffs where the soil was acid and where lime had been leached out. Ward’s
willow, Ozark witch-hazel, alder, and sycamore moved onto the gravel bars
and edges of the smaller streams, while silver maple, green ash, river birch,
cottonwood, and black willow occupied the deeper, richer, alluvial deposits
of the valieys.

What a fascinating bit of evolution had been going on throughout this
long period of transformation of the Ozarks! On the rocky upland lime-
stone bluffs and glades developed such distinct species as Ozark cedar
(Juniperus Ashei), Trelease’s larkspur (Delphinium Treleasei), lead plant
(Amorpha brachycarpa), false gromwell (Onosmodium subsetosum), pen-
stemon (Penstemon Cobaea var. purpureus), Bush’s skullcap (Scutellaria
Bushii), and corn salad (Valerianella ozarkana and V. Bushii). In the Ozark
woodlands of thousands of years ago evolved three distinct kinds of spider-
worts (Tradescantia ozarkana, T. Ernestiana, and T. longipes), Ozark
trillium (Trillium ozarkanum), Ozark chestnut (Castanea ozarkensis), vari-
ous hawthorns (Crataegus padifolia, C. Lettermani, C. sicca, C. noelensis, C.
dis pessa, C. latebrosa, and C. nuda), a variety of poppy mallow (Callirhoc
involucrata var. Bushii), yellow foxglove (Gerardia calycosa), bedstraw
(Galium arkansanum), and an aster (Aster anomalus). Along the gravel
bars and valleys of the Ozarks evolved Ozark witch-hazel (Hamamelis
vernalis), amsonia (Amsonia illustris), and ironweed (Veronia crinita). Two
distinct species of alum-roots (Heuchera missouriensis in Missouri, and H.
arkansana in Arkansas) developed around crevices of limestone bluffs, while
on isolated sandy outcrops emerged Geocarpon minimum, a tiny annual found
nowhere else in the world, and along wet open ground in southwestern Mis-
souri evolved a certain kind of meadowbeauty (Rhexia interior).

Each of the above species is known to occur in a wild state only in the
Ozarks of Missouri or adjacent areas of Missouri and Arkansas. These plants
originated in the Ozarks sometime in the dim past during the long history of
this region. Botanists call such plants, limited in their geographic distribu-
tion to a small circumscribed area, ‘‘endemics”. The splitting off of the
ancestral witch-hazel and chestnut stocks to produce respectively Hamamelis
vernalis and Castanea ozarkensis must have occurred before the last Tertiary
uplift of the Ozarks nearly one million years ago, because after this time
intervening areas isolated or separated the Ozarks from those regions where
the ancestral stock was present. Today the Ozark chestnut is separated by
thousands of miles from the nearest stations in the east where its closest
relative, the eastern chestnut (Castanea dentata) grows. The two regions
have been separated from each other before the last uplift, so it can be
imagined how long a time has intervened. Forests in which ancestral chestnut

trees were existing must have occurred in the Ozarks and elsewhere millions

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 5

of years ago. What now remains of the split up into two distinct species
(Castanea ozarkensis of the Ozarks and Castanea dentata of the eastern
states) is what has survived this breaking up of the ancestral chestnut strain.

Clinging to north-facing, shaded, moist bluffs along Ozark streams or
hiding in sheltered, forested canyons and ravines are numerous kinds of
plants which represent relicts or survivors from the Ice Age. During this
time of generally reduced temperatures many species of plants migrated
southward into the Ozarks and elsewhere and survived in situations favor-
able to their existence. As the ice sheet melted and withdrew northward,
the general climate southward became warmer and many of these species
died. Some, however, managed to survive the more adverse warmer and
drier situations, and today we find them hanging on in these sheltered spots
of moist bluffs and deep shaded ravines, even though surrounded by the
otherwise generally drier environment. At the same time, during the Ice
Age, many other eastern and northern species migrated into the Ozark
valleys and into the forests. Some of them which moved into wet meadows
of limey soil kept moist by spring seepage are found nowhere else in Missouri.
Similarly, at some time in its long earth history, and prior or subsequent to
its last uplift, the Ozarks have been receiving species from the Southwest
(such as Stenosiphon linifolius, Andrachne phyllanthoides, Pallafoxia callosa) ,
from the southern Appalachians (Berberis canadensis, Trautvetteria carolin-
iensis), and from the southern states and elsewhere.

It is obvious, then, when considering the Ozark region, an appreciation
must first be had of the long and diverse geological history together with
the many changes that have taken place. After the last uplift and subsequent
change to a dissected, well-drained, drier land, the dominant swamp forests
gave way to other forest types, including an oak-hickory forest which pre-
vailed over much of the Ozark area. Rocky exposed surfaces and prairie
patches were widespread, but in the long period of time have changed their
locations, and probably were more extensive in some localities (especially
when the rock strata became exposed to erosion following uplift).

It would require a much longer paper to discuss the many lines of evi-
dence that indicate the ancient and continued forested condition of the
Ozarks. That forests have long dominated and been associated with the
region may be adduced from such evidence as: (1) the survival of some of
the original swamp forest species in a drier upland habitat indicating a pre-
existing ancestral lowland forest; (2) the natural geographical range of
various trees—southern yellow pine, sour gum, scarlet oak, to mention a
few—restricted in Missouri to the Ozark region, indicating that their north-
ern limits have been determined primarily by the southern advance of one of
the ice sheets during the Ice Age and secondarily by soil acidity; (3) the

6 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

segregation of chestnut and witch-hazel stocks into separate eastern and
western species indicating a long period of evolution and separation into
Ozarkian and eastern forests; (4) the occurrence of yellowwood and Ameri-
can smoke tree, species of disrupted geographical range, on the old land
surfaces of the Ozarks, the southern Appalachians, and elsewhere in areas
that escaped glaciation of the Ice Age and submergence by Tertiary seawater,
are evidence of trees whose fossil ancestry (generically) can be traced back
to the Age of Dinosaurs (Mesozoic time). They and other ancient types are
surviving mainly in the White River country of southwestern Missouri, but
probably were much more widespread in the Ozarks many thousands of years
ago; (5) the adjustment of trees and shrubs to various types of environment
(exposure, soil acidity) has required thousands of years; (6) the original
limited distribution within the Ozarks of a number of endemic species asso-

ciated with strictly forested conditions.

RECENT HISTORY AND THE PRESENT

Let us picture the Ozarks as, from the beginning, mainly a naturally
forested area of remarkable diversity, with certain tree types confined to
valleys, others to acid or alkaline soils, others to glades, ravines, or uplands.
Over the thousands of years such mainly forest-inhabiting birds, as turkeys,
and mammals, such as bears, prospered in the dense Ozark forests. That
other game was abundant is testified by records of early settlers. Streams
were clear, because there was neither pollution from sewage or industrial
waste nor run-off from soil exposed by excessive grazing, cultivation. or
logging. The soil was mainly protected by a dense forest cover. The rela-
tively small Indian population did not make any great demands on the forests
and land. The result was a definite balance of Nature, Nature and man at
that time living more or less in harmony.

While Ozark forests have been cut since the time of the early white
settlers, no appreciable change is perceptible in the type or amount of forest
and forest cover since the first known records of Ozark vegetation. This
can be verified by a study of the field notes of the original land surveys of
Missouri deposited in the Land Vault of the office of the Secretary of State
in the State Capitol at Jefferson City, Missouri. These land surveys, made
approximately 100-130 years ago, indicate that what at that time was good
forest with a certain kind of underbrush is today (except where spoiled by
civilization activities) likewise a good forest with the same type of under-
brush. Places within and outside of the Ozarks which are prairie today
(glades and barrens are included in the prairie category of the surveys) were
also prairie in the early part of the nineteenth century.

What has happened during 100-130 years is easily told. The gradual
increase in population has brought a conflict between man in the Ozarks and

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN vE

Nature. In his haste to get “rich quick” or make a living off the land, man
has often stolen from the natural resources, with the attendant disregard for
the laws of Nature. Demand for pulpwood and lumber has increased over
the years; more forests each year are being cut indiscriminately; residential
and industrial sites are clearing areas once forested; agricultural development
is occupying more land; pasturing and grazing of woodlands is on an in-
crease; dams are impounding and destroying large sectors of the Ozarks; and,
in general, the American people are losing more and more of their origina!
Ozark heritage. The balance of Nature has gradually been upset and only
within the past couple of decades has Ozark man seriously pondered on how
he can once more live with and manage Nature.

The establishment of Missouri National Forests under the direction of
the National Forest Service and the Missouri Conservation Commission has
helped to solve the critical problems posed by man living in the Ozarks. In
the meantime, overgrazing and annual burning have continued to strip off
the ground cover and the original humus in many sections of the Ozarks.
Erosion has set in, carrying away the thin soil and leaf litter and leaving bare
rocks exposed. When timber is cut away from headwaters of streams or fire
allowed to run rampant over such areas, the absorbent spongy leaf mulch is
removed and eventually springs fail to run and streams dry up. The fires,
excessive cutting, and overgrazing either kill or drive away the original anima!
life of the area. Many farmers still burn the woods with the mistaken notion
that by so doing they are ridding the brush of chiggers, ticks, snakes, and
other vermin, or making grass come back for grazing.

It is obvious that the lack of appreciation for an adequate forest cover,
fire protection, good grazing practices, limited cutting, and for reforestation
is a failure to maintain a balance with Nature. Man’s selfish exploits of
Ozark resources with little or no consideration for wildlife, forest cover, and
habitat are doing much to worsen the general situation. Only during these
recent tragic years of drouth, when streams and wells begin to run dry,
cattle and poultry die, crops go to ruin and the livelihood of citizens becomes
affected—only then is a beginning of concern shown for the future. During
a survey of drought-stricken counties in the Ozarks during 1952 and 1953,
the field men (biologists, foresters, and conservation agents) of the Missouri
Conservation Commission studied the effects of the drought from various
angles and points of view. In general, it was found that wherever good
habitat conditions prevailed (i.e. good food, water, and cover), the game
population of that area was also good. It was also found that there had
been entirely too much grazing for the carrying capacity of the land. The
land could not “take it’. The overgrazing was as much responsible for poor
wildlife habitat as was the drought. Especially was this true of woodlands

MISSOURI BOTA

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Map of Missouri, showing areas of botanical inter
Drawn by Douglas E. Tibbitts, Staff Artist, Chicag

YEN BULLETIN

LEGEND:

Large springs
Sink hole ponds
Swampy meadows
Pickle Springs
Jam-up Bluff
Tupelo Gum Pond
Dryopreris cristata var. C/lintoniana
(©) Cheilanthes lanosa (tomentosa)
(©) Geocarpon minimum
© Elk Lick Springs
Nunatak Ozark localities
’ Granite & porphyritic
trachyte outcrops
‘Limestone “glades" &
“bald knobs"
yj.Lamotte sandstone
1; Me outcrops

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10 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Fig. 3. The uplifting of the Ozark Plateau has resulted in steep bluffs along all the
major streams. This view along Jacks Fork is typical of thousands of scenes in the central
Ozarks. Red cedars, blue ash, and chinquapin ocak veil the margins of the bluff. Ferns,
columbines and other rock-loving plants are here and there in shaded niches. The old
weathered limestone is of the sort appreciated for centuries by Chinese artists, and seen from

the river in the springtime the bluff reminds one strongly of a Chinese screen painting.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 11

in which grazing and clearing reduced the protective ground cover, thus
exposing the land surface to increased evaporation by wind, and an eventual
damaging of ground vegetation.

FUTURE

The last two drought spells (1934-1936 and 1952-54) are beginning to
sound an alarm and show the ever-increasing impertance of water. Since
conservation of water is the great problem in times of drought in the Ozarks
and elsewhere, it behooves us to realize the most effective means of living
under conditions of reduced rainfall. Ozark inhabitants are apt to believe
that drought is an unusual phenomenon and are wondering how best to live
with the situation. Actually, however, it is likely that in the long period
of Ozark history as a land surface, there have been many such dry spells.
There have been prolonged periods of drought, such as is believed to have
occurred in the Midwest, a few thousand years ago during the so-called
“xerothermic period”. During such a time the Ozarks may well have become
drier and certain species of trees and shrubs may have replaced others less
adaptable to the dry weather. Rocky glades may have been common at that
time in areas where they are now absent. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the
fluctuation of rainfall throughout the past thousands of years, the Ozarks
and their forest have come through, surviving in large measure the periodic
drought spells.

Perhaps the Ozarks are in for another period of reduced rainfall and for
warmer average temperatures. If so, a dweller in the Ozarks, whether he be
agriculturist, industrialist, tourist, or what not, will have to adjust himself
to the changing situation, or, shail we say a situation that has been repeated
many times in Ozark history. The great increase of population has placed
4 stress and strain on the water, soil, and forest resources of the Ozarks, and
during periods of drought, such as the present, the stress is more noticeable.
It is apparent that the Ozarks during drought years cannot support con-
tinued increased grazing.

By interfering with Nature as little as possible and having consideration
for her laws would seem to be our best solution for getting along in and
with the Ozarks. The following list of don’ts appears to be in order: (1)
don’t cut timber, allow grazing, or allow fires to spread around head-
waters of streams; (2) don’t overgraze anywhere; (3) don’t permit fires and
grazing to rob the natural absorbent leaf mulch and cover from the soil,
thereby permitting erosion to set in and carry away the top soil.

A noted forester with over twenty years of experience in the Ozarks
recently noticed that the flow of a stream in a certain wooded section of the
Ozark National Forest remained normal during the past years of drought.
He explained this and similar situations within parts of the Ozark National

12 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Forest on the basis of sound forestry conservation practice of: (1) retaining
a dense leaf mulch over the soil; (2) preserving the undergrowth in its
natural state; and (3) preserving the timber in its natural state around the
headwaters of the streams. Surely, such elementary principles must be ad-
hered to if we are to conserve our water. A good forested condition with
abundant cover for game and all kinds of animals will insure an Ozarks that
will continue to harbour abundant wildlife. Keeping the waters free from
sewage pollution and industrial waste will improve fishing conditions.

All evidence indicates that the Ozarks are a natural forested area. The
extensive forest cover, left relatively undisturbed, insures continued leaf
mulch over the soil. The spongy humus absorbs the water which passes into
the ground and keeps the streams and springs running. We must learn to
live with these forests. To help conserve the water supply, keep out the
fires, limit the grazing and cutting, reduce the extensive clearing of forested
areas, restore the original tree and shrub cover from areas where it has been
removed. Failure to heed such rules will certainly bring disaster a day closer.
We must keep the Ozarks a natural playground of clear streams hemmed in
by forests, where burning, grazing, and cutting have been kept to a mini-
mum. If agricultural and industrial developments are to continue within
the Ozarks, they must be in harmony with the spirit of sound conservation

of soil, water, forests, and wildlife.

Fig. 4. “Shut-ins’” where the St. Francis River has cut through granite near

Old Silver Mine, Iron County.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 13

Book REVIEWws:—

The Trees and Shrubs of the Southwestern Deserts. By Lyman Benson
and Robert A. Darrow. 447 pp., 84 figs., 34 pls. Tucson and Albuquerque,
1954. $8.50.

It is a pleasure to note that this beautiful book is again in print. Tech-
nically a second edition, it difters from the original only in an additional
sentence here and there and a few additional plates. In print less than three
years after its appearance as a bulletin of the University of Arizona in 1944,
it is now republished in somewhat more elegant format (and at a much
higher price!) jointly by the University of Arizona and the University of
New Mexico. This twin sponsorship more nearly indicates the locaticn of
the desert areas treated, although on this score both California and Nevada
might equally well have lent support.

It is no wonder that the second edition differs so little from the first, for
it is hard to imagine how this book could be improved. It treats of all the
woody plants of the southwestern deserts, with keys, descriptions, illustra-
tions, distributional data and maps, and, in many instances, notes relating to
the history of the plant, its use by the aboriginal Indians, its economic or
medicinal uses, its horticultural possibilities, etc. There is an excellent intro-
duction on the vegetation of the deserts together with notes on adjacent
vegetational zones; in giving the distribution of each species the types
described in this introduction are consistently used to make precise state-
ments of where the plants are to be found. There are distribution maps for
scores of species. These are conveniently uniform in size and coverage so
that comparison between species is easy. However, despite their relatively
large size, a third of a page, they are less clear than one might wish; the
cross-hatched detail in them is very dark while the green overprint showing
distribution is so light as sometimes not to be easily seen.

There are many fine photographs, both in black and white and in color,
and many excellent line drawings. For those who are novices in plant
identification there is a well-illustrated and clearly written introduction to
this fascinating art.

No one who cares even a little for the vegetation about him will want to
be without this volume when he travels through our Southwest, or for that
matter, through Mexico; the international boundary does not delimit
biological areas.—George B. Van Schaack

14 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Manual of the Plants of Colorado. By H. D. Harrington. 676 pp., 1 pl.
Sage Books, Denver, Colo., 1954. $8.00.

Every one interested in the flora of Colorado will want to have a copy of
this book, for it is the only recent complete guide to the plants of that fas-
cinating state. Its nearly 700 pages are almost all devoted to keys and
descriptions in a courageous attempt to fulfill its “primary purpose .. . to
provide a means of identifying the plants of Colorado”. In so far as such
devices can accomplish such a purpose the book is adequate; the dichotomous
keys, conveniently indented, are moderately detailed with clearly stated
characters, and the descriptions are reasonably complete. A meritorious
feature, almost an innovation, is the strict parallelism in the descriptions of
species within a genus; if the presence or absence of a character is noted for
One species it is noted for all. No attempt is made to present a revisionary
treatment of any group, and the author has commendably not included a
single new species (undoubtedly a record!). In many of the groups the
latest monographic treatment has been followed but without trying to equal-

»>

ize the meanings of the terms “subspecies” and “variety”? between various
writers; one must check the application of these concepts in the original
monographs.

Such additional information as there is the author gives, as he says, with
the thought that it may be helpful to this one or to that one. The only
quarrel one can have with this aim must regard the actual helpfulness of the
information. The citations of original publication of names have admittedly
not been checked; it is certainly unfortunate to print nomenclatural mistakes
in yet one more place. The general distribution of each species is given on
the basis of various published accounts; the distribution in Colorado is stated
in terms of specimens checked by the author or by specialists who assisted
him. But so many of these statements are far from helpful. The author has

arbitrarily divided the state into nine rectangles of equal area, labelling them

e €

‘northwestern’, “northcentral”, “northeastern”, etc. It is scarcely of much
help to be told that the new and only collection of Alisma geyeri in Colorado
is in the northwestern corner at about 6000 feet. A great deal of this area,
which covers one ninth of the state, is at about that elevation. The state has
counties and towns. It is doubtful that the continuance of Alisma geyeri in
Colorado would have been seriously threatened by stating its known locality
to within, say, ten miles of some town and to within one or two points of
the compass.

David F. Costello, range conservationist, has supplied an account of
several pages on the vegetation zones of the state. This is well done, and if
carefully read in connection with a knowledge of the geography of the state
and the identity of the plants, it gives a very excellent picture of the plant

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 15

cover. It is a pity that Mr. Harrington did not work more closely with Mr.
Costello and integrate his distributional data with the clear descriptions
given by the latter. For example, greasewood is stated to grow on “usually
flat ground” “over the western part of Colorado”. Greasewood is far more
uncommon than flat [level?] ground in western Colorado. Much more im-
portant is it that the area be semi-desert. With the understanding that Mr.
Costello’s classification would be used, it would have been much more en-
lightening to state: “semi-desert areas, chiefly in the ‘greasewood’ association”.
(The redundancy is only apparent.) Also, it is not clear whether the habitats
given for a species refer to its whole distribution or only to that in the state;
to cite Alisma geyeri again, “wet places” can scarcely refer to a single
collection.

But one must not be too critical, for this book is a labor of love. The
flora is large and complex. The 2794 species listed grow from below 3400
feet to above 14,000 feet. The author has had assistance, it is true, but this
is his work and it is a monument to ten years’ striving. What a shame that
after all his devoted labor he had to see his work appear in so inconvenient a
format, pages of typewriter-sheet size with the text typed! The book is thus
unhandy to use, impossible for the field, and wearing on the eyes. Nor is
there a single figure or map to be found in the volume, aside from an outline
map of the state. Mr. Harrington’s book was “prepared with the coopera-
tion of Colorado A. & M. College’, a government institution, but the gov-
ernment as represented there apparently showed no interest in the format of
so important a publication.—George B. Van Schaack

The Pruning Manual. By Everett P. Christopher. 340 pp., 12 pls., 53
figs. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1954. Price $5.00.

Dr. Christopher, head of the Horticultural Department in the University
of Rhode Island, has written this book as a successor to the late Liberty Hyde
Bailey’s book of the same name. In addition to general fundamentals, there
are chapters on apple, grape, and rose pruning, a special one on dwarf trees
as well as discussions of the special problems of deciduous fruits, subtropical
fruits, and nut trees. Shade and ornamental trees, as well as ornamental
shrubs and vines, are separately dealt with. There is a short and charming
preface by Bailey, one of the last things he wrote. The book is clearly and
simply written and should serve the needs of amateur and_ professional

gardeners.—Edgar Anderson.

16 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

THE ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

In addition to this BULLETIN the Garden also publishes the ANNALS OF
THE Missourt BOTANICAL GARDEN, a conservative scientific journal in dark
brown covers which comes out four times a year. In doing so it carries out
certain of the provisions in Mr. Shaw’s will which provided for “scientific
investigations in Botany” and for the dissemination of such knowledge among
men. The final number for 1954 recently appeared; its seventy-five pages
are given over to papers by two of Dr. Andrews’ students, Charles J. Felix
and Burton R. Anderson, who received their doctorates last spring in the
Henry Shaw School of Botany of Washington University. Though the titles
look forbidding with their mentions of “Arborescent Lycopod Fructifica-
uns” and “American Petrified Calamites” they summarize a fascinating field
of science in which the School of Botany has taken the lead in this country,
the modern study of coal balls.

Coal balls are nodules of fossil remains, frequently as large as a man’s
head, which are found in great numbers in certain types of coal. By in-
genious techniques, paper-thin slices can be prepared and studied in detail
under the microscope. Thousands of such sections have been accumulated
in Dr. Andrews’ laboratory, and they are as fascinating as they are baffling;
fascinating, because most of the microscopic details of leaves, stems, roots,
and seeds are so beautifully preserved that it is difficult to imagine that they
are indeed millions of years old; baffling, because they are made up of in-
coherent litter. Each ball is composed of thousands of fragments, big and
little all jumbled together like a scientific fruit cake. The sections just cut
down through everything, stem, roots, leaves, seeds, spores; most of them
fragmentary, all of them packed together hit or miss. One gets to know
the leaves as well or better than he knows the leaves of modern trees and to
understand in the greatest detail the construction of certain types of stems.
But which stems go with which twigs and which leaves go with which stems,
and can any of the spores or seeds be certainly identified as belonging with
any of the stem or leaf types? It is like trying to reconstruct the life of a
city from its pulverized bombed fragments. Dr. Felix’s paper deals with coal-
age plants related to our ground pines, and among other things he makes a
beginning at identifying the various kinds of spores. Dr. Anderson’s paper
is concerned with the calamites, close relatives of our modern horsetails and

scouring rushes.

Dr. Felix is now with the Federal Bureau of Mines where such information
and such techniques as those he acquired here are of great practical as well
as theoretical importance, while Dr. Anderson has gone on to serve his term
with the U. S. army.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

JouHNn S. LEHMANN, President Henry HitcHcock
DaniEL K. CaTLin, Vice-President RicHarD J. Lockwoop
EuGcENE Pettus, Second Vice-President A. WeEssEL SHAPLEIGH
LEICESTER B. Faust ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEY
DupLEY FRENCH ROBERT BROOKINGS SMITH

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEY, H. M. Srouar,
Chancellor of Washington University President of the Board of Education
of St. Louis

ARTHUR C, LICHTENBERGER,

Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri
a STRATFORD LEE MORTON,

RayMOND R. TUCKER, President of the Academy of Science
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis

Secretary
GERALD ULRICI

THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL
Clifford W. Benson, Clarence Barbre, Albert Chandler, E. G. Cherbonnier,
Paul Hale, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet Layton, Clarence McGovern, Gilbert
Pennewill, Mrs Roland R. Read, W. F. Scott, Jr., Harold E. Wolfe, John S.
Lehmann, Edgar Anderson, John Nies, Chairman.

STAFF
Gearcl Fe Mootsies ceeetncl eee ee ere eetor
PA PBC RIO ices ccieinnnnccete accion Director
ey Pi COS aa ase Paleobotanist
August P, Beilmann Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit
Louis G. Brenner=2 _Assistant Manager of the Arboretum
Ladislaus Cutak.......___- Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories
Hugh C, Cutler... Assistant Director and Curator of the Museum
Carroll W. Dodge —-.-— Mycologist
John D. Dwyer_. Pe ete RRR Ie ee RL I A Research Associate
Robert J. Gillespie ___Research Horticulturist
its Tel 1 Dec (0) ¢ |_| cin nee een nen macnn Ae ee =! Librarian and Editor
Ida M. Kohl eee _Assistant Librarian
Tt Ge Va) | Se ce ae eee nee ee aes Seah ee RRR nee mE EC ERS ae see Floriculturist
G. R. Lowry ae __...._........--In charge of Orchids
i NR a ee alison deanestese Assistant Librarian
jo Pes hts) Oe Pa) a a en er ee er ence ne ne Dendrologist
George H. Pring ae ren eres Superintendent
Berry Cre POCO y ics tin resi Assistant to the Director
Kenneth A, Smith __ : 2a neat acticncivesmmcce ke FAROE
Julian A. Steyermark_.._- = Honorary Research Associate
(oS CES U7) 5 ee he a eae ee Renn Research Associate
Rolla M. Tryon, Jr. Assistant Curator of Herbarium
Gerald Ulrici a __ Business Manager
George B. Van Schaack Honorary Curator of Grasses

Robert E. Woodson, Jr... Curator of Herbarium

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MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN.
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A TOUR OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN.
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HENRY SHAW.
A Pictorial Biography. Price 25 cents.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN
What it is and what it does. Price, fifty cents.

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VIISSOURI BOTANICAL
GARDEN BULLETIN

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Trees and Shrubs for St. Louis

The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary The Orange Cattleya
Horticultural Consultants Crossbills at the Arboretum
The Henry Shaw Papers Florence Fennel as a House Plant

Book Review: Tryon’s “Ferns and Fern Allies of Minnesota”

Volume XLIII February, 1950 Number 2

Cover: “Of all the strange and marvellous trees, shrubs, plants and herbs which
Nature, or, rather, God himself, has produced, or ever will produce in this
Universe, there will never be seen anything so worthy of admiration and
contemplation as these Barametz of Scythie or Tartarie, plants which are
also animals, and which browze and eat as quadrupeds” .. .. This passage
and the cover illustration are from Histoire Admirable des Plantcs, by Claude
Duret written in 1605—a charming little volume on curious plants in’ the
Garden’s collection of Herbals.

Office of publication: 306 E. Simmons Street, Galesburg, Illinois.

Editorial Office: Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 Tower Grove Avenue,
St. Louis, 10, Missouri.

Published monthly except July and August by the Board of Trustees of the
Missouri Botanical Garden. Subscription price: $2.50 a year.

Entered as second-class matter January 26, 1942, at the post-office at Gales-
burg, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Please: Do not discard a copy of the Bulletin. If you have no further use for yours
pass it along toa friend or return it to the Garden. Return postage guaranteed.

Missouri Botanical
Garden Bulletin

Vol. XLIII FEBRUARY, 1955 No. 2

TREES AND SHRUBS FOR ST. LOUIS

JOSEPH P. HOULIHAN!

The past few summers have certainly taught all of us the lesson that
plants must have better care than our home-owners have been giving them.
With this in mind, a group of us decided to do something to remedy this
situation by instituting a program of training our public in what to plant,
how to plant, and how to take care of the plants after installation. Surely,
if one is contemplating planting something it means he is going to have an
outlay of money, and he wants the best of that particular kind of plant or
plants for his money; so let us start with the purchase of the plant.

What is one going to look for, in order that he or she may get the best of
any prescribed plant or plants for the purchase? One has two types of
purchases, bare-rooted or balled plants. Let us consider the bare-root plants
first. Ask to have the plants freshly dug. This is true for both bare-root
and balled plants. Examine the roots; see that they have not been cut off
too short or that there is sufficient root in proportion to the size of the plant.
Ask that they be kept from over-exposure to both hot or cold winds. Wind
helps to set the sap in the roots, on account of which plants frequently do
not leaf out until late summer. If the plant is balled and burlapped, the size
of the ball should be one foot in diameter to each inch of the trunk in width.
As an illustration, a 2'4 inch tree should have a 30-inch ball of earth.

Next, look at the conformation of the plant. Is the trunk straight or

Mr. Houlihan, the veteran St. Louis nurseryman, gave the opening lecture for the train-
ing course for horticultural consultants described elsewhere in this issue of the BULLETIN.
His lecture was so informative and so direct, so much of it was the result of Mr. Houlihan’s
extensive experience in the St. Louis area, that every one present wanted a copy. With Mr.
Houlihan’s permission we are accordingly sharing it with the readers of the BULLETIN,
printing it virtually in the form of the original lecture.

(17)

18 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

crooked enough to suit your particular needs? Sometimes a crooked trunk
on a tree may be far more desirable than a straight trunk for your location.
Are the limbs low enough, or high enough, or full enough or wind-blown
enough to suit the particular location? All these characteristics are entirely
up to the purchaser, just as if he were buying a suit of clothes. He should
be the final judge of what he wants; in the case of a plant having been over-
exposed to wind, the purchaser is entirely at the mercy of the seller, but why
buy from some one when you have no confidence in his honesty?

Now for the planting. The hole should be dug 6 inches wider than the
root spread, all the way around, and the depth should be from 12 to 18
inches deeper than the plant had been growing. ‘This extra space is to
allow for drainage. I would suggest filling this 1 or 1'% feet with 11-inch
broken rock or large gravel. To prevent the soil from entering into the
drainage area and filling the interstices, I would suggest that you place one-
half inch packed-down straw over this rock or gravel. The plant should be
set about one inch deeper than it grew in the nursery. If the plant is bur-
lapped, the burlap need not be removed entirely, but it should be cut at the
top, particularly if it is tied around the neck of the plant. Any thing tied
around the neck of the plant has a tendency to choke off the sap flow, and
sometimes could kill the plant. The burlap will eventually rot, but usually
the roots will have gone through the material long before that happens. Some
one may feel that this straw and burlap would have a tendency to encourage
fungi, but I doubt if any fungus that may develop would be injurious to the
plant. Broken roots should be pruned in order to allow new rootlets to grow
from the cut ends. Mix the soil with well-rotted manure or commercial
fertilizer, but be careful in using commercial fertilizer that you do not use
too much, as there is a grave chance of burning. You will get no burning
from the rotted manure.

It is my belief that mixing fertilizer with the soil dug from the hole
where the plant is to be planted is better than using all new soil. All new
soil has a tendency to sour. However, this point may be debatable. After
the hole is completely filled with loose soil around the plant roots, fill the
hole with water. After all the water has been absorbed add the balance of
the soil, allowing about two inches for settling. Then create a saucer-like
basin around the plant for future watering. Mulch the plant with from two
to four inches of manure, which will keep the roots cool during the summer
and also prevent the sun from pulling the moisture from the soil. The plant
should be cultivated about three times during the summer and not deeper
than three inches. Before cultivating, remove the mulch, then replace it
afterwards. I would suggest that on the last cultivation you spade the
manure into the soil, but do not spade deeper than three inches. When

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 19

watering, water from the top, allowing moisture to penetrate slowly into the
soil. Do not remove the mulch. If the soil is too rough, mix some sand into

it at the time you mix the manure with the soil.

Now the big question comes as to what shall we plant. First I would
say that the plants you select should be things that do well in our climate.
Planting many exotic things is taking too many chances; however, I do
think you should try some of the things that are just a little harder to grow,
yet require so little extra attention. The number of exotic plants used
would, of course, depend upon the size of your garden and the number of
plants used. I am going to submit my list which is not entirely complete.
1 think it would be impossible for one man to make a perfect list, yet most
of the things on this list have proven very satisfactory in our locality. You
will note that you may select from this list plants that will do more than
just one thing. I might further say that a plant, to be worthy to be put into
your garden, should do two of the following six things: (1) It should have
beautiful blossoms; (2) It should have lovely fall coloring; (3) It should
bear colorful fruit in the fall; (4) It should have good foliage; (5) It should
cast nice shadows; (6) It should hedge well. Be sure you do not lose sight
of the fact that we are dealing only with deciduous materials. There will be
other papers which will give conifers and broad-leaf evergreens.

Now for the list. Let us take the shade and ornamental trees first:

SHADE AND ORNAMENTAL TREES

Botanical Name Common Name Height Remarks
= = in feet .
ee —| ee es
Acer ginnala Amur Maple | 20 | 12-foot spread. Good
| 'foliage and colors well in
| ‘the fall.
Acer palmatum atropurpureum Japanese Red-leaf Maple | Lovely red foliage;

| casts nice shadows
Acer rubrum /Red Maple | 60 | Good foliage. Red flow-
| ers in early spring; red
| foliage in fall.
Acer saccharinum Silver Maple

| 75 | Fast grower. Good
| ifoliage. Surface feeder.
Acer saccharum Sugar Maple , 60 | Good dense foliage,
|

‘colors beautifully in fall.
Slow-growing; should be
|planted when very small

20

Botanical Name

Amelanchier canadensis

Betula alba

Carpinus betulus

Cercis canadensis

Chionanthus virginica

Cornus florida

Cornus florida f. rubra

Crataegus phaenopyrum (cordata)

Crataegus oxyacantha var. Pauli

Euonymus atropurpureus
Fagus sylvatica
Note: many of the other
beeches are worth grow-
ing, but one should give

them a lot of attention

Fraxinus pennsylvanica
var. lanceolata

Ginkgo biloba
Gleditsia triacanthos var. inermis
Halesia carolina

Ilex decidua

Juglans nigra

Koelreuteria paniculata

Liquidambar styraciflua

Liriodendron tulipifera

Common Name

Shadbush

European White Birch

European Hornbeam

American Redbud

White Fringe Tree

White Dogwood

Pink Dogwood

Washington Thorn

Paul’s Scarlet Thorn

Wahoo Tree

European Beech

Green Ash

Chinese Maidenhair Tree
Thornless Honey Locust
Silverbell Tree

Deciduous Holly or
Possum Haw

Black Walnut

Varnish Tree

American Sweet Gum

Tulip Poplar

Height
in feet

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Remarks

30

30

50

60

50

70

Native. Good bloom;
good foliage; blue fruits
in summer.

Short-lived. Casts love-
ly shadows. Beautiful
bark.

Good foliage.
well.

Casts nice shadows.
Beautiful flowers in early
spring.

Beautiful flowers; good
foliage.

Native. Beautiful flow-
ers; lovely red fruit;
colorful foliage.

Not native.
flowers.

Perhaps the best of the
Hawthorns, of which
there are probably 50
varieties. White flowers;
brilliant red fruit.

Red flowers. Trunk
should be protected the
first few years against sun
scald.

Dwarf. Good foliage;
beautiful berries.

Good foliage; wide-
spreading graceful
branches.

Hedges

Pink

Good foliage which

colors well in fall.

Beautiful foliage; grace-
ful branches.

Good foliage; graceful
branches.

White flowers; good
foliage; interesting bark.

Casts nice shadows.
Good foliage; beautiful
berries.

Casts nice
Long-lived.

Casts nice shadows.
Beautiful long-panicled
yellow flowers.

Beautiful foliage which
turns a lovely color in
fall.

Plant when small. Beau-
‘tiful foliage; interesting
bark, Plant when small.

shadows.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN ZA

Botanical Name Common Name Height Remarks
in feet

Magnolia virginiana Sweet Bay 25 Good foliage; beautiful
flowers.

Magnolia grandiflora Southern Magnolia 30 Many doing well here.
Beautiful flowers and
foliage.

Magnolia soulangeana Saucer Magnolia 20 Good foliage. Red,
and varieties pink, or purple flowers.
Malus—Varieties recommended: | Flowering Crabapples 25 Good foliage; beautiful

M. arnoldiana, atrosanguinea, flowers and lovely berries.
“Dolga”, floribunda, ‘“‘Hopa About 50 varieties.
Crab”, ringo, scheideckeri,
zumi calocarpa

Nyssa sylvatica Black Gum or Tupelo 30 Beautiful tree with
brilliant fall coloring,
Plant when small.

Oxydendrum arboreum Sourwood 30 Beautiful flowers and
brilliant fall coloring.

Prunus americana and_ other Includes the Plum and
American and Japanese Cherry
species. The hybrids, P.
cistena and ‘“‘Newport” are
probably the best purple-leaf
varieties, and P. serotina, our
wild black cherry, which
grows much larger, about
60’. Prunus subbirtella au-
tumnalis does well in this
area.

Quercus alba, rubra, coccinea, Oaks 30-50 Some of them should
palustris, and robur are prob- be planted when small.
ably the best for this area.

Rhamnus caroliniana Carolina Buckthorn 25 Have found one native
with beautiful foliage and
interesting bark.

Salix—Those that I have found | Willows 25 Short-lived but quick-
best are S. blanda (the Wis- growing.
consin Weeping) and “Niobe”

(Golden Weeping Willow)

Sophora japonica Pagoda Tree 25 Beautiful foliage and
extremely graceful. Plant
when young.

Sorbus aucuparia European Mountain Ash 35 Good foliage and beau-
tiful fruit. Plant when
young.

Tilia americana American Linden 60 Good foliage and dense
shade. Plant when small.

Tilia cordata European Linden 50 Good small foliage and

Ulmus americana

American Elm

dense shade.

Probably the dean of
our trees but its diseases
prompt us to say, better

not plant.

22 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Botanical Name

Ulmus campestris and
Ulmus glabra

Abelia grandiflora

Acanthopanax sieboldianus

Amelanchier alnifolia

Aronia arbutifolia

Berberis mentorensis

Calycanthus floridus

Callicarpa japonica

Caryopteris incana
Chaenomeles japonica

Clethra alnifolia

Cornus mas

Corylus avellana atropurpurea
Cotoneaster apiculata and C.
divaricata are probably the
best for our climate.
Deutzia gracilis

Elacagnus multiflora

Elacagnus pungens var. simonii

Euonymus alatus and its
var. compacta

Common Name

English Elm and
Scotch Elm

FLOWERING SHRUBS
|
Abelia |

Five-leaf Aralia

Service Berry

Red Chokeberry

Barberry

Carolina Allspice

Lavender Pearl Bush

Blue Mist
Dwarf Flowering Quince

Summersweet

Cornelian Cherry

Purple-leaf Filbert

Cotoneaster

Dwarf Deutzia
Japanese Oleaster

Silver-leaf Oleaster

Winged Euonymus

Height
in feet

6-15
4-10

Remarks

Most beautiful trees,
but better follow advice

‘above.

One of the best. Good
foliage and blooms entire
summer. May freeze back
in very severe winter, but
in view of the fact that
it blooms on new wood,
that makes no difference.

Good foliage; interest-
ing bark.

Good foliage; good
flowers; red to purple
berries in the summer.

Good foliage and
beautiful berries through
Christmas.

Makes one of the best
hedges; foliage almost
evergreen,

Beautiful foliage and
unusual maroon flowers.
Flowers bluish; fruits
violet or white with
metallic sheen.

Flowers white, pink,
and many beautiful reds.

Beautiful fragrant white
spike flowers and good
foliage.

Yellow flowers
beautiful red fruit.

and

Beautiful dense foliage.

Good foliage and lovely
berries.

Stays dwarf. Beautiful
white flowers,

Good foliage and red
berries.

Silvery foliage and fra-
grant yellow flowers
blooming October-No-
vember, also February or
March according to the
weather.

Good dense shrubs. In-
teresting corky bark and
beautiful fall coloring.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Botanical Name Common Name Height
= in feet
Forsythia intermedia spectabilis |Golden-Bell 8
Ilex verticillata Winterberry 10
Kerria japonica Yellow Kerria 3-5
Kolkwitzia amabilis Beauty Bush 6-15
Ligustrum Ibolium Ibolium Privet 6-15
Ligustrum quiboui Summer Privet 6-10
Ligustrum amurense Amur Privet 6-10
Ligustrum vulgare European Privet 5-8
Lonicera fragrantissima Winter Honeysuckle 5-8
Lonicera maacki var. podocarpa |White Honeysuckle ria
Lonicera horolkovii var. zabelii 4-8
Philadelphus coronarius Sweet Mockorange 12
Philadel phus “Minnesota Sweet Mockorange 9
Snowbank’”’, Patented
Philadelphus virginalis Sweet Mockorange 8
Prunus glandulosa White and Pink 8
Flowering Almond
Pyracantha coccinea Firethorn
Rhus aromatica Fragrant Sumas 3-6
Rhus glabra Smooth Sumac 3-10
Ribes odoratum Buffalo Currant 4-6
Spiraea bumalda Anthony Waterer Spiraea} 2-4
“Anthony Waterer”

Spiraea prunifolia The true Bridalwreath 8
Spiraea Van Houttei 10
Syringa vulgaris in var. French Lilacs 5-10
Syringa hyacinthiflora Lamartine hybrids 5-10

23

Remarks

Probably the best for-
sythia for this area. Good
bloom and good foliage.

Beautiful winter fruits
and good foliage.

Good foliage and beau-
tiful flowers. Cut down
each year.

Good foliage and beau-
tiful pink flowers.

The best hedge privet.

The latest and best
flowering.
A good hedge plant.

Nearly evergreen.

Makes good hedge; al-
most evergreen.

Long racemes of berrie;
and good foliage. Late.

Red flowers and blue-
green foliage.

Produces the largest
flowers.

Good dense grower and
good flowers.

Most beautiful of all
Philadelphus flowers.
Must be cut back early
to make a good shrub.

Good flowers and good
foliage.

Almost evergreen. Love-
ly bunches of orange
fruits. Probably makes
the best hedge known.

Foliage good all sum-
mer; colors well in the
fall.

Fall coloring exquisite.

Good foliage and beau-
tiful fragrant yellow
flowers.

Best of the dwarf de-
ciduous shrubs. Pink
blooms; good foliage.

Good foliage all sum-
mer,

One of the loveliest of
flowers.

One should be very
selective in making a list
of desirable lilacs.

Good early flowers.

24 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

| !

Botanical Name Common Name Height Remarks
ees : BS in feet | a
Syringa villosa and hybrids June Lilac | 4-8 | Good for late flowers
jin June.
Tamarix pentandra Tamarisk 5 | Probably the best of

ithe feathery foliage. Good
| jpink bloom. Plant when
| \small.

Viburnum burkwoodii Burkwood’s Viburnum 4-8 | Good foliage, almost
‘evergreen; light pink
flowers followed by red

berries.

Viburnum carlesii 6 Should be called the
“Queen of all Vibur-
nums.”

Viburnum dentatum Arrow-wood 10 Blue fruit and good

foliage.

Viburnum dilatatum 10 Red fruit and good
foliage.

Viburnum opulus and its European Cranberry Bush 12 Good foliage and good
var. rosea Snowball red clusters of berries.
Viburnum setigerum Tea Viburnum 10 Red fruits and good

foliage.

Viburnum tomentosum Japanese Snowball 10 Excellent and free-

var. sterile | flowering.

Viburnum wrightii 9 Fruit red and out-
standing; good foliage.

Vitex agnus-castus Chaste Tree 7 Good foliage and beau-
tiful lilac spike flowers.
Blooms from early to late
summer.

Weigela rosea varieties Pink Weigelia 10 Pink bell-like flowers;
good foliage.

Weigela ‘Eva Rathke” and Red Weigelia 9 Red flowers and good

“Bristol Ruby” foliage.

Now we have all the plants that are good in this area, what about pruning
them? Prune the flowering shrubs immediately after they have bloomed,
thus permitting them to make sufficient growth to bloom the next season.
Then during the winter remove any dead wood, and if the plant is getting
too heavy, that is with too many canes, remove no more than one-fifth of
these canes during any one year. Do give each one of your shrubs a few
minutes’ attention each year and I am sure you will be growing much better-
looking material than we now have as a whole in St. Louis.

The ever-accumulating bacon drippings, a high energy food, makes an
excellent winter food for birds. A small log with holes bored to hold the
bacon drippings or most any kind of receptacle hung on a tree out of the
reach of dogs will soon attract chickadees, titmice, cardinals, nuthatches,
woodpeckers and juncos.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 25

THE VEGETABLE LAMB OF TARTARY
ALICE F. TRYON

In the land of Tartary toward high Inde and Bacharye in the country of
the Grand Can there growethe a manner of plant that is strange and wonder-
ful indeed. This, which they call Borametz, meaning the lamb, grows from
the earth in the likeness of a real lamb having head, eyes, feet and is attached
at the navel to a root or stem. Its covering is an exceedingly soft wool. In
height it is half a cubit and according to those who tell of this wondrous
thing its taste is agreeable and its blood is sweet. It lives as long as there is
herbage within reach of the stem to which it is tethered and from which it
derives its life.

The story of this curious fable reveals something of man’s views toward
natural phenomena and of the puzzles which arise in sorting fact from fancy
as the tale is embellished. It is not possible to discover the origin but the
story of the Vegetable Lamb, or Barometz, 1s described in one of our earliest
written records, the Talmudical books. Rabbi Jochanan “in the year of
salvation 436” tells of this plant-animal having the form of a lamb and
attached like a gourd to the soil. It is reported as coming from the works
of another personage on the authority of still another. Thus the description
appears to have been told time and time again before it entered the written
record. In 1235 a commentator writes that this creature is the Jedoui
mentioned in the Scriptures and that witchcraft is practiced with its bones.
No creature can approach within the tether for it will devour them but
arrows carefully aimed will rupture the stem whereupon the animal dies.
The legend was brought to England by Sir John Mandeville, something of an
English Ulysses who journeys far and wide and returns after 34 years to
record his adventures. In the fair country of Caldilhe there grows a melon-
like fruit within which is a little beast ‘in Flesche, in Bon and Blode, as
though it were a lytylle Lomb with outen Wolle”. At this same time a
similar report comes from Italy. Odoricus, a Minorite friar, traveled out of
Padua among the Tartars of the East and tells of gourds in which are found
little lamb-like beasts growing in the mountains of Capsius, in the province
of Kalor. One of the early accounts of plant curiosities, Histoire Admirable
des Plantes by Claude Duret has a chapter on these zoophytes which live as
plants but are sensitive like animals, existing in Tartary—a place filled with
heavy and dense air.

By the 16th and 17th centuries the story reached the academic circles
and the doctors and professors began their speculations, arguments and in-
vestigations. Kircher, a mathematics professor at Avignon argued that it
was a plant in spite of its quadruped form. Girolamo Cardana of Pavia dis-

26

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

? rf »
Shiles a/ and Pe, | ¥ Yg0O

4 ,
Vii, fe EI, 7 Pigs ae yo

Agnus Sirytlucus vegetables s
Borametz dicts +

ear

Illustration from a Latin treatise titled ‘“Dissertiuncula de Agno Vegetabili
Scythico, Borametz vulgo dicto” written in 1725 by Dr. Breyn of Danzig. Inde-
pendent of the English botanists he arrived at the conclusion that the Borametz was
made from the stem of a fern. Dr. Breyn with the characteristic precision and serious
point of view of the Prussian scientist lamented the influence of the quaint and human
influences in the realm of Natural History. He advised all those who search for the
hidden treasures of Nature to bear in mind the axiom that the works and productions
of Nature should be discovered, not invented.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 27

cussed the impossibility of the phenomenon contending that if it had blood
it must have a heart and the soil could not supply the heart with the proper
movement or warmth. Dr. Kaempfer, a surgeon to the Dutch East India
Company, journeyed to Persia in search of the creature. Although he found
nothing but ordinary sheep, he observed the custom of taking unborn lambs
for their softer fur and he considered that these might be the source of the
legend.

At last a specimen was found. In the pomp and splendor of the Royal
Society of London the celebrated physician and botanist, Sir Hans Sloane,
laid the object before the scientific world. It was about a foot long, covered
with dark, yellowish hair having a body much as a lamb. The Vegetable
Lamb of Tartary, the Barometz, was identified as a portion of a fern plant
which grows in southern China. The fern specimen exhibited by Sir Hans
Sloane was much like the one in the accompanying photograph recently sent
to the Garden from Formosa.

These are extraordinary ferns, not small woods or rock plants but trees
reaching the height of 15 feet, belonging to the genus, Cibotium. The species
of the lamb is appropriately named, C. Barometz, and although it does not
develop a trunk it bears a cluster of handsomely cut fronds growing to a
height of 14 feet and the large stem is covered with long, tawny hairs. In
Europe and China these silken hairs are placed on wounds to stop the flow
of blood. The floss of other Pacific species is called Pulw and has been used
to stuff cushions and mattresses. Cibotinm Barometz is native to southeast
Asia and in southern China and Formosa the lambs are prepared. A portion
of the stem with several fronds is removed and the latter are cut leaving only
the stubs to serve as appendages. The eyes, made of seeds of Duranta repens,
a plant of the Vervain family, are affixed and the mouth is embroidered.

The appeal of the legend was not lost after the scientific explanation was
presented for it was enshrined in the verse of Erasmus Darwin. This Dar-
win was a physician and keen student of nature who believed that changes
in evolution were due to internal desire—a theory quite unlike that proposed
by his famous grandson, Charles. He was a philosopher and poet as well
and in his fanciful verse titled The Botanic Garden he perpetuates the legend
of the lamb:

Cradled in snow, and fanned by Arctic air,
Shines, gentle Barometz, thy golden hair;
Rooted in earth, each cloven hoof descends,
And round and round her flexile neck she bends,
Crops the gray coral moss and hoary thyme,

Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime;
Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam,
And seems to bleat—a ‘vegetable lamb’.

28 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Vegetable Lambs made in Formosa from fern stems

Ding Hou, our Chinese student studying at the Garden Herbarium, relates that the fern,
Cibotium Barometz, is common in north and central Formosa. There the country folk
gather the stems, add the essential parts and fix the face preparing the lambs for the city
market. They are usually sold near the temples, and he has seen some twenty vendors each
having a dozen or more of the animals along a roadside near the Buddhist temple on a
mountain south of Formosa’s capital city, Taipei. The locality is selected not for any religious
implications but rather because this is a likely place to sell the lambs to tourists who have
come from the China mainland to visit the temples.

By the end of the 19th century the influence of Sir Hans Sloane’s explana-
tion had lessened and the legend was re-examined by another Englishman,
Henry Lee. With the object of reporting the history of cotton he reviews
the story of the vegetable lamb in a delightful little book titled, The Vege-
table Lamb of Tartary, a Curious Fable of the Cotton Plant. He claims the
legend for cotton with arguments based on philologic, geographic and botan-
ical evidence. The prepared fern rhizomes are relegated to toys made in
the image of a small rufous dog. His arguments seem sound but perhaps
it was too late to dispel the confusion between the two and the fern long

having the name Barometz can to this day be called the Vegetable Lamb.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 29

HORTICULTURAL CONSULTANTS

In the last ten years a considerable portion of the country’s population
has moved out from closely built cities into new suburban communities.
Whole villages of new houses have sprung up, sometimes literally over night;
thousands of people who used to live in city apartments have found them-
selves with a lawn and garden to take care of for the first time in their lives.
St. Louis has been no exception to this general trend, and the city is now
ringed by a series of ranch-house communities populated by amateur gar-
deners. As never before, the Garden, the public libraries, and similar insti-
tutions are flooded with requests for advice.

To meet this need the Garden’s Horticultural Council has gone into the
problem extensively with the Nurserymen’s Association of Greater St. Louis.
In January somewhat over a dozen volunteers began a training program at
the Garden as horticultural consultants. They will be ready to start opera-
tions early in the spring, and full details of the plan will be announced in a
later BULLETIN. In so far as possible they will work with community groups,
particularly in newly built-up areas. Their main function will be to serve as
centers of information, directing these new home-owners to the firms, insti-
tutions, and societies in the St. Louis area which can help them make better
gardeners of themselves.

If the plan works out effectively it is hoped that a much larger number
of consultants can be trained a year from this winter. It is estimated that
at least forty or fifty such people would be needed in the St. Louis area but
it has seemed best to start in a small way and gradually feel out the various

problems involved.—E.A.

THE HENRY SHAW PAPERS

Henry Shaw not only kept a meticulous account of his business and civic
and personal enterprises; he wrote these records in ink in a fine clear hand
and filed them away in an orderly fashion with other pertinent papers. So
detailed an account do they give of nineteenth-century business expansion
in the United States that in 1939 they were sent to the library of the Harvard
Business School on an extended loan. In the ensuing fifteen years they have
been studied, catalogued, and photographed.

In mid-January they started back home to the Missouri Botanical Garden,
three crates and one large carton. It is planned to display them briefly in
Mr. Shaw’s old Museum Building and to publish portions of the records
which are of general interest in St. Louis. Eventually it is hoped to use them

ae

in producing a scholarly history of Mr. Shaw and his garden.

30 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

CATTLEYA AURANTIACA, THE ORANGE CATTLEYA

(Photographed at the Garden by Clifford Paulsen)
S

Never was a plant more appropriately named than this tiny-flowered
Cattleya from Central America. The flowers are of an orange so vivid that
though the individual blooms are not bigger than the end of your finger, the
whole bunch makes a bright splash in the greenhouse or at a flower show and
always interests visitors. The texture is as outstanding as the color; the
petals are so waxy that the flower appears to have been carved out of orange-

colored paraffin. This waxy texture gives it unusual lasting qualities.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 31

CROSSBILLS AT THE ARBORETUM

Crossbills are strange little sparrow-like birds of the northern hemisphere
which migrate erratically in flocks, so that they may be common in one area
for some weeks and then not be seen again for a good many years. Their
favorite food is the seeds of conifers; their curious bills are adapted for rip-
ping apart the cones of evergreen trees and getting out the seeds. The
ordinary seed-eating beak of such a bird as the sparrow is prolonged to make
a pair of powerful forceps which can pull out the seeds from under the cone
scales. At other times when the tips are not in use as forceps they may
actually cross past each other giving an unusual snaggle-toothed appearance
which is responsible for the common name.

A local naturalist, Mr. David Jones, was the first to report the presence
of a flock of crossbills at the Arboretum this winter. He found them there
at New Year’s and since then they have repeatedly been observed by Earl
Hath, J. Earl Comfort, and other St. Louis ornithologists. As is often the
case, the flock is made up of two different species, Red Crossbills and White-
wing Crossbills. During the day they feed on spruce cones in the Pinetum,
flying in every morning from the South, apparently from roosts in the Gar-
den’s Red Cedar glades along the Meramec River.

FLORENCE FENNEL AS A HOUSE PLANT

Last year, early in the season, Mrs. George Becker sent us a_ nice
packet of seeds of the bronze variety of Florence Fennel, a feathery-leaved
herb with succulent leaf bases and an anise-like taste. Through oversight
they were not planted until late in the summer and are being carried through
the winter in five-inch pots. They have proved to be extraordinarily effective
as house plants; so far as we know the first time they have ever been tried for
this purpose. They do well on a window-sill and will even grow for several
weeks on a table away from the window. The feathery leaves are even more
attractive indoors than outdoors and may be used as a garnish if one can bear
to cut them. The bronze color of this variety does not develop as strongly as
under the outdoor sun but it gives an interesting metallic cast to the develop-
ing young leaves at the top of the plant.

The Red Cedar in Missouri is not only more variable than it is throughout
the East; on the average it is much more fruitful here. Fruiting trees have
such masses of gray-blue berries as to be most attractive in the landscape and
of real importance as a bird food.

32 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN
Book REvIEWw:—

The Ferns and Fern Allies of Minnesota. By Rolla M. Tryon, Jr. 186 pp.
207 figs. 85 maps. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. 1954.
Cloth-bound, $4.00; paper-bound, $2.75.

This attractive book on ferns concerns those which occur in Minnesota
and adjacent states but over half of them you might happen upon in the
fields and woods of Missouri. The Maidenhair and Rattlesnake fern, like
most of these plants, have delicate, lacy-cut fronds which add much beauty
to rich, shaded woods. A few, as the Cliff-brakes and the Lip ferns, grow in
drier situations in crevices and on ledges of limestone cliffs. The rush-like
Quillworts are aquatic growing in shallow pools and streams—their beauty
unnoticed until the spores are seen. These tiny structures, about the size of
a pin-head, are exquisitely sculptured in ridge and spine patterns and a
likely source of inspiration for fabric design. The fantastic-formed Horse-
tails and Club-mosses are fern allies, really not ferns at all, but remnants of
a great group of ancient plants which flourished during the Coal Age. These
are among the nearly one hundred kinds of ferns which can be identified with
this book. The method of identification using keys is presented in a simple
manner with the botanical lingo brought to the point in a pictured glossary.
The technical aspects, however, can be easily by-passed and identifications
made by matching specimens with the many photographic silhouettes. Some
information is supplied on native species which can be transplanted and are
suitable for the garden.

First attracted by ferns in the Dune area of Lake Michigan, the author
has continued his interest on the kinds of ferns and how and why they grow
where they do. He is Assistant Curator of the Herbarium at the Garden and
currently studying the ferns of Peru. The exquisite drawings and prints
done by Wilma Monserud were largely prepared by a special photographic
process from the actual plants——A.F.T.

During most of January the Garden has been host to two Argentinian
botanists, Dr. and Mrs. Antonio Krapovickas. He is of Lithuanian ancestry,
she of Austrian, but both of them received their training in Argentina. They
are working, among other things, on the history and classification of the
cultivated peanut and have found the old books in our library of tremendous
help in their work.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Joun S. LEHMANN, President Henry HircHcock
DanieL K. CaTLin, Vice-President RicHarpD J. Lockwoop
EuGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President A. WEssEL SHAPLEIGH
LEICESTER B. FAust ErHan A. H. SHEPLEY
DupLEY FRENCH RoBERT BROOKINGS SMITH

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEY, H. M. STOLAR,
Chancellor of Washington University President of the Board of Education
of St. Louis

ARTHUR C, LICHTENBERGER,

Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri
: STRATFORD LEE Morton,

RayMOND R. TUCKER, President of the Academy of Science
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis

Secretary
GERALD ULRICI

THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL
Clifford W. Benson, Clarence Barbre, Albert Chandler, E. G. Cherbonnier,
Paul Hale, Mrs, Hazel Knapp, Emmet Layton, Clarence McGovern, Gilbert
Pennewill, Mrs Roland R. Read, W. F. Scott, Jr., Harold E. Wolfe, John S.

Lehmann, Edgar Anderson, John Nies, Chairman.

STAFF
reotes Ti GONE ase sectes eccrine a EIR Director
dwar PMUOSON. 2 teqstes sites eee ssudelastisanctn nanan «Sean LE EGLOF
Henry N. Andrews =. ---- ----2n--w--enneneenenn een Paleobotanist
August P, Beilmann. — Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit
Louis G. Brenner... ---.. Assistant Manager of the Arboretum
Ladislaus Cutak =... Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories
Hugh C. Cutler. — Assistant Director and Curator of the Museum
Carroll We Dib 6 cesses occ acedenciepeceiteotat ose epee einen NN OOMOEME
John D. Dwyer. --------——ea-ann anna nena Research Associate
Robert J. Gillespie _ sak An charge of Orchids
Be I incase cuit papene ve ee Ma om ga Librarian and Editor
Lawrence Kaplan i eeeteens _.. Associate Curator of Museum
ED. OS 2: 1 a ae ee ae ieee ee area ere siietetnrcctarsices SSCA Librarian
Baia t Pe ROL coin cain den senna inipnedacnanteeti sendin eeretes ei dccnats cians OPICMICULISE
Edna Mepham —. ib ois Slspeninendeinronansnlesbbtccacsscsecs Dean. AVSSISRORUL. AOE ALIN
Rrederick. GC, Meyer cuits eit ese eit ee DONE Ologist
id (om 2 OU 5d | eras oe neon ere neaesemae _ . Superintendent
Betty O’Brien Putney Assistant to the Director
EG OR ||| 5 | a a ee ore sida dibacicsecacsaeeccen EE COR
LEE iw, acl: 2191) |¢ ees sso aninatsy Theseanch Associate
a Lee eee gp tees ety CEO Associate
ee 62, ll | 2 cae Amant ‘Curator of Herbariur
STG GG) (2 ee oc een nenaee se naaana ae rea Business Manager
George B. Van Schaack. ee aged toe es pcegpemeiscnseiiame Meneeee ‘Curio of Grasses

Robert E. Woodson, Jr... Curator of Herbarium

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE GARDEN

The Missouri Botanical Garden carries on the garden estab-
lished by Henry Shaw over a century ago at “Tower Grove,” his
country home. It is a private institution with no public support
from city or state. The old stone walls and cast-iron fences, the
Linnean House, the Museum, the Mausoleum and the ‘Old
Residence” all date from Mr. Shaw’s time. Since his death, as
directed in his will, the Garden has been in the hands of a Board

of Trustees who appoint the Director.

The Garden is open every day in the year (except New
Year’s Day and Christmas) from 9:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m..
April to November, and until 6:00 p.m., November to April,
though the greenhouses close at 5:00 p.m. Tower Grove, itself,
Mr. Shaw’s old residence, is open from 1 until 4. The Garden is
nearly a mile long and has several entrances. The Main Entrance,
the one used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora
Place on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southampton
buses (No. 80), direct from downtown, pass within three blocks
of this entrance and stop directly across the street from the
Administration Building at 2315 Tower Grove Avenue. The
latter is the best entrance for students, visiting scientists, etc.
It is open to such visitors after 8:30 a.m., but is closed on Sat-
urdays, Sundays, and holidays. There is a service entrance on
Alfred Avenue, one block south of Shaw Avenue.

Since Mr. Shaw’s time an Arboretum has been developed at
Gray Summit, Mo., opposite the junction of routes 50 and 66.
It is open every day in the year and has two miles of auto roads
as well as foot trails through the wild-flower reservation. There
is a pinetum and an extensive display of daffodils and other

narcissi from March to early May.

{ISSOURI BOTANICAL
GARDEN BULLETIN

ts
al ys
Pa A P

ows J at Mi

CONTENTS
Missouri’s Ozarks The Garden and Arboretum in Spring
Water Power in the Ozarks Notes

Tolume XLIII March, 1955 Number 3

Cover: In the Pinetum at the Arboretum—Deer range in any language! Photo by
Missouri Division of Resources and Development.

Office of publication: 306 E. Simmons Street, Galesburg, Illinois.

Editorial Office: Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 Tower Grove Avenue,
St. Louis, 10, Missouri

Published monthly except July and August by the Board of Trustees of the
Missouri Botanical Garden. Subscription price: $2.50 a year.

Entered as second-class matter January 26, 1942, at the post-office at Gales-
burg, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Please: Do not discard a copy of the Bulletin. If you have no further use for yours
pass it along toa friend or return it tothe Garden. Return postage guaranteed.

Missour1 Botanical
(;arden Bulletin

Vol. XLIII MARCH, 1955 No. 3

MISSOURTDS OZARKS

AUGUST P. BEILMANN

The Ozark region of Missouri has become very well known far beyond
its boundaries. Many sons and daughters have gone to other parts of the
world—some to achieve fame and others notoriety. Many who stayed have
become equally famous and have contributed greatly to the affairs of the
state and the nation. The region has also attracted outlanders who have
stayed long enough to add to that which, when summed up, is Missouri’s
Ozarks. The area houses a resident population that leng has furnished
material for jokesmiths and cartoonists. In this respect it shares honors with
several sister states. But it is significant that the very same jokesters, when
threatened with a new outbreak of ulcers, return, to recover health while
float-fishing a clear Ozark stream! Vance Randolph in his earthy writings
has intimately described the people. Harold Bell Wright has immortalized
the White River Country. Dr. Carl Sauer has written learnedly about the
geography of the region. The area has been a challenge to every articulate
visitor for nearly four centuries. Len Hall and other contemporary writers
find it just as fascinating.

To understand the Ozarks we must lean heavily upon Carl Sauer’s “The
Geography of the Ozark Highland of Missouri”. The area comprises about
one-third of the state, all of it south of the Missouri River. The eastern
portion is the most heavily timbered. The million-acre Mark Twain and
Clark National Forests, as well as the largest private forest holdings, are
located there. Here also is Taum Sauk Mountain, about 800 feet hieher than
the average for the state, and here too are steep valleys. A few are almost
700 feet lower than the average of the nearby hilltops. Springs are abundant,
many of which are large enough to give rise to full-fledged rivers. Nearly
every valley has a clear running stream fed by numerous springs. The
smaller valleys are often broad enough to furnish some plowland for culti-
vated crops. The soils generally are quite shallow, rather rocky, and some-

what infertile. in favored places orchards, vineyards, and small-fruit farms

(33)

34

MISSOURL BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Joachim Creek near Farmington

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 35

have been established with marked success. The very diversity of the Ozarks
is the basis of its homogeneity, and it has supported a population for almost
as long as Europeans have known the Mississippi Valley. This, then, is the
Ozark region, at once diverse and homogeneous, and of surpassing interest
to many who might agree to its development but would strenuously object
to its exploitation or plundering.

There have been proposals to lift the population by its boot-straps; to
industrialize the region; to dam its clear streams; to grow forests and to
burn them; to do this and to do that. Fortunately, no one has found a
panacea, and this ancient mountain range and its people view these proposals
with little alarm. However, there have been changes, and they have closely
followed the advancing automobile roads. Often the latest gadgets of the
Advertising Age can be found in remarkably inaccessible places. Now de-
termined people are attempting to preserve the folkways and the ballads by
reducing them to tape recordings.

Any proposal for the Ozarks, any plan for the future, must not fail to
recognize the problem in terms of the people who are scattered on small
farms and little villages. There are no great cities and even very few large
towns. The surplus population has always migrated to the outside. Those
that remained have either lived well or have lived poorly, depending upon a
personal point of view. All are acquainted with hard times. Close contact
with the region generally leaves one with the feeling that the problem is
largely economic. What is needed is a dependable supplementary income for
those who live in the region. The topography imposes certain limitations.
This might be expressed as the “carrying capacity”. In turn, this can be
translated into acreage of plowland, extent of the forests, the human popu-
lation, amount of livestock and even game and wildlife. Farming can be
expanded somewhat, and modern know-how and methods will increase pro-
duction and improve the diet. But the area can never compete with farming
regions more favorably located on better soils.

It is unsafe to generalize, even about farming, in this region. One might
point out that hogs and cattle running wild have done irreparable damage—
then discover an operation that is without serious fault and is economically
sound. Because of the high-grade feed required, one might dismiss dairying
as a farming operation only to encounter several dairy herds being very
properly managed. Even the spring branches are “farmed”. Here grow the
aquatic plants seen in fish bowls, and tons of the prepared plants are shipped
annually. Beef cattle have great possibilities. Southwestern cattlemen who
have been “burned out” year after year have assembled large acreages and
shipped in foundation herds. The long grazing season and the unlimited

clear water in most of the valleys have proven most attractive to cattlemen.

36 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Cattle from this region have quality and finish, An Ozark bull raised at
Edge Cliff Farm by Andy Knapp was judged Champion of the Show at the
American Royal. Edge Cliff Farm is reclaimed brushland in an area that has
supported an immigrant population since lead mining began in the late
1700s.

Forestry, which furnished much of the livelihood at one time, is again
furnishing employment and it can be expanded much farther. The annual
growth per acre is small, and this places a limit upon the capital that might
be invested in that activity. However, the T. J. Moss Tie Company owns
and operates immense holdings along the Current River and Leo Drey has
recently acquired the forest lands of the National Distilleries, Inc., which
are on the upper Current River. ‘Together totalling more than a million
and a half acres, these forests are being managed with great care in the ex-
pectation that growth and cut can be balanced for many years.

Practical forestry, fire control, and the reforestation of areas not now
growing trees is an incomplete answer to the problems in Missouri’s Ozarks.
Extensive forests are relatively new. Within historic times the region has
been described by travellers as covered with grass (Beilmann & Brenner,
The Recent Intrusion of Forests in the Ozarks. Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. Vol. 38.
1951) and the trees were confined to the water-courses and areas where the
rough topography afforded protection from the prairie fires. It requires no
vivid imagination to visualize the destruction that fire might have caused in
either 1953 or 1954 if there had been no fire-protection system in the forested

land. Had successive dry years and unchecked fires followed each other a

century earlier—and this must have happened many times—the grass and
not the forests would have dominated the scene. It may be an ecological
blunder to plant more trees without regard for the species, the site, and the
soil, It may also be a mistake to furnish fire protection to every bit of brush-
land. Perhaps much of the area should remain in grass. The forester usually
falls heir to those lands which are so poor that no one has found them useful
or valuable. Such land will not grow good trees but it might grow good
grass.

Of all the uses to which the Ozarks might be put it would seem that
recreation offers the greatest opportunity and the greatest chance for ex-
pansion without a concomitant loss of natural resources or a loss of the
unique background that is the Ozarks. There is a market for recreation
and there is no shortage of customers, so an economic problem is perhops
soluble in this one facet. Recreation has many meanings. We shall confine
ourselves to two activities which are less garish than most. The Ozarks have
been used more extensively, and for a longer time, by fishermen and hunters
than by any other visitor. Float-fishing is a long established activity and

competent outfitters are readily located. Such fishing trips can continue

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 37

Mr. Beilmann demonstrates distillation of Mountain Mint at the Eastern Missouri
Beekeepers’ Field Day at the Arboretum.

Under the leadership of Mr. Beilmann and his staff, the Arboretum has developed into
an outdoor laboratory and demonstration plot for dealing with the various problems of land-
scape in the broadest sense of the word. This program has attracted so much attention that
the Arboretum is now increasingly the center for a field day or a series of field days. These
go all the way from a visiting garden club which spends the day studying the collection of
naturalized daffodils and other Narcissi to the enormous affair staged two years ago by the
Friends of the Land. It combined a demonstration of landscape management with a three-
day pageant “The Saga of the Meramec” which brought more than 30,000 visitors to the
Arboretum grounds. In the illustration Mr. Beilmann is demonstrating the amount. of
volatile oil in one of our native bee-plants for a group of visiting beekeepers.

38 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

only so long as the clear streams remain free of “multi-purpose dams”. The
dams which have been constructed have fallen short of the claims made for
them, and they have destroyed the game fishing which is part and parcel of
Ozark fishing. The streams can remain clear and the springs running full
only if the headwater areas are properly utilized. If farming is expanded to
include more and more of the steeper land the streams will not remain clear.
If pastures are grazed too closely each rain will bring down a flood of muddy
water. If the axe and fire and goats are used in the forests then destruction
will follow. We cannot control the activities of each landowner, so let’s
assume that through example and education the land-use pattern will im-
prove. Land-use practices will improve if it can be shown that the proposals
are economically sound and within reach of the farmer.

We might also remember that the construction of the highway we de-
mand to-day may very well cause more erosion, and in a shorter time, than
any other single activity. The more modern the highway, the more certain
we may be that the drainage pattern of an extensive area has been disrupted.
Low places are filled, hills cut through, and the roadside ditches are en-
gineered to discharge water into the nearest drainage-way just as quickly as
possible. Can you think of a faster way to drain the Ozarks than a cross-
state ditch as much as several hundred feet wide? How much terracing
would be required on the little farms to save as much water as such a road
is designed to carry away? Often the older and less important roads are
equally destructive; it is not difficult to find an outwash of rock and debris
hundreds of feet from the lower end of a county road ditch. Can any plan,
no matter how bad, be more destructive to the Ozarks than the one to throw
a dam across each stream? Dams forever submerge the meagre plowland in
the valleys; there is no hope of ever correcting a gross blunder. They have
intensified flooding downstream—the very areas they were designed to
protect. State agencies have made two studies of Ozark streams that have
been dammed. One deals with the decline of sport fishing behind the dams;
the other with the policies of land acquisition that make displaced persons
of the former residents of the area. Both studies have been widely quoted in
other states faced with similar pork-barrel projects, and both studies should
be required reading for any one interested in the future of the Ozarks. It
would seem, then, that every one of us, either directly or indirectly, has
contributed in some measure to whatever problems confront the Ozarks
to-day.

The forests are the most conspicuous part of the Ozark landscape. They
will remain so unless continued drought does irreparable damage. At the
moment we cannot tell how much harm has been done; nor can we compare
the effects of the dry 1930’s with this cycle. In the 1930’s the forests con-

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 59

ae ae

The beginning of Juniper invasion in an old field at the Arboretum. Bird-planted
seedlings competing with an old Slippery Elm which will shortly die because of the
comipetition,.

tained fewer trees per acre and all of them were smaller; there has been a
significant improvement in the forests during the past two decades. They
furnish employment and recreation and they are a protection to the water-
sheds. We must learn to live with and within them. But not every acre
should be given over to trees. Grassland may furnish just as much protec-
tion to a stream unless it is grazed to the ground. It also supports other
kinds of plants and wild life. During a dry cycle it may allow more water
to reach the soil and percolate downward than does the forest. This was
the experience in Oklahoma where the removal of the cedars (Juniperus) and
the re-establishment of grass restored springs that had dried. In wet seasons
there is a surplus of rain, and enough reaches the ground even though as
much as half may be lost through evaporation from the surfaces of the trees.
During a dry period, a good grass cover will allow far more water to reach
the soil and percolate downward to keep the springs at peak flow.

We hear much about a “natural balance’, a kind of beautifully poised
community in which every member lives his life to the fullest! There has
never been a “balance”? which was maintained long enough to measure. All
landscapes are artificial. The first footprints across a prairie can never be
erased. They destroyed a momentary interdependence of plants and animals,
and it doesn’t matter if that footprint was made by an Indian moccasin, a
Spanish military boot, or the heavy footgear of the first farmer. Man can,

and does, bend a jandscape to suit his needs. We need only watch the burrow

40 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

of a single ground-hog on an Ozark hillside to see that animals do the same.
A dramatic change of flora follows such selective feeding as ground-hogs do,
and a herd of deer or even a flock of robins may completely revise the flora
of an area in a very short time. By searching out and feeding upon favored
plants a herd of deer can remove those species from their range. As often
happens during the winter, thousands of robins visit the Ozark cedar glades
in search of berries. In their flight from the feeding grounds they scatter
seeds far and wide. At the moment, Franklin County, as well as other areas,
is in danger of being over-run by seedlings of this tree. The species has
crossed the Missouri River and begun a march northward across the prairies.

The Indian set the grassland ablaze to discomfort his enemies. He thus
provided a barrier, devoid of game and forage, through which an enemy
raiding party travelled only with great difficulty. Since his bow and arrow
were less than adequate as hunting weapons he used fire to drive the game
within reach, into traps and over a precipice where they might be gathered
in the quantities the village needed. A fire begun by a hunting party, or
started by lightning, might very well rage unchecked for hundreds of miles.
In the absence of fire-fighting equipment and adequate manpower (recent
innovations) such repeated burnings would definitely limit the forest distri-
bution. In time there would emerge a landscape dominated by grassland,
with some forests where the topography afforded protection from the annual
fires.

It would seem, then, that we are concerned with the creation of an arti-
ficial landscape, one that will serve all our needs without sacrificing any
resources and planned so that is can be readily and rapidly amended as our
needs change. At the moment there can be no better plan than to use each
acre as best we can within the limitations imposed by our imperfect knowl-
edge and understanding. This would also be the key to the preservation, as
well as the utilization, of the Ozarks by the two groups who use them the
most—the hunter and the fisherman. Both these groups pay their way in a
fashion not commonly understood. Under the Dingell-Johnson Act of 1950,
an excise tax is levied on all fishing equipment, and under the Pittman-
Robertson Act of 1937, a similar tax is levied on all sporting arms and
ammunition. The funds derived from these sources are returned to the
states for investigation, land purchase, development, coordination and main-
tenance as an aid in fish and wildlife restoration. In addition, every hunter
and every fisherman pays a direct tax in the form of a license—and there are
special fees for trout fishermen and deer hunters. Beyond this every tax-
payer has contributed to the establishment and the maintenance of the
National Forests.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 41

Here then are acreages ready at hand for experimental purposes, and here
is the financial assistance needed to learn more about the problems and to
demonstrate what is known. It is not suggested that the Ozarks be manipu-
lated solely for the fisherman and the hunter; many visitors do neither, But
it has been our experience at the Arboretum that the visitor who has a
glimpse of a fleeing deer, has seen a fox cross a trail, or even come across a
lowly ground-hog for the first time is very likely to forget all the flowers he
saw. But if both the wild things and the floral displays are seen in one after-
noon, then it has been a day to remember! Visitors often tell us of the things
they have seen, and in the telling, ground-hogs approach black bear in size
and ferocity.

The forest is a several-storied habitat, capable of supporting animals that
live above and below ground and birds that use the forest floor as well as
those which fly at will through and above the trees. The capacity of a forest
to accommodate all these creatures depends upon the age and height of the
trees, the plants that form the understory, and the cover between the trees
on the soil surface. The mature forest, with widely spaced trees, many
bearing fruit, and with shrubs, herbs and grass on the forest floor, probably
supported the greatest and most diverse bird and animal life. The recently
cut-over area, now slowly coming back through a succession of sprouts and
with a new flora on the soil surface, may temporarily have even a greater
carrying capacity for some species. But the closely packed forest of “‘pole-
timber” (6- to 8-inch trees) has the least capacity. Since the trees are too
young and crowded to bear fruit and since the forest floor is almost free of
plants, few birds or animals can find suitable food or shelter. Unfortunately,
too many of the forests in the Ozarks are in this intermediate stage. They
do not produce game and they are equally unattractive to the visitor who
does not hunt. They would be quite valuable as protection to the watersheds
in wet decades but they are quite wasteful of rainfall during the drier years.

Since we are dealing with an artificial landscape and since man has always
manipulated them to suit his convenience, it is suggested that the Ozarks be
deliberately developed for maximum recreational usage. As a first step in
this direction it is further suggested that the area be managed for the maxi-
mum production of game of all sorts. Here is a usage that will furnish
additional employment and will increase the use of local farm products. It
will pay its way through a greater year-round use by visitors. We cannot
be equally sure that expanded farming will be profitable, and industrialization
must wait upon a proper economic climate.

To accomplish this recreational project it will be necessary to move into
the forests, and onto the land, to do what is necessary to produce the habitats
required. Often it will be necessary to thin trees, or even remove them, to
create the openings. Some sites should be returned to grass. In other places

42 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

the invasion of cleared areas by trees should be checked. The techniques
are known. ‘The literature reports scattered instances of successful efforts
to grow both game and trees. On a small scale, at the Arboretum, we have
attempted to have both plants and animals. We have found that we
can grow a richer flora if we manage the forests properly. And we have
learned that the game moves into such areas. Such a program will require
a co-operative attack by both game manager and forester. At the moment,
the problems in each field are being solved independently. The U. S. Forest
Service, dedicated to growing trees, has no provision for deliberately remov-
ing trees that might improve a habitat for game—unless an improvement
automatically follows a timber sale. In fairness, it must be said that it has
attempted such work as a demonstration on several small tracts—and it has
worked! The Conservation Commission, operating under a mandate to grow
and allocate game, furnishes fire protection. Fire protection alone, especially
during certain stages in the growth of a forest, may actually close such a
forest to both the game and the visitors who pay the bill to maintain the
forests. A forest will be of more interest to the casual visitor if it has a
rich and varied flora. And the birds and animals will quickly find these

improved habitats.

Turner’s Mill, one of the largest “overshot” wheels in the Ozarks. View through

the wheel from the old factory.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 43

WATER POWER IN THE OZARKS

AUGUST P. BEILMANN

There are innumerable springs in the Ozarks and all of them contribute
to the flow of clear streams. The larger streams virtually become rivers as
they emerge from the underground passageways. Big Spring, near Van
Buren, is the largest single spring in the United States, flowing as much as
640,000,000 gallons a day. The springs are every bit as interesting to the
visitor today as they were to the first explorers. Many of the larger will be
lost forever if the heedless proposals to dam all Missouri’s streams are put
into effect. In spite of the gigantic springs, none of the Ozark streams are
a dependable source of hydro-electricity. They can be used to produce a
little “dump” power to firm up a distribution system during short peak
loads, but they are not a source of firm power. During 1954, some of the
most modern installations produced no power for weeks at a time. And the
Atomic Age is just around the corner!

Earlier generations were intrigued by the rushing springs and the swift
spring branches and they harnessed many in ingenious ways. The mechanical
power they produced was used to grind grain and operate machinery. Some

few installations were large enough to operate saw-mills. In general, one of

two kinds of equipment was used to harness water power—sither the “‘over-
shot” wheel or the turbine. The method chosen depended upon the topography
and the uniformity of water flow, and quite possibly the roads to be travelled
and the weight of the dismantled machinery also dictated a choice.

The simplest and most picturesque equipment was the “overshot” wheel.
Here a spring was tapped at a higher elevation, and the water was carried
overhead in a wooden flume, to the top of the wheel. When discharged into
broad cups, or buckets, the weight added to one-half the wheel caused it to
revolve. Once started, it continued to turn until a gate in the flume shut
off the water supply. Falling Mill Spring, in Oregon County, is an excellent
example of the utilization of a small spring issuing from the face of a steep
bluff. The water is carried only a short distance through a flume to the
top of the wheel. This mill is still being used to grind feed and saw fire-
wood. Turner’s Mill, also in Oregon County, with a wheel over 30 feet in
diameter, is one of the largest of this kind and could generate about 100
horsepower. This is a rating of usable power and not the kind of “developed”
horsepower we encounter in automobile advertising! Once the site of an
extensive woodworking factory, Turner’s Mill has fallen into disrepair. Most
of the machinery has been removed but the wheel remains intact and in good
condition.

44 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

The difficulty of constructing a suitable dam across a rushing spring
branch, where a greater volume of water was available, led to the use of the
turbine. The old mills at both Alley Springs and at Montauk were powered
in this manner. In such installations, the spring branch was tapped behind
a small dam at a higher elevation. The water conducted through masonry
ditches to a lower point was discharged through the turbine. The relatively
small rotor, equipped with fins and energized by the falling water, operated at
higher speed. While rather complicated gates and sluiceways were needed
the turbine was quite compact and totally submerged. It also required less
shafting and belting to operate machinery. This application of water power
to the everyday business of living was much less spectacular than the “over-
shot” wheel. However, it was more efficient and worked especially well in
the vicinity of the larger springs or where a small stream could be dammed.
The old mill at Cedar Hill is of this type, which often operated, with a
minimum of maintenance, for half a century,

At one time many hundreds of these mills were in operation and nearly
every community was served by a miller, who often was a combination of
all other frontier crafts The power of rushing water was thus used to move
all sorts of machinery and to lighten the tedious drudgery of such simple
tasks as converting grain into bread. Unfortunately, few of Missouri’s early

water-power installations are being either maintained or restored. And even

Falling Spring Mill—a little-known and seldom-visited spot in Oregon Co. The

spring gushes from the bluff just slightly above the top of the wheel.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 45

fewer are being operated. Power lines follow every road and search out
every potential user. Then, too, we get all our food in boxes! We haven’t
time to watch the rushing water while the miller grinds our grain. Unless,
of course, we are on vacation—then we rush to photograph these relics of
a calmer day!

THE GARDEN AND THE ARBORETUM DURING THE
EARLY SPRING

The main spring displays at the Garden are already well under way. In
the Floral Display House orchids, which began in late January, will gradually
give way to spring flowers leading up to a special display beginning just
before Easter. At almost the same time the very earliest of the snowdrops
came into flower in the mausoleum grounds and continued to bloom in
between record-breaking cold waves. By the last days of February they
were providing really charming displays during spells of sunny weather.
They will continue into March, being followed by scillas, daffodils, and then
by sheets of white and pink and blue wood-hyacinths which come hurrying
up from under the ivy leaves as if by magic, in late April and early May.
Now that the “Weeders and Seeders” garden club is putting the walks and
plantings in the Mausoleum grounds into first-rate condition, this is one of
the nicest places in metropolitan St. Louis to visit on a pleasant spring day.
The dignified grounds, with their ivy mantle and their background of cast-
iron fencing and limestone pillars, look like a little piece out of an English-
man’s estate. Mr. Shaw’s country home Tower Grove is adjacent to these

grounds and is open every afternoon from one until four o'clock.

At the Arboretum the early daffodils become conspicuous by the end of
March, and they and the crabapples provide a series of mass displays during
April. The open meadows in which the daffodils are growing tend to be
swept by chilly winds, so bring a heavy coat if you expect to get out of
the car.

From the Trail House, where there is abundant parking space, the series
of wildflower trails, provided by a special gift from the Garden Club of St.
Louis, lead off into the woods and in among the cedars. The usual early
spring flowers begin the first part of March and reach a climax by the end
of April. It is then that the special beauties of the Arboretum’s display
begin to take the stage. In the lowland woods there are sheets of gray-blue
Miami Mist (Phacelia Purshit) in May. By late May the open limestone
glades begin their dazzling show of glade and prairie wild flowers which

46 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

continue all through June and into early July, long after most wild flowers
have gone to seed. There are purple cone-flowers in varying shades of
pinkish-lavender, golden coreopsis, and Missouri Evening Primrose, set close

to the rocky ground with pale sulphur-yellow flowers as large as salad plates.

The design of the Arboretum is not as complicated as it might seem
when one glances at the map on the opposite page. The grounds are roughly
a mile wide and extend for something over a mile between Highway 66 and
the Meramec River. The land on the south side of the river is operated as a
farm, having been purchased to conserve the natural character of the river
front. In the portion open to the public a winding road two miles long
starts from the Main Gate and comes back to the same point. It has been
designed for a modern arboretum to which nearly all the visitors come by
automobile and a considerable fraction never get out of their cars. The road
enters through the Pinetum with its pleasant little lake which serves as an
emergency reservoir for the orchid greenhouses. It then winds through
meadows and woodlands to the Field House which is near the summit of the
highest hill. Broad parking areas help to conserve the hill top for its all-
embracing views and a series of wildflower trails; some short and almost on
the level, others much longer and with a good deal of climbing, take visitors
through the most interesting portions of the wild-flower reservation. There
are rustic tables at which visitors may eat their picnic lunch (though no
fires are permitted). The roadway then continues through meadows and
back across Brush Creek to the highway. The wooded valleys and the wide
stretches of blue-grass meadow have proved most attractive to deer, and there
are usually more than a score about at any one time. One cannot count on
seeing deer during any one visit, yet he is most certain to do so several times
during each half-dozen visits. In mid-summer there is always the hope that
one may see one or more white-spotted fawns feeding in the meadows or
along the roadway, or in early autumn that one will glimpse the stags with

their magnificent branched antlers,

The major lumber companies in the Northwest have long recognized the
recreational potential of their forests. For some time they have been provid-
ing unusual assistance to hunters who use these forests during the open
season, and the game is concentrated in those areas where some cutting has

been done.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 47

HIGH WAY 50

MAIN GATE GWay 66 THE. ARBORETUM
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

|
|
|
|
|
AND 7 ‘ |
CHESTNUT _§ RS A \ |
GROVE i if a \ i |
VS FLOWERING a |
aS as i
- CRABS i v gf ;
1 va |
-~ / |
Oe at aa ae / rr |
1 / .
J sf ia |
"ai :
7 \ a
ae 4 :
_ P tf AL ls |
PSaED (oY eee aE caliiee \ ok \ ‘4 |
ne \ ad, pa aS ES R ‘ a :
‘. 1 ‘
¢ TS Va x fy ‘ |
ee sot ‘ \ s '
a ame os a ee + = \« ey, ' ‘ j
: s = aa Me vs “! 7 y
| ! Po! ! ey, eee ais
' 1 poe ra ie Om f a | eos
PN mot; Sy va
| : opt \
: \ ) A
.
| *s, = \ 4
a ie = A
ee ty . foo
APPROXIMATE FLOWERING DATES | \ mec RIVER
Narcissus - early March to early May | ; BR
Flowering Crabs - usually late April =
ds - April to May |
00 ) q ROAD
Redbud - April to May
Wildflowers - early March to May PRE, Rae eo
Glade Wildflowers - don’t miss this,

in late June and early July-

48 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

NOTES

February saw the beginning of a project to make the Garden more useful
to science teachers and to school-children in the city of St. Louis. Plans
were worked out to have Mr. Nathaniel Watlington of Harris Teachers’
College work at the Garden under the direction of Dr, Dwyer of St. Louis
University, a member of the Garden’s staff. Mr. Watlington will work out
a handbook for the use of teachers and classes which visit the Garden so that
they may get the maximum benefit out of their trips through the green-
houses and the grounds.

For two weeks in mid-February, Dr. H. S. Gentry, plant explorer of the
United States Department of Agriculture, has been working in the library
and herbarium studying several kinds of plants which are of increasing im-
portance to modern medicine. Chief among these are the Agaves, the pioneer
work on which was done by Henry Shaw’s close friend and adviser, Dr.
George Engelmann, and by the Garden’s first director, Dr. William Trelease.
These plants have been found to be of promise in the commercial production
of cortisone drugs. There are so many species and the species differ so widely
in their commercial value that the problem is an intricate one. One of the
interesting facts about the kind of scientific work carried on in such
large herbaria as that at the Garden is that its importance frequently
increases with age. When Dr. Engelmann and Dr. Trelease undertook their
studies these curious semi-desert plants were of interest only to a few col-
lectors of succulents and to students of desert vegetation. Now, over half
a century later, these studies are found to be of value to modern medicine
and to the United States drug industry,

In March, the first number of the forty-second volume of the ANNALS
OF THE Missourt BoTANICAL GARDEN made its appearance and started off
in the mails to scientific laboratories and scientific libraries all over the world.
This particular number is devoted to studies by two members of the Garden’s
staff, Dr. Rolla M. Tryon and his wife Dr. Alice F. Tryon. Her contribution
is the description of a new species of fern from South Africa. His is a
technical monograph of around 100 pages. It deals with a group of plants
(Selaginella rupestris and its allies) fairly closely related to the ground pines
which are so conspicuous underfoot in northern woodlands. The 43 species
dealt with by Dr. Tryon are grayish-green little plants especially adapted to
life in dry places, rocky or sandy, most of them hugging the soil so closely
as to seem almost a part of it. They are inconspicuous, and their study has
been neglected partly because ef this fact and partly because botanists have
had a difficult time figuring out just where one kind ended and another
began. However, for this very fact they are of interest to students of
evolution and also because they are the one group of desert-loving species in

a whole assemblage of plants adapted to cool and damp situations.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

JoHNn S. LEHMANN, President Henry HitrcHcock
DanieEL K. CaTLin; Vice-President RicHarp J. Lockwoop
EUGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President A. WeEssEL SHAPLEIGH
LEICESTER B. Faust ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEY
DupLEY FRENCH RosBertT BrRookINGs SMITH

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

ErHan A. H. SHEPLEY, H. M. STovar,
Chancellor of Washington University President of the Board of Education
of St. Louis

ARTHUR C, LICHTENBERGER,

Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri
. STRATFORD LEE MorTON,

RAYMOND R. TUCKER, President of the Academy of Science
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis

Secretary
GERALD ULRICI

THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL
Clifford W. Benson, Clarence Barbre, Albert Chandler, E. G. Cherbonnier,
Paul Hale, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet Layton, Clarence McGovern, Gilbert
Pennewill, Mrs Roland R. Read, W. F. Scott, Jr., Harold E, Wolfe, John S.
Lehmann, Edgar Anderson, John Nies, Chairman.

STAFF
Ceoree Tc MOR acco epee tee ee ee os Emeritus Director
Edgar Anderson -.-.--------------- eee ee ee eee A __._Director
Henry N. Andrews — aac eased el Pe are eect ea ed Paleobotanist
August P. Beilmann ______-_....... Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit
Louis G. Brenner-___._._..------------------------------ Assistant Manager of the Arboretum
leadislaus/@utak ...-.-2 12 2 = eee Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories
Hugh C. Cutler... Assistant Director and Curator of the Museum
Carroll W. Dodge is = de to ean So YOOIORE
Nola (ow yer.e..22 ee eer ne x Ret ae ee Research Associate
Robert J. Gillespie... ne __In charge of Orchids
Nel GOVE o reer aa ste eae ee Librarian and Editor
Lawrence Kaplan Associate Curator of Museum
Pa ROG co __Assistant Librarian
LETT I, a, Ce || ee AONE EE AU Rae cet tao Par Wace Floriculturist
Edna: Mepnan i... i rent re eee Assistant Librarian
Frederick G. Meyer -_------------------------------ : __...Dendrologist
George H. Pring ee ee ee Superintendent
Beery ©) Brien Putney. 3022 2. .e ene: Assistant to the Director
Kenneth A. Smith = _ __....._Engineer
Julian A. Steyermark __...Honorary Research Associate
Alice F, Tryon = We Research Associate
Rolla M. Tryon, Jr.----------------------- __Assistant Curator of Herbarium
Gerald Ulrici Pee tee Business Manager
Creoree Bo: Van Schasek ts. Honorary Curator of Grasses

Robert E. Woodson, Jr... Curator of Herbarium

SOME FACTS ABOUT SHAW’S GARDEN

The Missouri Botanical Garden (the official name chosen by
Mr. Shaw) carries on the garden established by Henry Shaw
over a century ago at Towrr Grove, his country home. It is
a private institution and has no support from city or state. The
old stone walls and cast-iron fences, the Linnaean House, the
Museum, the Mausoleum, and the Tower Grove mansion all
date from Mr. Shaw’s time. Since his death, as directed in his
will, the Garden has been in the hands of a Board of Trustees

who appoint the Director.

The Garden is open every day in the year (except New
Year’s and Christmas) from nine A. M. until seven P. M. (April
to November) and until six (November to April) though the
greenhouses close at five. Towrr Grove, itself, Mr. Shaw’s old
country home, is open frorn one until four. The Garden is
nearly a mile long and has several entrances. The Main Entrance,
the one used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora
Place on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southampton
buses (No. 80), direct from downtown, pass within three blocks
of this entrance and stop directly across the street from the
Administration Building at 2315 Tower Grove Avenue. The
latter is the best entrance for students, visiting scientists, etc.
It is open to such visitors after 8:30 a.m., but is closed on Sat-
urdays, Sundays, and holidays. There is a service entrance on

Alfred Avenue, one block south of Shaw Avenue,

Since Mr, Shaw’s time an Arboretum has been developed at
Gray Summit, Mo., opposite the junction of routes 50 and 66.
It is open every day in the year and has two miles of auto roads
as well as foot trails through the wild-flower reservation. There
is a pinetum and an extensive display of daffodils and other

narcissi from March to early May.

AISSOURI BOTANICAL
GARDEN BULLETIN

CONTENTS

Dendrobium Orchids for St. Louis Is the Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable?

: ; x : ; Book Reviews: Bower’s “Azaleas and

A Nice Quiet Evening with a Potato Bias ria eee gietareers
ice Q hide Rhododendrons”; Rickett’s “Wild
Re ee Nine Reet Flowers of Missouri : Northen and
: Northen’s “The Secret of the Green

Effects of the Drouth on Missouri Thumb.”
Plant Life The Big Freeze

Tolume XLII April, 1955 Number 4

Cover: View in the Dendrobium House.

Office of publication: 306 E. Simmons Street, Galesburg, Illinois.

Editorial Office: Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 Tower Grove Avenue,
St. Louis, 10, Missouri.

Published monthly except July and August by the Board of Trustees of the
Missouri Botanical Garden. Subscription price: $2.50 a year.

Entered as second-class matter January 26,1942, at the post-office at Gales-
burg, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Please: Do not discard a copy of the Bulletin. If you have no further use for yours
pass it along toa friend or return it to the Garden. Return postage guaranteed.

Missour! Botanical
Garden Bulletin

Vol. XLII APRIL, 1955 No. 4

DENDROBIUMS, GOOD ORCHIDS FOR ST. LOUIS

The cover picture shows the Dendrobium nobile house at Gray Summit
as it appears every year from February to April. Of all the orchids raised by
the Garden none seems to revel more in our difficult climate than Dendrobium
nobile and its varieties and hybrids.

By and large, these Dendrobiums give somewhat the same effect as sweet
peas. The colors are similar. The commonest is a bright pink deepening
towards the tips of the petals and with a black-purple eye in the center of
the flower. There are pure white varieties, deep pinks, and hybrids in soft
shades of yellow. The flowers are smallish as compared to the common
Cattleya but are borne in great profusion, and the petals are so beautifully
waved and lightly poised that, like sweet peas, they have a butterfly aspect.

When one learns how to use the blooms they are excellent for flower
arrangements. They are short-stemmed, about like a pansy, and, like pansies,
they are remarkably easy to condition. The flowers are cut, thrown into
cold water, and pushed down under the water with the hands until com-
pletely submerged. It seems strange to treat such delicate-looking blossoms
like so much parsley, but they have the constitution to take it.

Small potted plants of Dendrobiums in full bloom make attractive house
plants. They only need to be watered two or three times a week and will
stay in blossom for several weeks, giving a bright spot of color and a fairy-
like atmosphere to a flower window or plant porch.

(49)

50 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

A NICE QUIET EVENING WITH A POTATO
EDGAR ANDERSON

People connected with our great universities tell me that old-fashioned
botany is not a popular subject these days. It may be that these academic
experts do indeed know what they are talking about but to one who sits in
the Director’s office of a big botanical garden the problem is not the lack of
such an interest but rather how to find time to answer all the letters and
the telephone calls of people who want to know more about plants. Inquiries
pour in; publishers want books written; men’s garden clubs, women’s garden
clubs want lectures or even whole courses in botany; plain John Doe and
Jennie Doe want to know this, that, and the other thing.

Nearly all these people are adults. It may be that the average college or
university student is adult enough for English Literature or Sociology, per-
haps even adult enough for Mathematics but is not yet mature enough to
study Botany! Whatever the reason, those of us at botanical gardens have
this ever-increasing thirst to slake. ‘‘Why didn’t I study Botany in college
when I had the chance?” This is the chorus of lost souls which one in my
position hears day and night—and when I say night it is not just a figure of
speech; the telephone still bears this plaint to my ears (often with apologies
for calling at such a time) up into the late hours of the evening.

Nor is the phenomenon merely a local one. During the current month I
am giving three consecutive lectures on elementary old-fashioned botany to
a group of women in New York City; the mail which comes to my desk is
country-wide. There is certainly in these days a growing curiosity about
plants. It is connected, but only indirectly, with the present-day increase in
garden-club membership and with the tremendous development of amateur
interest in gardens and wild flowers and plant breeding. The number of
active, specialized plant societies increases each year. The old established
ones such as the Rose Society and the Orchid Society have been joined by
many others in the last two decades. There are now Pentstemon and Prim-
rose societies on a national scale. There is even an active, intelligent, well-
directed group whose very name “‘Gesneriad”’ demonstrates the degree of
specialization which is now being reached. The man in the street may not
have heard of Gesneriads, for they have no common name. A Gloxinia (if
you happen to know it) is our commonest Gesneriad, but there is now a
group of highly talented amateurs—chemists, printers, real-estate salesmen
and the like—who gather nationally once a year and discuss Gesneriad matters
so technical that they are beyond the ordinary knowledge of ordinary
botanists. This interest in plants and in botany, and most particularly in
old-fashioned kinds of botany, seems to be growing rapidly. I imagine that

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 51

if it keeps up for another decade or so the universities will at length be af-
fected and an appropriate kind of botany may get taught in colleges.

In the meantime what does a botanical garden do about this flood of
requests? Well, everything it can. We answer telephone calls and letters,
we give lectures, we organize courses, we write books if we can find the
time, but most persistently of all we persuade the intelligent public that if
they love plants they need few books; all they need is enough enthusiasm to
study the plants themselves. These people who come to us in such numbers
are adults. If one is dealing with adults the best thing to do is to show them
how to help themselves.

All of which brings us back to our title, “A nice quiet evening with a
potato.” If you’re an adult and you want to teach yourself how to find out
about plants there is no more convenient way to start. Get a potato, a nice
big one, out of the bin, wash it off carefully, and sit down in a comfortable
chair with a good light coming over your shoulder. Turn the potato over
in your hands. Don’t be too tense and earnest. If you can get a friend with
kindred interests to join you, so much the better, and if you talk about other
things now and then it’s all to the good. Just try to build up a little intelli-
gent enthusiasm for this starchy sphere which previously you have taken so
for granted.

Well, let’s look at the potato. Most obviously it has eyes. Nearly every-
body knows this much, yet have you really ever looked a potato in the eye?
There is something more or less like an arching eyebrow with an eye-hollow
within the arch and coming up out of this hollow are little dark buds. Now
notice the arching eyebrows. They don’t arch any old which way; they are
all focused in the same direction. To our surprise we will learn that each
potato has a well-defined front end and an equally well-defined rear end and
that these are very different in appearance. At the front end the eyes are
clustered closely together, the buds always frontwards from the arching
brow. This brow is really a kind of leaf, or the mark where such a scale
leaf was borne and then fell off. Sometimes new potatoes will show delicate
little membrane-like scales rising up off the tuber’s surface in these arching
lines; in the ordinary grocery-store spud the membranaceous scale has usually
gone by and only a faintly curving scar is left. Now turn the potato about
and look at the other end, then examine the whole region in between. At
the other extreme from the active apex with its closely clustered buds you
will find either a piece of the little round underground stem on which the
potato was formed or the neat little circular scar where this stem was broken
off.

A potato, you see, is what botanists call a tuber. It is just the swollen
coalesced buds at the end of an underground stem. It is not a root; it is

52 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

part of a true stem though borne underground. Like all stems, it has joints
(the technical word is nodes) at which leaves (or leaf-like scales) are borne
and it is in the axils of these scales that all the new branch stems arise when
the potato is sprouted. This is how one tells stems from roots in those plants
with both underground stems and true roots. Stems have nodes (joints) ;
roots don’t. Stems have leaves or scales at the nodes; roots have neither. If
you find a root with some little scales on it at fairly regular intervals, it isn’t
a root. It’s an underground stem of some sort. Finally, stems are precise
in their pattern of growing; they branch only in the axils of the leaves or
scales; roots branch very irregularly.

Our humble potato is therefore a much more precisely organized bit of
life than one would have imagined. Like virtually all life it is highly polar-
ized. It has a head end, an apex, at which growth is most active. It has an
innate orientation to up and down, to frontwards and backwards. Plant
your potato in a bowl of sand or sawdust or vermiculite, keep it well watered
and watch its development for a few weeks. See the way the new stems
sprout out from the buds near the apex. Plant another potato in the garden
and dig it up and wash off the roots after the plant is well developed. You
will be able to see for yourself the difference between the true roots and the
jointed underground stem on which the potatoes are borne.

So what? Well, you'll have made a beginning at understanding for
yourself the world around you. The world looks chaotic; deeper study shows
us the order in it; with still deeper and more intensive study we are able to
understand enough of the order underneath the apparent chaos so as to work
with it rather than against it.

If the potato interests you after you have learned something of how it is
put together, go on from there. Look at some of the other brown things we
dig up out of the earth and figure out for yourself just how much of each one
is stem, what is root, and what is leaf. A gladiolus bulb, for instance, is
little leaves on top of a thickened stem; an onion is overlapping juicy leaves
attached to a small central stem; an iris plant is mostly a jointed horizontal
stem with leaves and roots coming off at the nodes and with occasional up-
right flowering branches rising from the axils of the leaves. After a few
such attempts you’ll begin to understand about roots and stems and leaves.
The problem of whether a stem is a stem and a root a root turns out to be
more complicated than you used to think. A stem isa very definite kind of
thing; even though it grows underground and looks like a root it is still a
stem. It has nodes and it branches only at the nodes. It can’t develop any
old way, like a root, but follows a definite pattern. Having set up this stem
complexity, nature has been astute in using it in various ways. Each kind of
plant has its own distinctive set of internode and stem-branching patterns.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 53

They make that kind of plant what it fundamentally is; if you are going
to manage the plant efficiently you need first of all to comprehend these
underlying patterns.

So if plants are beginning to interest you and you wish you knew more
about them, no need to sigh for lost opportunities, no need for that magic
book which will tell you painlessly the very things you wish you knew. Sit
down quietly with a potato, a nice large, clean potato. Relax in your chair.
Take a friendly interest in this succulent brown blob which you have previ-
ously ignored. Let it become a simple introduction to learning about plants
from plants themselves. Take your first step towards botanical insight by

spending a nice quiet evening with a potato.

SOME FINE NEW FORSYTHIAS FOR ST. LOUIS GARDENS

Gradually the Garden is getting together a demonstration collection of
shrubs which are particularly to be recommended for St. Louis. Of these,
the Forsythias are now the farthest along, and several of the bushes were
large enough this spring to indicate their probable usefulness in St. Louis
gardens. Three varieties were outstanding. Sprinc GLory is a charming
light yellow, much less buttery-yellow than the average Forsythia. It is
graceful, informal, and early-flowering. LyNwoop Gotp is later, and a
deeper yellow, a much stiffer and more upright plant. It ought to make a
good informal screen planting or might be used as a high untrimmed hedge.
The most unusual variety in the collection was produced at the Arnold
Arboretum by Dr. Karl Sax. It is named Beatrix FarRAND after the well-
known landscape architect. The flowers are larger than any other variety in the
collection; they are deep yellow, and the bush has an attractive fountain-like
shape which bids fair to be spectacular when thoroughly established.—E. A.

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54 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

THE EFFECTS OF THE THREE-YEAR DROUTH ON
MISSOURI PLANT LIFE
AN APPRAISAL
JULIAN A. STEYERMARK

During the past three years we in Missouri have been hearing as never
before of record-breaking heat spells, record drouths, and lowest water levels,
drying-up of springs and streams which had never been known to go dry,
and other similar distressing statements. Just what has been the impact of
all this dry hot weather on the native vegetation? How well have the forests
fared during this record-breaking siege? Have rare and beautiful wild
flowers and ferns died out because of the scorching winds?

Taking trips into the various counties of Missouri to obtain herbarium
specimens to record the exact geographical range of each native species
necessitates my traveling all kinds of roads, tramping up and down hills,
over prairie, swamp, pasture, fallow fields, along bluffs, streams, and every
other conceivable type of habitat. It meant sweltering during the past July
in extremes of 117° in the shade while I trudged over seared Missouri
hillsides. It meant gazing on dried lake bottoms and lowered streams. Dur-
ing 1954 it meant traveling nearly 15,000 miles in Missouri working over 35
counties in detail. From such an intimate contact with the Missouri country-
side, my conclusions concerning the effects of the past three-years’ drouth
are based on first-hand observations.

At first thought one might believe that the past three-years’ drought has
exacted a heavy toll on native plant life and I was prepared to face the worst
possible picture. Let us see what actually happened to Missouri vegetation,
then, over the three-year period. We can best discuss the effects of the
drouth from the standpoint of (1) effects upon the forests themselves, (2)
effects upon the herbs and tender plants of the land, (3) effects upon plants

growing in moist habitats.

I. EFFECTS UPON THE FORESTS THEMSELVES

The general conclusion I have drawn after direct observation of the
forests is that they have received only a negligible amount of permanent
damage. Over broad stretches of land, the forest canopy has maintained a
solid green front. Here and there, conspicuous because of its exception, stands
a brown seared dead oak. It was observed that on some slopes, less than 1494
of one percent of the forest was damaged, whereas on other slopes, especially
where there was overgrazing or on a west- or south-facing bluff or glade,
damage was greater and a larger (although never excessive) proportion of
trees suffered. The occurrence of dead trees was very spotty; in some sec-

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 55

tions of a county there were greater numbers than in other sections. Previous
fires and excessive overgrazing in the forests had weakened trees in a number
of areas, and an inspection of such trees revealed that the drouth finished
off what was originally started by fires or over-grazing or both. In some
areas it was necessary to differentiate clearly between trees that had been
killed by natural causes, such as the drouth, and others that turned brown
and were killed by various types of brush-killers. Particularly on more
shaded north- and east-facing slopes, or in areas where the natural under-
growth and leaf mulch were undisturbed, or where grazing and fires had
been kept out, few or no dead trees were observed.

It was especially interesting to see how well most of the forest trees with-
stood the effects of great heat and lack of rainfall over a long period. Hang-
ing on to craggy limestone bluffs or exposed limestone glades were Southern
Buckthorn or Chittim-wood (Bumelia), Indian Cherry (Rhamnus carolini-
ana), and Dwarf Hackberry (Celtis tenuifolia and C, laevigata var. texana).
In some cases they were living under the adverse conditions of pronounced
exposure to sun and wind; in other cases, but in not as many as might be ex-
pected, they had succumbed. In general, Sugar Maples withstood the effects
of the drouth remarkably well on dry limestone slopes. In protected ravines
and in narrow draws Red Maple and Sour Gum thrived. The tough Buckley’s
Hickory (Carya texana) and other species of hickory showed little damage
from the adverse conditions created by the prolonged drouth.

With its vivid rose-red autumn color, Flowering Dogwood appeared
everywhere abundant and healthy as part of the understory. Sumacs, Sassa-
fras, and Ozark Witch-Hazel had not dropped their leaves prematurely and
were everywhere in evidence with their usual healthy fall coloring. Likewise,
Pawpaw and Spice-Bush on shaded slopes appeared normal.

The trees which were dead or exhibited signs of dying were mostly the
ones found standing by themselves in open fields or pastures, or near houses
and clearings. In such places, deprived of the normal protection of forest
cover or exposed more to the sun and drying winds and with the water table
farther removed from the reaches of their roots, these isolated trees
had in a number of instances finally succumbed. American Elms and various
oaks seemed to be the ones most easily affected.

Despite the drouth, it was amazing to observe the tenacity of the trees in
general. While some trees in various parts of the state shed their leaves be-
cause of excess dryness, the great majority held on to them, creating a superb
autumn coloring effect.

II. EFFECTS UPON THE HERBACEOUS PLANTS

If any of the native vegetation were to be adversely affected by the pro-

56 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

longed drouth, it would be expected that the tender herbaceous vegetation
would be the first to show the ill effects of record heat and dry spells. Yet,
strange as it may at first seem, these natural conditions during the past three-
year drouth have not killed the herbaceous plants. The many rare species,
scattered throughout the state, are still surviving peacefully in their favorite
haunts, according to their nature, in crevices of bluffs, on wooded slopes,
glades, hot prairies, wet meadows, and other types of habitats favored by
particular species. It is true, of course, that the plants frequently showed the
effects of the hot dry weather by wilting, inrolling or loss of leaves, or abor-
tion of flower buds or no flowers at all, but they did not die. On one dry
slope a species of waterleaf (Hydrophyllum appendiculatum) occurred;
normally the basal rosettes of maple-like leaves would have persisted all sum-
mer, but during the summer of 1954 the plants dropped the leaves only to
grow out new ones in October after freshening rains. The sun-baked rocky
glades (limestone, sandstone, chert, and granite), with all the characteristics
of a desert environment, nevertheless harbored their usual flora. The little
annuals, such as heliotrope (Heliotropium tenellum) and the crotons (Croton
monanthogynus and C. capitatus), bloomed merrily on throughout the heat
of July until October, sharing the hot limestone glades with such perennials
as Missouri Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia missouriensis), Missouri Primrose
(Ocnothera missouriensis), and Side-oats Grama Grass (Bouteloua curti-
pendula). Similarly, on the dry sandstone glades, the Triple-awned grasses
(Aristida dichotoma, A, longespica, and A. purpurascens, among others),
Bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum ), and Crotonopsis elliptica of the Spurge
Family, flowered and prospered as usual.

During the prolonged record heat of July, it was sad to walk over seared
woodland slopes noting drooping wilted leaves of Wild Ginger, but after
October rains the same leaves had become firm and fully expanded. Like-
wise, on parched woodland slopes, rosettes of asters and goldenrods, among
them Aster anomalus, Solidago arguta and S. flexicaulis, were dull green and
looked lifeless during the height of the dry spell of the summer, but in
October they had given rise to beautiful flowering stalks of purple or yellow.

Rosettes of numerous herbaceous plants in late summer and autumn gave
promise to carry on, despite the drouth, into 1955. There were the maple-
like rosette leaves of Bishop’s Cap (Mifella diphylla), which appreciates
moisture when it can get it, the leathery three-lobed leaves of liverwort or
hepatica, the dissected leaf-rosettes of Bird’s-foot Violet (Viola pedata), and
the circular frilled collar-like rosette leaves of Early Saxifrage (Saxifraga
virginiensis). These and numerous other species of herbs testified by their
very renewal or persistence of rosette leaves that they were impatient to get
started for spring of 1955. Such little bits of green, standing out in the

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 57

forest or in the prairies or glades, were in themselves messages of an optimistic
note for 1955. Perhaps, more than anything else, they do more to encourage
us to believe that the plant life in Missouri is far better able to adapt itself
to dry adverse conditions than most of us realize.

In only one instance, namely with respect to the American Columbo
(Swertia caroliniensis) did the drouth apparently destroy the basal rosettes.
In several instances during the summer, colonies of this species were observed
in which the leaves were dead on rosettes as well as on flowering stems. Some
of these plants may have died, but it will not be possible until next year to
determine the extent of the death toll of this species.

Ill. EFFECTS UPON PLANTS GROWING IN MOIST HABITATS

Under this heading, we would include those plants growing naturally in
such moist habitats as swampy meadows (fed by springs), sink-hole ponds,
and stream margins. Ordinarily, such habitats when left undisturbed (not
cultivated nor grazed over) account for a luxuriance of interesting and rare
plant life, mostly of the herbaceous type. During the past year some of these
unusual habitats have been, for the first time in their history, dried out by
having cattle come in and stomp over the soil, and ruthlessly graze the tops
of plants or root them out of the soil, destroying them completely. This has
happened in a number of the unique sink-hole ponds of the Ozarks, where a
flora exists dating back to an ancient day millions of years ago when the
vegetation now characteristic of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain pre-
vailed over most of the Ozark area. The herbaceous oddities which grow in
these ponds, counting among their number such unusual species as Lance-
leaved Violet (Viola lanceolata), Water-millet (Zizaniopsis miliacea), Water-
violet (Hottonia inflata), remarkable species of Spike-rush (Eleocharis equi-
setoides) and Bulrush (Scirpus etuberculatus), are the relics of bygone days
and must be preserved for posterity. All of them had a rough year in Mis-
souri during 1954 and in some cases have become nearly exterminated, because
the owner of the pond, not realizing their value, has either bulldozed the pond
to deepen it, or has allowed cattle to come in and dry it up with constant
trampling and stomping of the soil. Consequently, the rare vegetation of
these ponds, for the first time since occupying the ponds, is being threatened
during the drouth years by man or his domestic animals.

The story is the same in other ordinarily wet habitats. Swampy meadows,
normally filled with Indian Paint Brush (Castilleja coccinea), Grass-of-
Parnassus (Parnassia grandifolia), Grass-pink (Calopogon pulchellus), Spotted
Sweet William (Phlox maculata), and some species not found elsewhere in
the state, are being heavily overgrazed and dried out by cattle trampling

58 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

over the soil. In many instances they are being plowed under and turned into
seeded pastures, sealing their fate and dooming them to extinction. The dry
1954 season has, as in the case of the sink-hole ponds, accentuated the tend-
ency to bring in cattle or alter the original habitat.

Along stream courses, the vegetation, where not grazed, has fared much
better. Here, the lowering water level has not killed any of the herbaceous
plants. Instead, they have followed the water-level line and adapted them-
selves accordingly. Cardinal Flower, Blue Lobelia, Monkey Flower, Water
Loosestrife, Water-willow, Fog Fruit, and other wet-shore dwellers have
either moved lower down nearer the water level or else adapted themselvés
to a somewhat drier soil.

On the other hand, in natural ox-bow lakes in river valleys or natural
upland ponds, in many cases completely dried up, the plants continue to sur-
vive in an altered environment of wet instead of inundated mud. Such has
been the plight of Water Primrose (Jussiaea repens var. glabrescens), False
Loosestrife (Ludwigia polycarpa), Water Purslane (Ludwigia palustris var.
americana), Arrowhead (Sagittaria brevirostra, S. latifolia, and S. rigida),
Water-plantain (Alisma subcordatum), among other species. But such a
change does not lead to the plants’ death. Even some species of Pondweed
(Potamogeton americanus, P. diversifolius, P. pulcher) survive in lake bot-
toms, which, in the cases I observed, were not completely dry, but were
somewhat moist underneath. Fortunately, rains do re-occur, and even
though they may not be sufficient to raise the water in the pond to its normal
level, they prevent the plant from drying out entirely.

CONCLUSIONS

From what has been written above, it is apparent that the direct effects
of the past three-years’ drouth on Missouri vegetation have been negligible.
While admittedly some areas have suffered worse than others and show a
greater number of dead trees, the over-all picture of the forests and natural
undergrowth is good. In general, within a given forest a relatively small
number of trees have died. The dying-out has been more pronounced on
rocky bluffs, on glades, and on slopes facing south or west, exposed to more
pronounced sunlight and intense heat, but this has varied from one locality
to another. Where areas have been severely overgrazed, cut over, or burnt,
the plant life has reacted unfavorably and such conditions have weakened
the chances for survival of particular trees and shrubs. Where the soil cover
has been left in place protected by a heavy leaf mulch, where the under-
growth has been undisturbed, or where a slope faces north or east, dying-out
of a tree is conspicuous by its absence.

The herbaceous vegetation has suffered only where it has been disturbed

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 59

by overgrazing or cultivation. It has shown remarkable powers of adaptation
to drouth conditions, successfully overcoming extremes of heat and dryness
by shedding leaves, failing to flower, remaining dormant until the next rain-
fall as desert plants are accustomed to do, or reducing the leaf surface by
inrolling of the blade. Leaf-rosette formations appearing in summer and fall
testify to the forthcoming 1955 season and to the remarkable adaptability of
such species. The herbaceous plants of the glades and woodland came through
the 1954 and previous drouth mostly in good condition. Rare and endemic
species continue to survive such adverse years of drouth, indicating, in the
case of those used to a cooler moister climate, that it will require a much
more severe heat and drier spell to exterminate them. The herbaceous plants
which have suffered most during the drouth have been those inhabiting the
ancient sink-hole ponds and the swampy meadows. Where these habitats
have been disturbed by man’s cultivation or bulldozing activities or by the
trampling and stomping of the soil by his domestic cattle, the rare and unique
species inhabiting these moist places are threatened with extinction. The
last three years of drouth have produced some changes, but they are very
negligible in the main and have not affected the mass of the vegetation. The
dominant green canopy of forest continues to prevail over the Ozarks and
the rest of Missouri, and, in general, the natural vegetation of the state

remains intact.

Dr. Julian Steyermark whose interesting article on drouth damage to
native plants is printed elsewhere in this issue is now in South America on an
expedition from the Chicago Museum of Natural History. Though his
professional hours are largely taken up with technical studies of the vegeta-
tion of South America, he has never forgotten his first love, the flora of the
Ozarks. The Garden helps sponsor this part of his activities and defrays
part of the cost of his collecting trips in Missouri. In 1954, indefatigable as
ever, on top of his various other commitments, he visited and studied the
local flora of 35 different Missouri counties:

Adair Cooper Howard Reynolds
Andrew Crawford Laclede Ste. Genevieve
Audrain Dallas Macon Scotland
Bollinger Daviess Madison Scott
Callaway Dent Moniteau Shannon
Camden Gasconade Montgomery Stoddard
Carter Gentry Platte Washington
Cape Girardeau Harrison Polk Wright

Clark Hickory Putnam

Few Missourians who live the year round in Missouri could equal this
record. Certainly no one else on the staff of the Missouri Botanical Garden
has seen so much of the state in the last year.

60 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

IS THE TOMATO A FRUIT OR A VEGETABLE?
EDGAR ANDERSON

Once a year or so some one in St, Louis calls up the Botanical Garden and
wants to know: Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? They never like the
answer that it can be either and are even irritated that this answer can be
reached by two quite different routes. It is usually evident that the call has
been made to settle an argument; human beings apparently would rather lose
an argument than to have the point at issue left permanently up in the air,
forever unsettled. The answer, however, is of more general importance than
the question itself since it is a neat illustration of the difference between
scientific terminology and common speech. It points up the differences in
the ways of thought and the uses of language in scientific discussion and in
everyday conversation.

This particular example is illuminating because we can answer the ques-
tion on either the botanical or the everyday level. The botanical answer is
the simplest, though the man in the street usually feels let down when he
finally gets it in his head. Botany is a science, and terms used scientifically
are made as precise as possible. Both “fruit” and ‘“‘vegetable” are words which,
used in a scientific discussion, have very precise meanings, meanings moreover
which are somewhat at variance with their everyday sense. Botanically, fruit
is a ripened seed or seed-head with all the accompanying tissues. The seed-
pod on a radish plant is, botanically speaking, a fruit, so is a pumpkin, so are
sticktights, so is an apple or a pear, and quite as equally a ripe bean pod or
the seed-head of a poppy. Botanically therefore, the answer is clear. A
tomato consists of the seeds of the tomato plant and the tissues immediately
around them. Scientifically considered, a ripe tomato is most certainly a
fruit in the purely botanical sense of the word. As for the word “vegetable”
it has the same meaning in botany as in the old guessing game of ‘‘Animal-
vegetable-mineral.”” It means anything to do with a plant, rather than with
an animal or with inorganic materials. We speak scientifically of the Vege-
table Kingdom, meaning all plant life. In a purely botanical sense all weeds,
all flowers, all trees are vegetable in nature. In the precise vocabulary of
botany, therefore, the answer is clear. A tomato is vegetable; it is also a fruit.

But both “vegetable” and “fruit” are also words in common speech and
there they have somewhat different meanings. Such talk, moreover, is not
precise. It varies from time to time and from place to place; the greatest
dictionary-makers define words not so much in precise terms as by giving
copious illustrations of the various ways each word has been used by various
writers. In this argument a botanist loses his professional standing. He is
no more the expert than any other person who has taken a little interest in

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 61

his native tongue. Just as an amateur, however, a botanist may attempt to
answer the question.

Just what is a fruit in everyday talk? What is it that grapes, apples, figs,
raspberries and plums have in common? Well, they are plant parts associated
with the ripening seed which are attractive in taste and frequently in ap-
pearance as well. They are eaten usually before or after a meal, only very
rarely with the meat course and are often indulged in between meals.
Frequently, the juice is extracted, sweetened, and used as a drink. A vege-
table may be any part of the plant (including, however, those which are
going, or have gone, to seed). It is eaten with the meat course, frequently
in combination with other vegetables or with meat or cheese or eggs.

Well, by these tokens is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Obviously,
when tomatoes are being used with a meat stew they are being used like a
vegetable. Almost as obviously when they are eaten fresh out of hand, be-
tween meals, they are being used like a fruit and this kind of use is on the
increase. When tomato juice, with a little lemon juice and sugar added to it,
replaces orange juice as a breakfast drink, tomatoes are being used like a fruit.
When, as in upstate New York, sliced tomatoes are eaten at supper time
with sugar and thick cream they are being used in the same way as sliced
peaches. The role of tomatoes in salads is not so clear except that one notes
cottage cheese and tomatoes in exactly the same dishes at the same type of
meal by the same family as cottage cheese and pears. My answer therefore
(and remember that in this sense it is an amateur’s answer) would be that
tomatoes are ordinarily used as a vegetable in the United States but that oc-
casionally (and increasingly) they are being used as a fruit. Clearly at meal
times a tomato can be either a fruit or a vegetable—but these are not botan-
ical terms used in this way and there is nothing wrong about using them in
a loose fashion.

The most recent request for a decision on this question came to the Gar-
den from a St. Louis saloon where a considerable sum of money had been
wagered and the pay-off depended on our answer. You may not like our

reply any better than did the men in the saloon but it is an honest one.

62 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Book REvirws:—

Winter-hardy Azaleas and Rhododendrons. A brief account of these
plants and their culture in zero climates of the American East, By Clement
Gray Bower. 112 pp. Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Boston, Mass.
1954. $3.00.

This little book is attractively printed on good paper and has 17 full-
page illustrations in black and white, all of them excellent and several of
them breath-takingly beautiful. Dr. Bowers speaks out of his experience in
growing, and trying to grow, many kinds of Rhododendrons and Azaleas in
upstate New York, not the easiest place in the world to make such an
attempt, though by no means as difficult as Missouri in soil and climate. The
book is tersely and honestly written in good plain English prose. Recom-
mended to all those who have been growing Rhododendrons and Azaleas in
the St. Louis area.—E. A.

Wild Flowers of Missouri. By Theresa C. Rickett. Second edition, revised
and edited by E. M. Palmquist and C. L. Kucera. 148 pp. Missouri Hand-
book Number 3, University of Missouri, Columbia. 1954. Paper-bound, $.75.

This unpretentious but informative and familiar guide to the more com-
mon wildflowers of Missouri is again in print. Published in 1937 by the
Agricultural Extension Service and long out of print, it is republished by the
state university as its Missouri Handbook Number 3. Although it is not
strictly a reprint the only changes in wording seem to be those of Latin names
made in conformity with the last edition of Gray’s Manual. The photo-
graphs have been made uniform in size and include some not appearing in
the first edition.

The main body of the text is divided into four parts devoted respectively
to early spring, late spring, summer, late summer and autumn. Each part is
a running commentary on the flowers to be found in the period treated. Most
of the plants get an informal description, together with some bit of plant
lore; on a near-by page there is often a good photograph of the plant in
flower. There is a twelve-page key employing multiple choice at each
division, rather than simple dichotomy. The main divisions of the key are
based upon such characters as woody or herbaceous growth, parallel-veined or
netted-veined leaves, flowers of various colors, etc.; the characters used to
separate genera and species are shape of leaf, number of petals, and the like.
The key worked well in the cases tried and is simple enough for any one who
is willing to attempt its use. There is a short introduction briefly explaining
the ideas of family, genus and species, and the notions behind the precise

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 63

naming of plants in Latin; the introduction concludes with a simply-worded
appeal for wildflower preservation.

Frankly a book for beginners it covers only a small part of Missouri’s
rich flora, but even the more advanced student would find such a simple guide
useful among plants new to him. Many a scholarly taxonomist, otherwise
lost among synonomy and exsiccatae, would do himself proud to produce
such a work.—G, B. Van Schaack.

The Secret of the Green Thumb. By Henry T. Northen and Rebecca
Northen. 431 pp. 221 figs. The Ronald Press Company, New York. 1954.
$5.00.

If you have rooted African Violets but have not tried to air layer a
Fiddle-leaf Fig, have Chrysanthemums blooming in September but not in
July, use nicotine sulphate for aphids but not Lindane or have the urge to
develop a new plant variety, you will want to have this book in your gar-
dening library. It is a volume for the serious gardener who wants to know
more about plants and the way they grow. The main attraction—the flower
—is the first subject. Its form and function and subsequent products, the
seeds and fruit, are explained in relatively simple terms. Following an ac-
quaintance with these, the chapters on plant breeding and heredity will
prepare you for creating new varieties. The portions on the centers of
operation—the leaves and the roots, their structure, modifications and rela-
tionships to water, oxygen, temperature and light—contain all the funda-
mentals of a botany textbook but these technicalities are discussed in
connection with their practical applications in your garden. Most of the
information you can use directly but chapters on plant communities, survey
of the lower plants and evolution will bring gardeners an appreciation of our
great natural gardens and how they originated. The profuse photographs
effectively illustrate the text although a few are not first rate. The book
brings together in a single volume pertinent information on plants and
modern developments which will make any gardener a wiser and happier
one.—Alice F. Tryon.

The Library of the Missouri Botanical Garden has been built up largely
with the needs in mind of those of us who live and work here—the staff and
the students. However, it serves a far larger public, not only in St. Louis
but in other parts of the country, as is demonstrated by some of the requests
which came in recently. In one week there were three long-distance calls:
(1) A gentleman from Detroit phoned to say that he had visited our library
and had got much help from a book on evergreens. All that he could remem-
ber was that it was “about 1!4 inches thick and about evergreens” but he

64 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

had found it so helpful he wanted to know the name. Miss Kohl, who had
helped him, remembered the name and the complete reference was sent off
airmail; (2) The Director of the Natural History Museum of Houston,
Texas, called with a list of 26 references which he needed to see in preparing
an inclusive guide to the trees and shrubs of the Southwest. Some of the
books were sent off to him by express, and the rest, being either too valuable
to be sent out of the library or in too constant demand by the staff and
students, are being photostated here in St. Louis; (3) A call from DeSoto,
Missouri, concerned a diseased holly and what to do about it. The librarians
immediately got in touch with Dr. Meyer, of the Garden staff, and he for-
warded the necessary information.

The Big Freeze.—The blizzard and freeze of March 24 to 26 broke all
records in the history of gardening in the Middle West. Those of us who
live and garden in St, Louis, in spite of long experience with the violent
changes of temperature so characteristic of the flat central plains and prairies
of a big continent, had never seen anything like it. We hope we never do
again, though such information as can be pried out of the experts on long-
time shifts in weather pattern is not reassuring. On Thursday morning,
March 24, the Garden was just recovering from a freezing cold wave earlier
in the week. Daffodils were in bloom; the earliest of the flowering cherries
were just opening their buds; the LamartTine lilacs were beginning to show
a little color; much of the shrubbery was bright with new green leaves.
Twenty-four hours later it was snowing fiercely, with a piercing wind, the
temperature was way below freezing, and eventually reached 7° above zero.
By Tuesday it was again nice spring weather. Gardens were a shambles.
Plants looked as if they had been gone over with a blow-torch or dipped in
boiling hot water. The shrubbery which had been so attractive with bright
new leaves was singed and scorched. Roses were frozen back, sometimes to
the ground, bluegrass and Italian rye grass were scorched at the tips of the
leaves. Some iris varieties were killed almost to the ground. Not even the
native vegetation escaped. Wild plum leaves and flowers were partially in-
jured; most of the redbud bloom was totally killed, and there will be little
display on our hillsides this year. A very few things rode out the snow and
cold. The early yellow daffodil, Fesruary Gotp, had an amazing record.
In some places around town where it had been held back and was in full
growth it was injured by the cold but generally it came through both the
blizzard and the freeze and was attractive during the next week. Leaves on
some ivy vines were badly scorched, but the Garden’s own introduction,
MBG BULGARIA, came through the storm unharmed.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Henry HitcHcock
RicHarpD J. Lock woop

A. WeEssEL SHAPLEIGH
ErHan A. H. SHEPLEY
RoBERT BROOKINGS SMITH

JouHn S. LEHMANN, President
DaNiEL K. CaTLIN, Vice-President
EUGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President
LEICESTER B. Faust

DupLEY FRENCH

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

H. M. STovar,
President of the Board of Education
of St. Louis

ErHan A. H. SHEPLEY,
Chancellor of Washington University

ARTHUR C. LICHTENBERGER,
Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri

RAYMOND R. TUCKER,
Mayor of the City of St. Louis

STRATFORD LEE MorTON,

President of the Academy of Science
of St. Louis

Secretary
GERALD ULRICI

THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL
Clifford W. Benson, Clarence Barbre, Albert Chandler, E. G. Cherbonnier,
Paul Hale, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet Layton, Clarence McGovern, Gilbert
Pennewill, Mrs Roland R. Read, W. F. Scott, Jr., Harold E. Wolfe, John S.
Lehmann, Edgar Anderson, John Nies, Chairman.

George T. Moore

STAFF
_Emeritus Director

ee Director

Edgar Anderson -.
Henry N. Andrews

Paleobotanist

Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit

August P. Beilmann

Louis G. Brenner_____-
Ladislaus Cutak

Assistant Manager of the Arboretum
Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories

RiGee © teh eee Assistant Director and Curator of the Museum

Carroll W. Dodge —

Mycologist

John D, Dwyer

Research Associate

Robert J. Gillespie______
Nell C. Horner

In charge of Orchids

Librarian and Editor

Lawrence Kaplan_..

Associate Curator of Museum

Ida M. Kohl _Assistant Librarian
Paul A. Kohl Floriculturist
Edna Mepham Assistant Librarian
Frederick G, Meyer: —..___. Dendrologist
George H. Pring __Superintendent
Betty O’Brien Putney us Assistant to the Director
Te, Sa Tt: a en it Seo ee Sarto ne ene eee eee Engineer

Julian A. Steyermark
Alice F. Tryon.

Research Associate

Rolla M. Tryon, Jr.

Assistant Curator of Herbarium:

Business Manager

Gerald Ulrici
George B. Van Schaack

Honorary Curator of Grasses

Robert E. Woodson, Jr.

Curator of Herbarium

SOME FACTS ABOUT SHAW’S GARDEN

The Missouri Botanical Garden (the official name chosen by
Mr. Shaw) carries on the garden established by Henry Shaw
over a century ago at TowER Grove, his country home. It is
a private institution and has no support from city or state. The
old stone walls and cast-iron fences, the Linnaean House, the
Museum, the Mausoleum, and the TowrR Grove mansion all
date from Mr. Shaw’s time. Since his death, as directed in his
will, the Garden has been in the hands of a Board of Trustees
who appoint the Director.

The Garden is open every day in the year (except New
Year’s and Christmas) from nine A. M. until seven P. M. (April
to November) and until six (November to April) though the
greenhouses close at five. Towrr Grove, itself, Mr. Shaw’s old
country home, is open from one until four. The Garden is
nearly a mile long and has several entrances. The Main Entrance,
the one used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora
Place on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southampton
buses (No. 80), direct from downtown, pass within three blocks
of this entrance and stop directly across the street from the
Administration Building at 2315 Tower Grove Avenue. The
latter is the best entrance for students, visiting scientists, etc.
It is open to such visitors after 8:30 a.m., but is closed on Sat-
urdays, Sundays, and holidays. There is a service entrance on

Alfred Avenue, one block south of Shaw Avenue.

Since Mr. Shaw’s time an Arboretum has been developed at
Gray Summit, Mo., opposite the junction of routes 50 and 66.
It is open every day in the year and has two miles of auto roads
as well as foot trails through the wild-flower reservation. There
is a pinetum and an extensive display of daffodils and other

narcissi from March to early May.

AISSOURI BOTANICAL
GARDEN BULLETIN

CONTENTS

Ancient Seed Plants: The Cycads

‘olume XLIII May, 1959 Number 5

Dioon edule, x IY.

Cover: Sporophylls and seeds of Cycas revoluta. Photograph by C. J. Chamberlain
in 1905, K 4.

Office of publication: 306 E. Simmons Street, Galesburg, Illinois.

Editorial Office: Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 Tower Grove Avenue,
St. Louis, 10, Missouri.

Published monthly except July and August by the Board of Trustees of the
Missouri Botanical Garden. Subscription price: $2.50 a year.

Entered as second-class matter January 26, 1942, at the post-office at Gales-
burg, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Missouri Botanical
Garden Bulletin

Vol. XLIII MAY, 1955 No. 5

ANCIENT SEED PLANTS: THE CYCADS

The Missouri Botanical Garden has one of the most representative living
collections of Cycads in the country. It is housed in the north portion of
the Main Conservatories since none of the species are hardy in the St. Louis
climate. The collection has been extensively used by my classes in Ferns and
Gymnosperms at Washington University, and this year, in addition to study-
ing the collection, the students have prepared a series of papers on various
aspects of the Cycads with a map of the greenhouse and a numbered guide
to some of the more important specimens. It is hoped that this material will
serve to introduce others to our fine collection of this unique group of plants.
Evelyn Barbour, Edward Davis, Harold Kidd, Robert Long, Chester Mar-
vin, Bernard Mikula, and Robert Mohlenbrock have contributed to this
BULLETIN.—Rolla Tryon.

NaTuRAL History OF CyYcCaps

Cycads are woody plants, usually trees, which upon casual observation
resemble palms. They are true Gymnosperms and, like the more familiar
pines, spruces, and firs, bear their seeds unenclosed on modified leaves called
sporophylls. Cycads are not closely related to any other group of living
plants but are thought to represent a transitional stage between the rest of
the Gymnosperms and the ferns.

THE CONES

The sporophylls may be arranged at the top of the stems in loose whorls
or they may be much modified and aggregated into compact cones. Male
and female cones are borne on separate plants. The female cones are borne
at the apex of the stem and vary in length from about 2 cm. in Zamia
pygmaea to as much as 70 cm. in Macrozamia Denisonii, the cones of the
latter being the largest which have been known to exist. Some specimens
have weighed as much as 85 pounds! The sporophylls are arranged spirally
on the axis of the cone, each sporophyll bearing two or more seeds on its
margin, two being the most common. The seeds are usually large, the average

(65)

66 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

=

Fig. 1. Zamia furfuracea, X V4.

length being about 4 cm. The range in size is from about 6 mm, in Zamia
pygmaea to 6 cm, in Macrozamia Denisonii and Cycas circinalis. The seeds
have an integument or covering which consists of three layers, an inner
papery layer and an outer fleshy layer, with a stony layer between them. The
outer layer is variously colored, being red, yellow, pink, or white. The color
seems to be constant for a given species,

The male cones (fig. 3) are found at the apex of the stem or rarely in the
axil of a leaf. The sporophylls are arranged spirally as in the female cone, but
the cone is so compact and the arrangement is so regular that they appear
to be in vertical rows, like the grains in an ear of corn. Each sporophy]l
bears numerous sporangia on its lower surface. These are arranged in sori,
or small groups, of 2 to 5 sporangia. This is similar to the arrangement in
the ferns where the sporangia are also borne in groups on the lower surface
of the leaves. These sporangia contain the spores (pollen grains), each male
cone containing up to 3,000,000 pollen grains. In Gymnosperms the pollen
is carried from the male cones to the female cones exclusively by the wind.
This contrasts with the flowering plants where in the greater number of

species it is transferred from flower to flower by insects.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 67

cP a HHtoli /
Fig. 2. Zamia integrifolia, K V4.

THE LEAVES

The leaves, seen from a distance, have a feather-like appearance, being
described as pinnately compound. The variety of leaf forms has been illus-
trated by a series of silhouettes. Also, in common with the ferns, Cycad
leaves have an open-type venation and circinate vernation, a type of develop-
ment in which the leaves, being coiled rather than folded in the bud as they
are in higher plants, unroll in the manner of the “fiddle heads’’ of the ferns.
The leaves vary in length from 5 or 6 cm. in Zamia pygmaea to about 3
meters in Cycas circinalis. The leaflets may be entire or deeply incised and
usually vary greatly with the age of the plant in number, size, and shape.
The leaves are developed in a spiral succession from the base of the stem to
the summit, a new crown being formed every two years. They do not fall
off as do the leaves of most trees, but lose their leaflets, bend down and decay
at a point a few inches from the cortex. An abscission layer then develops
which cuts the petiole of the leaf (leaf stalk) off cleanly. Successive abscis-
sion layers occur beneath the original one, each cutting off a thin layer of
the petiole so that the diameter of the trunk may be smaller at the base than
it is at the summit.

THE STEMS

The stems of Cycads may be either tuberous and subterranean or arbor-

escent. They are usually unbranched although branching does occasionally

occur. Cutting off these side branches and planting them will result in the

68 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

caffer, male cones, & Ys.

Fig. 3. Encephalarto

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 69

yan

Fig. 4. Stangeria paradoxa, K Yq.

growth of a new plant and is the chief means of vegetative propagation.
Some of the tuberous forms branch below the surface of the ground. The
typical habit of the arborescent species is an unbranched stem with a crown
of leaves at the top. The tallest of these is Macrozamia Hopei which reaches
a height of about 60 feet. Dioon spinulosum occasionally grows to a height
of fifty feet. The other genera are not so tall, and the average height of the
arborescent species is probably about 6 feet. The smallest known Cycad is
Zamia pygmacea with a tuberous stem 1 or 2 cm. in diameter and about 3 cm.
long.

The stems are unusual in several ways. They contain a surprisingly small
amount of wood. Stems 15 cm. in diameter may contain a ring of wood
only 5 cm. in width enclosing a large pith and surrounded by a still larger
cortex. Compared to most woody plants, stem growth in Cycads is ex-
ceedingly slow. Over a ten-year period, a Cycad tree will produce about
4 inch of wood compared to nearly 8 inches produced by an elm tree during
the same length of time. Another unusual feature is the absence of growth
rings in the stems of most species. Even in those species in which rings do
occur, they are never annual or seasonal as in most other trees. In Dioon
spinulosum, they occur each time a new crown of leaves is formed, and in
Dioon edule, rings are formed only at the resumption of growth after a

prolonged resting period.

70 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Fig. 5. Bowenia serrulata, « V4.

CYCAD LONGEVITY

Since there are no reliable annual rings to determine age in Cycads, other
methods must be resorted to. By counting the number of leaf bases on a
trunk and dividing their number by half the number of leaves in the crown
(two seasons’ growth being present at any time) the age of a plant can be
estimated. Some plants of Dioon have been found by this method to be as
much as 1000 years old.

HABITATS

Cycad habitats are usually open woodlands or the drier mountain slopes
in tropical and subtropical regions. Adaptive features which suggest their
xerophytic nature are their thick, tuberous underground stems or usually short
and unbranched aerial stems and the old persistent leaf bases which, combined
with the thick cortex of the stem, give the trunk its excellent insulating
qualities.

LEAF MORPHOLOGY

Less obvious features of Cycads suggesting their dry habitat may be
found by examining cross-sections of the leaf microscopically. To illustrate
special modifications we have compared the Cycad leaf with a typical
deciduous leaf. As the chief photosynthetic organ of the plant the leaf may
be expected to be composed of cells containing chlorophyll bounded by
some protecting layer or layers. In the deciduous leaf of lilac the chlorophyll-

containing cells are of two types, the closely packed palisade cells and the

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 71

A

Fig. 6. Ceratozamia mexicana, « V4.

spongy parenchyma (so called because of the numerous air spaces). These
chlorophyll cells are sandwiched between two layers of protective epidermis.
The Cycad, on the other hand, has a single palisade layer below which is a
horizontally oriented compact parenchyma noticeably lacking inter-cellular
spaces. These tissues receive a three-fold protection with the hypodermis,
the epidermis, and the waxy cuticle surrounding them on all sides. Besides
cutting down water loss, which is the chief function of these layers, the
thick-walled upper hypodermis adds rigidity to the leaf. As with all foliage
leaves, the protecting layers are pierced by numerous openings called stomates
which permit the inward diffusion of carbon dioxide necessary for photo-
synthesis as well as the outward diffusion of water vapor. The stomates of
Cycads are sunken, thus protecting the leaf from the deleterious effects of

the drying air currents. The lilac does not show this adaptation.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

This group of plants is divided into nine genera with between seventy and
one hundred species. These are restricted to the tropical and subtropical
regions of the world. The Western Hemisphere harbors four genera: Cerato-
zamia and Dioon in Mexico, Microcycas in the mountains of western Cuba,
and Zamia in Mexico, the West Indies, northwestern South America, and
Florida. Five genera are confined to the Eastern Hemisphere: Encephalartos
and Stangeria in South Africa, Macrozamia and Bowenia in Australia, and
the wide-ranging Cycas from Madagascar and Australia north to India,

China, and southern Japan. (See maps | and 2.)

ve MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

3

}

a ee
ss Ek : | .

ae
E

=i

y?

| | FogsiL RE
Be si as

ORD

Maps 1 and 2. Distribution of living genera of Cycads and localities
where fossil Cycads have been found.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 73

= middle and late Paleozoic 3 Mesozoic iB Cenozoic |=
3 a
— = 3
2 ee Te -*, “CYCADS =
Ei " SEED-FERNS .
Pe ge A at oa
2
: a Sn 8 anes. - FEERS rg ee a ee
. . . . - - : 7 : 5 : ; 7 Fi 7 . ° — :
: GINKGO
‘corpaits- . C_] pe eh
eee seen ee CONIFERS ry be nn pi:
- FLOWERING PLANTS. -
age of fishes age of amphibians age of reptiles age of ae

Fig. 7. The geological history and the relationships of Cycads.

FOSSIL CYCADS

The Cycads of today have been called “living fossils,” perhaps not unduly
since they are the remaining representatives of an ancient group that, with
other fern-like plants, dominated the flora during the time of the giant
reptiles. Indeed, they show very little change from some of the fossil forms
that are millions of years old. Fossils of fruiting structures, or cones, and
of epidermal fragments are found in the early land formations in both the
Old and the New Worlds and from the arctic to the antarctic. In succes-
sively more recent formations Cycads diminished and finally disappeared en-
tirely from the northern and southern zones until now they are restricted to
the tropical and subtropical zones. Among the fossils formed during the so-
called age of Cycads, 150 million years or more ago, are found many leaves
and stems which, though Cycad-like, on the basis of their fruiting structures
are sufficiently different to indicate an early divergence of an ancestral form
into two types—the Cycads and Cycadeoids. In the Cycads the seeds are
produced in sporophylls or in simple cones borne on separate plants from
those producing pollen, while in the Cycadeoids the seed-bearing cone 1s
surrounded by a whorl of pollen-bearing sporophylls giving it a flower-like
appearance. The two groups have many similarities; most characteristically
they all produce naked seeds and have pinnate leaves. Of the two, only the
Cycads have living members; the Cycadeoids are believed to have become
extinct about 60 million years ago.

ECONOMIC USES OF THE CYCADS
The Cycads have been used as a source of food in times of scarcity by
many primitive peoples. Such usage is greatly restricted today, although it
may continue to a limited extent in remote areas, particularly in the Malay
Peninsula and some of the Asiatic islands. Both the stem, which is made up

74 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Bi

—

Fig. 8. Encephalartos Lehmannu, > is

largely of thin-walled cells, and the seeds are very rich in starch, and a kind
of sago can be made from them. Sometimes the seeds, which are usually
large, are roasted. The Cycads used for food appear to belong chiefly to the
genera Cycas, Macrozamia, and Zamia with occasional mention being made
of Dioon and Encephalartos. The tuberous stem of Bowenia is said to re-
semble a yam and is used by the natives of Australia. Cycas and Zamia are
also the most widely distributed genera of the group, which probably ac-
counts for their use, while Macrozamia is common in certain parts of
Australia. The popular names of many species attest to their usefulness as
food plants. The South African Encephalartos caffer is called “‘Kaffir Bread,”
or “Hottentot Bread Fruit.” Cycas media is called the “Nut Palm’? in
Australia, and many species of Zamia are called ‘Sago Palms.”

The use of Cycad plants as food is attended with danger, as they are
poisonous in the fresh state, with the possible exception of Zamia, and they
must be carefully prepared. In the Malay Peninsula, where a sago is made
from Cycas circinalis, the poison is removed by pounding and soaking the
plants in water, the water being changed constantly. To prepare the food,
a tree is felled, the outer layer of the trunk is peeled off, and the inner part is
sliced up and dried in the sun. When it is crisp, it is pounded into a flour.
This is then soaked repeatedly, changing the water after each soaking. After

the last soaking the starch is allowed to settle out, forming a cake which is

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 7

\

‘ne » dm

Fig. 9. Encephalartos kostensis, * Yq.

ground and baked. Even after having been treated in this way, prolonged
use is said to cause intestinal disorders.

The Kaffirs are said to bury the stem of the Kaffir Bread for some months,
after which they extract the starch in a way similar to that used by the
Malays. The natives of Australia prepare a sago from the seeds of the Nut
Palm. The seeds are broken open, the fleshy part is removed, pounded, and
dried in the sun for three or four hours. The resulting flour is then placed
in running water for three or four days and then in stagnant water for a
similar period of time. The latter part of this treatment seems hardly likely

to reduce the toxic properties, however.

The poison seems to permeate the whole plant. In Australia, cattle are
paralyzed by eating the leaves of Macrozamia; and attempts have been made,
therefore, to destroy the trees. Girdling, the usual method of killing trees, is
of no effect on Cycads since the phloem (the tissue which conducts food from
the leaves to the roots) is covered by a broad band of cortex, which in turn
is surrounded by the hard, persistent leaf bases. Consequently, another method
had to be found. A gash is cut in the trunk, and arsenic is poured into it.
The effect on the tree seems to be immediate. The leaves droop, the trunk
becomes brittle, and the first strong wind destroys it.

The Malays are said to use the tender, uncurled leaves of Cycas circinalis
as a vegetable, a fact which seems puzzling in view of the known toxicity of

76 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Fig. 10. Dzoon spinulosum, * V4.

f

the leaves of Macrozamia. Perhaps when quite young they have not developed
the poison. Thunberg relates that, in the latter part of the eighteenth cen-
tury, Cycas revoluta was reserved for the use of the army in Japan as a small
morsel of the pith could sustain life for a long time. This seems hardly
credible, however.

Zamia is the only genus of which no mention of toxicity is made, and it
is the only one which has any commercial importance. A commercial arrow-
root is made from the tuberous stems of Zamia floridana by a process similar
to those described, though considerably more refined. It is said that in
Colombia, the seeds of Zamia chiqua have been used to make bread and a
kind of mash which is eaten with milk and sugar.

In Malaya and some of the Asiatic islands, poultices are made from the
seeds of Cycas circinalis which have been pounded in olive oil.

In Australia, a fiber obtained from the leaves of Macrozamia spiralis is

sometimes used as a stuffing for couches and mattresses.

THE Missourt BOTANICAL GARDEN COLLECTION

The date on which our first Cycads were received must remain unknown,
as well as their source, since our records are complete only since 1898. Sev-
eral Cycads were grown previous to that date, and those plants formed the
nucleus of the present collection. The most notable additions were received
in 1904 from the St. Louis World’s Fair, and in 1918 from Mr. D. S. Brown

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN TT

Fig. 11. Macrozamta spiralis, X V4.

of Kirkwood, who maintained a notable collection of plants. Both of these
acquisitions increased the number of species and plants considerably. In addi-
tion to these, occasional plants have been continually added from various
sources.

One may gain some estimate of the relative rate of growth of these
plants from the accession numbers which appear on the labels in the Cycad
House. Thus in the number 52-19-63, the second number indicates the year
in which the plant was received, 1919, and at the present time the plant
would be more than 37 years old. Since we do not have records of the age
of the specimens when received, their exact age can not be known.

A GUIDE TO THE CYCAD COLLECTION

On the next page is a map of the Cycad House. The numbers indi-
cate the locality of noteworthy specimens and correspond to those of the
plants on the following list. The plants are not numbered in the greenhouse
but by comparing the name on the label with that in the list the specimen
under discussion may be determined. It is suggested that by starting with
No. 1 at the southeast corner of the house, a brief survey of the Cycads may
be obtained. With more time, the various characters of leaves, stems, and
cones of individual species may be studied. Cones are produced at rather
irregular intervals and sometimes there may be few plants bearing them.
There are a good many other kinds of plants in the Cycad House; the

_|

Cycad and Fern
House

rd
/
Te

Palm

a

y
House

South ‘African VA
i

Map 3. The Cycad House, showing the location o f noteworthy specimens. The numbers correspond to

those in the list on the opposite page.

82

NILATIOWI NATUVO TVOINV.LOG TYAOSSIW

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 79

ferns especially may at first appear to be similar to the Cycads. This list
is followed by a key for the identification of the genera on the basis of leaf
characters. Key the plant out; one person can conceal the label while the

other uses the key.

PLANTS IN THE CYCAD HOUSE

1. Cycas circinalis L. This plant is used for food by several native peoples. Starch
(sago) is extracted from the stem; the nuts are sometimes roasted whole; often the tender,
uncurled leaves are used as a vegetable. Also, a poultice made from the seeds poundéd in
coconut oil is applied to various kinds of sores.

2. Zamia floridana A. DC. The stem of this species likewise produces a sago. Some
of the cities in the southern United States have this tree planted as an ornamental.

3. Encephalartos Lebmannii Ecklon. This species is easily recognized by its whitish
waxy covering of the leaves and stems.

4. Encephalartos elongatus Miq.

5. Encephalartos lanuginosus Lehm. This specimen was received by the Garden before
1898. ‘
6. Macrozamia spiralis (Salisb.) Miq. The common name for this species is “Pineapple”.
Economically, food is obtained from the stem and fibers are removed from the leaves and
used as mattress and pillow stuffings.

7. Zamia portoricensis Urban. Our specimen was received as a young plant in 1947. It
is producing male cones during the present year.

8. Stangeria paradoxa Th. Moore. This plant is known b the natives of its area as
“Juma.” For many years, it was thought to be a fern. It was only after fruiting specimens
were found that the true identity became known; hence the Latin name peradoxa.

9. Ceratozamia mexicana Brongn. This specimen is producing male cones during the
present year.

10. Encephalartos gratus Prantl. Our plant was received in 1944.

11. Cycas Micholitzii Dyer.

12. Encephalartos Altensteinii Lehmann. This is another one of the plants in the Gar-
den’s collection which was received prior to 1898.

13. Dioon spinulosum Dyer. The native name for this species is ‘Chicalitos.’
of the tallest Cycads, sometimes reaching a height of fifty feet.

14. Dioon spinulosum Dyer. See 13.

15. Cycas tonkinensis (Linden et Rod.) Hort. This plant sometimes goes by the name
of ‘Federico-Palme.”’

16. Zamia furfuracea L. f. A sago is made from the stem of this species.

17. Macrozamia Moorei F. Mill. This species is poisonous to cattle in its native land,
Australia. Our specimen was received as a seedling in 1953,

18. Dioon edule Lindl. In Mexico, this species is known as “Palma de la virgen.’

19, Cycas revoluta Thunb. This is a common ornamental in Florida and neighboring

,

It is one

’

20. Ceratozamia mexicana Brongn. This specimen was received at the Garden before

21. Encephalartos caffer (Thunb.) Mig. The common name for this is “Kaffir Bread”
or “Hottentot Bread.” It is used for food by South Africans.

22. Cycas Beddomei Dyer.

23. Cycas siamensis Mig. In its native land, this species is called “Prong.”

24. Ceratozamia terrestris Hort.

25. Dioon spinulosum Dyer. See 13.

OTHER SPECIES IN THE CYCAD HOUSE;

Cycas Rumphii Mig. The Curly Pine Palm. Zamia angustissima Miq.
Encephalartos ferox Bertoloni f. Zamia integrifolia Rich.
Encephalartos Hildebrandtii A. Braun et Bouché. Zamia Loddigesii Miq.
Encephalartos kosiensis Hutchinson. Zamia Ottonis Miq.

Microcycas calocoma (Miq.) A. DC. Zamia pumila L.

80

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

AWN

Fig. 12. Cycas circinalis, & V4.

SPECIMENS LABELED AS HYBRIDS:

Zamia latifoliolata Pren. X Zamia floridana A. DC,
Zamia latifoliolata < Zamia monticola Chamb.

Zamia latifoliolata < Zamia portoricensis.

Zamia pumila L. * (Zamia latifoliolata * Zamia pumila).

KEY TO THE GENERA OF CYCADS

A, Leaves twice-divided . ates : : ; -BOWENIA
A. Leaves once-divided - ; ; ; Podessust soseseseresteuD
B. Leaflets with distinct mid-vein Pena e em crer (
C. Leaflets with distinct side veins projecting from mid-vein STANGERIA
C. Leaflets with only the mid-vein evident 7 decvechacees .CYCAS
B. Leaflets without distinct mid-vein ; es . eee B
D. Leaflets widened at point of attachment to een . ey FE
E. Leaflets broadest at point of attachment... : ...... DIOON
E. Leaflets broadest above point of attachment .... ENCEPHALARTOS
D. Leaflets narrowed at point of attachment . : : F
F. Leaflets with light-colored swollen area at base bovvcceeesvee... MACROZAMIA
F. Leaflets without obvious swollen area at base G
G. Leaflets gradually reduced to two rows of ee near base

re) Said ( 7-0 Sapa nt Aare eee .....- ENCEPHALARTOS

G. Leaflets not gradually pedimeds to two rows of spines at oe of leaf,
but leaf stalks sometimes bearing small scattered spines ee)
H. Petiole with scattered spines near base - seni
I. Spines 4-'% baa long... . ..CERATOZAMIA
I. Spines about Vo inch long ; : ZAMIA LODDIGESII
H. Petiole without spines ..... paavehticdasecheaducasduscctaseseseseed
J. Stem almost completely cunderground; leaflets blunt at tip ZAMIA

J. Stem aerial with a single trunk; leaflets pointed at tip...MicRocycas

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Henry HircHcock
RicHarD J. Lockwoop

A. WEssEL SHAPLEIGH
ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEY
RoBEeRT BROOKINGS SMITH

JoHn S. LEHMANN, President
Danie. K. CaTLin, Vice-President
EuGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President
LEICESTER B. FAUST

DuDLEY FRENCH

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

Mrs. IRMA ERIEDE
President of the Board of Education
of St. Louis

ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEY,
Chancellor of Washington University

ARTHUR C, LICHTENBERGER,

Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri
STRATFORD LEE Morton,
RayMOND R. TUCKER, President of the Academy of Science
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis

Secretary
GERALD ULRICI

THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL
Clarence Barbre, Clifford W. Benson, Albert Chandler, E. G. Cherbonnier,
Paul Hale, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet Layton, Clarence McGovern, Gilbert
Pennewill, Mrs Roland R. Read, W. F. Scott, Jr., Harold E. Wolfe, John S.
Lehmann, Edgar Anderson, John Nies, Chairman.

STAFF
George T. Moore. Emeritus Director
Reino O. Alava__- NEN TRR ena ges cat fret at TNS AE Oe ee ee Rosarian
Edgar Anderson --. : a Director
Henry N. Andrews —_- Paleobotanist
August P. Beilmann_ Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit
Louis G. Brenner. __.......... Arborist
Ladislaus Cutak Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories
Hugh. C. Cutler... =... Assistant Director and Curator of the Museum
Carroll W. Dodge Mycologist

Research Associate
In charge of Orchids

Librarian and Editor
Associate Curator of Museum
_ Assistant Librarian

John D. Dwyer
Robert J. Gillespie.
Nell C. Horner

Lawrence Kaplan.

Ida M. Kohl

Paul A. Kohl Floriculturist
Edna Mepham Assistant Librarian
Frederick G. Meyer Dendrologist
George H. Pring Superintendent
Betty O’Brien Putney Assistant to the Director
Kenneth A. Smith Engineer

Julian A. Steyermark

Honorary Research Associate

Alice F, Tryon___

Research Associate

Rolla M. Tryon, Jr.

Assistant Curator of Herbarium

Business Manager

Gerald Ulrici
George B. Van Schaack

Honorary Curator of Grasses

Robert E. Woodson, Jr

Curator of Herbarium

SOME FACTS ABOUT SHAW’S GARDEN

The Missouri Botanical Garden (the official name chosen by
Mr. Shaw) carries on the garden established by Henry Shaw
over a century ago at TowrEr Grove, his country home. It is
a private institution and has no support from city or state. The
old stone walls and cast-iron fences, the Linnaean House, the
Museum, the Mausoleum, and the TowrerR Grove mansion all
date from Mr. Shaw’s time. Since his death, as directed in his
will, the Garden has been in the hands of a Board of Trustees

who appoint the Director.

The Garden is open every day in the year (except New
Year’s and Christmas) from nine A. M. until seven P. M. (April
to November) and until six (November to April) though the
greenhouses close at five. Towrr Grove, itself, Mr. Shaw’s old
country home, is open from one until four. The Garden is
nearly a mile long and has several entrances. The Main Entrance,
the one used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora
Place on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southampton
buses (No. 80), direct from downtown, pass within three blocks
of this entrance and stop directly across the street from the
Administration Building at 2315 Tower Grove Avenue. The
latter is the best entrance for students, visiting scientists, etc.
It is open to such visitors after 8:30 a.m., but is closed on Sat-
urdays, Sundays, and holidays. There is a service entrance on

Alfred Avenue, one block south of Shaw Avenue.

Since Mr. Shaw’s time an Arboretum has been developed at
Gray Summit, Mo., adjacent to State Highways 50 and 66.
It is open every day in the year and has two miles of auto roads
as well as foot trails through the wild-flower reservation. There
is a pinetum and an extensive display of daffodils and other

narcissi from March to early May.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL
GARDEN BULLETIN

CONTENTS

Wildflower Contrasts in Missouri The Peruvian Daffodil
Some Shade-tree Problems Some Facts about Shaw’s Garden
The Missouri Primrose Advance of Spring in Missouri

The Monkey-face Lady-slipper

Volume XLIII June, 1950 Number 6

Cover: Glade Lily or Missouri Primrose (Oenothera missouriensis).

(This photogsraph, as well as several others in this issue, courtesy of
Dr, Julian Steyermark)

Office of publication: 306 E. Simmons Street, Galesburg, Illinois.
Editorial Office: Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 Tower Grove Avenue,
St. Louis, 10, Missouri.

Published monthly except July and August by the Board of Trustees of the
Missouri Botanical Garden. Subscription price: $2.50 a year. ;

Entered as second-class matter January 26, 1942, at the post-office at Gales-
burg, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Please: Do not discard a copy of the Bulletin. If you have no further use for yours
pass it along toa friend or return it to the Garden. Return postage guaranteed.

Missour1 Botanical
Garden Bulletin

Vol. XLII JUNE, 1955 No. 6

WILDFLOWER CONTRASTS BETWEEN NORTHERN AND
SOUTHERN MISSOURI

JULIAN A. STEYERMARK

People who travel through northern Missouri are often surprised and
disappointed when they do not see favorite wildflowers they have seen in the
Ozarks. The purple-flowered dwarf Spiderwort, often called “Wild Crocus”
(Tradescantia longipes), the Rosy Azalea (Rhododendron roseum), locally
known to Ozarkers as “Honeysuckle”, Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa)
with tall white columns of flowers, the Glade Lily or Missouri Primrose
(Ocnothera missouriensis), with gorgeous large yellow blossoms, are among
the numerous wildings encountered in the Ozarks but absent from northern
Missouri.

To an Ozarker the charm of spring is enhanced by the little Bluets, Early
Saxifrage, Vernal Witch-hazel, and Flowering Dogwood, yet each of these
is scarce or entirely absent in Missouri north of the Ozarks. The common
Bluet (Houstonia minima) is found as far north as Linn, Livingston, and
Lincoln counties, but north of these counties is absent in the state. The
Vernal Witch-hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) reaches Franklin County, Early
Saxifrage comes up as far as St. Louis County, and Flowering Dogwood is
found in a wild state as far north as the region of Hannibal in Marion
County on the east and Saline County on the west. Such familiar Ozark
forest-dwellers as Southern Yellow Pine (Pinus echinata), Lowbush Blueberry
(Vaccinium vacillans), Farkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum), Yellow Honey-
suckle (Lonicera flava), and Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica americana),
all are absent from Missouri north of the Ozark area. That tiny woodland
March wildflower, the Harbinger-of-Spring or Pepper-and-Salt (Erigenia
bulbosa), with its contrasting white and purplish-black small flower clusters,
taken for granted by those tramping through Ozark woodlands in search for
signs of spring, reaches its northern limits in Missouri in Macon, Shelby, and
Ralls counties on the east, and Cooper, Johnson, and Clay counties on the

west.

(81)

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

BLACK COHOSH (Cimicifuga racemosa)

A woodland plant not found in Missouri outside of the Ozark region.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 83

Numerous other instances could be given of Ozark plants absent from
most of northern Missouri. At this point the lover of wildflowers might well
conclude that northern Missouri is not a happy hunting-ground for plants.
This is not true, however. Although lacking the great variety of wildflowers
that exist in the Ozarks, northern Missouri stands out in other respects.
First, to its credit must be acknowledged that what northern Missouri wood-
lands often lack in numbers of species is made up in numbers of individuals
of a species. Deep-wooded ravines of glacial soils are frequently sprinkled
with hundreds of yellow Lady-slipper Orchids and lavender-and-white
Showy Orchis (Orchis spectabilis). In contrast, when these same species
are encountered in the Ozarks, they are represented usually by only a small
number of individual plants. I can recall the great pleasure I had on one
excursion on a northwest Missouri hillside to count no less than 125 yellow
Lady-slippers in bloom. Some of the largest and most luxuriant stands of
Columbine, Interrupted Fern, and Maidenhair Fern, where the plants covered
whole stretches of wooded slopes, I have seen in the northern Missouri
counties. One of the noblest and tallest of ferns, the Ostrich Fern, actually
is found only in the northernmost counties of the state. The beautiful and
outstanding Blue-eyed Mary is frequent in dense colonies in rich woods of
central Missouri north to Macon County, but is rare or absent from most of
the Ozark counties.

Similarly, our prairie flora forms outstanding displays in much of northern
Missouri, either on natural prairies or on remnants of them preserved along
railroads. Thousands of the deep blue-purple Downy Gentian (Gentiana
puberula) may be seen in October flourishing along the railroad right-of-way
in northern Missouri, where earlier had bloomed hundreds of Prairie Violet
(Viola pedatifida), Shooting Star (Dodecatheon Meadia), and two species of
Blazing Star or Gay Feather (Liatris).

Lest we forget, the flora of the loess mounds of northwestern Missouri is
unique and harbors a number of wildflowers not found in any other part of
the state. Among these may be mentioned a species of Thimbleweed
(Anemone cylindrica), the striking Soapweed (Yucca glauca), a handsome
blue-lavender Penstemon (Penstemon grandiflorus), and the cream-yellow
Downy Painted Cup (Castilleja sessiliflora).

In addition to the peculiar plants of the loess mounds, in northern Mis-
souri are wild trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants which are either not found
in the Missouri Ozarks or else very rare. The attractive Grove Sandwort
(Arenaria lateriflora) is confined to a few northeastern Missouri counties.
Except for one station in Shannon County, Starry Solomon’s Seal (Smilacina
stellata) is a denizen of the rich alluvial woodlands of northern Missouri; so
is Snowy Campion (Silene nivea), except for a southern station in Franklin

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

2 &
>» 2

ne
uy

PURPLE BEARD-TONGUI

(Penstemon Cobaea var. purpureus)

A purple-flowered Penstemon inhabiting the limestone glades and ‘‘beld knobs”

of the White River region of southwest Missouri and northwestern Arkansas but not
found elsewhere.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

ROSE PINK (Sabatia angularis)
These beautiful flowers are annuals. Their prevalence varies widely from year
to year; some years there are none, while in other years they are common, both in
pink and white.

85

86 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

County. Among the shrubs, the Red-berried Elder (Sambucus pubens),
Nannyberry (Viburnum Lentago), and Southern Arrow Wood (Viburnum
dentatum yar. Deamii) are known in Missouri from only one or two northern
counties. Among the trees, the Hill’s or Jack Oak (Quercus ellipsoidalis)
has been found only in extreme northern Missouri near the Iowa line, and
both the Large- and Small-toothed Trembling Aspen are very scarce trees
and found only in northern Missouri. The Choke Cherry (Prunus virginiana )
is mostly found in northern Missouri, being discovered only occasionally in
a few Ozark counties. The beautiful white-flowered Meadow-sweet (Spiraca
alba), a rare shrub in Missouri, is known mostly from a few counties in
northern Missouri, and from only one south of the Missouri River.

It must be admitted, then, that northern Missouri has much of interest
for the lover of wildflowers. At this point it might be asked why so many
Ozark wildflowers are missing from most of northern Missouri. The answer
lies in geological history, for during the Ice Age (Pleistocene period) which
prevailed in the United States thousands of years ago, certain advances of
the ice sheet destroyed the Ozark plants which were growing in the northern
Missouri counties. The glacial soils and transported boulders attest to this.
The ice sheets in Missouri came down in some places to or nearly to the
Missouri River, but did not reach the region south of the Missouri River.
Judging by the flora, topography, and geology, it also missed (1) the counties
bordering the Missouri River east of Howard County, and (2) most of the
territory from the region of Hannibal in Marion County southward (in-
cluding Ralls, Pike, Lincoln, St. Charles, and parts of Audrain and Monroe
counties).

The effect of this glacial period was to leave a flora in the Ozarks un-
damaged and far richer in variety of species, because of those that survived
the glaciation, than the flora found in the glaciated northern portion of the
state. Then, too, the Ozarks had never been flooded by continental seas or
marine invasions of the Gulf Sea, nor had been glaciated since the end of the
Paleozoic era (millions of years ago), and so during all this long period of
time has had an opportunity to evolve separate species which became isolated
and different from those from which they had originated. A number of
these Ozark plants have been found by botanists to be distinct from other
species. Attention was called to these endemic species, as they are known,
found only in the Ozarks, in the January, 1955, number of the Garden
BULLETIN (page 4), where another reason was given why the Ozark flora
contains a greater number of wildflowers than northern Missouri.

Because of the contrasts between the plant life of the Ozarks and of
northern Missouri, it is necessary to know the exact boundaries for each
native plant found in the state. This is one reason that it is so important to

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 87

2-70

Flowering Dogwood in the Missouri Ozarks during the spring of 1955 was not
damaged by the early freeze. Hillsides throughout the southern and central part of
the state were whitened by the blossoms this spring.

carry on detailed exploration of the flora throughout the state. The speci-
mens collected are deposited eventually in the large collection in the herba-
rium of the Missouri Botanical Garden. In this way the plants of a particular
part of Missouri are preserved and serve as a definite record for all time. By
means of time-consuming botanical exploration in each county of the state,
necessitating constant field work over a period of hundreds of years, we are
enabled gradually to find what the natural geographical distribution and
boundaries (north, south, east, and west) are for each plant that exists in a

wild state in Missouri.

ZS

MMM AD

CODD

i OCT Man

88 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

SOME SHADE-TREE PROBLEMS
AUGUST P. BEILMANN

Not in two decades has the tree-owner been confronted with so many
problems. And seemingly some of the troubles occur in the developmental
stage, a factor that further complicates the problems of growing a shade
tree. Unlike the forester, who expects some tree mortality from various
causes and is not concerned over the loss of a few specimens, the home-
owner finds it hard to understand why the tree he planted should show dis-
tress and perhaps die. It is not always possible to pin-point the underlying
cause. Often a good many factors help create a complex problem of main-
tenance or contribute to the death of a tree.

In addition to the extreme heat and lack of rain last year, the sudden
drop to zero on March 26 this spring caused considerable damage. But even
this injury follows no clear-cut pattern, and it becomes unsafe to generalize
about the harm that has been done. The flowers of most oaks were killed,
yet there are areas locally where acorns will be abundant. At the Arboretum
the hickories fared better, and there will be some hickory nuts. Many of the
southern plants, notably the magnolias and the rhododendrons, were com-
pletely dormant on March 26 and thus escaped injury. On the other hand,
the Star Magnolia from China was, in some places, killed to the ground.
The flowers of the much tougher and supposedly better-adapted soft maples,
elms and cottonwoods were nearly all frozen, and few seeds have been
produced. Apparently few of the woody plants which flower before mid-
May escaped heavy injury to flower-buds. However, the dogwoods were
quite good, although the redbuds lost all flowers. The flowers of Sugar
Maple, Spice Bush (Benzoin), Pawpaw, and Service Berry were all frozen,
while the Wild Plum made an excellent showing. The damage was not
restricted to flower buds alone. Few trees opened leaf-buds in a normal
manner, and many were not only erratic but very much delayed.

Fortunately the rains of early April, and again about thirty days later,
did much to repair the damage caused by both the sudden zero weather and
the preceding dry year. Both rainy spells came at a most opportune time.
Woody plants had hesitatingly begun to open leaf-buds and those rainy
periods did much toward the development of normal leaves. Had either
rainy spell been delayed another week the damage would have been severe
and quite extensive. Even now we can observe how erratic was the growth
of early spring. Large trees have a normal branch here and another there,
but few show a completely normal development unless they were irrigated.

Since so many of our shade trees are being grown about homes where
heavy grading has been done, we might expect that drought damage would

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 89

be severe. Grading usually removes all top-soil, or dumps it into a low spot
and leaves a raw soil that has never supported any sort of plant life—much
less a tree. Established surface drainage patterns are upset; houses, streets,
and driveways form a roof over much of the soil, and there is little chance
for rain to percolate to a depth necessary for trees. Once dry, such a soil,
or what is left for soil, absorbs water very slowly. Only irrigation, mulch-
ing, and fertilizing will allow the establishment of trees or permit their
continued growth.

Superimposed on these difficulties is the very real possibility of an insect
outbreak. For the past two years the population of bark beetles has been
rising. They prefer to feed upon weakened trees, and the drought has
furnished them with whole hillsides of such trees. The woodpeckers have
moved into those areas to feed upon the beetle larvae, and they, along with
the many predatory wasps, may put a halt to bark-borer depredations. How-
ever, the various leaf-chewing insects seem on the increase. During the dry
1930’s there was a serious outbreak of tent caterpillars and tussock moths
(there were others as well) and a complete and thorough program of
arsenical spraying was necessary for some years. So far this year we have
seen the June-bug and the striped oak-worm in great numbers. In fact,
some oak trees at this moment are without a single fully intact leaf. Where
the June-bug damage was most severe many trees are almost without leaves.

Insects generally have rather complicated life-histories. For a species to
reach epidemic proportions it must have adequate food and temporarily it
must be without enemies. Perhaps the hard dry soil of last summer favored
the June-bug larvae; at least it restricted the movement of moles who prey
on such grubs. Fortunately for the tree-owner, there is equipment available
which can reach the tallest trees and there are insecticides on the market
which can furnish protection.

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90 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

THE MISSOURI PRIMROSE
EDGAR ANDERSON

The Missouri Primrose or Glade Lily (Oenothera missouriensis) is one of
the most spectacular wildflowers in the United States and might well have
been chosen as the state flower of Missouri. Its details are well illustrated on
the front cover though there is nothing in the picture to suggest the enor-
mous size of the blossoms. They are always as large as saucers, while well-
developed specimens may be even wider than a salad plate. Their predominant
color is a pale golden-yellow. Like all Evening Primroses, individual flowers
do not stay in bloom very long, opening in the late afternoon and closing
about noon the next day. They are borne on inconspicuous little branching
plants usually only a few inches high, so that the enormous flowers seem to
spring directly out of the ground.

The seed-pods of the Missouri primrose are as interesting as the flower
and are almost as beautiful, in an odd sort of way. The structure is about
two or three inches long and is made up of a central cylinder no larger than
a lead pencil from which there fan out four thin, membranaceous wings,
making the whole pod nearly as wide as it is long. At first these strange-
looking pods are light yellow-green sometimes flecked with deep red but as
the pod matures they weather to a silvery gray. They open at the far end,
splitting down each wing, the four segments bending gracefully back so as
to resemble a silvery gray lily with four petals.

Spectacular though they may be, the Missouri Primroses are little known
to the average St. Louisian, because in Missouri they are pretty much limited
to cedar glades, rocky open spaces usually sloping to the south or west and
surrounded by red cedar trees. One of the outstanding features of the Gar-
den’s Arboretum at Gray Summit, Missouri, is a series of these cedar glades.
Missouri Primroses are to be seen there in quantity from some time in May
until about the middle of June. They usually come into bloom just before
the Purple Cone-flowers which grow in quantity on the same glades. During
the week or ten days when both species are in bloom side by side the land-
scape is truly spectacular.

Unfortunately, the Missouri Primrose is not readily cultivated in an
ordinary garden, though expert rock gardeners have little difficulty in flower-
ing them. The species is more variable towards the western limits of its
range; seeds from Oklahoma or Kansas localities are apparently more desirable
than those from eastern Missouri if one is attempting to establish the
Missouri Primrose in his rock garden.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 91

THE PERUVIAN DAFFODIL
EDGAR ANDERSON

Having frequently admired the Peruvian Daffodil in many old St. Louis
gardens, I acquired a few bulbs from friends of mine who were growing
them. It is one of the most fascinating plants to have in one’s own garden.
If the bulbs are set out after the weather is warm they come up with the
most amazing speed, and a good strong bulb may be in full flower in less
than two weeks after it was planted. The flower, furthermore, is no trifling
thing. It is really a good-sized, trumpet-like lily, handsome in form and
delightfully fragrant. It interested me so much that I started looking
around the library to learn a little something of its history. There are several
species, but the one commonly grown in St. Louis is Ismeme calathina
(= Hymenocallis narcissiflora). t has all the earmarks of a plant which
has been selected for doing well under cultivation and is probably not the
exact equivalent of a wildflower anywhere.

There are several species of these beautiful flowers in Peru where they
grow wild in great abundance and where our cultivated one apparently came
from. Since very early times they have been the occasion for religious cere-
monies and in “Stewart’s Visit to the South Seas,” there is a fascinating
account of the way in which their blooming was celebrated early in the 19th
century. Since the plant itself is probably well known to a good many
readers of the BULLETIN, I have thought that this story might be of interest.
The plant grows in great quantities at the foot of the mountains near Lima,
Peru, where it is the subject of the ‘Festival of the Amancaise” (or Amancaes
as it is more frequently spelled).

“The Amancaise is an annual festival celebrated at Lima on the 24th of
June; it is something similar to our ‘May-Day’; the occasion of it being the
height of bloom at that time of a flower peculiar to Peru, called the
‘Amancaise,’ to gather which, the citizens of every class, in the afternoon of
the day, hasten, as to a gala, to a spot in the vicinity of the city, deriving
its name, as well as the festival itself, from the flower which grows in greater
abundance there than in any other place.

“After an early dinner, our party, principally on horseback, set off. It
was with difficulty that a sufficient number of steeds could be secured, as
every animal of the name and similitude, in the city, is put in requisition at
this time, if at no other during the year.

“We left the city by a new and handsome gate on the north, and crossed
the bridge over the Rimac river..... beyond it lies a large suburb, after
passing which we entered a regularly-planted and beautiful almeda, or avenue,
a favourite promenade of the Limanians.

92 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

“After passing the almeda, we entered a narrow, winding, and sandy
road, enclosed on either side by high mud-walls and completely filled by
parties in carriages, on horseback, and on foot, gazing at each other, and
interchanging looks and bows of cheerful hilarity. Here were persons of
every class of society, from the highest to the lowest, and of every shade
and colour, from the fairest Briton to the deepest ebony of the African
Tribes.

“At the end of two miles we found ourselves close to the wild and naked
hills, encircling Lima on the north and east, and immediately in front of a
gorge between two of these, terminating at the distance of half a mile against
the steep acclivity of a third. The whole were bare as volcanic ashes and
sand can make them, except where the bloom of the flower, which had called
the crowds together, exhibited here and there a tinge of yellow, (for this
was the ‘Amancaise,’ the spot of our visit,) and over the precipitous sides
of which, small parties were already scattered, and even horsemen, at the
seeming hazard of their necks, clambering to points fitted apparently only
for the footing of the goat or the chamois.

“The general appearance of the multitude, at the distance first seen, was
that of a field in America at a general militia-muster, or of a race course;
and a nearer view, save in the variety of colour and novelty of custume, did
not lessen the resemblance. There was the same bustle and hum of laugh and
talk, the same pressing and hurrying from one place to another, the confused
sound of musical instruments in different directions, and the loud and coarse
mirth of the booth and the stall.

“On either side of the way were carriages drawn by mules, with a postilion
and footman, and filled with ladies and children in rich evening dress; around
these, groups of genteel-looking horsemen were gathered in gay conversation
and laughter; while within a few rods on every side, might be seen thronged
circles, in the midst of which, negroes and negresses, in as full dress as their
masters and mistresses, were dancing to music scarce less heathenish, vulgar,
and rude, than that heard within the kraals of their aboriginal country.

“Every person was decorated with the Amancaise, and clusters of the
flowers were placed in the bridles and harness of the horses, as well as on the
hats and head-dresses of the riders... ...

“We rode to a rancho, or booth, for the purpose of tasting a common
drink of the country, called chichi, It is made from new corn ground, and
tastes much like the beer at a distillery of whiskey, after fermentation, and
before distillation has taken place. The primitive and favourite preparation
of it among the Indians was by chewing, in the manner of the Ava at the
Sandwich Islands; a fact which I was satisfied not to have learned till after
my curiosity in tasting it had been indulged. .....

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 93

“By this time, the scene around had reached the height of interest in its
novel and varied exhibitions. In addition to hundreds of Calesas, the clumsy
and antique carriage in general use, there were two English chariots, two
barouches, two gigs, and a few other foreign vehicles, on the ground. One
or two Scotch and English ladies, on horseback, were also distinguished in
the throng, and a few Spanish ladies, mounted, in similar dresses and attitude;
while other natives, male and female, Peruvians, both Spaniards and Indians,
negroes and negresses of every shade, and in an endless variety of costume,
some on foot, and others on every kind of animal, from the noblest of horses
to the sorriest jackass, were scattered in thousands around.

“It was not long before the fashionables began to move on a return, and
the mob slowly to follow; many of those on foot dancing as they went, to
the rude tunes of the negroes, still heard at a distance. I observed one
Peruvian female advance in this manner at least a quarter of a mile, turning
as in a waltz the whole time, in the midst of carriages and gay horsemen,
apparently in danger every moment of being run over.

“In coming from the city, I had noticed at the termination of the road
where we entered the Amancaise, a kind of tent in crimson hangings, at
which there was dancing and music, with a crowd around. The throng
pressing forward, however, was so great, that | merely observed a man and
woman, running to the carriages and horsemen passing, with plates extended,
for money. On our way back, we stopped here for a moment; the musicians
were still playing; the instruments, a violin, flute, and rude harp; the air,
a monotonous repetition of a few wild notes. But what most astonished and
affected me, and what is perfectly characteristic of the religious views and
state of the people, was to behold a table, in front of which the dancers were,
spread with the flowers of the Amancaise, at which was seated a full-length
waxen figure of the Saviour of men, crowned with thorns, and streaming
with blood! representing Him who was emphatically ‘a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief,’ thus presiding over a scene of mirth and folly.

“The sight induced a sadness, which all the gaiety of the thousands we
met and passed on our way to the city could not dissipate. And it was only
with the deep tones of the vesper bell, falling upon us from the towers of
the cathedral as we entered the royal square—invoking from all, a moment,
at least, for solemnity and prayer—that a change of thought and feeling

came over me.” (From Stewart, C. S.A visit to the South Seas, in the U. S. Ship
Vincennes during the years 1829 and 1830. London, 1832.)

94

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

SOME FACTS ABOUT SHAW’S GARDEN

The Missouri Botanical Garden (the official name chosen by
Mr. Shaw) carries on the garden established by Henry Shaw
over a century ago at TowrrR Grove, his country home. It is
a private institution and has no support from city or state, The
old stone walls and cast-iron fences, the Linnaean House, the
Museum, the Mausoleum, and the Tower Grove mansion ll
date from Mr. Shaw’s time. Since his death, as directed in his
will, the Garden has been in the hands of a Board of Trustees
who appoint the Director.

The Garden is open every day in the year (except New
Year’s and Christmas) from nine A. M. until seven P. M. (April
to November) and until six (November to April) though the
greenhouses close at five. Tower Grove, itself, Mr. Shaw’s old
country home, is open from one until four. The Garden is
nearly a mile long and has several entrances. The Main Entrance,
the one used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora
Place on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southampton
buses (No. 80), direct from downtown, pass within three blocks
of this entrance and stop directly across the street from the
Administration Building at 2315 Tower Grove Avenue. The
latter is the best entrance for students, visiting scientists, etc.
It is open to such visitors after 8:30 a.m., but is closed on Sat-
urdays, Sundays, and holidays. There is a service entrance on

Alfred Avenue, one block south of Shaw Avenue.

Since Mr. Shaw’s time an Arboretum has been developed at
Gray Summit, Mo., adjacent to State Highways 50 and 66.
It is open every day in the year and has two miles of auto roads
as well as foot trails through the wild-flower reservation. There
is a pinetum and an extensive display of daffodils and other

narcissi from March to early May.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 95

ADVANCE OF SPRING IN MISSOURI, 1955
JULIAN A. STEYERMARK

During the last week of March, when I returned to the United States
from a botanical expedition in South America, I was jolted by reports and
pictures of damage to vegetable and flower gardens, orchards, and nursery
stock resulting from a severe freeze over the southern United States. St.
Louis papers and radio announcements gave accounts of vegetation injured
or killed by the freeze. Azaleas were reported to be frozen in the deep South,
the peach crop was destroyed in southern Illinois and other peach-producing
areas, and lilacs and many other flowering shrubs were set back. With such
catastrophic news, I was prepared for the worst as I started on a spring col-
lecting trip in Missouri between April 22 and May 1. My traveling led me
from the lowlands of southeastern Missouri, west across southern Missouri to
Webster County, then north beyond the Missouri River to the northwestern
part of the state near the Iowa line, and finally east to the northeastern
corner—in all a distance of 1,500 miles covered.

Throughout the southern counties of the state it was plain to see the set-
back given the vegetable and flower gardens in general. Tips of Narcissi
foliage showed discoloration. Vegetable gardens were just beginning to get
a fresh start, the first crop having been ruined by the freeze. Flower borders
lacked their usual colorful display of this time of year. The commonly
planted ornamental conifer, Oriental Arbor-vitae (Thuja orientalis), usually
of a lively green color, was badly browned and often killed in many areas.
Lilacs and other flowering shrubs were producing new crops of leaves, but
revealed patches of dead wood. Normally, the oaks in the forests would
have been nearly leafed out, but now they were producing a second crop of
leaves. This new growth gave an over-all effect on the ridge tops and hill-
sides of pastel tones of gray, pale rose, yellow, pale green, chartreuse, and
buff, reminiscent of early instead of late April in the Ozarks.

No damage to the native herbaceous wildflowers was observed. Appear-
ing on the wooded hills were scarlet masses of Fire-pink (Silene virginica),
lilac and purple patches of Birds-foot Violet (Viola pedata), the pale blue-
flowered species of Bluets or Quaker Ladies (Houstonia caerulea), Early
Saxifrage (Saxifraga virginiensis), and colorful purple and rose clumps of
Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana, T. longipes, and T. Ernestiana). Wild-
flowers were prolific at every turn. Some hillsides were aglow with the
brilliant orange clusters of Honeysuckle (Lonicera flava), and Flowering
Dogwood (Cornus florida) was everywhere conspicuous, “‘polka-dotting”
thousands of hillsides and ravines with white, cream-colored, or sometimes

pink-tinted blossoms.

96 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Travelling “North with the Spring” from southwestern and southern
Missouri towards the Missouri River, we had expected to see the vegetation
less developed than in the southern portion of the state. Imagine our sur-
prise, then, upon entering Lafayette County, on the south side of the Missouri
River in the neighborhood of Lexington, to see the foliage of trees and shrubs
more fully developed than farther south. When we crossed the Missouri
River and approached Richmond, Ray County, the foliage was seen to be far
in advance of what we had seen anywhere to the south. Upon inquiry we
learned that in the country adjacent to the Missouri River and northward
from there, vegetation had not advanced sufficiently during late March to
have been affected by the freezing weather that killed the more advanced
Ozark vegetation. Here in Ray County the lilacs, crabapples, iris, and
Oriental Poppies were in full bloom. The leaf tips of Narcissi, burnt farther
south, were here in good condition. The foliage of the Oriental Arbor-
vitae, so severely killed everywhere in the southern part of the state, had a
healthy green appearance in the area bordering the Missouri River and north-
ward.

Throughout northern Missouri, the story was the same. At Cameron,
Maysville, and McFall (located respectively in Clinton, DeKalb, and Gentry
counties), tulips, lilacs, and bridlewreath were in good bloom, and forest
trees, including oaks, had leafed out ahead of the same species to the south
in the Ozarks.

So it was a striking thing we encountered during this late April, 1955,
in Missouri, this reversal of the advance of spring—one of those surprise

freaks of spring weather which must be expected to occur now and then in

this part of the world,

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

JoHN S. LEHMANN, President Henry HitcHcock
DaniEL K. CaTLin, Vice-President RicHarp J. Lockwoop
EucENE Pettus, Second Vice-President A. WEssEL SHAPLEIGH
LEICESTER B. FAusT ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEY
DuDLEY FRENCH RoBERT BROOKINGS SMITH

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

ErHAN A. H. SHEPLEY, Mrs. IRMA FRIEDE
Chancellor of Washington University President of the Board of Education
of St. Louis

ARTHUR C. LICHTENBERGER,

Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri
STRATFORD LEE MorTON,

RayMOND R. TUCKER, President of the Academy of Science
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis

Secretary
GERALD ULRICI

THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL
Clarence Barbre, Clifford W. Benson, Albert Chandler, E. G. Cherbonnier,
Paul Hale, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet Layton, Clarence McGovern, Gilbert
Pennewill, Mrs Roland R. Read, W. F. Scott, Jr., Harold E. Wolfe, John S.
Lehmann, Edgar Anderson, John Nies, Chairman.

STAFF
George T. Moore. = Emeritus Director
0 A Brcccccnncecdactnage : oa Rosarian
Edgar Anderson -. ae __...Director
Henry N. Andrews _.. Paleobotanist
August P, Beilmann___--... -_--_-. Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit
our: (Gr -Brenter...c2 5 a ee ee Arborist
Ladislaus Cutak Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories
Hugh C, Cutler_..------- Assistant Director and Curator of the Museum
Carroll W. Dodge —--- Mycologist
John D. Dwyer Research Associate
Robert J. Gillespie. i In charge of Orchids
Nell C. Horner Librarian and Editor
We cos oe | 5 | Sc a eee Associate Curator of Museum
Ida M. Kohl = Assistant Librarian
LP ee Cr) || Seana a eer enn Floriculturist
[2fe ee ele (101), || oo a oe ee ene nie nannnne senees Assistant Librarian
Frederick G. Meyer Dendrologist
George H. Pring ___ Superintendent
Betty O’Brien Putney. eA Se Tae AEN ay ee Assistant to the Director
ener Sit te See ee ee nn Engineer
Julian A. Steyermark a sicnetasuseatepshgge asians Honorary Research Associate
PLES et 6 0): 7 Research Associate
Rolla M. Tryon, Jr. os Assistant Curator of Herbarium
Gerald Ulrici Es Business Manager
George B. Van Schaack Honorary Curator of Grasses

Robert E. Woodson, Jr Curator of Herbarium

THE MONKEY-FACE LADY-SLIPPER

One of the most oddly beautiful plants in the Garden’s orchid collection
is the Monkey-face Lady-slipper, Paphiopedilum hirsutissimum (or Cypri-
pedium hirsutissimum, the name by which it is most widely known in the
trade). The face-like markings from which it gets its common name are
not at all conspicuous. They consist of whitish little eyes and stippled spots
at the very center of the flower which do indeed resemble the face of a tiny
animal. Much odder is the color scheme of the flower. Predominately it is
dark with blackish-greens and amber-greens shading into one another, but
the two petals, which spread way out sidewards, shade from purple into a
purple-blue as bright in tone and texture as a piece of enamel. There are
touches of blue-purple elsewhere in the flower, though not so clear and
brilliant, so that these two bright blue wings tone in beautifully with the
whole blossom. The back of the flower and the stem are so heavily and
softly hairy that they add to the general effect. It really looks like an un-
usual artificial blossom made by a milliner and backed up with very dark

green plush, a flower out of “Never-Never Land.”—G.H.P. and E.A.

(Photograph by Clittord Paulsen)

PHILODENDRONS

SELLOUM

ELEGANS

RADIATUM

LACIN/IATUM

PANDURAE FORME

Missouri Botanical Garden Bulletin
slume XLII September, 1955 Number 7

~~

Office of publication: 306 E. Simmons Street, Galesburg, Illinois.

Editorial Office: Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 Tower Grove Avenue,
St. Louis, 10, Missouri

Published monthly except July and August by the Board of Trustees of the
Missouri Botanical Carden. Subscription price: $2.50 a year.

Entered as second-class matter January 26, 1942, at the post-office at Gales-
burg, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Please: Do not discard a copy of the Bulletin. If you have no further use for yours
pass it along toa friend or return it to the Garden. Return postage guaranteed,

Missouri Botanical
Garden Bulletin

Vol. XLIII

SEPTEMBER, 1955 No. 7

PHILODENDRON

THE VERSATILE AND Most DeccrRATIVE House PLANT

LADISLAUS CUTAK

ROBABLY no other group of so-
P called exotic foliage plants has
been taken to our bosom as completely
as the ornamental Aroids. It is true
that a few of its members, like Dief-
fenbachia and Aglaonema (the com-
mon Dumb-canes), have long been
established as house plants but it is
only in recent years that an unprece-
dented interest has been created in
them. First, let me explain what
these plants are before getting down
to their descriptions.

“Aroids” is a collective name given
to all those plants belonging to the
fascinating Jack-in-the-pulpit family,
the Araceae. This family is represented
in almost all the warmer regions of the
world, and even a few are native to
temperate zones where winter cold
sends the plants into a state of dor-
mancy. Almost everyone, I’m sure, is
acquainted with or at least has heard of
the Jack-in-the-pulpit and the Skunk
Cabbage, both of which are found in
our northern woods. The first, known
botanically as Arisaema triphyllum,
possesses a wrinkled turnip-shaped
corm and leaves divided into three-
pointed leaflets. The second, Symplo-

carpus foetidus, is an herb with a very
thick rootstock and a cluster of very
large and broad veiny leaves, preceded
in spring by the nearly sessile spathes
which barely rise out of the ground.
All the Aroids have an acrid or pun-
gent juice, and the Skunk Cabbage in
addition emits a strong odor like that
of the skunk. Another hardy aroid is
Peltandra virginica, a rather striking
low arrowleaf herb which grows in
marshlands and makes an attractive
border plant around lakes, ponds and
pools. At the Garden this American
aroid grows luxuriantly beside the
pools located back of the ranges of

greenhouses.

All the Aroids present tiny flowers
upon a spadix (a spike with a fleshy
axis) which is usually surrounded by
a spathe (a large bract—highly color-
ful in some species). If one doesn’t
still recognize this family, then per-
haps another example, the Calla Lily,
will help in identifying the group. The
Calla Lily should be well known to
everyone but I must caution you that,
despite its popular name, it is not a
true lily.

(97)

98 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

My discussion of Aroids will over-
look the hardy kinds and treat only
the tropical forms which make such
suitable house plants. The common
Heartleaf Philodendron (Philodendron
cordatum) which can be bought at
any dime or department store or the
florist shop, has been grown by the
millions and graces wall brackets in
thousands of homes. Most of the
Aroids are fairly easy to grow, and
that is one reason why they have be-
come such great favorites. Another
reason is that all of them present a
bold pattern which is highly appro-
priate for modern homes and furni-
ture. The interior decorator has leaned
heavily upon their rugged grace. The
plant explorer has combed the jungle
forests for new introductions and the
nurseryman has used many of these in
hybridizing to produce excellent crosses
with keeping qualities. Many of these
can be seen growing in permanent beds
in the Palm House and also as pot
specimens in the Aroid Pit-House. In
this new home the visitor will be able
to acquaint himself with specimens
suitable for the home as necessity re-
quires potted material in such quarters.

To be successful with these choice
exotic plants a few requirements must
be met. Some conditions can be easily
attained, while others need some
Hardly any Aroid can
withstand strong sunlight, therefore

planning.

diffused light is very essential to its
well-being. Since most Aroids live
on the jungle floor or even perch as
epiphytes on trees they will need a
well-drained soil, loose in texture and
high in humus. I prefer a potting
soil consisting of loam, leafmold, and

well-decomposed manure in equal
parts to which sand and spent osmun-
dine is added. Fairly high tempera-
tures are also required but most homes
are usually kept quite warm so this
condition will pose no problem. Prob-
ably the greatest need is for humidity
which ought to be fairly high, es-
pecially for the more delicate species
such as Philodendron verrucosum and
P, Andreanum. Doctors tell us that
most of our homes are entirely too
dry for our health’s sake. The humid-
ity range that is most satisfactory for
your health is fine for plants. In non-
airconditioned homes greater humidity
can be supplied through the use of
humidifiers on the radiators or over
the warm air ducts. Any open con-
tainer filled with water will serve the
practical purpose. Frequent syring-
ing is beneficial and foliar feeding
highly desirable. Plants can be syr-
inged easily in the bathtub or placed
outdoors during a warm shower. Wa-
ter copiously, especially in the summer
season, and see to it that the mossed
sticks used for support are kept moist
at all times. Mulching with peat or
sphagnum moss will prevent excessive
surface drying where humidity is low,
and frequently the florist who sells
you a plant will have already provided
for this.

There are a number of insects that
may attack Aroids but vigilant atten-
tion will prevent heavy infestations.
As a matter of fact, insects have never
given our Aroids too much trouble,
even though other plants around them
were sometimes “lousy” with them.
If, however, insects do appear they
can be controlled with ready-to-use

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 99

PHILODENDRON cos
ERUBESCENS on Tf

\ ‘ \ p =f
\

Philodendron erubescens in flower

Though most of those who grow Philodendrons in their
living-rooms have never seen them in bloom, they are true
flowering plants and blossom freely in their native habitats.
Most of the flowers look pretty much like this drawing of
Philodendron erubescens. Some of them are white, some
yellow, and some green. Frequently there is a bright flush
of pink or red on the inside of the spathe.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

PHILODENORON ~
ry fo HL e ee =

",

hag

x)

fT,

Philodendron Eichleri, ‘“The King of the Philodendrons”’

This species has magnificent leaves. In well-grown specimens
they can be up to seven feet long and three feet wide. There is a
distinctly metallic cast to the foliage which gives them an extra air

of permanence.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 101

sprays manufactured for the particu-
lar culprit. Mealybugs prefer to hide
in the crowns or around the axils of
leaves and branches; scales establish
themselves usually along the stems or
leaf veins; while red spider is prev-
alent on the undersides of the leaves.
Mealybugs may often be washed off
with water under slight pressure.
Scale insects may be more persistent
but usually can be removed with

Volck or other oil sprays.

PHILODENDRON

In regards to feeding your own
Philodendron, use a good balanced
liquid fertilizer once every four weeks
or so. Repot it when necessary.
I have been using liquid manure
whenever possible and in addition have
applied Rapid-Gro on the foliage. Jf
too much fertilizer is applied leaves
will burn and become discolored.
Should this happen stop the applica-
tion, and to be on the safer side flush
the pot with running water to leach
out the excess food stored in the soil.

Although the Heartleaf Philoden-
dron (Philodendron cordatum) is un-
doubtedly the most common Aroid
grown in our homes, the Swiss Cheese

Plant or Fruit Salad Vine (Monstera
deliciosa) is even more attractive, It
is more robust with heavier and larger
leaves, excellent as a pot plant for
almost any location. If given room
it assumes a scrambling mode of
growth and is then especially adapted
for creeping up a brick or concrete
wall or the trunk of a tree. For this
reason young plants are trained to
climb a moss-covered pole. The leaves
of Monstera deliciosa are very out-
standing for their bold effect. At
first they are bright green and tightly
rolled up but soon unroll into very
broad heartshaped blades deeply slashed
from the margin halfway to the broad
midvein and punctuated by oblong
perforations. Well-developed mature
leaves attain a size of 3 feet long by
21> feet broad. This is the plant fre-
quently seen in hotel lobbies, restau-
rants, big department stores, modern
office buildings and in spacious living
rooms. In its juvenile stage, with
solid or partially indented leaves, it is
often sold under the erroneous name
of Philodendron pertusum. It is to be
remembered that young plants of both
Monstera and Philodendron have quite
different characteristics from mature
ones, and anyone not acquainted with
both forms will swear two species are
involved. That is the reason why so
much confusion exists in the Philoden-
dron nomenclature. The Philodendron
pertusum of the trade is then nothing
but one of the horticultural selections
of Monstera deliciosa, now proposed
to be called cultigen “Dwarf Ceri-
man” by Birdsey' who published a

1Birdsey, M. R. The Cultivated Aroids. 140
pps T1951:

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

/ J /]
/

/ y)
A () f f)/!
(f 4 Wy My, it»

“ PHILODENDRON
SQUAMIFERUM

Philodendron squamiferum is a handsome species, hardy and easy
to grow, which is steadily gaining in popularity. It can be trained
to a “totem pole” of moss, or the stem can be made to grow horizon-
tally and twined around a large container, making a sort of hanging-
basket effect. The striking dagger-shape of the leaves is effective
seen against the background of a modern living-room.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 103

well illustrated and instructive book
on Aroids. This book is not a com-
plete and definitive work but rather
an attempt to review the present
status of the cultivated Aroids and to
indicate the gaps that exist in this
available information. There is sup-
posed to be a true Monstera pertusa
with smaller, narrower, more oblique
and less-perforated leaves but as far
as I know it is not in cultivation
anywhere. All the Philodendron per-
tusum sold on the market today are
rightfully Monstera deliciosa.

Since it is not my intention to deal
extensively with all the exotic Aroids
but rather only with the Philoden-
drons, I will confine my remarks
chiefly to this group which, in my
estimation, contains the most versatile
and decorative house plants today.
Philodendron has taken the world by
storm and I venture to say that vir-
tually every home has a specimen of
one kind or another, either in the
window garden or book nook.

The genus Philodendron, as we
know it today, contains over 200
species with new ones being discovered
right along in the forests of tropical
America and its islands. Also many
hybrids have been produced since the
intricacies of hybridizing the Aroids
have been successfully solved. Prior
to 1945 or thereabouts only one Philo-
dendron hybrid was known to exist,
Philodendron corsinianum, which was
raised by the flrm of Messrs. Makoy
of Liege, Belgium, in 1887.

Most of the early species of Philo-
dendron were described by the late Dr.
Schott of the Imperial Gardens of

Schoenbrunn, in Vienna, who had im-
ported many himself from the forests
of Brazil. These were a favorite study

of his. In this famous garden of the

"SD PHILODENDRON
/LSEMANNI

Austrian emperor were long ranges of
high houses which were festooned
from end to end with magnificent
specimens climbing on poles, trellises,
and rafters. The Aroid collection at
Schoenbrunn was one of the most out-
standing horticultural exhibitions in
the world. Other famous collections
were housed in the botanical gardens
of Berlin, Germany, St. Petersburg,
Russia, and Kew Gardens, in England,
but from all reports none of them
could compare with the Schoenbrunn

collection.

The word Philodendron is Greek,

and, literally translated, means “tree

loving”, from the fact that most of

104 MISSOURI BOTANICAI

the species attach themselves to trees
in the tropical forests either by climb-
ing up the trunk or nestling in the
crotches of branches and in rough
bark. They are all remarkably sturdy
plants which can adapt themselves
very readily in any home. To be sure,
some species are delicate and will test
the grower’s skill but most are easy to
manage, requiring only a minimum of

care and attention. The plants are as

much at home in a small apartment as

PH/LODENDRON
CORDATUM

in a spacious home. The commonest
species, Philodendron cordatum, often
is seen vining from windows and
shelves or racing up a totem pole. A
bachelor friend of mine has the Heart-
leaf twining over wires the length of
two of his rooms. ‘This variety per-
sists under the most adverse growing
conditions and will bring living green
to many dark nooks. I know of no
other plant that is as foolhardy as it.

. GARDEN BULLETIN

Of the more than 200 species of
Philodendron that inhabit tropical and
subtropical America, only about 75
varieties can be found represented in
the best-known collections, and _per-
haps of these a mere 50 can be ob-
tained through commercial channels.
The Missouri Botanical Garden 1s
proud to announce that through re-
cent acquisitions it has increased its
Philodendron collection to the point
where it is probably the largest in
America. Last winter the writer went
to Florida for the express purpose of
ferreting out species and hybrids not
yet represented in our collection. Well-
known nurseries specializing in Aroids
were visited, including Foster’s Trop-
ical Arts and McColley’s Bamboo
Gardens in Orlando, Blaser’s in Bra-
denton, Wedding’s in St. Petersburg,
and Wilson’s Fantastic Gardens in
Miami. Right now the Garden has
about 65 kinds of Philodendron which
are being grown naturalistically in
both the Palm and Economic Houses
where the plants are set out in beds at
the bases of palms and trees to clam-
ber up the trunks, and also in pots in
the new Aroid Pithouse where rain-
forest conditions are being attempted.

Philodendrons, for convenience, can
be divided into the climbing and self-
heading types and these again divided
into entire and cutleaf groups. Of
the climbing species, Philodendron
cordatum is believed to be the most
foolhardy vine in existence. Sprigs of
it are often used in dish gardens, ter-
rariums, and novelty containers, where
they either hang gracefully, trail along
the soil, or climb upon trellises.
When this vine is allowed to grow

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 105

freely as in conservatories, it will pro-
duce very large leaves and look unlike
the small plants seen in the home.
There seems to be considerable doubt
as to cordatum being its correct spe-
cific name. It is believed that all the
plants offered in the trade as P. cor-
datum are really P. oxycardium which
originates from Puerto Rico. The true
P. cordatum is native to Brazil, ac-
cording to Birdsey, and he describes
the spathe as being purple. The
Philodendron cordatum growing so
luxuriantly on the concrete wall of
the northwest wing of the Floral Dis-
play House, according to our plant
records, is from five plants collected
in Brazil by Mr. Fendler about 1869
and appears to be one of the few
greenhouse plants still remaining from
Henry Shaw’s time. It flowers pract-
ically each year (unless the vine is
pruned heavily) and the spathes are
always of a creamish-white color on
the outside with splotches of green
showing on the lower half. Cut
open, the spathe is creamish yellow
for two-thirds of the way down and
brilliant red in the lower third. Mr.
George H. Pring, Superintendent of
the Garden, states that cuttings from
this vine were given to Bourdet Floral
Company for trial as a possible com-
mercial plant some 43 years ago. Thus
the Garden has furnished the stock
which made the Heartleaf Philoden-
dron the universal house plant that it
is today.

Another slender trailing vine with
perhaps smaller leaves is Philodendron
micans, sometimes listed under the
name P. scandens. It has the same
general habit as P. cordatum, except

that the upper side of the leaf is vel-
vety green and iridescent while the
underside is reddish. One of the most
beautiful trailers is P. verrucosum,
with delicate satiny green leaves that
are a combination of salmon and violet
underneath. The petioles are con-
spicuously covered with bright red
bristles and green hairs, Its only
drawback is its habit of losing the
lower leaves, maintaining only a few
at the upper end. This one likes an

extremely hot and humid atmosphere

T= SPPHILODENDRON
WARSCEW/CZ//

=

in order to keep its leaves. Another
spectacular climber is P. squamiferum
which has leaves shaped like a Malayan
kris, a peculiar dagger with a serpen-
tine blade. It is good for a hanging
basket, as is also the spreading P.
laciniatum. The leaves are of a dark
dull green color, notched several times
nearly to the midrib. P. Sodiroi is a
neat vining type of slow-growing
habit. The leaves are broadly heart-
shaped with large irregular mottling
pattern giving a silvery appearance.

106 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

A Philodendron fast becoming pop-
ular with house-plant enthusiasts 1s
the oddly lobed P. panduraeforme
which has excellent keeping qualities.
It is best grown on a moss stick but
will do equally as well in a basket. Of
similar nature is the Peruvian P. ala-
tum. A slow-growing but exciting
exotic foliage plant is P. Mamei from

Ecuador. The large, silver spotted, cor-

a

SIMS If

rugated, heartshaped leaves are borne
on long petioles, and because the plant
seldom branches it forms a compact
subject for a pot. Another large
heartleaf Philodendron on the order
of the preceding is P. gloriosum. It
is likewise a slow grower but makes
up for this condition by producing
attractive velvety foliage that will
please everyone. The dark green vel-
vety leaves are distinctly marked with

heavy ivy-colored veins. What might

be recognized as the queen of all Phi-
lodendrons is the stately P. Andre-
anum from Colombia. The climbing
stems support velvety iridescent
leaves of a nearly black green which
are a striking contrast to the whitish
midveins and lateral veins. It grows
nicely on a moss stick but will not
thrive in locations kept dry and cool.

Philodendron Pittieri, a recent in-
troduction from Costa Rica, is al-
ready a favorite with house-plant
growers. Its heartshaped leaves are
thickish, smooth and shiny, gracefully
carried on slender petioles. It does
well on a moss stick but also can be
grown as a pot plant without any sup-
port. For best performance see to it
that shade and humidity are given
similar to that required by the major-
ity of foliage plants. A temperature
of about 70 degrees F. ought to be
maintained,

Philodendrons such as Piftieri, mi-
cans, and cordatum, with a trailing or
climbing habit, should be planted in
threes in a single pot in order to pro-
duce the fullest specimens. This per-
tains to cuttings or small plants. The
growing tips should be fastened to
moss sticks by a hair pin or string so
that the roots will become attached as
soon as possible. Moss sticks, or totem
poles as they are called in the trade,
can be made of Hawaii treefern, cork
bark, or cedar posts covered with os-
mundine or even sphagnum moss.
The purpose of a moss stick is support
for the plant as well as a medium for
aerial roots. Keep the sticks moist.

Among the very sturdy Philoden-
dron climbers are elegans, erubescens,

hastatum, lacerum, radiatum, sagitti-

MISSOURI BOTANICAL

folium and sanguineum. One which
has been a great favorite for many
years is P. radiatum, usually sold under
the name of P. dubium. In the very
young plants leaves are nearly entire
but as the plant grows they become
incised and in maturity are deeply cut
almost to the middle. A plant that
looks quite similar to P. radiatum is
P. elegans but is daintier and its seg-
ments are much narrower and perhaps
more numerous. If you desire a
specimen with really good-looking

leaves insist on securing P. lacerum.

ad YAW

WENDLANO//

The leaf blades are quite large, heart-
shaped and deeply incised, with the
midrib and main lateral veins a lighter
shade of green. The leaves of P. Sel-
loum are very attractive, being quite
incised. This plant is also known for
its hardiness as it will stand a great
deal of cold. I have been informed
that in California P. Selloum has
come through nicely even in freezing
weather. It has been used as one of
the parents in hybridizing work.
Even though the cutleaf Philoden-
drons may have greater appeal because
of their more intricate patterns we
should not overlook the entire-leaved
species such as hastatum, sagittifoli-

GARDEN BULLETIN 107

um, sanguineum and erubescens. The
first produces elongated arrow-shaped
leaves of leatherlike texture and it is
probably the most popular of the
group because of its sturdy habit. The
same goes for P. sanguincum, which
has a dark green sagittate leaf with a
prominent light midrib. The under-
side of the leaf is tinged with a
purplish-red whereas P. hastatum is
green. Although P. erubescens has a
tendency to grow rank it has found
favor with many house-plant owners.
The medium-sized leaves are of a dark
shiny green above and dark reddish-
purple or coppery underneath, It is
excellent for totem poles. If allowed
to develop into a large climber it will
produce beautiful dark red inflores-
cences.

Permit me to mention a few self-
heading Philodendrons because these
are even more desirable than the
climbing kinds, although not yet as
available in quantity and variety. It
is only in the last five years that a
method was devised to propagate them
from seed on a grand scale. In the
dense jungles of tropical America
some of these self-heading Philoden-
drons grow into immense specimens
but under cultivation they are slow-
growing and spreading which makes
them even more desirable in our
homes. Unlike the climbing types,
these cannot be increased by cuttings.
Probably the most ideal self-heading
Philodendron for the average home is
P. Wendlandii, which produces oblong
leaves in a birdnest fashion. Its thick,
spongy, semi-terete petioles are char-
acteristic of this type of Philodendron.

Similar to it is P. cannifolium, a

108 MISSOURI BOTANICAL

4
~

MELINON/

species with short and stout petioles
that resemble the pseudobulbs of
certain orchids. A much heavier plant

is P. Melinoni which bears large, long-

GARDEN BULLETIN

stalked leaves spreading out from a
short thick shaggy stem. Several
hybrids of self-heading kinds may now
be obtained from nurserymen includ-
ing P. Evansi with large divided
leaves; P. Orlando a compact plant
with elongate heartshaped leaves; and
P. Fosterianum having the appearance
of P. bipinnatifidum, one of its par-
ents.

In order to understand the Philo-
dendrons now being cultivated at the
Garden some remarks about each vari-
ety should be helpful to a student of

these remarkable plants.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 109

PHILODENDRONS GROWN AT THE GARDEN

ANDREANUM: Ultra-tropical climber requir-
ing high humidity and warmth; excellent for
totem poles. Possesses elongate, cordate to
arrowshaped leaves up to 3 feet long and a foot
broad. Leaf blades on extended petioles hang
parallel to the support. They are brownish-
green to dark green, velvety and_ iridescent
on the upper surface, dull on the underside,
with the midrib and 10 to 20 lateral veins
prominently cream-colored. Advertised as the
queen of the climbing Philodendrons.

AURICULATUM: A new compact grower
noted for its foot-long mottled petioles which
are flattened on the upper side. Leaf blades
oblong to elliptic, dark green with broad mid-
rib. Blades measure 12 inches long by 6 inches
wide in our specimen.

Barkyt: Ours is a juvenile plant and a re-
cent acquisition, and therefore it is too early to
describe or make any comments about it. Not
in the trade.

BIPINNATIFIDUM: Plant quite similar to P.
Selloum but seems to have longer, more slender
petioles, a more upward airy growth, and _ pos-
sibly more foliage. Leaf blades appear smaller
and narrower, with the pinnae extending
almost to the midrib and with greater space
between them. A beautiful specimen can be
seen in the southeast bed in the Palm House.
Brazil.

Brenesui: A nice climber with large shiny
green leaves oblong-cordate in shape. The
blade with a pale green midrib and 6 to 8 less
prominent lateral veins is borne on a winged
petiole. Costa Rica.

CANNIFOLIUM: A very striking plant which
has been in our collection for many years. It
is still rare and a slow grower. The broadly
lanceolate pale green leaves are borne on flask-
shaped petioles that remind you of pseudo-
bulbs of certain orchids. Grows as an epiphyte
on large trees in French and Dutch Guiana.

COLOMBIANA: A climber with heavy, waxy,
deep green leaves. Suitable for totem poles.

Native of Colombia.

CRASSINERVIUM: A singular climbing plant
with long narrow, strap-shaped leaves up to 2
feet long, coriaceous. Grows in Brazil.

CRESTIFOLIUM: A vining Aroid with large
solid crenated leaves of a pleasing green similar
to P. lacerum. Identity doubtful but it was
received under this name from Alberts &
Merkel Bros.

CRUENTUM: A decorative upright-growing
Philodendron from Peru with the back of the

leaf a clear mahogany-red, Our plant, how-
ever, is not displaying such rich color at this
time.

DEFLEXUM: A robust plant from Peru
which is not commercially available as yet.
The long, more or less erect petioles support
tri-lobed blades of leathery texture. A good
specimen can be seen in the west bed in the
Economic House.

ErcHLert: A very magnificent species from
Brazil, regarded as the king of the self-heading
Philodendrons. Bears extremely large (up to
7 feet long) elephant-ear leaves with scalloped
edges. The blades are quite flattened even in
young leaves and are dark olive-green with a
narrow horny margin. Our plants are still
small; one is planted out in the Palm House
and the others in pots.

EricHLeER! & SeLLOUM: Our plant is too
small to rave about at present but when the
excellent qualities of both parents manifest
themselves in this cross, the appearance should
be fantastic.

ELEGANS: A South American climber with
fern-like leaves up to 20 inches long by 16
inches wide. This Philodendron, with its
long narrow finger-like segments, is probably
the most graceful of all the climbers. The
good specimen in the south-center bed in the
Palm House attests to this fact.

ERUBESCENS: A free-growing climber with
leaves a foot or more long. The glossy, dark
green, heart-shaped leaves have a slight reddish
cast on the upper surface and coppery beneath.
Several specimens clamber up the trunks of
palms in the Palm House and produce rich red
inflorescences.

Evansu: This is a choice cross between P.
speciosum and P. Selloum and belongs in the
semi-selfheading — class. It produces large

divided leaves with wavy margins and is said
to be tolerant to some cold.

Fenziu: This is a climbing Philodendron
with tri-lobed weak leaves. Only a small cane
is in Our possession, so Comments are reserved
for a later date. It hails from Mexico.

FosTERIANUM: A very rugged selfheading
plant, combining the best characteristics of
P. bipinnatifidum and “P. species #1.” The
latter is a robust grower with a heavy trunk
producing about fifty leaves at the head. The
hybrid produces as many as 25 leaves per plant.

GIGANTEUM: A. spectacular West Indian
species with many large broad, cordate-ovate
leaves. A beautiful specimen is thriving in the
north-center bed in the Palm House.

110 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

GIGANTEUM X WeNDLANDII: Knowing
that both of the parents have excellent keep-
ing qualities, this cross is a welcome addition
to the growing list of hybrids created in the
last few years. Promises to be an excellent
pot plant.

GLOoRIOSUM: This is one of the difficult
Philodendrons but very striking when grown
successfully. The stem creeps on the surface
of che soil and puts out long, thick petioles
with large heartshaped leaf blades of a deep
velvety green enhanced by the pinkish to
white midrib and main lateral veins. Native
to Colombia.

GUTTIFERUM: A rather striking plant that
makes an excellent subject for the totem pole.
The foliage is narrow and somewhat corru-
gated, fleshy, and of olive-green color. Native
to Costa Rica.

HasTATUM: A long-established favorite be-
cause it can stand quite a bit of abuse. It is
a climber with arrowhead leaves of glossy
light green. Good specimens may be seen on
trunks of some of the palms in the Palm
House. Birdsey states that the plants sold
under this name are not “Aastatum’’, but it is
best to use this name until more accurate jn-
formation can be dug up.

HASTATUM VARIEGATUM: A _ rather spec-
tacular mutant of the above is proving to be
a sensation in gardening circles. The sagittate
leaves are beautifully streaked and splotched
with yellow, green and white variegations.
Often one side of a leaf will be pure ivory or
yellow.

InseMANNI: Another highly colorful Phi-
lodendron with sagittate leaves on long petioles
issuing from a slender stem. Large patches of
white intermingled with green are its out-
standing characteristic.

LACINIATUM: A vining type with odd-
shaped leaves that looks well in a hanging
basket. The stem remains horizontal until
the weight of the leaves pulls it down. You'll
love this species which grows wild in Brazil
and the Guianas.

LACINIATUM XX SQUAMIFERUM: Promises to
be more robust than either of its parents. This
is a new cross recently put on the market.

LIGULATUM: A slender unidentified vine
found in a local nursery. It is now growing
nicely in the Palm House and seems to
match the plant sold under this name by
the Julius Roehrs Co. It has oblong-obovate
leaves broadening toward the tip. Said to
come from Costa Rica.

Lunpu: <A Brazilian plant very closely
allied to P. bipinnatifidum and sometimes con-
sidered a variety of it. Our plant is still in
the juvenile stage.

Lynette: A selfheading Philodendron that
looks like the well-known P. Wendlandii but
with a crinkled appearance. Origin unknown,

MacNEeILiANuM: Advertised as an attrac-

tive cold-resistant hybrid. It is a cross be-
tween “P. species #1” and P. Selloum. Juve-
nile leaves are slightly incised. Appears to be
a good pot plant.

MaANbalANuUM: The reddish hue which this
hybrid climber inherited from P. erubescens
made this plant an outstanding favorite. The
arrowshaped leaves come from its other par-
ent, P. hastatum. Petioles have a red tinge
and are winged.

MAXIMUM: A plant of doubtful identity
received under this name is being grown in
the Palm House.

MeLINONI: This is a truly handsome self-
heading Philodendron which has been in our
collection for many years. It is a compact
plant with a wide-spreading habit. Several
specimens on view in the Palm House have
been greatly admired. The leaves are leathery
and quite large. Comes from French Guiana.

MELLO-BARRETOANUM: Seedlings are being
grown.

MIcaANS: This is a small-leaved twiner look-
ing like the common P. cordatum except for
its velvety bronze leaves. It is a leggy climber
from Central America.

NOBILE: Ours is a very small plant which
is doing nicely. It was collected by Dr.
Julian Steyermark on one of his recent expedi-
tions to Venezuela. Very rare.

Orvanvo: This is a hybrid between P.
Wendlandii and an unidentified “P. species #
2”, developed by Mulford Foster and named
for his city. It has longer and heavier stems
than P. Wendlandii but the leaves are similar.

PANDURAEFORME: A climber that can be
beautifully grown on a totem pole and_ is
proving to be one of the best of house plants.
The oddly lobed leaves attain 20 inches in
length and 8 inches in width. The irregular-
shaped olive-green leaves are unsurpassed for
interior decoration. Native to Venezuela.

PINNATIFIDUM: A deeply notched Philoden-
dron received under this name is being grown
in the Palm House in order to reach maturity
sooner. It is a climber native to Venezuela.

Pirtiert: A Costa Rican climber with
small, heartshaped, glossy green leaves on the
order of P. cordafum but more succulent. It
will tolerate dry conditions.

QUERCIFOLIUM: This Brazilian species has
olive-green leaves which are among the most
interestingly cut of all the Philodendrons, ef-
fecting a lacy pattern. A highly desirable pot
plant.

RADIATUM: A climbing species with deeply
segmented glossy dark-green leaves of a heavy,
leathery texture. A rather common Philo-
dendron which in the trade is often sold under
the name Philodendron dubium. A good
specimen can be seen upon entering the Palm
House where it grows up the trunk of the
tallest date palm. In the wild state it grows
in Mexico and Guatemala.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 111

RUBENS: Plant similar to P. erubescens but
with larger and wider leaves. Leaves are ovate
heartshaped, dark green on upper surface and
copper-green underneath. Stipular sheaths are
pinkish and membranous. It grows in Venezuela.

SAGITTIFOLIUM: An arrow-leaf climbing
Philodendron of robust habit of growth, which
flowers regularly in the Fern House where it
has been established for the past 25 years.
Native to Mexico.

ScHOTTIANUM: A climbing Aroid of noble
character, the upper stem clothed with shred-
ded remains of leaf sheaths. The somewhat
terete petioles are flattened just below the in-
sertion of the leaf blade and are about 28
inches long. Leaf blades are heartshaped,
slightly more than 2 feet long and 15 inches
wide, with the midrib depressed and main
lateral veins sunken. A beautiful specimen is
found in the south-center bed in the Palm
House.

SeELLoUM: A selfheading, large pinnatifid-
leaved plant native to the humid forests in
various parts of Brazil and Paraguay. It is
noted for its lush, rich green foliage and rapid
growth, and for this reason has been used as
a parent in many recent crosses.

SELLOUM X_ BIPINNATIFIDUM: Two tall
subarborescent species were used to make this
cross and the result should net a very fine
plant. The parents are closely related and
similar in habit, with large notched leaves, and
Selloum is cold-resistant.

SimMsii: Quite an interesting introduction
from British Guiana. It is a climber with
oblong, cordate, leathery leaves. Excellent for
poles and bark.

Sopiror: Here is a beautiful climbing spe-
cies with large heartshaped leaves which even-
tually reach up to 16 inches long by 12 inches
wide. Our specimen is still small but very
attractive, as the dark olive green leaves show
profuse irregular mottling of light gray, giving
a silvery sheen to the plant. Said to be native
to Colombia, home of many fine Aroids.

sPECIOSUM: Another excellent Brazilian
Aroid with entire leaves like a giant elephant
ear on long petioles. Has been used in crosses.
A small plant is growing in the Palm House.

SQUAMIFERUM: A vining type with a very
twisted habit of growth. The strong, 5-lobed,
rich green leaves have been likened in shape to
the Malayan kris. The petioles are covered
with a red pubescence. It is an excellent subject
for the hanging basket and will flower readily
under humid conditions. Comes from French
Guiana.

TALAMANCAE: One of our recent acquisi-
tions, still in the juvenile stage. Bob Wilson
of Fantastic Gardens has it for sale, although

it is still a rare item. It has many long-
pointed leathery leaves and is said to climb
very slowly. Native of Costa Rica.

TRIPARTITUM: A_ scandent species with
thrice-divided leaves growing in the east bed
of the Economic House. At most a scraggly
plant because the distance between the Jeaves
is too great for beauty.

UNDULATUM: A selfheading deep green,
Jeather-leaved plant from Paraguay, noted for
its large, wavy, heartshaped leaves on Jong
stems. Ours is still small.

UrRBANIANUM: A climber from Cuba with
dark green ovate lanceolate leaves. Good for
totem poles.

VARIIFOLIUM: A graceful climber with
heartshaped leaves resembling P. Sodiroi. It
possesses similar silver mottling which makes
it an attraction. Peru.

VERRUCOSUM: Long vining type with un-
dulate leaves up to 18 inches long by 10
inches wide. The leaves are dark velvety-green
highlighted underneath with red_ splotches.
Petioles are covered with soft succulent bristles
and hairs. This is one of the most beautiful
species but requires high humidity and warmth
to keep it healthy. Comes from Ecuador.

Warscewicezu: <A rather interesting Guate-
malan and Mexican climbing Philodendron
having spectacular bipinnate wavy leaves with
pointed segments. I saw it growing in the
wild at the base of a cliff in Chiapas and
brought stems home for trial in the green-
house. Leaves are deciduous with us.

WeENp-IMBE: A semi-selfheading type com-
bining the virtues of P. Wendlandii and P.
Imbe, its two parents. It will need support
when it gets large.

WeNpDLANDU: <A_ selfheading Aroid with
broad spatula-shaped leaves arranged in bird-
nest fashion. It is a durable and most ideal
house plant introduced from Costa Rica.

WENDLANDIT X HASTATUM: Another hy-
brid of semi-selfheading character, ideal as a
house plant. Quite similar in habit and form
to P. Orlando,

WENDLANDIT X LACINIATUM: Still another
hybrid—this one with swirly heavy-textured
leaves acquired from laciniatum.

Witsont: Our plant is small but when
mature it will have large sagittate green leaves
with wavy edges. It is apparently a hybrid
although the parentage is unknown to me at
present.

Youncu: <A plant received from Switzer-
land about five years ago. I cannot trace the
name anywhere in literature. It is a climber
with heartshaped leaves on lone slender hori-
zontal petioles which are sprinkled with small
reddish humps.

GENS )9( ED

SOME FACTS ABOUT SHAW’S GARDEN

The Missouri Botanical Garden (the official name chosen by
Mr. Shaw) carries on the garden established by Henry Shaw
over a century ago at TowEer Grove, his country home. It is
a private institution and has no support from city or state. The
old stone walls and cast-iron fences, the Linnaean House, the
Museum, the Mausoleum, and the Tower Grove mansion all
date from Mr. Shaw’s time. Since his death, as directed in his
will, the Garden has been in the hands of a Board of Trustees

who appoint the Director.

The Garden is open every day in the year (except New
Year’s and Christmas) from nine A. M. until seven P.M. (April
to November) and until six (November to April) though the
greenhouses close at five. Tower Grove, itself, Mr. Shaw’s old
country home, is open from one until four. The Garden is
nearly a mile long and has several entrances. The Main Entrance,
the one used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora
Place on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southampton
buses (No. 80), direct from downtown, pass within three blocks
of this entrance and stop directly across the street from the
Administration Building at 2315 Tower Grove Avenue. The
latter is the best entrance for students, visiting scientists, etc.
It is open to such visitors after 8:30 a.m., but is closed on Sat-
urdays, Sundays, and holidays. There is a service entrance on
Alfred Avenue, one block south of Shaw Avenue.

Since Mr. Shaw’s time an Arboretum has been developed at
Gray Summit, Mo., adjacent to State Highways 50 and 66.
It is open every day in the year and has two miles of auto roads
as well as foot trails through the wild-flower reservation. There
is a pinetum and an extensive display of daffodils and other

narcissi from March to early May.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Henry Hircucock
RicHArD J. Lockwoop
Henry B. PFLAGER

A. WEssEL SHAPLEIGH
Rosert Brookincs SMITH

Joun S. LEHMANN, President
Dante K. CaTLin, Vice-President
EuGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President
LEICcEsTER B. Faust

DupLey FrencH

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

ErHaN A. H. SHEPLEY, Mrs. IRMA FRIEDE
Chancellor of Washington University hm ey of the Board of Education
o

t. Loui
ARTHUR C, LICHTENBERGER, ’

Bisho the Diocese issouri

nee eee sehews STRATFORD LEE Morton,

RayMoNnpD R. TucKER, President of the Academy of Science
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis

Secretary
GERALD ULRICI

THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL
Clarence Barbre, Clifford W. Benson, Albert Chandler, E. G. Cherbonnier,
Paul Hale, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet Layton, Clarence McGovern, Gilbert
Pennewill, Mrs Roland R. Read, W. F. Scott, Jr., Harold E. Wolfe, John S.
Lehmann, Edgar Anderson, John Nies, Chairman.

George T. Moore

STAFF
Emeritus Director

Reino O. Alava

Rosarian

Director

Edgar Anderson

Paleobotanist

Henry N. Andrews

August P, Beilmann______________ Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit

Louis G, Brenner

Arborist

Ladislaus Cutak

_Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories

Assistant Director and Curator of the Museum

Hugh C, Cutler
Carroll W. Dodge

Mycologist

John D. Dwyer

Research Associate

In charge of Orchids

Robert J. Gillespie

Librarian and Editor

Nell C. Horner
Lawrence Kaplan

Associate Curator of Museum

Ida M. Kohl Assistant Librarian
Paul A. Kohl Floriculturist
Edna Mepham Assistant Librarian
Frederick G. Meyer Dendrologist
George H. Pring Superintendent
Betty O’Brien Putney Assistant to the Director
Kenneth A, Smith _______Engineer

Julian A. Steyermark

Honorary Research Associate

Alice F, Tryon

Research Associate

Rolla M. Tryon, Jr

Assistant Curator of Herbarium

Business Manager

Gerald Ulrici
George B. Van Schaack

Acting Curator of Herbarium

Robert E. Woodson, Jr

Senior Taxonomist

HASTATUM

GLORIGSUM

WENOLANDO//

GUITIFERUM

{ISSOURI BOTANICAL
GARDEN BULLETIN

CONTENTS

Learning About Aroids Resupination in Orchids
A Second Harvest Memories of Alice Eastwood

Go to the Index First

lume XLII October, 1955 Number 8

Cover:—Dr. Louis O. Williams beside a vine of Philodendron Warscewiczii along the
Rio Yeguare in central Honduras. During the wet season this is at times
a roaring torrent; during the dry season, little more than an occasional pool
of water here and there among the boulders. So common are Aroids in the
tropics that at least two other kinds are growing on the further side of
this same rock.—Photo courtesy of L. O. Williams.

Office of publication: 306 E. Simmons Street, Galesburg, Illinois.

Editorial Office: Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 ‘Tower Grove Avenue,
St. Louis, 10, Missouri.

Published monthly except July and August by the Board of Trustees of the

Missouri Botanical Garden. Subscription price: $2.50 a year.

Entered as second-class matter January 26, 1942, at the post-office at Gales-
burg, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Please: Do not discard a copy of the Bulletin. If you have no further use for yours
pass it along to a friend or return it to the Garden. Return postage guaranteed.

Missouri Botanical
Garden Bulletin

Vol. XLII

OCTOBER, 1955 No. 8

LEARNING A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT AROIDS

EDGAR ANDERSON

HE average American spends more

hours per year in the company
of Aroids than any other kind of
plant. Few indeed are the American
homes which do not have at least one
Philodendron vine. When Mamie
Eisenhower spoke to the army brides
a year or so ago she told them to make
a home out of any more-or-less tempo-
rary lodgings by setting out a few
family knick-knacks, sprouting a
sweet-potato vine, and installing a
Philodendron on the table or the win-
dow ledge. These little vines with the
heart-shaped leaves, these house plants
that root and grow in a glass of water,
that will still be alive when you come
back after a ten-day vacation, that
grace millions of living-rooms, are
Aroids, A-r-o-i-d-s, “ay”, “arr

”

Lad ” ee > ec
eye’, ‘“‘dee’’, “ess”.

”

. On
It strikes me as
strange that “Aroid” remains such an
uncommon word in common speech,
that almost no American should know
the name of the kind of plants Ameri-
cans are now living with.

Aroids, to be precise, are any of that
family of plants such as the Calla Lily
or the Jack-in-the-Pulpit, with true
flowers set so tightly together in a lit-
tle central finger that you hardly ever
notice the separate parts or think of
them as flowers. Just below this little

wand is a very special leaf, often
brightly colored, which calls attention
to the blossom. This “spathe’” forms
the elegant white cup of the Calla
Lily, the bright red flaring base of the
Anthurium blossom, the mottled
green “pulpit”? of Jack-in-the-Pulpit.
Though aroids are mostly native to the
tropics, a good many are amazingly
adaptable and are very much at home
in apartment living-rooms. Philoden-
drons are only one of several kinds of
Aroids which are seen with increasing
frequency in American homes. The
Swiss-Cheese plant with the big holes
in its leaves, the Chinese Evergreen
which thrives even in dark hallways,
and the dainty little arrow-leaved
Nephthytis, sold by the millions in
five-and-ten-cent stores all over the
country, are Aroids. So too are Skunk
Cabbage, Elephant’s Ear, fancy-leaved
Caladiums, and many _ lesser-known
plants.

It seemed to me that if Americans
were living with Philodendrons and
other tropical Aroids the director of a
big botanical garden ought to know
something about them, so the last time
I went to the tropics I kept my eye
out for them and found them fasci-
nating plants to study. There was a
big native Philodendron growing right

(111)

112 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

“

along the path a mile or so from the
Escuela Agricola Panamericana, where
I was staying in central Honduras, and
I spent a couple of days studying it
and making herbarium specimens to
bring back with me.

This particular Philodendron vine
was growing up over a big boulder
along a little stream and climbing on
up into the trees higher on the bank.
The snaky green trunk of the vines,
nearly as large as your wrist, clam-
bered up the face of the rock. From
some of the joints on the stem, long,
thin, wiry roots dropped straight down
to the soil of the stream bank. ‘The
leaves, artistically cut and waved, some
of them over a yard long, arched
gracefully away from the twisting,
hawser-like trunk. It is these leaves
which give the vine its common name

”

of “tras tras” (“get along, get along’’)
in Central Honduras. Parents cut one
and use it as a not-too-painful switch
to hurry young folks ahead of them
down the long, narrow footpaths.
The first thing to catch my profes-
sional attention was the variation in
the shape of the leaves. Most of them
were deeply cut. The fundamentally
arrow-shaped leaf was so deeply lobed,
and these divisions themselves so lobed
again, that the whole appearance was
feathery, something like an enormous
stalk of celery. All the more conspic-
uous, therefore, were the new leaves
which sprouted out at places where the
stem had branched. Ordinarily, the
stem does not branch, but this big vine
was directly on the route of boys who
pass by armed with long machetes
which they swing back and forth at
everything along the path. Where the
vine had been lopped off, it had sent

out branches. The first leaves on these
new shoots were so different that it was
hard to believe that they came from
the same vine. The first to appear was
small and broadly arrow-shaped with-
out a notch anywhere in the margin.
The next was larger and had a few
small, hooked projections, resembling
very closely the so-called Philodendron
dubium, common in many plant
porches and sun-rooms in St. Louis.
The next was a little more lobed and
cut and even larger, and so on up the
stem until finally the leaves were as
plumy as elsewhere on the plant. These
are the so-called juvenile leaves, since
they resemble very closely the first few
leaves which come out when a vine is
grown from seed.

When I studied the vine carefully I
noticed that its growth was never even
but that it had come in a series of
quick flushes. The joints on the stem
would be close together in those places
where it had grown slowly and far
apart where growth had been rapid.
Furthermore, these zones of rapid and
of slow growth alternated regularly all
the way up and down the stem.

Scars on the stem showed where the
vine had flowered. These flower scars,
significantly, were all where the vine
had been growing slowly and the leaves
were close together. I then picked a
set of leaves from a whole vine and
discovered that they too varied with
the flowering. The leaves from the
quick-growing, non-flowering parts of
the vine, though very much lobed, had
broad flanges of leafy tissue coming
out away from the veins; the leaves
from the flowering zones had_ their
leafy portions cut back almost to the
veins. With a little study it was easy

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 113

to learn how to know these two ex-
treme types of adult leaves. One could
look at the whole feathery thatch of
vine and say, “Now, this will have a
flower scar at the base” or choose one
of the opposite extreme and say,
“Now, this one will be in the middle
of the quick-growing zone,” and be
right every time.

No wonder the scientific classifica-
tion of these vines has been somewhat
mixed up! They have leaves not of
two sorts merely, but of three. There
are: (1) the unlobed juvenile leaves of
seedlings and young branches; there
are the adult leaves of both extreme
sorts; (2) the skeletonized ones of the
sexual phase; (3) the leafler ones from
the vegetative phase. Stray specimens
brought back from the tropics and
studied by European botanists, vines
grown from cuttings and introduced
into the trade, not yet mature enough
to have adult leaves, have been diffi-
cult to understand. Few of those who
attempted to classify them had had
the chance to study a big vine as it
climbed up over the rocks and on up
into the trees.

The juvenile leaves of this particular
vine were, as I have said, very similar
to the cultivated Philodendron usually
called P. dubinm. This is now known
to be the juvenile form of a big cut-
leaved species called Philodendron radi-
atum. The vine I was studying proved
to be a closely related species, P.
Warscewiczii. Its adult leaves are even
more feathery than those of radiatum,
and its fruits and cataphylls (nurse
leaves) are green rather than red.

This big vine of P. Warscewiczii

gave me an answer to another question
that for several years had been lying
around unanswered in the back of my
mind. Why should these tropical Philo-
dendrons be so much at home in Amer-
ican apartment houses? The question is
easily answered. This part of the tropics
is alternately hot-and-dry, warm-and-
rainy. There may be no rain for sev-
eral months and then a sudden down-
pour of five to ten inches. Life in such
an environment prepares one for an
apartment house window-box, no water
at all for a week and then a whole
pitcher full of cold water all at once.
Nature has bred these vines to with-
stand the alternate parching and
drenching which they are given when
we grow them in our dry, furnace-
heated homes. The closely related
Philodendron radiatum, whose juvenile
form dubium is almost the toughest of
all these accommodating Philoden-
dendrons, has had a long association
with man. It is found in Yucatan,
where, since Mayan times, water has
been obtained by digging big wells or
cisterns down into the rock. In these
rock-lined wells Philodendron radiatum
grows today. Its snaky trunks wind
over the rocks. No wonder these plants
do well in apartment houses. Much of
the day the light is diffuse and the air
is cool. Then the burning sun shines
directly down the well for a few mid-
day moments. Much of the year the
rocky lining is parched and dry; then
tropical rain falls in torrents. Burning
sun, dim light, weeks of drought, tor-
rents of cold water. The plant had
had a long experience with these terrors
before we brought it into our homes.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

sheath

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 115

A SECOND HARVEST
EDGAR ANDERSON

FTER the sweet corn has been
brought in from the garden and
the empty, yellowing plants still stand
up stiffly in the row, what better way
to spend the end of a summer after-
noon than to pull up a couple of them
and carry them off for study to the
porch or the garden terrace? Corn
plants were, to the peoples who pre-
ceded us in this New World, not only
the staff of life; they were the center
of many native religions and were ob-
jects of devout veneration. Indian
Corn is, by any standards, an astound-
ing plant. It is the center of our
national economy, the most important
of all our crops, a strange giant evolved
by man from rank tropical grasses, its
history just now being pieced together,
laboriously bit by bit, from different
kinds of evidence.

But corn is really a grass, and just
because it is a grass it is especially
worth studying. By grasses we live,
particularly those of us in the tem-
perate zone. They are our cereals—
corn, wheat, rice, rye, barley, they
form the bulk of the food for our
pasture animals; they cover the ranges

where our herds are fed; they mantle
vast portions of our plains and prairies.
Grasses are not really complicated as
plants go, but they are different from
other plants. They have a strangeness
about them, even to most botanists.
Not until one has sat down deliber-
ately and tried to understand what it
is like to be a grass, will he begin to
comprehend their forms and patterns
and ways.

For learning something about the
grass world a corn plant is superb. It
is big and not too complicated. It is
so large that the technical details which
in most grasses would need a hand-lens
or a reading-glass, properly to be un-
derstood, are here paraded out on a
bold scale.

So pull up two or three plants and
bring them to the terrace. Get a com-
fortable chair or bench or stool and
a good sharp knife; a pocket knife or
a paring knife from the kitchen will
do very nicely. Most important of all,
see if you can’t achieve an air of ad-
venture. You really are setting out for
a world you’ve never been into before,
the world of grasses. Be expectant and

Fig. 1. A more or less “X-ray” view of the developing cars on a corn plant. Note that the

top ear, and the “nubbin” below it are borne at the summit of very short branches. It is the

leaves borne at each joint of these little branches which form the familiar protective husks of the
corn plant. Each kernel of corn as it develops is largely made up of a single female flower from
the tip of which a single long silk extends to the summit of the ear. Eventually it pushes out into
the open, catching on its long receptive surface the pollen grains released by the tassel of the same
or other corn plants, which are blown about in the air. In the fields where hybrid corn is produced
to be sold as seed corn, the plant’s own tassels are pulled out while they are immature and only
pollen from another strain of corn (planted in the next row) will be flying about in the air. On
the detasseled rows all the seeds will be crosses between the two strains. On the alternate pollinating
rows all the seeds will be pure for the pollinating strain.

116 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

+ sheath

blade

—
_—~

Fig. 2. Leaves from two different varieties of corn. Notice that the lower part of each
leaf (as in grasses generally) is a tube-like structure, the sheath, which wraps tightly around
the stem.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN Li?

alive and interested, but not too
awfully earnest; something, shall we
say, like the way you might be when
first visiting a dude ranch.

When we take our withering corn
plant in hand it has, compared to a
rose or a lily, or even a squash vine, a
very work-a-day look. It is stiff and
a little harsh. The surface of the leaves
feels durable, but not particularly at-
tractive. Nowhere on the plant (un-
less possibly in the drying husks) is
there anything to rival the clean, clear
yellow of a daffodil, the silky sheen of
a rose petal, the almost metallic ele-
gance of a chrysanthemum in full
bloom. Grasses are like that. Some of
them, the rice plant or various bam-
boos, may have a certain delicacy of
form, a kind of austere beauty of out-
line, but their textures are prevailingly
practical, their colors never very bril-
liant. If we pass on to consider the
parts of the corn plant and the way
they develop, we may catch some
glimmering of why this should be so.

The plants lie before us on the ter-
race; a rather unattractive mess of
drying leaves. Take one in hand, ex-
amine the surprising regularity with
which it is put together, and you will
begin to see some of the inherent
beauty of its design. The leaves are
not scattered any old which-way; they
are set regularly on just two sides of
the main stalk. First there is one to
the left, then one to the right. They
are more or less telescoped into each
other and they veil the stalk. Let us
cut each one off carefully at its base,
revealing the underlying pattern. All
the leaves on the main stem have the
shape of grass leaves generally. The

bottom part is a cylinder which clasps
tightly around the stem. It is known
as the sheath, and from its summit the
leafy portion of the leaf stretches out
at right angles off into the air and
light. It is this curious leaf design,
common to all grasses, rare in other
plants, which is ultimately responsible
for many of the other peculiarities of
grass. First, however, we shall have to
get the architecture of this particular
grass plant thoroughly in mind.

As we take off the leaves, one after
the other, each with its clasping cylin-
drical sheath, the underlying skeleton
of the stalk is clearly shown. It is a
single stem, jointed where the leaves
are attached, the successive sections
becoming more and more slender as we
pass up the stalk.

At the apex of the stem is the tassel,
a much-branched panicle of grass-
flowers. There is no nonsense about
them. Chaffy little flower parts en-
close stamens packed with pollen; these
are carried atop the plant where winds
can bear the pollen away to other
plants. The whole structure is a tough,
efficient device for producing lots of
pollen and launching it into the air.
Female flowers are lacking in a normal
tassel. They are all down in the ear,
set tightly together in mathematical
regularity over the cylindrical cob.
Each of these flowers, early in the sea-
son, had its own strand of receptive
silk which hung down from the tip of
the young ear and caught the air-
blown pollen. Once lodged on the silk,
the pollen grain sprouted and, growing
back down inside the silk to the young
kernel, carried the sex cells which
fertilized it and set it off on its suc-

118 MISSOURI BOTANICAL

culent path of development.

These are odd kinds of flowers com-
pared to a rose or a water-lily, these
strawy pollen factories of the tassel,
these gelatinous blobs of tissue on the
cob, with their long silky receptive
organs. The flowers of the young

GARDEN BULLETIN

strange, even among grasses, but the
florets of the tassel are typical of grass
flowers generally. The flowers of most
grasses have strawy parts, and their
stamens are the only feature easily
recognizable as similar to the flower
parts of other plants. Why should the

ear of corn, these kernels-to-be, are world’s grasses have gone off at such

Fig. 3. The successive joints (internodes) of a corn plant cut across at each node and placed
side by side for comparison. At the right is the tassel with the long topmost internode below tt.
Then seven nodes beyond it comes the ear shoot, its husk leaves shown diagrammatically with dotted
lines. Note that the internode which developed along side the ear (now set over just to the right
of it) has a deep groove where it was pressed against the young ear. In successive positions to the
left are the lower internodes of the stem. First, there is the second small ear or “nubbin”, then a
succession. of smaller and smaller ears which did not develop completely. Note that as these ears
get smaller the creases or grooves which they made in the stems developing along side of them get
smaller and smaller too.

Corn is a very special kind of a grass but these jointed stems, some of them with grooves and
creases where other parts pushed against them (as they developed under pressure down inside the

infolding leaves) are typical of all kinds of grasses, all over the world.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 119

an evolutionary tangent? Why, wher-
ever we find them throughout the
world, should grasses present us with
stream-lined flower parts and chaffy
flowers? Before we answer that ques-
tion let us pass on to a more careful
examination of how the ear is set on
to the main stalk.

If we remove the whole ear from
the plant and cut off each husk where
it is attached, we find that the ear was
really at the end of a little branch.
This branch, like the main stem, was
jointed and had leaves set first to the
left and then to the right. On the ear
branch, however, these leaves or husks
are not clearly differentiated into a
sheath and a blade. Each husk is a
wide, enveloping wrapper, sometimes
with a tiny blade coming off slantwise
from its apex.

Here now is the slender skeleton of
the corn plant before us, a single-
jointed stalk bearing two bunches of
flowers. One bunch, the tassel, is made
of loosely dispersed male flowers, and
it is borne at the apex of the main
stalk. The other bunch, what we call
the ear, is made up of female flowers
set closely together at the apex of a
lictle branch which is hitched to one
of the joints of the main stem. At the
joint below this, there is a poorly
formed ear or nubbin; at the joint be-
low that a still less developed ear
shoot; and so down the stalk, till at the
base of the stalk only tiny vestiges of
shoots can be found hidden down
under the leaf sheaths.

A glance at some younger corn
plants will show us how this whole
shoot develops. The upper leaves all
come up from inside the leaves below

them. The sections of the stalk are
very short when originally formed. As
they elongate, from below upwards, the
young plant pushes itself apart. As
the corn grows it is as if some force
laid hold of the young tassel and just
pulled it gradually out from within its
enveloping sheaths. If you’ve got a
young corn plant to waste, now is a
good time to waste it. Take one in
which the tassel is just barely showing
and pull it to pieces, leaf by leaf. The
lowest leaf on the stalk is on the out-
side, the next one is just within it, and
then the next and the next. The
sheaths are set a full 180 degrees from
each other and are wrapped so tightly
that, even with a sharp knife, it is not
easy to peel them off. Deep within the
heart of the plant is the young tassel,
all yellow and pink at the base, green
and dry at its emerging tip. Still
farther down inside is the young ear
shoot, flattened within its enveloping
leaf sheath, an almost microscopic
plume of rapidly developing tissue.
Now you have before you the secret
of the distinctive ways of all grasses.
This is their kind of development pat-
tern. The delicate, rapidly growing
tissue is always buried, tightly held by
successive wrappings of tough sheaths,
the lower, already-formed tissues of
the lower leaves. Imagine what it is
like as a tender developing baby leaf
to grow your way up into that all-
enveloping strait-jacket! There is
plenty of pressure there. Take your
knife and slice open a developing corn
shoot. Whether you make your cut
cross-wise or merely make a slit deep
into the side of the young plant, the
release of pressure is instant and sur-

120 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Two flowers from the tassel of acorn plant,
very much magnified. The lowermost flower
is open and the three stamens are hanging
down from it so that pollen escapes from the
little pores, one of which shows plainly in the
lower right-hand corner of the picture. The
uppermost flower also has three stamens which
are just beginning to push out into view. The
two flowers and the chaffy glumes above and
below them make up what is known as a
spikelet, the basic unit in all grass inflores-
cences. Nearly all grass flowers are straw)
little things, more or less on this pattern.

prising. It seems incredible that de-
velopment could go on in the face of
such pressures, but it does, not only in
this corn plant but in all grass plants
everywhere. The rapidly growing parts
of grass plants—leaves, stems, flowers
—all come into being and finish their
earliest formative stages tightly bound
by successive overlapping sheaths.

Turn back now to the jointed main

stalk with which we started. Above
the ear each section of the stalk (in-
ternode is the technical term) is an
almost perfect cylinder, circular in
cross-section. However, the internode
beside the ear shoot has a deep groove,
the section below it a lesser one, the
one below a still smaller groove, and
so on down the stalk almost to the
base of the plant. These are mute evi-
dence of the tremendous pressures un-
der which the stalk developed within
its encompassing leaf sheaths. Look
at the internode beside the ear. When
the young ear was developing down
inside the sheaths, the internode next
to it was still soft and buttery and ac-
commodated itself in this manner to
pressure from the young ear growing
up along side. By constant and in-
creasing pressure the young ear made
the growing stem into a kind of little
cradle. At the next internode below
there was only a nubbin, so the cradle
was not as deep, and at successive in-
ternodes down the stalk it gets smaller
and shallower. The lowermost nodes
had only one or two little leaves on a
tiny branch, but they too had to grow
at the same time as their accompany-
ing internode, and even these tiny
leaves which never grew into an ear
pressed a little trough into the inter-
node growing along side them.

For further evidence of how all the
parts of a grass plant are controlled by
the pressures under which they de-
velop, pull out a young tassel from a
sweet corn plant when the top of it
first begins to show among the bouquet
of leaves. If you pull slowly and
firmly it will break off down at its

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN '21

base where the young stem is still soft.
You will have the whole tassel in your
hand fully developed, stiff and gray-
green at the top, more or less embry-
onic, limp and yellow at the base.
Examine the lower half which was still
under pressure from the leaves about
it. See how all the little chaffy flowers
are packed together; and remember,
this is the way in which all grass plants
develop. This is the pattern which the
grasses of the world have been using
since they first evolved into grasses
millions of years ago. Not only this
corn plant, but all its ancestors back
to the first true grasses of remote
geological times have grown up under
this urgency of pressure.

Once given this pattern, nature has
accommodated herself to it. Variations
which would ease life in a crowded
tube, once they arose, tended to be re-
tained by Natural Selection. As the
grass family evolved under this strict
necessity, its flowers have shed encum-
bering ornamentations, its leaves have
developed a tough protective epidermis,
the whole pattern of the plant has
gradually become stream-lined in re-
sponse to evolution-under-pressure. For
millions of years, ever since grasses
first took on this distinctive way of

Autumn Flower Shows.—

On three successive week-ends the
Garden played the host for a series of
flower shows produced by various St.
Louis organizations. The Cactus and
Succulent Show and the Dahlia Show
were preceded by the third annual
Harvest Show staged by the St. Louis
Horticultural Society and a number
of cooperating organizations. Virtually

life, their evolution was ruled by these
needs. Hence the small, strawy flow-
ers, the simple panicles, the tough epi-
dermis, the curving surfaces adapted
to development in a crowded tube. It
is an efficient way of life; the rapidly
developing parts which need food and
water the most are close to the supply
systems; the delicate young tissues just
forming are amply protected from the
outside world. To achieve this protec-
tion and efficiency, however, they all
have to put up with more overcrowd-
ing than in other kinds of plants.
Evolution has of necessity brought to
them the capacity to fold themselves
up efficiently in these tight quarters,
has caused them to develop the kinds
of tough surfaces which will be suc-
cessful in resisting mutual pressure
when the growing tip thrusts itself
forward into the concentric wrappings
of already overcrowded sheaths.

Such are the facts which account
for the over-all utilitarian air of the
world of grasses. The withering sweet
corn plants lying around us on the
terrace have given us a notable second
harvest, an insight into the kinds of
consequences-upon-consequences which
govern the world of grasses and our
own world too.

every horticultural organization in the
area cooperated in one way or another
in putting on this show, making it a
fitting climax to the gardening year.
The exhibits filled the Floral Display
house as well as a large area to the
north and east of it. The show was
kept open until ten o’clock in the
evening on both Saturday and Sunday
and was very well attended.

122 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

RESUPINATION IN ORCHIDS

ROBERT J. GILLESPIE

OME members of the orchid family
S exhibit many oddities or quirks
not generally found in other plant
families, which have fascinated and
confused botanists and horticulturists
for over a century. Far too often the
modern orchid enthusiast fails to ob-
serve many of these oddities, being
completely occupied by the desire to
grow and produce healthy, vigorous
plants and flowers.

The phenomenon of resupination is
one of the orchid family’s most inter-
esting quirks. It can be defined briefly
as a process by which the flower, dur-
ing anthesis, revolves through an arc
of from 90 to 180 degrees. If you ever
have the opportunity to watch an
orchid flower open you will see that it
actually does revolve through an arc,
and that the labellum or lip is really
the uppermost floral part before resu-
pination and that it becomes the lowest
part after resupination. This process
leaves its tell-tale mark on the flower
through the twisting of the horizontal
lines of dehiscence on the pedicellate
ovary. These lines remain in a torque,
much like the stripes on a peppermint
stick, even after the flower has reached
maturity.

Botanists, being scientists, have never
been satisfied merely to observe this
phenomenon, but have continually oc-
cupied themselves with delving into
its whys and wherefores. To date lit-
tle progress has been made on “resu-
pination investigation” and many
questions about it remain unanswered.
For example: What is the “raison

d’etre” behind resupination? Why is
it an almost completely universal trait
in the Orchidaceae? Did it originate
early, while the genera were still rather
indistinct, or could it have developed
independently after speciation had oc-
curred? What are the forces causing
this twisting? Early investigators as-
sumed resupination to be a relatively
simple thing, and would have an ele-
mentary physical explanation. Conse-
quently, their experimental efforts
followed these lines. It was theorized,
for instance, that the force of gravity
moved the heavier lip structure to its
final position. Orchid plants were
turned upside down; flowers were
weighted and lips were removed—all
to no avail. Eventually botanists con-
cluded that this phenomenon is more
complex than a casual examination
would seem to indicate. As yet the
reason for and the forces behind resu-
pination remain unknown.

Another interesting academic ques-
tion which this trait raises is that of
floral parts. Is the flower in its
“natural” state before or after resu-
pination? Is the lip the uppermost
floral organ or does the “dorsal” sepal
fit into this category? Certainly these
questions need not bother the average
orchidist. They should, however, in-
crease his insight and appreciation of
the orchids he is growing, as he real-
izes that every orchid plant has this
innate habit, forcing the flowers to
turn as they open, which has been
carried down through countless gene-
rations.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 123

MEMORIES OF ALICE EASTWOOD
EDGAR ANDERSON

INCE the days of Henry Shaw and

Dr. George Engelmann the Garden
has maintained close contacts with
those botanists who discovered and de-
scribed the flora of our western states.
Miss Alice Eastwood, who died on Oc-
tober 30, 1953, at the age of ninety-
four was one of the last of these, and
one of the greatest. She was a person
of such zest for living, of such force of
character that her little casual every-
day actions were significant. It some-
how seems peculiarly important that
she should be remembered for all that
she was, that even those of us who
knew her slightly are in duty bound
to write down what we can.

I heard of her first when I was a
graduate student at Harvard taking
part of my work at the Arnold Arbo-
retum. There were things in the living
collections which she wanted pressed
for the California Academy Herbarium
and getting a few of them together
was one of my chores. It was then I
first heard of her Christmas greeting
to Professor Sargent, the Arboretum’s
first director, Among other things he
had been honored by having a west-
coast cypress named after him. Char-
acteristically, Miss Eastwood thought
he deserved fresh branches of his own
cypress at Christmas time, and year
after year she sent him a holiday pack-
age. It was not until twenty years
later when I first got to California
that I learned she gathered the branches
herself from trees on Mt. Tamalpais.

I first saw her in England in 1930
when she came over to the Interna-
tional Botanical Congress and visited

the laboratories where I was working.
She was then beginning to look like an
old lady, but what an old lady!—large
of frame, ample of figure, charged
with vitality. Her honest, intelligent
face shone with kindliness. She treated
me at once as if I were a favorite
nephew and roped me into helping her
a bit with Fuchsias. She had promised
the Fuchsia Society back in California
to do what she could for them in
putting into some kind of order the
classification and history of the culti-
vated sorts. Characteristically, on top
of everything else (official visiting,
sightseeing, conferences, herbarium
work) she was enthusiastically looking
up Fuchsia collections, visiting nurs-
eries, talking to collectors, helping to
lay the groundwork for the mono-
graph which has since appeared. It is
characteristic too that when I next
met her in California, over a decade
later, she remembered all I had told her
about one or two English collections
which had interested me, though in
the meantime I had myself completely
forgotten all these details and remem-
bered only that we had talked about
Fuchsias.

She was over seventy when I took
her through the collections of the John
Inness Horticultural Institution. When
I met her again in California she was
well past eighty but busy at work in
the Academy Herbarium and still pro-
ducing in her spare moments little
knitted gifts for all the babies of the
young married botanists she knew, a
very considerable flock. It was on this
trip that I turned to her for help. I

124 » MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

was then interested in making a de-
tailed history of maize in the United
States and one of the chapters in this
story was the ‘“‘mais del pais” of the
early Spanish settlers in California. A
century before it had been a flourish-
ing crop all along the coast from San
Diego to San Francisco. It had quickly
een displaced over most of this area,
first by barley and then by beans. 1
had for some months written all the
experts that any one could suggest in
a vain attempt to find some conserva-
tive family which might still be grow-
ing it. Finally I went over to the
Academy to see if Miss Eastwood
might just possibly have a specimen of
this old colonial variety in her her-
barium. It was not there but she was
immediately interested, and within a
fortnight she had succeeded where all
the agronomists and historians and
antiquarians had failed. In the first
place, she used her knowledge and
common sense. If “mais del pais” was

still being grown anywhere, it would

most probably be around San Luis
Obispo. No sense in looking elsewhere
until that area had been thoroughly
combed. If it was being grown there,
one would need to contact some one
who had dealings with the old Spanish
families around about. In the second
place, she had all her friends to draw.
on, and no one | have ever known had
as many close personal friends as Miss
Eastwood. To know her was to love
her and to want to help with anything
she might be taking an interest in.
She immediately thought of a dear
friend of many years whose brother
ran a big store much patronized by the
Spanish-American ranchers. She wrote
them at once, and though neither of
them had ever heard of “mais del
pais” they made inquiries of some of
the store’s old customers. Miss East-
wood was soon triumphantly writing
me that she had located the old variety
still being grown in considerable quan-
tity within a few miles of several of
the agricultural and historical experts
I had already consulted!

RENN ENNE MONS ENR NEE REMNS NEMS MEME MNS WE NES WON

Mr. Shaw’s beautiful old country
home, ‘Tower Grove,” has been open
every afternon from one until four
o’clock, with guides furnished by the
Federated Women’s Clubs. Occasional
vandalism on the part of sightseers has
made it necessary to charge an admis-
sion fee of twenty-five cents. Since
this went into effect there has been no
further damage, and it is possible to
keep the building clean and attractive.
It is gradually being equipped for of-
ficial entertaining on the part of the
Garden and its friends. The Federated

Women’s Clubs used the home for their
historic pageant portraying the life of
Henry Shaw. The Horticultural Coun-
cil was entertained there, and distin-
guished scientists have stayed over
night in the same bedroom where
Henry Shaw entertained visiting schol-
ars. Mr. Shaw, in his will, made ar-
rangements for the Garden to carry
on official entertaining after his death.
It is therefore particularly appropriate
that the restoration of his old country
home makes it possible to carry on this
friendly tradition.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 125

GO TO THE INDEX FIRST;
DON'T USE THE KEY UNLESS YOU HAVE TO

EDGAR ANDERSON

Loras and manuals (whether pop-
F ular or technical) are apt to have
keys in them. Towards the front of
Steyermark’s useful Spring Flora of
Missouri there is a long one, illustrated
with little sketches, supposedly a guide
to every plant in the book. In such
monuments to botanical scholarship as
Rehder’s Manual of Trees and Shrubs
you will find technical keys sprinkled
with a lavish hand. These are all right
in their way, especially when they help
you distinguish between closely related
and easily confused species, but by and
large you would do well to use them
only as a last resort. Most professional
botanists do not use the keys, particu-
larly the long ones, unless they abso-
lutely have to, and there is no reason
the amateur should struggle with them
any more than is necessary.

There are other ways of getting the
information you want out of such
books; they usually have an index and
frequently they have pictures or dia-
grams. With these two crutches and a
little ingenuity you have a good chance
of getting what you are after. Let us
suppose you found a beautiful little
flower blossoming in an Ozark woods
in the early spring. To you it looks
more or less like a buttercup, though
rather different from any buttercup
you ever saw. Well, just look up in
the index under “‘buttercup” and turn
to the pages where these plants are
illustrated and discussed. It turns out
that there are a good many species of
Ranunculus (buttercups) in Missouri,
more than you suspected, but if you’ll

ruffle through the pictures there are
only one or two which could possibly
fit your little plant. Read the descrip-
tions which go with the pictures and
you find that one of those you sus-
pected might really be it; something
indicated as Ranunculus fascicularis is
described as blooming in very early
spring on wooded hillsides. None of
the others which you thought might
possibly be your flower fit the descrip-
tion half so convincingly. You’ve
identified your plant in just a few
minutes and feel reasonably certain
that your diagnosis is correct.

An even better use of the index is
in finding out more about the plants
you already know, finding out enough
more, so that this understanding will
be useful to you in the future. For
instance, let’s suppose that you start
out for a country week-end in very
early summer with a copy of Dr.
Steyermark’s useful little Spring Flora.
You probably thought when you
bought it, “Now this will tell me the
names of the plants on our country
place that I don’t know.”’ Well, you’d
be much wiser to begin with the ones
you are already fairly certain of. The
Black-eyed Susans are in flower and
you’ve known them since you were a
child. They are one of the best routes
to the understanding you crave. Look
them up in the index and find out
where they come in the book and what
comes near them. Compare them care-
fully with their descriptions and their
pictures. Now you know more than
just their name; you are really begin-

126 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

ning to understand something about
them. Late in the summer when you
encounter their close relatives, the
summer-blooming Rudbeckias, even
though you don’t have Steyermark to
help you, since he only treats of the
spring flora, you'll probably recognize
these summer flowers as either Rud-
beckias or something very similar, and
you'll be on your way to an ever
wider understanding of the native
flora.

Sooner or later, of course, you'll
have to face the key, though let us
hope not the long one at the beginning
of the book. If this is really inevitable,
then face up to the chore and do a

good job of it. You'll save time to
find out everything you can ahead of
time, so that you don’t get lost half
way through. First, study your plant
exhaustively. How are the leaves ar-
ranged? How does the stem branch?
Where are the flowers and how are
they disposed in the inflorescence? How
many petals are there and how many
stamens? Is the plant hairy on the
leaves and the stem? Spend a long
time getting the construction of your
little unknown as firmly in your mind
as you can, then you'll have at least
a sporting chance of finding your way
through the intricacies of the key.

Book REVIEWs:—

Garden Spice and Wild Pot Herbs.
By Walter C. Muenscher and Myron
A. Rice. With illustrations cut on
wood by Elfriede Abbe. 220 pp. 1
pl. Comstock Publishing Associates
(division of Cornell Univ. Press).
Ithaca, N. Y., 1955. $16.50.

This is the popular-priced edition of
the most beautiful herbal of modern
times. One of our ablest botanists, a
man who knows plants in his garden
and along the roadsides as well as he
knows them in the herbarium, has
collaborated closely with an outstand-
ing botanical illustrator and with a
horticultural expert. The artist and
senior author have been closely asso-
ciated in their professional work at
Cornell University. As a result, we
have not only a beautiful and most
useful volume, but a thoroughly inte-
grated one. There are 56 full-page
plates in addition to some smaller il-

lustrations, all but two or three of
them made from woodcuts.

At last we have a modern book to
rival the great herbals of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. Here are pic-
tures which are a delight to the eye,
yet so distinctive of the plants they
portray that the better one knows
these herbs the more he will treasure
the pictures as portraits of old friends.
The botanical descriptions, the notes
about the uses of the herbs, and sug-
gestions about growing them in the
garden are all pithy and accurate. The
high-priced limited edition which ap-
peared last spring was snapped up by
libraries and collectors almost as soon
as it appeared. Let us hope that this
popular-priced edition will go through
reprinting after reprinting. There has
been no better nor more beautiful book
on herbs in modern times and it is to
be doubted if a serious competitor will
appear for many years.

—Epcar ANDERSON

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Henry HitcHcock
RicHarp J. Lockwoop
Henry B. PFLAGER

A. WeEssEL SHAPLEIGH
RoBerT BRooKINGs SMITH

JoHNn S. LEHMANN, President
DanieEL K. CATLIN, Vice-President
EUGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President
LEICESTER B. FAUsT

DupLEY FRENCH

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

James F. Morre Lt,
President of the Board of Education
of St. Louis

ErHaN A. H. SHEPLEY,
Chancellor of Washington University

ARTHUR C,. LICHTENBERGER,
Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri

RAYMOND R. TUCKER,
Mayor of the City of St. Louis

STRATFORD LEE MorRTON,
President of the Academy of Science
of St. Louis

Secretary
GERALD ULRICI

THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL
Bill Bauer, Clarence Barbre, Clifford W. Benson, E. G. Cherbonnier, Robert
E. Goetz, Paul Hale, Mrs. W. Warren Kirkbride, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet
Layton, Gilbert Pennewill, W. F. Scott, Jr., Harold E. Wolfe, John S. Leh-
mann, Edgar Anderson, John Nies, Chairman.

STAFF
George T. Moore Emeritus Director
Reino O. Alava Rosarian
Edgar Anderson _.. __-Director
Henry N. Andrews Paleobotanist
August P, Beilmann_____-____--____. Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit
Louis G. Brenner Arborist

Ladislaus Cutak

Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories

Hugh C, Curler...

Carroll W. Dodge
John D. Dwyer

Assistant Director and Curator of the Museum
Mycologist
Research Associate

In charge of Orchids

Robert J. Gillespie
Nell C. Horner

Librarian and Editor

Lawrence Kaplan.

Associate Curator of Museum

Assistant Librarian

Ida M. Kohl
Paul A. Kohl

Floriculturist

Assistant Librarian

Edna Mepham
Frederick G. Meyer

Dendrologist
a Superintendent

George H. Pring

Betty O’Brien Putney

Kenneth A. Smith

Assistant to the Director
Engineer

Julian A. Steyermar
Alice F, Tryon

Honorary Research Associate
Research Associate

k

Assistant Curator of Herbarrurm

Rolla M. Tryon, Jr
Gerald Ulrici

Business Manager

George B. Van Schaack

Robert E. Woodson

Acting Curator of Herbarium
Senior Taxonomist

v-------------- +--+ +--+ +--+ ----- +--+ +--+ +--+ = == + - === ---

mee |

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE GARDEN

The Missouri Botanical Garden carries on the garden estab-
lished by Henry Shaw over a century ago at “Tower Grove,” his
country home. It is a private institution with no public support
from city or state. The old stone walls and cast-iron fences, the
Linnean House, the Museum, the Mausoleum and the “Old
Residence” all date from Mr. Shaw’s time. Since his death, as
directed in his will, the Garden has been in the hands of a Board

of Trustees who appoint the Director.

The Garden is open every day in the year (except New
Year’s Day and Christmas) from 9:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.,
April to November, and until 6:00 p.m., November to April,
though the greenhouses close at 5:00 p.m. Tower Grove, itself,
Mr. Shaw’s old residence, is open from 1 until 4. The Garden is
nearly a mile long and has several entrances. The Main Entrance,
the one used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora
Place on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southampton
buses (No. 80), direct from downtown, pass within three blocks
of this entrance and stop directly across the street from the
Administration Building at 2315 Tower Grove Avenue. The
latter is the best entrance for students and visiting scientists.
It is open to such visitors after 8:30 a.m., but is closed on Sat-
urdays, Sundays, and holidays. There is a service entrance on

Alfred Avenue, one block south of Shaw Avenue.

Since Mr. Shaw’s time an Arboretum has been developed at
Gray Summit, Mo., opposite the junction of routes 50 and 66.
It is open every day in the year and has two miles of auto roads
as well as foot trails through the wild-flower reservation. There
is a pinetum and an extensive display of daffodils and other

narcissi from March to early May.

AISSOURI BOTANICAL

GARD

YN BULL

Gardening in the City

CONTENTS

Laelio-Cattleya “Ellen A. Ricker” Notes

olume XLII

November, 1955

Horticultural Courses in 1955 and 1956

Number 9

Cover:—Laelio-Cattleya “Ellen A. Ricker,” a new orchid created and grown at the
Garden, hybrid between LC. “Geraldine $. Thompson” and Cattleya “Fabia ’.

Office of publication: 306 E. Simmons Street, Galesburg, Illinois.

Editorial Office: Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 Tower Grove Avenue,
St. Louis, 10, Missouri.

Published monthly except July and August by the Board of Trustees of the
Missouri Botanical Garden. Subscription price: $2.50 a year.

Entered as second-class matter January 26, 1942, at the post-office at Gales-
burg, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Please: Do not discard a copy of the Bulletin. If you have no further use for yours
pass it along toa friend or return it to the Garden. Return postage guaranteed.

Missouri Botanical

Garden

Bulletin

Vol. XLII

NOVEMBER, 1955 No. 9

GARDENING IN THE CITY

NELL C.

QO of the often-quoted remarks
of the great Dr. Johnson is that
a preaching woman and a walking dog
are alike in that neither do the job
very well but the surprising thing is
that they do it at all. Now Dr. John-
son’s remark applies to my garden. It
is certainly not remarkable, and the
wonder is that I, or people like me,
have a garden at all The people like
me are those who work away from
home about eight hours a day and
have to spend another one and a half
or two hours getting to and from their
places of business. When they reach
home there isn’t much daylight left,
and no matter how soon they get up
in the morning they barely have time
to water a small garden patch. And
as for the week-ends, they are so full
of a number of things that we are
lucky to get in even a few hours of
digging.

Obviously, the solution is to plant
the hardiest, the most reliable, and the
best adapted things there are. Delicate
and exotic things can be tried, of
course, but after a few failures you
decide to stick to the old reliables.
What are they? Well, most of them
are very common and some of them
are what people call “weeds”. They

HORNER

can be compared to the ordinary cats
(and they compared very well) which
I saw mixed in with the Siamese, the
Persians, and the Angoras at a cat
show. When one of the visitors ex-
claimed, “Oh look at the alley-cats,”
a judge remarked, ‘“‘Those, my dear, are
domestic short-haired cats.”” And my
plants aren’t weeds—they are domestic
or adapted plants that have been given
a comfortable home and they have re-
sponded gratefully. Sometimes they
present a riot of color, and always
during the spring and summer there is
something in bloom, at least enough
to make one of those hit-or-miss Vic-
torian flower arrangements.

In addition to having no time and
no money, I have other difficulties con-
nected with gardening. For instance,
there is a big elm tree at the back and
only shade-tolerant plants can be
grown under its spread and its spread
is considerable. Then there is a gran-
itoid walk down the center of the back
yard (‘“garden” through courtesy)
from the kitchen porch to the alley.
However, there is a sturdy perennial
border on each side of the walk—iris,
bachelor’s-buttons, larkspurs, pinks,
phlox, red balm, sedum, etc.—which I
hope distracts attention from the
straight and narrow path.

(127)

128 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Of course we inherited bad soil. It
seems to be the custom for builders to
level off the high places and to fill in
the low places with old dump material,
for I have found broken china, rocks,
bricks, slate, etc., just by digging
down less than a foot. For years I
have been working on that soil. I made
a compost heap, not a very scientif-
ically made one, but my home-made
product has certainly helped; I have
bought topsoil as I was able to afford
it and could find time to apply it; I
have appropriated bushels and bushels
of sand from the area back of us which
was once a street-car track; I have
used commercial fertilizers and manure,
and nearly all the mulches recom-
mended except pecan shells, and those
are coming next,

When we moved to our house, we
had no lawn—just chickweed and
shallow ponds in the spring (we had
rains in those days) which were fol-
lowed by plantain and many other
weeds, including crabgrass. Making a
lawn has taken work, but by following
directions in the Garden BULLETINS
our lawn now looks quite respectable.
The only thing that I do that the
Garden apparently didn’t think about
recommending is to sprinkle lawn grass
seed over the sparsely settled places on
top of a late snow, usually in March.
The blue-grass from this early sowing
is nearly as well established by May
as that sown at the proper time (in
the early fall). I have very little
chickweed or crabgrass now. I have
used the weed-killers at various times,
but weed killers kill clover, and I like
clover. Now I dig the weeds by hand,
a score or two at a time, and before
they go to seed, making use of the

trowel kept on the back porch, when
I come in or go out of the house. For-
tunately, the two lawns are not very
big. The front is about 40 20 feet
including the terrace, the back about
25 & 60 feet, excluding the walks and
flower beds. As for mowing, our next-
door neighbor has a power-mower, also
a teen-age son who is allowed to use it
to make extra money. Before he and
his father’s mower made their appear-
ance my sister usually cut the grass.

Now having built up the soil and
made the lawn according to directions
I will give a list of the plants in my
garden. The May 1947 BULLETIN (re-
printed in January 1954) gives a list
of twenty-five plants recommended for
city gardens. I have most of these
plants, and the worst thing that I can
say about them is that some of them
grow too well. Some one said that my
garden had a “blowsy charm”, and it
does look unrestrained. Some day it
will get a great digging out, giving
the restrained ones breathing space and
a chance to assert themselves. The
plants are here taken up in the order
of blooming, although no plant starts
or stops blooming on either the first
or the last day of a season.

MARCH-—APRIL—MAY
Flowering Shrubs.—The small white

flowers of the Fragrant Honeysuckle
(Lonicera fragrantissima) sometimes
come out as early as February. This
shrub will bear neglect but of course
looks better if pruned after blooming.
Cornelian Cherry (Cornus mas) 1s
usually in bloom by early March. Its
small yellow-green flowers might pass
unnoticed if one weren’t on the look-
out for signs of spring, but it has
beautiful foliage and red fruit, and it

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 129

may be planted in semi-shade. Golden-
bell (Forsythia), which follows it, is
much more striking. The Garden is
trying out some of the newer varieties
of this old shrub, but at present For-
sythia intermedia spectabilis is the one
most commonly seen. Its bright yellow
flowers come out before the leaves,
making a blaze of gold in early March.
Bridal-wreath (Spiraea prunifolia plena)
usually blooms in mid-April, a “hack-
neyed” shrub, some people call it, but
its long hanging branches of white
flowers are very graceful and make a
beautiful background for the narcissus
and tulips which bloom about the same
time. My favorite of the spring-bloom-
ing shrubs is Kerria japonica (1 don’t
believe that it has a common name).
It will grow in the shade, but if
planted in the sun it has a better form.
Its flowers, about the size and shape of
an apple-blossom, literally cover the
plant and are an almost dazzlingly
bright yellow. The double variety
(var. pleniflora) is even better, for it
has a longer blooming period and
flowers shaped like a button chrys-
anthemum. The Jetbead (Rhodotypos)
is very much like it except that it
bears white flowers and is more toler-
ant of shade. The Mock-orange (Phila-
delphus), Deutzia gracilis and D.
Lemonei, Highbush Cranberry (Vi-
burnum Opulus), Snowball (Viburnum
Opulus sterilis) and Weigelia(Weigelia
florida) are all early or mid-May
bloomers, which is the high tide for
gardens in St. Louis.

I have about four lilac bushes, but
they have bloomed scarcely at all. They
will probably be dug up next year
along with the Beautybushes (Kolk-
witzia). After seeing a Beautybush in

all its glory on a garden tour one
spring, | immediately bought two. It
may have been because of too much
shade or improper care but mine have
never been covered with flowers as
were the specimens I saw on the gar-
den tour, and the branches of mine
come out at the most peculiar angles.
I will stick to the old-time favorite,
Weigelia, which is something like it.

Flowering Trees.—Several times |
have tried to get beautiful flowering
trees established but the conditions are
not right for them; too much shade
may be part of the trouble. However,
a plum tree came with the house. It is
old and going fast, but before it goes
it will have left many descendants here
and there—too many for me to keep
dug out of the flower beds. A plum
tree in flower (generally the last of
March or the first of April) is a beau-
tiful thing, and the tree doesn’t have
to be pampered. Furthermore, a bowl-
ful of plum blossoms mixed with nar-
cissus blends the little garden with the
country side. There is also an apple
tree belonging to my neighbor, about
half of which hangs over in our gar-
den.

I do not have a Redbud tree (Cercis
canadensis), but it should do well in
my garden for it is a native plant and
it can stand some shade. Also it is
very effective for its form and its
pinkish-lavender blossoms which stud
the tree (see May 1951 BULLETIN).

Two of the Magnolias, the Star
(Magnolia stellata) and the Saucer
(Magnolia Soulangeana), are the next
things to be tried in my garden. Both
are thriving in my neighbors’ gardens,
so they ought to do all right in mine.
However, I’m told that they are diffi-

130 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Hall’s Honeysuckle

cult to transplant and that they
are more successfully handled before
growth commences, so I'll have to
wait until early spring to plant them.
The Star Magnolia, which usually
blooms the last of March, has white
flowers, and the Saucer Magnolia fol-
lows about a week later with flowers
of rosy-pink. Both species are so full
of bloom that from a distance you
can’t see the trees for the flowers.
Their greatest drawback is that their
blooming period is too short, or seems
to be.

Bulbs.—Early spring is the time for
bulbs, and the first to appear in my
garden are Narcissus “February Gold”,
one of the twenty-five “‘reliables” de-
scribed in the BULLETIN. It is a small
deep yellow trumpet daffodil and so
hardy that it withstood the freeze of
the 1955 spring without a tremor. It
is a good propagator but unless the
bulbs are divided every three or four

years they will stop blooming. In late

March or the first of April come the
larger-flowered Narcissus such as KING
ALFRED and sIR WATKIN and the white
daffodils (which of course are Nar-
cissus too), then the tulips. I usually
buy about 24 tulip bulbs—reds, pink,
and yellows—and plant them in front
of the flowering shrubs (Kerria, Spiraea,
Philadelphus) beneath the living-room
window. Even my family approve of
this riot of color, and I have heard
passers-by comment too.

Perennials —With the shrubs as a
background and the bulbs shooting up
all over the garden, one would think
that I would be surfeited with color.
However, there are lots of low peren-
nials that bloom at about the same
time or later. Whether you like it or
not, if you have shade you will prob-
ably have violets and Sweet-William.
The violets would take over if I didn’t
root them out, but Sweet-William is
more satisfactory. Each March you

have more and larger patches of this

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 131

purple-flowered Wild Phlox, but it
does not seem to crowd out anything
important. Another plant that can
stand shade is the pansy. I plant doz-
ens of the young plants in March
which bloom until hot weather if
they are cut constantly. Most of the
perennials seem to bloom in April and
May—Virginia bluebells, false indigo
(Baptisia) , bleeding-heart, Shasta daisy,
columbine, verbena, pinks, iris, An-
chusa, and many others which I do
not have. I started with about four
columbines but through division and
reseeding I now have at least a dozen
large clumps in several colors—red-
and-yellow, yellow, blue, blue-and-
yellow, lavender, which look like but-
terflies in flight. They have a longer
blooming period than some other things
that are not nearly so attractive, and
furthermore they grow in semi-shade.
The creeping buttercup (Ranunculus
repens) around the bird bath has done
too well, and is trying to crowd out
the Creeping Speedwell (Veronica
repens) which blooms a little later.
When the buttercups were given to me
by a friend she remarked, “I wouldn’t
give this to my worst enemy, so I give
it to you.” I feel the same way about
it, but I can certainly recommend it
to any gardener who wants something
tough. Recently I dug up dozens of
the little plants that had crept into
the lawns and other places where they
shouldn’t be and planted them beneath
a window in hard soil that the hose is
dragged over, and they are not only
alive but increasing. What’s more,
with its shiny scalloped evergreen leaf
and golden-yellow flower, it is quite
attractive. Another friend presented
me with a few Forget-me-not An-

chusas (Anchusa myosotidiflora) which
I planted near the bird-bath. Whether
it is the moist location that did it, I
do not know, but they have increased
and increased. And they are so much
easier to grow than the real forget-me-
not (Myosotis) and much more ef-
fective. If you have miniature bou-
quets as a hobby, this little blue flower
fits in very well.

May seems to be a blue month, with
a preponderance of blue columbine,
bluebells, Anchusa, false indigo. Even
most of the iris bordering the central
walk are a light lavender-blue, Iris
pallida, another one of the twenty-five
plants specially recommended for St.
Louis. It is not so effective as some
other iris, but its flowers are borne on
tall erect stems and give the effect of
a company of soldiers in formation, if
you can imagine soldiers dressed in
pale blue. Like all iris, they have to
be divided every few years or else the
roots become matted and rot. I do
have a few of the better iris planted in
the perennial beds bordering the fence,
but they can’t take it as the Iris pallida
can.

Vines and Ground Covers.—When I
first became garden-conscious I took
every plant anybody gave me, and
some one gave me Hall’s Honeysuckle
(Lonicera japonica var. Halliana) Now
I have honeysuckle as a ground cover,
as a fence cover, as a trellis cover, and
always there is some in the trash heap.
It is just too enthusiastic. But it does
smell sweet, and if you have a place
where “simply nothing grows” try
honeysuckle. If it gets a head start,
just be ruthless. Use your spading
fork to get at all its roots then burn
it. The same can be said of Gill-over-

132 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

the-Ground (Nepeta hederacea). It
likes shade, but it takes over. Bul-
garian Ivy is much more attractive,
and twice I have dug up all the Nepeta
plants and tried to get ivy established
in their place. In just two places have
I been successful, the little strip be-
tween our house and our neighbor’s

and the foundation planting in front.

Roses. —June may be the month of
roses in most places, but in St. Louis
they seem to be at their best from the
last of May to the middle of June. I
have not many varieties and those must
take an acid test to grow in my gar-
den, for the rose bed is underlain with
elm tree roots and shaded by a next-
door apple tree. Mr. Nies, of the St.
Louis Rose Society, advised me to spade
down a foot or two around the rose
bed and cut the tree roots leading to
the bed. That has helped, as has mulch-
ing. Much to my surprise, I’ve been
able to grow pEAcE—perfect blooms
and rather large ones too. The Janu-
ary 1954 BULLETIN gives a list of vari-
eties for St. Louis; of those recom-
mended I happen to have RED RADI-
ANCE, PINK RADIANCE, CHARLOTTE
ARMSTRONG, EDITOR MC FARLAND,
CHRISTOPHER STONE, and MC GREDY’S
YELLOW, all of which grow with the
minimum of attention. I have only

two Floribundas which are planted in

the perennial beds—GRuUss-AN-AACHEN
and caMeEo. [| think that GRuss-AN-
AACHEN is worthy of being planted
more often for it has a lovely tight
apricot-colored flower and it blooms
profusely. Over the fence the former
owner had planted TAUSENDSCHOEN
and CRIMSON RAMBLER but they aren’t

doing very well—too much shade and

competition with honeysuckle. I have
very little black spot ordinarily. Every
few days I pick off a few affected leaves
and burn them, to keep the disease
from getting a head start on me.

JUNE-JULY-AUGUST

Most gardens in St. Louis gradually
peter out during the summer months,
and mine is no exception. Roses are
still blooming in June, but they be-
come scarce in July. There are a few
columbines in June, a few daisies,
Stokes’ Aster, Canterbury-bells and the
like. According to my family, all that
I have in the summer are clumps of
two kinds of plantain-lily (Hosta
caerulea and H, japonica) which they
think are colorless; but there are so
few things that will tolerate the dense
shade that Hosta does. The flowers
are a light lavender-blue borne on
spikes about 8—10 inches long, and the
leaves look like overgrown. glossy
plantain leaves. Transplanting them
is quite a job, for the roots are all in-
terwoven. However, if you have any
strength left after getting the clumps
out of the ground, place them in a
bucket of water. After the soil oozes
out they can be separated readily and
planted. The same method is good
for lily-of-the-valley.

Of the trees and shrubs that bloom
during the summer I have only Spiraea
Bumalda var. “Anthony Waterer,”
Rose of Sharon (Althaea) in several
shades, and the Chaste Tree (Vitex
Agnus-castus). If the Chaste Tree is
planted in full sun, which mine isn’t,
the spikes of flowers form a solid mass
of lavender over the tree from mid-
July to the last of August. The Althaea
can take most anything — drought,

MISSOURI BOTANICAL

GARDEN BULLETIN 133

Day-lilies

My fav-
orite is a double rose-pink. If the
shrub is cut back about one-third in

burning sun, even poor soil.

early spring, the flowers are larger and
bloom more profusely.

For color during the summer I rely
mostly on a group of weeds. First, the
day-lily, or Hemerocallis fulva (there
are beautiful hybrids but I do not
happen to have them), which is so
well adapted that it has to be literally
kicked out of the perennial bed once
in a while. Then the cone-flowers
(Brauneria) which are planted along
the back fence, for they are just a lit-
tle too coarse for a close-up. However,
the same cannot be said of bachelor’s-
buttons and the annual larkspur which
are dainty plants and among _ the
twenty-five recommended in the BuL-
LETIN. Since they reseed themselves,
they are likely to come up in the lawn
or in other beds where you don’t want
them. The flowers of both bachelor’s-
buttons and annual larkspur come in
white and several shades of blue, pink,

and lavender. Bachelor’s-buttons have
flowers that look like small carnations,
and those of the larkspur are borne on
spikes. Their blooming periods over-
lap and they look well in Victorian
bouquets. Bouncing Bet (Saponaria
officinalis ) makes its appearance in July
whether it is invited or not. I try to
keep it on the alley ridge, but it pays
no attention, just sneaks in when my
back is turned; fortunately it settles

in the shade.

Queen Anne’s Lace which I’ve invited

Much less responsive is

in but it seems to prefer a place in thie
sun, even though it is on the alley
terrace. Hollyhocks are at their best
in July, and they literally walk down
the terrace back of our house into the
alley. That is one plant that seems to
prefer being kicked around. I have
fixed a good bed for it inside the gar-
den, but it would rather live sur-
rounded by cinders and rubbish. A
honeysuckle-covered arch over the
picket gate which terminates the gar-
den walk makes an effective frame for

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

E coelestinum

Eupatorium species

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 135

Hosta caerulea

the spires of pink, white and red holly-
hocks.

As the spring plants finish blooming
[ plant annuals—zinnias, petunias,
marigolds, cosmos. Until this year I
had masses of watermelon-pink phlox
in July but they seem to have become
infected. Next year I'll either have
to buy some new plants or make up
my mind that Red Balm (Monarda
didyma) is just as effective from a
window as phlox and so much easier to
grow. The only trouble with this red-
flowered plant is that it spreads and
spreads. My two-door-up_ neighbor
has promised to trade petunias for it,
those being as rampant in her garden
as Monarda is in mine.

In August comes the Blue Mist
Flower (Eupatorium coelestinum)

which most people call Ageratum. This

is another plant that is a little too en-
thusiastic but you can always dig it up
What’s

more, it stands shade and it makes a

and give it to a neighbor.

bit of lavender-blue in the perennial
border when most blue things are gone.
The New England Aster (Asfer novae-
angliae) starts to bloom in late August.
The flowers are small and a nice shade
of blue-lavender, but the plant won’t
stand up straight in my garden and
is inclined to get “fungusey.” Golden
Glow (Rudbeckia laciniata var. hor-
tensis) gives a nice touch of color;

and there are yellow “weeds” worth

g — sunflowers (Helianthus) ,
Heliopsis, and Black-eyed Susans (Rud-
bechia hirta), for instance. One of

harboring

the most satisfactory plants for Au-
gust is the Silver-lace Vine (Poly-

gonum Auberti). It blooms for a long

136

Mees. 4
jeer FY ey
Silver-lace Vine covers garden fence in late
August.

period in August and September and
covers the trellis over the fence with
small white flowers. According to Paul
Kohl 1939 BULLETIN),
this vine is free from all troubles, and

(December

the tired gardener “‘may gaze through

the leafy branches with the assurance

that it will thrive without the mighty
ministrations [of spraying ].”
SEPTEMBER—OCTOBER

If I had some chrysanthemums I

might have something to write about

for fall but I can’t find any hardy
enough to take the beating that my

%

athe

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

live-for-

The
evers (Sedum spectabile) and the as-

plants have to take.

ters are still blooming in September,
and they make splotches of pink and
lavender here and there; and if you
haven’t had an August vacation or
there hasn’t been a drought your zin-
nias, marigolds, petunias and cosmos
are still in bloom. Some of the wild
plants have come in too, such as
golden-rod (Solidago altissimum), the
White Snakeroot (Eupatorium urticae-
folium), a white-flowered form of the
blue “Ageratum”, and Rosy Allium
(Allium stellatum ).
ond blooming beginning the last of

Roses have a sec-
September. As a rule, though, I can’t
be bothered with fall-blooming things.
The lawn must be fertilized in Sep-
tember in preparation for seeding,
which means a final weeding out of
plantain, dandelion, chickweed, and
that takes all the spare time available.
After September I just admire other
people’s gardens and look forward to

the following spring—that is after I’ve
pruned and weeded and transplanted

and mulched.

a a

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 17

LAELIO-CATTLEYA “ELLEN A. RICKER”
EDGAR ANDERSON

A HANDSOME orchid, created and
grown at the Garden, has been
named after the late Miss Ellen Ricker
of St. Louis. Nearly a decade ago a
bequest to the Garden of around a
quarter of a million dollars was an-
nounced after Miss Ricker’s death.
The will was contested by some of her
relatives, and as a result the Garden
never received any of the money di-
rectly. Not all the heirs, however,
believed that justice had been done.
As a result, a series of generous checks
have turned over to the Garden some
of the funds awarded to her heirs.

A fine specimen plant of the new
variety is illustrated on the cover of
this issue of the BULLETIN. The flow-
ers are a misty light mauve with an
intense spot of winey crimson on the
lip. They were raised from a plant
of LC. ‘‘Geraldine $. Thompson” pol-
linated with Catfleya “Fabia” on Jan-
uary, 1938. The seeds were ready to sow
in September of that same year and,
like all the other orchid hybrids pro-
duced by the Garden, were raised arti-
ficially on prepared media as “bottle

babies”’.

Visiting Experts.

During the summer the Garden had
a succession of interesting visitors.
Mrs. Ida Langman, of the staff of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila-
delphia, who has been working for
some years on a bibliography of Mexi-
can botany, came back again to use
our library because it has so many
things difficult to obtain in other
botanical libraries in this country. Mrs.
Sherman Adams, of Wellesley, Massa-
chusetts, a prominent member of the
American Orchid Society, has begun
a scientific survey of the results of
hybridization in these remarkable
plants. She conferred with Dr. An-
derson, and they laid plans for a joint
scientific paper. Hybridization, both
in nature and as carried on by orchid
raisers, plays an amazing role in the
orchid family, and though the facts
are occasionally referred to in the sci-
entific literature it is many years since

any attempt has been made to bring
the over-all picture up to date. Dr.
Russell Seibert, a former graduate of
the Henry Shaw School of Botany (as
well as the son-in-law of our Super-
intendent, Mr. Pring), stopped in St.
Louis for several days on his way East.
He has just taken on the directorship
of the beautiful DuPont garden at
Longwood, near Philadelphia, now the
most richly endowed botanical garden
in the world. Dr. Thomas Whitaker,
who is in charge of the government’s
canteloupe- and lettuce-breeding sta-
tion at La Jolla, California, paid us a
return visit after an absence of a
decade. Dr. Whitaker is not only one
of the country’s most successful plant
breeders; he is also a distinguished
scholar. For some years he and Dr.
Cutler have been cooperating in an
investigation of the pumpkins and

squashes of the New World.

138 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

HORTICULTURAL COURSES IN 1955 AND 1956

eee couRsEs in horticulture will be given by the Garden during 1955 and
1956. Except for the Orchid course, which will be conducted at the Garden
Arboretum, Gray Summit, the courses will be given in the Experimental Green-
house at the Garden, with Dr. F. G. Meyer as instructor.

As materials for each course are purchased immediately after the closing regis-
tration date, no registration fees can be refunded after the last day of registration
for any particular course. Please send registration fees to:

Horticultural Courses,
Missouri Botanical Garden,
2315 Tower Grove Ave.,
St. Louis 10, Mo.

Course I—BuLB FoRCING

Six sections (each a 2',-hour period). Indicate your choice of section. Regis-
tration limited to 180.
Place: Experimental Greenhouse at the Garden. Enter Cleveland Avenue gate.
Time:
Day sections, 1:30-4:00 P. M.—
Monday, November 7.
Tuesday, November 8.
Thursday, November 10.
Monday, November 14.
Night sections, 7:30—-10:00 P. M—
Wednesday, November 9.
Friday, November 11.
Registration: Until November 1. Fee $5.00.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 139

Scope of Course: Lecture on technique of bulb forcing. Hints on outdoor
bulb culture.

Each student will receive at least 24 top-quality bulbs of tulips, narcissus,
paper-whites, hyacinths, to be planted in five 7-inch bulb pans. Planted bulbs
will be given cold treatment in cold-frames at the Garden until ready to flower
(about 60 days). Postcards will be sent to each student telling them when to
pick up the bulbs.

Course II—PLANT PropaGaATIon (Lippagator Course)
Four sections, two 2!/-hour periods each. Indicate your choice of section.
Registration limited to 60, minimum of 10 per section.
Place: Experimental Greenhouse at the Garden. Enter Cleveland Avenue gate.
Time:
Section I, 7:30—10:00 P. M.—
Friday, January 20, and Friday, January 27.
Section II, 1:00-3:30 P. M.—
Monday, January 23, and Monday, January 30.
Section III, 1:00-3:30 P. M—
Wednesday, February 1, and Wednesday, February 8.
Section IV, 7:30-10:00 P. M—
Friday, February 3, and Friday, February 10.
Registration: For Friends of the Garden, December 15 to January 13; for
others, January 2 to January 13. Fee $10.00.
Scope of Course:

1. Two lectures devoted to methods of propagating plants by vegetative
means (root cuttings, suckers, division, crowns, hard- and soft-wood
stem cuttings, summer-wood cuttings, offsets, layering, scales, tubers,
leaf and bud propagation).

2. Various new propagating methods will be displayed, such as rooting
plants under mist and under plastic; air layering.

3. Two practice sessions in making cuttings.

Each student will be given one Lippagator (plastic-covered propagating box)
and at least 50 kinds of plants to propagate.

Course HI—GrowInc OrcHIDS IN THE HOME
(Instructor, Robert J. Gilles pie)

One all-day period.

Place: Orchid Range, Missouri Botanical Garden Arboretum, Gray Summit,
Missouri.

Time: April 21, 1956, from 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.

Registration: For Friends of the Garden, March 15 to April 15; for others,
April 1 to April 15. Fee $10.00,

Scope of Course:

140 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

10:00 A. M.—Lecture and Demonstration.

1. Discussion of “genera” and “hybrids” suitable for home culture
(orchids that like St. Louis).

2. Discussion of factors influencing orchid growth and development
(for home-adapted genera only )—light, temperature, etc. How to
meet these conditions in the average home, by the use of Wardian
case, evaporating dish, artificial light, etc.

Potting demonstration.
. Question and answer period if time permits.
12:00 M.—Lunch. Garden will supply coffee and soda.

1:00 P. M.—Growing orchids in unusual conditions in the home, in bas-
kets, on slabs, poles, etc., with examples and demonstration of potting
and care.

2:00 P. M.—Inspection of greenhouses.

3:00 P, M.—Individual potting instruction by members of orchid depart-
ment staff. Students may take potted plant home.

Course IV—SpriInG HorvTicULTURE

Four sections, each meeting five times for a 3-hour period. Indicate your
choice of section. Course limited to 85 students.
Place: Experimental Greenhouse at the Garden. Enter Cleveland Avenue gate.
Time:
Section I, 1:00—4.00 P. M.—
Friday afternoons, March 30, April 6, 13, 20, and 27,
Section II, 1:00-4:00 P. M.—
Monday afternoons, April 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30.
Section III, 9:00—12:00 A. M.—
Wednesday mornings, April 4, 11, 18, 25, and May 2.
Section IV, 9:00-12:00 A. M.—
Friday mornings, April 6, 13, 20, 27, and May 4.
Registration: For Friends of the Garden, February 27 to March 26; for others,
March 17 to March 26. Fee $15.00 (covers all materials, including flats).
Scope of Course:

1. Five lectures, including practical discussions on soils, seed sowing,
fertilizers, liming, mulching; kinds of broad-leaf evergreens for St.
Louis; pests and diseases.

2. Demonstration of pruning trees and shrubs.

3. Tour of the Garden’s world-famous herbarium and library.

4. Five sessions of practical work in the greenhouse in which student will
be instructed in seed sowing and transplanting of summer annuals and
perennials.

Each student will receive four metal flats for growing plants which may be
taken home at end of course. They will contain enough space to plant 16 kinds
of seeds. Seeds avalable at the greenhouse or bring your own if you wish.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 141
NOTES

The September number of the Gar-
den’s scientific publication (ANNALS
OF THE Missourt BOTANICAL GAR-
DEN) has recently appeared. It reports
basic research work connected with
the Garden and the Henry Shaw
School of Botany. This issue contains
the following papers: Tassel Modifica-
tions in Zea Mays, by Norton H.
Nickerson and Ernest E. Dale; A New
Species of Doryopteris from Surinam,
by Rolla M. Tryon, Jr. and Karl U.
Kramer; Revision of the Genus Celas-
trus, by Ding Hou.

Among some of the important new
acquisitions by the Garden library are
the following: Histoire des Roses, by
Charles Wald, containing 12 plates in
color by R. Bessa (Paris 1818), a rare
and exquisite little book presented by
Mr. John S. Lehmann; Old Garden
Roses, by Sitwell and Russell, Part I
(1955); Icones Plantarum (1791) and
Sertum Austro-Caledonicum (1824-
25), by La Billardiére; Todaro’s Hortus
Botanicus Panormitanus (1876-1892) ;
Grandidier’s Histoire Naturelle des
Plantes de Madagascar (1886-1903);
Allonius’ Auctarium ad Flora Pede-
montanum (1789).

Two of the graduates of the Henry
Shaw School of Botany who have done
most of their work at the Garden re-
ceived degrees from Washington Uni-
versity in June and have departed for
jobs in New England. Dr. Emanuel D.
Rudolph has been appointed to the
botany department at Wellesley Col-
lege; Dr. Ding Hou, to the staff of the
Arnold Arboretum of Harvard Uni-
versity. Two other young scientists
have left for positions elsewhere. Miss
Evelyn Barbour, who was a scientific

assistant on a project supported by the
National Science Foundation, has gone
to a similar position at Yale University.
Mr. Karl U. Kramer, who assisted in
the curatorial work of the Herbarium,
has returned to Holland where he will
shortly be a candidate for the doctor-
ate. Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Kaplan,
who have been associated for some
years with Dr. Cutler’s studies of eco-
nomic plants, have returned to Mexico
to make further collections.

Second Symposium on Systematics.
—Since the days when Mr. Shaw fol-
lowed Sir Joseph Hooker’s advice and
started off his Botanical Garden with
a Library and Herbarium the Garden
has been an outstanding center for the
naming and classifying of plants—a
study technically known as System-
atics or Taxonomy. A year ago an
informal week-end symposium on tax-
onomic problems was organized here.
This year, with a grant from the Na-
tional Science Foundation, a slightly
more ambitious affair was staged on
November 4 and 5. Over 120 bot-
anists and zoologists registered for the
symposium, representing 31 institu-
tions scattered through 14 states chiefly
in the Middle West. Michigan led
out-of-state visitors with ten. staff
members and graduate students from
the University of Michigan, Michigan
State College, and the Cranbrook Insti-
tute of Science. The theme of this
year’s symposium was “Contributions
of Systematics to Evolutionary
Studies.”
thoroughly discussed under the guid-
ance of Dr. Karl P. Schmidt of the
Chicago Natural History Museum and
Dr. Reed Rollins of Harvard.

A few key papers were

SOME FACTS ABOUT SHAW’S GARDEN

The Missouri Botanical Garden (the official name chosen by
Mr. Shaw) carries on the garden established by Henry Shaw
over a century ago at Tower Grove, his country home. It is
a private institution and has no support from city or state. The
old stone walls and cast-iron fences, the Linnaean House, the
Museum, the Mausoleum, and the TowEer Grove mansion all
date from Mr. Shaw’s time. Since his death, as directed in his
will, the Garden has been in the hands of a Board of Trustees

who appoint the Director.

The Garden is open every day in the year (except New
Year’s and Christmas) from nine A. M. until seven P.M. (April
to November) and until six (November to April) though the
greenhouses close at five. Towrr Grove, itself, Mr, Shaw’s old
country home, is open from one until four. The Garden is
nearly a mile long and has several entrances. The Main Entrance,
the one used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora
Place on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southampton
buses (No. 80), direct from downtown, pass within three blocks
of this entrance and stop directly across the street from the
Administration Building at 2315 Tower Grove Avenue. The
latter is the best entrance for students, visiting scientists, etc.
It is open to such visitors after 8:30 a.m., but is closed on Sat-
urdays, Sundays, and holidays. There is a service entrance on
Alfred Avenue, one block south of Shaw Avenue.

Since Mr. Shaw’s time an Arboretum has been developed at
Gray Summit, Mo., adjacent to State Highways 50 and 66.
It is open every day in the year and has two miles of auto roads
as well as foot trails through the wild-flower reservation. There
is a pinetum and an extensive display of daffodils and other

narcissi from March to early May.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Henry HitcHcock
RicHArD J. Lockwoop
HENRY B. PFLAGER

A. WEsSEL SHAPLEIGH
RoBERT BROOKINGS SMITH

JOHN S. LEHMANN, President
DanieL K. Carin, Vice-President
EuGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President
Leicester B. Faust

DupLreY FRENCH

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS
James F. MorreE Lt,

Preside nt of the Board of Education
of St. Louis

ErHan A. H. SHEPLEY,
Chancellor of Washington University

ARTHUR C, LICHTENBERGER,

Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri 0
STRATFORD LEE Morton,
RayMOND R. TUCKER, President of the Academy of Science
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis

Secretary
GERALD ULRICI

THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL
Bill Bauer, Clarence Barbre, Clifford W. Benson, E. G. Cherbonnier, Robert
E. Goetz, Paul Hale, Mrs. W. Warren Kirkbride, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet
Layton, John E. Nies, Gilbert Pennewill, Harold E. Wolfe, John S. Lehmann,
Edgar Anderson, W. F. Scott, Jr., Chairman.

STAFF
George T. Moore... Emeritus Director
Ree Tri) eA AN ae ee ee eo Rosarian
Edgar Anderson sede tetera lolaa tits wiped ia el a cae Director
Henry N. Andrews “ Daleobotanist
August P. Beilmann__..__________.. .. Manse ‘7 the Abeba, Gray Summit
Louis G. Brenner Arborist

Ladislaus Cutak-

Hugh C. Cutler.
Carroll W. Dodge

John D. Dwyer..............-

ert: Sa eR a es
ptt ee RO irs cet I Librarian and Editor

Nell C. Horner
Lawrence Kaplan

Ida M. Kohl

Pericles in chase of Conservatories
Assistant Director and Curator of the Museum

_..... Mycologist
Research Associate

ritteiain enatge of Orchids

ee nS: Associate Curator of Museum
__Assistant Librarian
oli, ees EL 2 Pl oriculturist

BN a ccsnciacsasbimann aetna:

Frederick G. Meyer.

George H. Pring

Betty O’Brien Putney___--.-.---------------------
Kenneth A. Smith
Pittiagy i.) DCC VOrn at ci a se a
8 ESS SOS 9 (sj: or ae
OE Oe ee): i |

Gerald Ulrici

George B. Van Sehaack cnehneniaen
Robert E. Woodson, Jr.—

___......Assistant Librarian
hoo Ne Ok ek Dendrologist
ees ago ee Superintendent
percents: Shateane to the Director
__Engineer
_Honorary Research Associate

Research Associate
Aeon ‘Curator of Herbarium
Business Manager
= Medias Cheaise of Herbarium

lO SR Nr a Senior ‘Taxonomist

FOR SALE AT THE
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN.
Published monthly except July and August. Subscription price,
$2.50 per year.

ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN.
Published in February, May, September, and November. Sub-

scription price, $10 per year,

SPECIAL BULLETINS.

Henry Shaw: A Biography. Price 25 cents.

A Tour of the Missouri Botanical Garden: A Guide for Garden
Visitors. Price 25 cents,

The Missouri Botanical Garden: What It Is and What It Does.
Price 50 cents.

Bromeliads. Price 25 cents.

Cycads. Price 25 cents.

Philodendrons. Price 25 cents.

Water-lilies. Price 25 cents.

CARDS AND STATIONERY.
Post-cards of Garden views. Price 5 cents each.
Christmas Cards of Garden Views. Price 15 cents each.
Note paper of Audubon prints. Price $1.00 per box of 20 sheets

and envelopes.

AISSOURI BOTANICAL
GARDE ULLETIN

CONTENTS

The Story of the Star of Bethlehem Orchid What’s Green? —
Popcorn and Cranberries 1955 Discoveries
Winter Sweet The 1955 Horticultural Congress

General Index to Volume XLIII

olume XLII December, 1955 Number 10

Cover:—The Star of Bethlehem Orchid (Angracenm sesquipedale) displayed at the
Garden in December.

Office of publication: 306 E. Simmons Street, Galesburg, Illinois.

Editorial Office: Missouri Botanical Garden, 2315 Tower Grove Avenue,
St. Louis, 10, Missouri.

Published monthly except July and August by the Board of Trustees of the
Missouri Botanical Garden. Subscription price: $2.50 a year.

Entered as second-class matter January 26, 1942, at the post-office at Gales-
burg, Illinois, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Please: Do not discard a copy of the Bulletin. If you have no further use for yours
pass it along toa friend or return it to the Garden. Return postage guaranteed.

Missour1 Botanical
Garden Bulletin

Vol. XLII

DECEMBER, 1955 No. 10

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM ORCHID AND ITS STORY

EDGAR ANDERSON

hice Star of Bethlehem Orchid is
a Christmas flower. This year,
as every year, its waxy buds were
swelling rapidly in our greenhouses in
early December. By the middle of the
month the first of them had opened
and expanded into strange six-pointed
stars as large as your hand, smooth
ivory flowers which will persist into
the holiday season. It is indeed a
Christmas flower both in feeling and
in the time of year it blooms, but its
story is not at all a Christmas story,
though an interesting one in its own
way and quite worth the telling. It is
a story about Charles Darwin and how
far ahead he was of many of the sci-
entists of his own time,

Half of the story can be read in
one of Darwin’s masterpieces, a 300-
page volume on orchids, a book with
a long Victorian title that rolls off the
tongue like an old-fashioned oration,
“The Various Contrivances by which
Orchids are Fertilized by Insects”.
During his long career Darwin carried
on several series of investigations

which in one way or another grew out

of his interest in Evolution. One of
these was a survey of the varied and
complex devices by which cross-pol-
lination is achieved in different kinds
of orchids. This was the interest which
led him to Angraecum sesquipedale,
the big, starry-flowered orchid from
the jungles of Madagascar which was
introduced into European greenhouses
more than a century ago.

The flower of this Star of Bethlehem
orchid is strange, even for an orchid
flower. It is larger than many of
them, with a wide expanse of pure
ivory. There are none of the spottings
or bizarre shapings which are so nearly
universal in this family of floral prima
donnas. As one can see from the illus-
tration, the big blossom is “chaste in
outline and uniform in texture. It has
one astonishing feature which gave
rise to the mouth-filling scientific
name “‘sesquipedale’’, this being merely
a technical way of indicating a length
of one foot and a half. The long,
whip-like nectary which opens in the
center of the blossom and hangs down
far below it is a narrow, greenish-

(143)

144 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

white tube 12 to 18 inches long with
a honey-like nectar in its terminal
inch or so.

This was the feature which first
Why should there
be such a long tube, and then only a

puzzled Darwin.

little nectar in the very end of it?
Big, white flowers with long honey
tubes are usually pollinated by night-
flying moths. The flower shines in the
moonlight, the giant moths are nectar
feeders and have tongues so long they
are neatly rolled up below their mouth
parts when the moths are not feeding.
Perhaps, thought Darwin, the long
tube with nectar in only the very tip
would cause such a moth to push its
head way into the center of the bloom
to reach far enough down to get these
few precious drops. He took a slender
rod of about the diameter of a moth’s
head and forced it into the position the
insect would have to take on such a
theory, then withdrew it gently. The
sticky masses of pollen were automat-
ically transferred to the rod! Darwin
explains all this in technical detail in
his monograph:

= . I, therefore, took a cylindrical rod
one-tenth of an inch in diameter, and pushed
it down through the cleft in the rostellum.
The margins readily separated and were pushed
downwards together with the whole rostellum.
When I slowly withdrew the cylinder the
rostellum rose from its elasticity and the mar-
gins of the cleft were upturned so as to clasp
the cylinder. Thus the viscid strips of mem-
brane on each underside of the cleft rostellum
came into contact with the cylinder, and firmly
adhered to it; and the pollen-masses were with-
drawn. By this means I succeeded every time
in withdrawing the pollinia; and it cannot, I
think, be doubted that a large moth would
thus act; that is, it would drive its proboscis
up to the very base through the cleft of the
rostellum, so as to reach the extremity of the
nectary; and then the pollinia attached to the

base of its proboscis would be safely with-
drawn.”

No such moth was known from
Madagascar in Darwin’s time but to
him the case was clear. The data and
the theory all fitted together nicely
and agreed with his vast understanding
of cross-pollination in orchids and
other kinds of plants. However, he
was immediately ridiculed by several
entomologists but bore their scorn with
Olympian calm, merely pointing out
in his book that a tropical sphinx moth
nearly as large had already been found
in Brazil.

So the matter rested until well after
Darwin’s death. A French scientific
expedition to Madagascar eventually
collected the moth. It was a giant,
night-flying sphinx moth as Darwin
had predicted. The little specialists,
who ridiculed the theory worked out
by a first-class mind that viewed the
problem as a whole, were wrong and
Darwin was right. The proboscis of
the giant sphinx of Madagascar was
fully as long as he had predicted it
would have to be.

Darwin, you see, had the whole
problem in mind, not just part of it.
His discussion of the relation between
the course of evolution in the moths
and in the orchids is still timely for
students of evolution. It is a funda-
mental piece of scientific reasoning
quite worth the extra trouble of fol-
lowing with extra-close attention. Lis-
ten then to Darwin as he discusses the
evolutionary tension between the or-
chids and the moths:

“If the Angraecum in its native forests
secretes more nectar than did the vigorous
plants sent me by Mr. Bateman, so that the
nectary ever becomes filled, small moths might

obtain their share, but they would not benefit
the plant. The pollinia would not be with-

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

drawn until some huge moth, with a wonder-
fully long proboscis, tried to drain the last
drop.* If such great moths were to become
extinct in Madagascar, assuredly the Angrae-
cum would become extinct. On the other
hand, as the nectar, at least in the lower part
of the nectary, is stored safe from the depreda-
tion of other insects, the extinction of the
Angraecum would probably be a serious loss
to these moths. We can thus understand how
the astonishing length of the nectary had been
acquired by successive modifications. As cer-
tain moths of Madagascar became larger
through natural selection in relation to their
general conditions of life, either in the larval
or mature state, or as the proboscis alone was
lengthened to obtain honey from the Angrae-
cum and other deep tubular flowers, those in-

145

dividual plants of the Angraecum which had
the longest nectaries (and the nectary varies
much in length in some Orchids), and which,
consequently, compelled the moths to insert
their proboscides up to the very base, would
be best fertilised. These plants would yield
most seed, and the seedlings would generally
inherit long nectaries; and so it would be in
successive generations of the plant and of the
moth. Thus it would appear that there has
been a race in gaining length between the
nectary of the Angraecum and the proboscis
of certain moths; but the Angraecum has
triumphed, for it flourishes and abounds in
the forests of Madagascar, and still troubles
each moth to insert its proboscis as deeply as
possible in order to drain the last drop. of
nectar.”

*“Mr. Belt suggests (“The Naturalist in Nicaragua,’ 1874, p. 133) that the great length of the
nectary of this plant serves to prevent other moths which are not well-adapted for the fertilization

of the flowers from sucking the nectar, and that its development can thus be accounted for.

I have

no doubt of the truth of this principle, but it is hardly applicable here, as the moth has to be

compelled to drive its proboscis as deeply down as possible into the flower.’

’

iS

njiDEE= Be

146 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

POPCORN AND CRANBERRIES

HUGH C. CUTLER

HRISTMAS trees these days are
C trimmed with mass-production
ornaments. The old-fashioned strings
of popcorn and cut paper, the painted
homemade decorations, are almost for-
gotten. Electric lights are safer than
the little candles which made the
Christmas season so dangerous, but
there was a symbolism in the old-fash-
ioned tree which is lacking in those of
today.

Do you remember the long strings
of popcorn? Many nights were spent
popping the corn and staying home
with the family to push the needle and
thread through hundreds of kernels.
Festooned from tip to top of the
branches, the white ribbon suggested
snow and helped to recall that corn
was one of our many gifts from the
Indians.

Popcorn was grown and used by the
Indians long before raised bread was
known in Europe. Popped kernels have
been discovered in ruins of old villages
from Chile to the southwestern United
States, and the kinds we grow today
are scarcely different from those the
Indians grew more than a thousand
years ago; some kinds of popcorn were
probably being grown over five thou-
sand years ago.

There are two main kinds of pop-
corn in the United States, the rice va-
rieties with pointed kernels, and the
pearl varieties with rounded grains.
Most of the common pearl varieties are
deep yellow and the popped corn is

usually not a brilliant white, so the
rice varieties are to be preferred for
ornaments, either for stringing or for
small snowball-like balls suspended by
a loop of string molded in the ball.

The best popcorn will increase in
volume more than thirty times when
it is properly popped, but unless there
is the right amount of moisture the
grains may scarcely open. Keeping it
in an open container in the refrigerator
is a good way to insure that the mois-
ture content is close to the optimum
for the best explosion.

Popcorn strings are often varied by
adding a few cranberries. Here is not
only a pleasant contrast of white and
red, but the meeting of a food which
represents the greatest achievement of
the American Indian with a_ food
which was once gathered only from
wild plants. Cranberries grow wild
only in boggy and sandy places where
there is just the right combination of
acid soil or peat with water. Prac-
tically all cranberries are still grown
in the places where the Indians gath-
ered them from wild plants but the
white man has developed a few im-
proved varieties, and he actually plants,
weeds, and cultivates cranberries, so
they are really a domesticated plant.
Most of the operations are done with
hand tools, and the large harvest
scoops, the cranberry rakes, are very
like the toothed scoops the Indians

used,

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 147

WINTER SWEET

LADISLAUS CUTAK

F you have visited the Economic

House in the Main Conservatory at
the Garden in early winter, you may
have detected a very sweet odor and
wondered from where the fragrance
came. Right near the entrance to the
Cactus House are two rather large
shrubby trees with olive-green foliage
and masses of white Ixora-like flowers.
That’s where the sweet odor comes
from. Because this highly ornamental
tree blooms in winter and produces
such delicious fragrance it has earned
the name, “Winter Sweet.”

In botanical circles, Winter Sweet is
known as Acokanthera spectabilis. It
belongs to the Apocynaceae or Dog-

bane family, which boasts such aristo-
crats as the Golden Allamanda and
the exotic Frangipani or Plumeria. In-
cidentally, both of these plants are
cultivated in our greenhouses and are
excellent flower producers. The fra-
grant flowers of the Frangipani are
used by the Hawaiians in lei-making.

Winter Sweet is a South African
plant, found in the coastal districts of
Natal, where it is said to grow on the
woody sand hills near the sea. It can
be grown as a pot plant but in order
to keep it shapely it must be pinched
or pruned judiciously. It prefers a
sunny location, plenty of water, and a

rich soil mixture consisting of loam

WINTER SWEET

(Acokanthera spectabilis)

148 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

and leafmold to which coarse sand is
added.

Winter Sweet was introduced into
Europe by B. S$. Williams about eighty-
three years ago and immediately was
acclaimed as an excellent stove plant.
The origin of the Garden’s two speci-
mens is obscure, but for sure we know
that they date back to 1898; there-
fore Winter Sweet is one of the oldest
of exotic plants still living at the Gar-
den and improving with age.

For many years the vegetation in
the Economic House was hiding the
floral mantle which enveloped the
Winter Sweet bushes, so slowly and
methodically larger obstructing trees
in the center bed were cut back or re-
moved and now the floral beauty of
the Winter Sweet can be fully appre-
ciated in the early winter months. The
pure white flowers in great profusion
set against a rich dark green back-
ground of foliage make the Winter

Sweet the flower of the month in the

Economic House during December and

January and sometimes the blooming
period extends into February.

Our two Winter Sweets are approx-
imately 12 to 15 feet tall, producing
an umbrella-like spread overhead equal
to the height. The 3-inch-thick trunk
and older branches are covered with
wrinkled and rough bark, dark brown
in color. The bark is considered to be
more or less poisonous. ‘The twigs are
dark green, obscurely-angled rather
than terete and having an arching or
pendent habit, exuding a milky gluti-
nous sap when bruised. The leaves are
elliptic to oblong-lanceolate in out-
line, 3 to 5 inches long by 1 to 2
inches broad, leathery, smooth on both
surfaces, opposite in arrangement, and
with a very short, thick petiole. At
first they are bright green throughout
but later assume darker color on the
upper side. The flowers appear in
dense terminal clusters of from 20 to
50 fragrant tubular pure white blos-
soms, which are characteristically 5-

lobed.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 149

WHAT'S GREEN?

JULIAN A. STEYERMARK

is ND THE GREEN GRASS grew all

A around”. So often as not, a
member of the Grass Family is blamed
for anything green that covers the
ground, especially if it is long, narrow,
and ‘“‘grass-like”. During the winter
months when green is particularly con-
spicuous against the bare ground or
over the brown leaves, it is interesting
to observe how frequently the green
turns out to belong to plants that are
not true grasses.

The most obvious “grass-like’’ plants
which are not grasses are the sedges
and rushes. In winter, as we climb
wooded Missouri hillsides, we are often
apt to encounter long, grassy leaves
belonging to the genus Carex, a mem-
ber of the sedge family. One of the
very ornamental species of this genus
with lily-like, strap-shaped evergreen
leaves growing in rosettes is Carex
albursina, while Carex Careyana is sim-
ilar with firmer, more closely veined
leaves purplish at the base. Both are
denizens of rich wooded limey slopes.
Many other species of Carex, likewise,
have leaves which are green all winter.

Another member of the sedge family
with grass-like leaves is the Needle
Spike Rush (Eleocharis acicularis).
This has fine needle-like foliage occur-
ring in dense mats, generally covering
the outer margins of natural upland
ponds. The erect, narrow, gray-green,
quill-like leaves of Wild Garlic (Allium

canadense) is conspicuous in wood-

lands and waste ground, and at first
sight resembles some grass.

During the winter there are many
kinds of plants which stay green and
cover the soil or grow in the crevices
of rocks: Leaf rosettes (dandelion,
plantain, thistle, mullein, Yellow
Rocket); evergreen ferns (Walking,
Christmas, Marginal Shield, Polypody,
Cliff-brake, Lip, Ebony Spleenwork,
Dissected Moonwort) and fern allies
(Ground Pine); water plants sub-
merged in the cold waters of springs
and spring branches (Hornwort, Coon-
tail, Water cress, Water Starwort,
Naiad, White Water Crowfoot, and
pondweeds); in woodlands the dense
rosette leaves of Fire-Pink (Silene vir-
ginica), the three-lobed leaves of
Hepatica, three-foliate strawberry-like
leaves of Barren Strawberry (Wald-
steinia fragarioides), the plaited, soli-
tary Aspidistra-like leaf of the Adam-
and-Eve Orchid (Aplectrum hyemale) ;
in fallow fields and sandstone “glades”’,
the fine-leaved runners of Pinweed
(Lechea tenuifolia and L. villosa), the
ornamental heather-like foliage of
Clubmoss (Selaginella rupestris); on
acid rocks, the rosettes of saxifrage
(Saxifraga pensylvanica, S. virginiensis,
and S. fexana).

To the above could be added num-
erous other examples. In fact, as we
begin to look about us, we discover a
multitude of greenery during the win-
ter that has nothing to do with grass.

150 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

1955 DISCOVERIES

JULIAN A.

i). 1955 fifty counties in Mis-

twenty-

sourl were botanized
one Ozark, four southeast lowland, ten
central, and fifteen northern Missouri
counties. New areas continue to be
explored and provide valuable previ-
ously unknown records of phytogeo-
graphic significance.

Two species were added to the flora
of the state this year: (1) Trisetum
pensylvanicum, an eastern species
which I found in the remarkable Ile.
Opaca locality in Stoddard County
where I turned up two species last
year new to Missouri; and (2) Brachi-
aria erucaeformis—a rare grass not
mentioned in either Gleason’s or Fer-
nald’s manuals—from Stone County.
I was conducting a survey of an area
to be dammed by the Table Rock Dam

when I encountered the grass

om . _ Tae e % Ret
Se

The mysterious basal leaves of the Umbrella
Plant. These are olive-green on the upper side
and gray-white on the under side. The author
had found rosettes like these in 1938 but
didn’t realize what he had until 1953.

A white-fruited form of a species
of Rubus was collected from Texas
County in an area where it was known

to exist for the past twenty-five years.

STEYERMARK

This form may prove to be an unde-
scribed one after it has been studied
carefully.

A visit during October to several
new Ilex opaca localities in Stoddard
County yielded the Green Wood Orchis
(Habenaria clavellata), Oldenlandia
uniflora, and the Chain Fern (Lorin-
seria areolata), the first two previously
known only from Dunklin County
where Bush collected them in the late
1890’s, and the last previously known
from two remote localities in Butler
and Barton counties, and one of the
rarest ferns in the state.

The southeastern lowland counties
have continued to yield many new sur-
prises and indicate that much field
work remains to be done in that sec-
tion of the state. The same holds true
for the northern Missouri counties
which again added many fine new
records during 1955. A_ grass, Era-
grostis reptans, previously known only
from Jackson County, was discovered
this year in Livingston County.

The Umbrella Plant (Eriogonum
longifolium), “lost” since Blankinship’s
original “Oregon County” discovery
of it, was collected in flower this year
in Ozark County.

Additional White River relicts of
southeastern lowland-Mississippi Em-
bayment distribution were found dur-
ing a survey of the Table Rock Dam
area in Taney, Stone, and Barry coun-
ties. They are Diodia virginiana, pre-
viously known only from the swamp

regions of southeastern Missouri and

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 151

Close-up of a portion of the flowering branch
of Umbrella Plant. Note the small flowers in
bunches arising from tiny cups (involucres).

the vicinity of sinkhole ponds in
Howell County, and Jussiaea decur-

wa —

as
Mar ou ed |

rens, Other swamp-loving species, as-
sociated with southeastern Missouri,
such as Pluchea camphorata, Rubus
trivialis, and Cissus arborea, also were
added to Stone and/or Barry counties
Altogether, 2,500
different collections were made during
the 1955 season.

as new records.

Second records in the state were also
obtained for two plants. A summer-
flowering Larkspur (Delphinium ex-
altatum) was added a few years ago
to the flora of the state by Mr. Leslie
Hubricht on a field trip with Dr. An-
derson into Shannon County. This
summer I found it in Howell County
near the Arkansas line and in another
station in Shannon County. The Amer-
ican Frog-bit (Limnobium Spongia),
previously known in Missouri from a
single collection made by Bush in the
1890’s in Dunklin County, southeast-
ern Missouri, was found this summer
in a slough of the Mississippi River
bottoms in Mississippi County.

iY.
€a 3)

152 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

THE 1955 MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL
CONGRESS, SCHEVENINGEN, THE NETHERLANDS

F. G. MEYER

OR OVER A WEEK, from August 29
F through September 6, the Neth-
erlands was our host. Over 1500
delegates from more than 50 countries
came to see, meet each other, and talk
about horticulture, not to mention
having a good time in such a delight-
ful place as Holland. This was the
14th International Horticultural Con-
gress since the 1889 Paris meeting.
The next Congress is planned for the
south of France or French Morocco in
1958. But in so far as this year’s
meeting was concerned, few countries
could have offered so many fine oppor-
tunities to the visiting horticulturist
as The Netherlands in so short a space
of time and area. Ten and a half
million Dutchmen live in and culti-
vate nearly three-quarters of their
area, all within a space comparable to
the combined areas of Massachusetts
and Connecticut. Dutch horticulture
epitomizes efficient land use where
horticulture and land use are insep-
arable. So, hardly could an Interna-
tional Horticulture meeting in The
Netherlands be anything but a success
in so far as the Dutch could make it so.

We as delegates were housed in sev-
eral world-renowned resort hotels at
Scheveningen on the North Sea, which
hails as one of Europe’s oldest and
most respected resorts on the outskirts
of The Hague. The tourist season was
very much on the wane so that condi-
tions for the tranquility of the dele-

gates were greatly benefited. We had

the place almost all to ourselves. The
meetings were held in the mid-Vic-
torian atmosphere of the beach-side
Kurhaus, a Germanic structure about
one hundred years old. The meetings
opened with a general plenary session
at which Dr. Frank P. Cullinan, Chief,
Horticultural Crops Research, United
States Department of Agriculture,
Washington, gave the address on “Cur-
rent Trends in Horticultural Research
in the United States.” Talking shop
and partaking of whole-hearted Dutch
hospitality all the while put the finish-
ing touches to the whole Congress
atmosphere.

On the more serious side, over 150:
lectures by the delegates were pre-
sented on various horticultural topics
to include Vegetable and Seed Grow-
ing, Arboriculture, Tropical and Sub-
tropical Cultures, Fruit Growing,
Floriculture, and Bulb Growing. For
instance, we heard about growing
tomatoes in New Zealand, breeding
vegetable crops in the United States,
the use of the new mist method for
vegetative propagation, antibiotics in
the control of plant disease, origins of
cultivated plants, and fruit culture in
Central America. There was also a
symposium on roses. The majority of
the reports included topics with agri-
cultural applications. Problems in
breeding ornamentals came in for less
emphasis, and it was lamentable that
only about a quarter of the topics
dealt with this field of horticulture.

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 153

Before and during the Congress, at
least fifteen excursions were offered
the delegates to such places as the bulb
research station at Lisse, the experi-
mental station for floriculture at Aals-
meer, the nursery area at Boskoop, and
the center of horticultural research at
Wageningen where fifty laboratories
carry on research on every facet of
Dutch horticulture. Possibly the most
notable feature of Dutch horticulture
is the ability to turn basic research in-
to practical use. These informally
conducted excursions for the Congress
delegates, each for an entire day, gave
opportunity to meet fellow workers
from many parts of the world under
ideal and relaxed conditions.

Several long-enduring functions of
the Congress came in for special at-
tention, such as the International Com-
mittee for naming cultivated plants.
The job here is to try and keep con-
fusion in plant naming under con-
trol. Such groups as the Iris, Holly,
Rose, Hemerocallis, and Chrysanthe-
mum societies, the Dutch bulb grow-
ers, the Royal Horticultural Society
are recommended to act as International

Registration Authorities for their re-
spective groups. All this is directed
at bringing greater stability for the
professional and amateur alike who use
plant names. Preparations also were
made to establish an International So-
ciety for Horticultural Science with
headquarters in The Netherlands. This
would be a step towards easing world
tensions along lines of mutual interests.

A symphony concert for the dele-
gates in the Kurhaus, an official re-
ception at a suburban castle, and a
parting banquet at the National Bird
Park called “Avifauna’ were high-
lights on the social calendar. On one
day, the town of Amsterdam provided
all the facilities for an inspiring boat
trip through the canals of this historic
town of the Rembrandts. Before the
canal trip, several sunny hours were
spent as guests of the town of Amster-
dam in the Olympic Stadium witness-
ing the annual Aalsmeer flower parade
which is one of the spectacles in
Europe. One goes to England to see
immaculate and gay cottage gardens,
but to Holland to see kaleidoscopic
commercial garden estates

A New House Plant.—When travelling in western Europe this summer we
saw an unusual Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica var. decora) in store windows, flower
shops, and botanical gardens. What attracted us especially about the plant was
its growth habit and its permanently iridescent bronze evergreen leaves. The
variety decora has blunt-tipped and rather closely spaced leaves and its branching
usually begins low on the stem, unlike the common form which is noted for its
legginess and widely spaced leaves. The Bronze-leaved Rubber Plant, although
still a rarity in the United States, can be recommended as an outstanding addition

to a growing list of useful and handsome house plants. —F.G.M.

154 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

GENERAL INDEX

Figures in ffalics refer to page numbers of illustrations.

A

Acokanthera spectabilis, 147, 147

Ageratum, Blue, 134, 135

Allium canadense, 149

Althaea, 132

Amancaise, festival of, 91

Anchusa myosotidiflora, 131

Ancient seed plants: The Cycads, 65

Anderson, Edgar: Go to the index first, 125;
Henry Shaw papers, 29; Horticultural con-
sultants, 29; Is the tomato a fruit or a
vegetable?, 60; Laelio-Cattleya “Ellen A.
Ricker,” 137; Learning a little something
about Aroids, 111; Memories of Alice East-
wood, 123; The Missouri Primrose, 90; A
nice quiet evening with a potato, 50; The
Peruvian Daffodil, 91; Review of Christo-
pher’s “Pruning Manual,” 15; A second
harvest, 115; A series of BULLETINS about
the Ozarks, 1; Some fine new Forsythias for
St. Louis gardens, 53; The Star of Bethlehem
orchid and its story, 143, Dec. cover; with
George H. Pring: The Monkey-face Lady-
slipper, June back-cover.

Angraecum sesquipedale, 143

Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 16,
48, 141

Annuals in a city garden, 135

Aplectrum hyemale, 149

Arboretum: Crossbills at the, 31; design of,
46; drought, effect of, at, 88; during the
early spring, 45; Juniper invasion in old
field at, 30; map of, showing principal plant-
ings, 47; Missouri Primrose at the, 90;
Pinetum in spring at the, March cover

Arisaema triphyllum, 97

Aroids: Learning a little something about, 111;
ornamental, as house plants, 97

Aster novac-angliae, 135

Aster, New England, 135

Autumn: flower shows, 121; flowers blooming
in a city garden in, 136

B

Bachelor’s-buttons, 133

Balm, Red, 135

Barbour, Evelyn, 65

Barometz, 25

Beard-tongue, Purple, &4

Beautybush, 129

Bee plants, Beilmann demonstrating distillation
of oil in, 37

Beilmann demonstrating distillation of Moun-
tain Mint, 37

Beilmann, August P.: Missouri’s Ozarks, 33;
Some shade-tree problems, 88; Water power
in the Ozarks, 43

Benson and Darrow’s “Trees and shrubs of
the southwestern deserts,” review of, 13

Black Cohosh, 82

Blue Mist Flower, 135

Book accessions, new, in the Garden library,
141

Book Reviews: Benson & Darrow’s “The Trees
and Shrubs of the Southwestern Deserts,”
13; Bower’s ‘Winter-hardy Azaleas and
Rhododendrons,” 62; Christopher’s “Pruning
Manual,” 15; Harrington’s “Manual of the
Plants of Colorado,” 14; Muenscher & Rice’s
“Garden Spice and Wild Pot Herbs,” 126;
Northen & Northen’s ‘The Secrets of the
Green Thumb,” 63; Rickett’s “Wild Flow-
ers of Missouri,” 62; Tryon’s ‘Ferns and
Fern Allies of Minnesota,” 32

Borametz, 25, 20

Botanizing in Missouri, in 1955, 150

Botany, studying by means of a potato, 50

Bouncing Bet, 133

Bowenia, 74; serrulata, 70

Bower’s “‘Winter-hardy Azaleas and Rhodo-
dendrons,” review of, 62

Brachiaria erucaeformis, 150

Brauneria, 133

Breyn’s ‘“‘Dissertiuncula de Agno Vegetabili
Scythico,” illustration of Vegetable Lamb
from, 20

Bridalwreath, 129

Bulb forcing, course in, during 1955, 138

Bulbs, spring-flowering, 130

Buttercup, Creeping, 131

Cc

Cactus and Succulent Show, 121

Carex albursina, 149; Careyana, 149

Cattleya: aurantiaca, the orange Cattleya, 30,
30; Faba, 137

Cedars in the Ozarks, 31, 30, 40

Ceratozamia mexicana, 71

Cercis canadensis, 129

“Ceriman, Dwarf,” 101

Chaste Tree, 132

Chinese Evergreen, 111

Christmas: decorations of popcorn and cran-
berries, 146; flower, Star of Bethlehem
Orchid, Dec. cover, 143

Christopher’s ‘The Pruning Manual,’ review
of, 15

Cibotium Barometz, 27

Cimicifuga racemosa, 82

Cissus arborea, 151

City, gardening in the, 127

Cohosh, Black, &2

Columbines, 131

Cone-flowers, 133

Cones of Cycads, 65, male, 68

Conservation in the Ozarks, 42

Corn: a second harvest of, used for study,
115; flowers of, 118, 720; internodes of a

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 135

plant, 778; leaves from two varieties, 1/6,
117; popped, as a Christmas decoration, 146;
view of developing ears of, 114, 118

Cornelian Cherry, 128

Cornus mas, 128

Cranberries, as Christmas decorations, 146

Courses in horticulture given at Garden, 138

Crossbills at the Arboretum, 31

Cutak, Ladislaus: Philodendron, the versatile
and most decorative house plant, 97; Win-
ter Sweet, 147

Cutler, Hugh C.: Popcorn and cranberries,
146

Cycad House, plants in the, 65, 78, 79

Cycads: collection of, at Garden, 76, guide to,
77, 78, 79; cones, 65; distribution of living
and fossil genera of, 71, 72; economic uses,
73; fossil, 73; geological history and _ rela-
tionships, 73; habitats of, 70; key to genera,
80; leaves, 67; morphology of, 70; stems, 67

Cycas, 74; circinalis, 66, 67, 74, 75, 76, 80;
media, 74; revoluta, 76, sporophylls and
seeds of, May cover

Cypripedium hirsutissimum, June back-cover

D

Daffodil, The Peruvian, 91

Daffodils, 130

Dahlia Show, 121

Dams in the Ozarks: destructive effect of, 38;
water power from, 43

Darwin, Erasmus, 27

Darwin’s, Charles, study of Star of Bethlehem
orchid, 143

Davis, Edward, 65

Day-lilies, 133, 733

Del phinium exaltatum, 155

Dendrobium House at the Garden, view in,
April cover

Dendrobium nobile, 49

Dendrobiums, good orchids for St. Louis, 49

Deutzia gracilis, 129; Lemoinei, 129

Diodia virginiana, 150

Dioon, 74; edule, 69; spinulosum, 69, 70

Discoveries, 1955, 150

Dogwood, Flowering, in the Ozarks, 87

Drought, effects of: in Ozark region, 11; on
trees, 54, 88; the three-year, on Missouri
plant life, 54

Duret’s, “Histoire Admirable des Plantes,” de-
scription of Vegetable Lamb from, 25, illus-
tration from, Feb. cover

E

Eastwood, Alice, Memories of, 123

Eleocharis acicularis, 149

Encephalartos, 74; caffer, 74, male cones of,
68; kosiensis, 75; Lehmannii, 74

Eragrostis reptans, 150

Eriogonum longifolium, 150, 150, 151

Erosion in the Ozarks, 38

Eupatorium species, 134; coelestinum, 134, 135;
urticaefolium, 126

F

Falling Spring Mill, 43, 44

Fennel, Florence, as a house plant, 31

Ferns: Barometz, 275; Chain, 150; relation of
Cycads to, 65; remaining green in the win-
ter, 149

Fertilizing: newly planted trees and shrubs,
18; Philodendrons, 101

Ficus elastica var. decora, 153

Fishing in the Ozarks, 40

Flora of Missouri, new additions to, in 1955,
150

Flower displays: autumn, 121; spring, 45

Flowering shrubs for St. Louis, 22, 128

Flowering trees for St. Louis, 19, 129

Food: Cycads as, 74; Grasses as, 115

Forests: effects of drouths on, 11, 54; in
Ozarks, 5, 11, 36, 38, 41

Forsythia: “Beatrix Farrand,” 53; intermedia
spectabilis, 129; “Lynwood Gold,” 53;
“Spring Glory,” 53

Forsythias, Some fine new, for St. Louis gar-
dens, 53

Fossil Cycads, 73

Freeze, The Big, 64; effect of, on trees, 88, on
vegetation, 95

Frog-bit, American, 150

Fruit or vegetable, Is the tomato a?, 60

Fruit Salad Vine, 101

G

Game in the Ozarks, 41

Garden and Arboretum during the early spring,
45

Gardening courses during 1955 and 1956, 138

Gardening in the city, 127; plants used for,
128

Garlic, wild, 149

Gentry, Dr. H. S., 48

Gillespie, Robert J., 139: Resupination in
Orchids, 122

Glacial period in northern Missouri, effect of,
on the flora, 86

Glade Lily, June cover, 81, 90

Golden Glow, 135

Graduates of Shaw School of Botany, new
positions of, 141

Grass: corn as a, 115; importance of, as food,
115; green, in winter, 149; new to Missouri,
150

Grassland as a conservation measure, 39

Green, What’s?, 149?

Green Wood Orchis, 150

Greer Spring, lower outlet, Jan. cover

Ground covers, 131

Gymnosperms, relation of Cycads to, 65

H

Habenaria clavellata, 150

Harrington’s “Manual of the Plants of Colo-
rado,” review of, 14

Harvest, A second, 115

Harvest Show, Third Annual, 121

Heat of 1954, effect of, on vegetation, 59, 88

Hemerocallis fulva, 133, 133

156 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN

Henry Shaw: historic pageant portraying life
of, 124; papers, 29

Henry Shaw School of Botany, new positions
of former students in, 141

Herbaceous plants, effects of three-year drouth
on, 55

Herbarium of Missouri Botanical Garden, 87

Highway construction in Ozarks, effects of, on
erosion, 38

Hollyhocks, 133

Honduras, Philodendron vine growing in, Oc?.
cover, 112

Honeysuckle: Fragrant, 128; Hall’s, 730, 131

Horner, Nell C.: Gardening in the City, 127

Horticultural consultants, 29

Horticultural Congress, International, the 1955
meeting of the, 152

Horticultural courses at Garden in 1955 and
1956, 138

Hosta caerulea, 132, 135; japonica, 132

Hottentot Bread Fruit, 74

Houlihan, Joseph F.: Trees and shrubs for St.
Louis, 17

House plant: Florence Fennel as a, 31; Philo-
dendron, the versatile and most decorative,
97; Bronze-leaved Rubber Plant, 153

House plants: conditions for growing, 98;
orchids as, 139

Huzzah Creek, view of, 3

Hymenocallis narcissiflora, 91

I

Index, Go to, first, 125

Indians, use of popcorn by, 146

Insects: attacking Aroids, 98; damage to trees
by, 89; pollinating orchids, 144

International Horticultural Congress, 1955
meeting of, 152

Iris pallida, 131

Ismene calathina, 91

Ivy, Bulgarian, 132

J

Jacks Fork, a gravel bar at a bend of, /, bluffs
along, 10

Jetbead, 129

Joachim Creek near Farmington, 34

Juniper invasion in an old field at Arboretum,

39

Jussiaea decurrens, 151

K
Kaffir Bread, 74

Kerria japonica, 129

Keys to Floras and Manuals, 125

Kidd, Harold J., 65

Kolkwitzia, 129

Krapovickas, Dr. and Mrs. Antonio, 32

Lady-slipper, the Monkey-face, June back-cover

Laelio-Cattleya: “Ellen A. Ricker,” nov. cover,
137; “Geraldine S$. Thompson,” 137

Landscapes in the Ozarks, 39

Larkspur, annual, 133; summer-flowering, 151

Lawn, making a, in the city, 128

Lee’s, “The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary,” 28

Library of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 63;
new accessions, 141

Limnobium Spongia, 151

“Lippagator” course in plant propagation, 139

Live-forevers, 136

Long, Robert, 65

Loess mounds, flora of, in northern Missouri, 83

Lonicera fragrantissima, 128; japonica var.
Halliana, 131

Lorinseria areolata, 150

M

Macrozamia: Denisonii, 65, 66; Hopei, 69;
spiralis, 76, 77

Magnolia Soulangeana, 129; stellata, 120

Magnolias: Saucer, 129; Star, 130

Malays, use of Cycads for food by, 74

Martin, Chester, 65

Mealybugs on Philodendrons, 101

Meyer, F. G.: The 1955 meeting of the Inter-
national Horticultural Congress, Schevenin-
gen, Netherlands, 152; A new house plant,
153

Mikula, Bernard, 65

Mills operated by water power in Ozarks, 43

Missouri Botanical Garden collection of Cycads,
75, 79

Missouri: Advance of spring in, 95; geology
of, 86; map of, showing areas of botanical
interest, SQ; views in, Jan. cover, I, 3, 10,
12; Wildflower contrasts between northern
and southern, 81

Missouri plant life: discoveries, in 1955, 150;
effect of big freeze on, 95; effects of three-
year drouth on, 54; studied by Steyermark,
59, 150

Missouri Primrose, June cover, 81, 90

Missouri’s Ozarks, 33

Mohlenbrook, Robert, 65

Moist habitats, effects of drouth on plants
growing in, 57

Monarda didyma, 135

Monkey-face Lady-slipper, June back-cover

Monstera deliciosa, 101; pertusa, 103

Moths, pollination of orchids by, 144

Muenscher & Rice’s “Garden Spice and Wild
Pot Herbs,” review of, 126

Mulching: newly planted trees and shrubs,
128; Philodendrons, 98

N

Naming cultivated plants, International com-
mittee for, 153

Narcissus: “February Gold,” 130; “King Al-
fred,” 130; “Sir Watkin,’ 130

Native plants, see Wildflowers

“Natural balance” in the Ozarks, 39

Nepeta hederacea, 132

Nephthytis, 111

Netherlands, The 1955 meeting of the Inter-
national Horticultural Congress in, 152

Northen and Northen’s “The Secret of the
Green Thumb,” review of, 62

MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 157

O

Ocnothera missouriensis, June cover, 8%, 90

Oldenlandia uniflora, 150

Orchid growing, course on, given in 1956, 139

Orchids: Adam and Eve, 149; Dendrobiums,
good orchids for St. Louis, 49; fertilization
of flowers of, 144; Green Wood Orchis,
150; in northern Missouri, 83; insects, cross-
pollination by, 144; Laelio-Cattleya “Ellen
A. Ricker,” Nov. cover, 137; Monkey-face
Lady-slipper, June back-cover; Resupination
in, 122; Star of Bethlehem, 143, Dec. cover

““Overshot”” wheel for generating water power
in the Ozarks, 42, 43

Ozarks springs, 43

Ozarks, A series of Bulletins about the, 1:
Missouri’s, 33; Their past, present and
future, 2; Water power in the, 33

Ozarks, the: animal life in, 40, 41; areas of
botanical interest, 8-0; conservation in, 11,
42; erosion in, 38; farming in, 35; fishing
and hunting in, 36; flora of, 3, 81, 86;
forests in, 5, 11, 36, 38, 41; future of, 11;
geography of. 33; geology of, 2, 86; people
of, 35; rainfall in, 11; recreation oppor-
tunities, 36, 41; views in, Jan. cover, 1, 3,
10, 12, 34; water power in, 43; wildflowers
in, 81

P

Palms: Nut, 74; Sago, 74

Paphiopedilum hirsutissimum, back cover June
Bull.

Peltandra virginica, 97

Penstemon Cobaea var. purpurea, 84

Perennials for a city garden, 130

Peruvian Daffodil, 91

Philodendron, 97; alatum, 106; Andreanum,
106; bipinnatifidum, 108; cannifolium, 107;
cordatum, 98, 101, 104, 106; corsinianum,
103; deflexum, 101; dubium, 107, 112;
Eichleri, 100; elegans, 107, Sept. cover;
erubescens, 09, 106, 107; Evansi, 108; Fos-
terianum, 108; gloriosum, 106, Sept. back-
cover; guttiferum, Sept. back-cover; has-
tatum, 106, 107, Sept. back-cover; Ilse-
mannii, 103; lacerum, 107, Sept. cover;
laciniatum, 105, Sept. cover; Mamei, 106:
Melinoni, 108, 108; micans, 106; Orlando,
108; oxycardium, 105; panduraeforme, 106,
Sept. cover; pertusum, 101; Pittieri, 106;
radiatum, 107, 113, 114, Sept. cover; sagit-
tifolium, 106; sanguineum, 107; scandens,
105; Selloum, 107, Sept. cover; Simsii, 106;
Sodiroi, 105, Sept. back-cover; squamiferum,
T02, 105; verrucosum, 105, Sept. back-cover:
Warscewiczii, 105, in Honduras, Oct. cover,
112; Wendlandii, 106, 107, 107, Sept. back-
cover

Philodendrons as house plants: climbing, 104;
conditions for growing, 98, 113; fertilizing,
101; grown at the Garden, 109; heart-leaf,
98, 101, 704, 105; hybrids, 103; insects at-
tacking, 98; mulching, 98; self-heading,

107; soil for, 98; tropical, 111; watering,
98

Pinetum at Arboretum, March cover

Plant propagation, course in, during 1956, 139

Plantain-lily, 132, 734

Planting trees and shrubs, 18: balled plants,
17; bare root plants, 17

Pluchea camphorata, 151

Plum tree, 129

Pollination of orchids by insects, 144

Polygonum Auberti, 135, 136

Popcorn and cranberries, 146

Potato: A nice quiet evening with a, 50;
botany of the, 51

Prairie flora in northern Missouri, 83

Primrose, The Missouri, June cover, 81, 90

Pring, George H., Edgar Anderson and: The
Monkey-face Lady-slipper, June back-cover

Propagation, plant, course in, 139

Pruning trees and shrubs, 24

R

Rainfall, reduced, effect of, in Ozark region, 11

Ranunculus repens, 131

Recreation opportunities in the Ozarks, 36

Red Balm, 135

Redbud, 129

Red Cedar in Missouri, 31, 30, 40

Resupination in Orchids, 122

Rhodotypos, 129

Ricker’s, Ellen, bequest to the Garden, 137

Rickett’s “Wild Flowers of Missouri,’ 62

Rose of Sharon, 132

Rose Pink, &5

Roses in a city garden, 132

Rubus, white-fruited form of, 150; frivialis,
151

Rudbeckia hirta, 135; laciniata var. hortensis,
135

Rushes, 149

Sabatia angularis, 85

Sago Palm, 74, 75

St. Louis Horticultural Society Show, 12

St. Louis: gardening in, 127; trees and shrubs
for, 17

Saponaria officinalis, 133

Scheveningen, Netherlands, meeting of Inter-
national Horticultural Congress at, 152

Schoenbrunn, Imperial Gardens, Philodendrons
grown in, 103

Sedges in winter, 149

Sedum spectabile, 136

Shade, gardening in the, 127

Shade and ornamental trees for St. Louis, 19

Shade-tree problems, Some, 88

Shaw, Henry, papers of, 29

Shaw’s Garden, Some facts about, 94

Shaw’s old country home, admission charges
to, 124

Shrubs: flowering, for a city garden, 128, 132;
for St. Louis, 17, 22

“Shut-ins” where St. Francis River has cut
through granite in Iron County, 12

158 MISSOURI BOTANICAL

Silene virginica, 149

Silver-lace Vine, 135, 130

Sloane, Sir Hans, 27

Soil: in an average backyard, 128; for grow-
ing Philodendrons, 98; for newly planted
trees and shrubs, 18

South African House, location of Cycads in, 78

Spiraea Bumalda var.“ Anthony Waterer,” 132;
prunifolia plena, 129

Spring: The Garden and Arboretum in, 45;
Advance of, in Missouri, 95

Spring-blooming plants for a city garden, 128

Spring Horticulture, course on, given in 1956,
140

Springs, Ozarks, effect of proposed dams on, 43

Stangeria paradoxa, 00

Star of Bethlehem Orchid and its story, 143

Stems of Cycads, 67

“Stewart’s Visit to the South Seas,” Feast of
Amancaise described in, 91

Steyermark, Julian A., 59: Advance of Spring
in Missouri, 95; Discoveries in 1955, 150;
the effects of the three-year drouth on Mis-
souri plant life, 54; The Ozarks—their past,
present, and future, 2; What’s green, 149;
Wildflower contrasts between northern and
southern Missouri, 81

Steyermark’s “Spring Flora of Missouri,’ 12
125

Students in Shaw School of Botany, former,
141

Summer-blooming plants for a city garden, 132

Swamp plants: effect of drouth on, 57; new,
found in Missouri in 1955, 151

Sweet-William, 130

Swertia caroliniensis, effect of drouth on, 57

Swiss-cheese Plant, 101, 111

Symplocarpus foetidus, 97

Symposium on systematics, second, at Garden,
141

Systematics, second symposium on, at Garden,
141

>

T

Tassel of corn plant, 117, 718

Tomato, a fruit or a vegetable?, 60

“Tower Grove”; paid admission to, 124

“tras-tras’, 112

Trees: effect of drought on, 54, 88; flowering,
for a city garden, 129, for St. Louis, 19;
in the Ozarks, 39, 39; shade trees, for St.
Louis, 19, Some problems of, 88

GARDEN BULLETIN

Trisetum pensylvanicum, 150

Tryon, Alice F., 48: The Vegetable Lamb of
Tartary, 25; review of R. M. Tryon’s “Ferns
and Fern Allies of Minnesota,” 32

Tryon, Rolla M., 48: Introduction to the
Cycad Bulletin, 65; “Ferns and Fern Allies
of Minnesota,” 32

Turner’s Mill in the Ozarks, 42, 43

U
Umbrella Plant, 150, 750, 151
Vv

Van Schaack, George B.: Review of Benson and
Darrow’s ‘Trees and Shrubs of Southwestern
Deserts,’ 13, of Harrington’s “Manual of
the Plants of Colorado,” 14

Vegetable, Is the tomato a fruit or a?, 60

Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, 25; illustrations
of, from old herbals, Feb. cover, 20; made
in Formosa, 28

Vines for a back-yard garden, 131, 136

Visitors during 1955, 32, 48, 137

Vitex Agnus-castus, 132

W

Water plants remaining green in winter, 149

Water power in the Ozarks, 43; machinery
used for, 43; “overshot” wheel, 42, 43;
turbine, 44

Watering: newly planted trees and shrubs, 91;
Philodendrons, 98

Watlington, Mr. Nathaniel, 48

Weather, of 1953-1955, effect of, on plants,
54, 88, 95

Weeds: in the lawn, 128; planted in a city
garden, 127

Weigelia, 129

Wildflower contrasts between northern and
southern Missouri, 81

Wildflowers: in the Ozarks, 3, 45, 54, 81; in
a city garden, 128, 136

Wildlife in the Ozarks, 40

Williams, Dr. Louis O., beside a vine of Philo-
dendron Warscewiczii, Oct. cover

Winter, green plants in, 149

Winter Sweet, 147, 147

Z

Zamia, 74; chiqua, 76; floridana, 76; fur-
furacea, 00; integrifolia, 67; pygmaea, 65,
66, 67, 69

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Henry HitrcHcock
RicHArp J. Lockwoop
HENRY B. PFLAGER

A. WESSEL SHAPLEIGH
RoBERT BROOKINGS SMITH

JOHN S. LEHMANN, President
DaNnieEL K. Car in, Vice-President
EUGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President
LeIcESTER B. Faust

DupLEY FRENCH

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS
James F. MorreE Lt,

President of the Board co) Education
of St. Louis

EtHaN A. H. SHEPLEY,
Chancellor of Washington University

ARTHUR C, LICHTENBERGER,

Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri a.
STRATFORD LEE Morton,
RayMOND R. TUCKER, President of the Academy of Science
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis

THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL

Bill Bauer, Clarence Barbre, Clifford W. Benson, E. G. Cherbonnier, Robert
E. Goetz, Paul Hale, Mrs. W. Warren Kirkbride, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet
Layton, John E. Nies, Gilbert Pennewill, Harold E. Wolfe, John $. Lehmann,
Edgar Anderson, W. F. Scott, Jr., Chairman.

STAFF
George T. Moore _ saith Veerane Sure 08, ee eee Emeritus Director
te Ege os (<5: a ee ee oer ee ee #22 == Director
PURE Ne AOE W Sich accep eres ee ee OO Pa IaE
August P. Beilmann Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit
Moule Ge -Bremne tis. ee ee _ Arborist

Ladislaus Cutak
Hugh C. Cutler
Carroll W. Dodge
John D. Dwyer
Robert J. Gillespie
Nell C. Horner
Lawrence Kaplan _
Ida M. Kohl
Paul A. Kohl ~
Edna Mepham
Frederick G. Meyer-
George H. Pring

Betty O’Brien Putney.
Kenneth A. Smith
Julian A. Steyermark —_-
Alice F. Tryon... ;

Rolla M. Tryon, Jr.

George B. Van Schaack
Robert E. Woodson, Jr.

_ Assistant Director and Curator of the Museum

Rita tissteos, NAV OOIORISE
<r Research Associate
(4 a ee In charge of Orchids

_.......... Librarian and Editor
Associate Curator of Museum
_Assistant Librarian

Floriculturist
Assistant Librarian
_ Dendrologist
ad oni ne ey Superintendent
_.... Assistant to the Director
Engineer

__._...Honorary Research Associate
: _Research Associate
Assistant Curator of Herbarium
Acting Curator of Herbarium

— Senior Taxonomist

SOME FACTS ABOUT SHAW’S GARDEN

The Missouri Botanical Garden (the official name chosen by
Mr. Shaw) carries on the garden established by Henry Shaw
over a century ago at Tower Grove, his country home. It is
a private institution and has no support from city or state. The
old stone walls and cast-iron fences, the Linnaean House, the
Museum, the Mausoleum, and the Tower Grove mansion all
date from Mr. Shaw’s time. Since his death, as directed in his
will, the Garden has been in the hands of a Board of Trustees

who appoint the Director.

The Garden is open every day in the year (except New
Year’s and Christmas) from nine A. M. until seven P. M. (April
to November) and until six (November to April) though the
greenhouses close at five. —Towrr Grove, itself, Mr. Shaw’s old
country home, is epen from one until four. The Garden is
nearly a mile long and has several entrances. The Main Entrance,
the one used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora
Place on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southampton
buses (No. 80), direct from downtown, pass within three blocks
of this entrance and stop directly across the street from the
Administration Building at 2315 Tower Grove Avenue. The
latter is the best entrance for students, visiting scientists, etc.
It is open to such visitors after 8:30 a.m., but is closed on Sat-
urdays, Sundays, and holidays. There is a service entrance on

Alfred Avenue, one block south of Shaw Avenue.

Since Mr. Shaw’s time an Arboretum has been developed at
Gray Summit, Mo., adjacent to State Highways 50 and 66.
It is open every day in the year and has two miles of auto roads
as well as foot trails through the wild-flower reservation. There
is a pinetum and an extensive display of daffodils and other

narcissi from March to early May.