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MussouURI IBOTANICAL 
GARDEN |JBULLETIN 


VOLUME XLIV 


1956 


ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 


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


SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: $2.50 A YEAR 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 
GARDEN LIBRARY 


ViISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULL 


AY IILIN 


CONTENTS 


| The Ozarks Come Back Missouri Vegetation and an English 
Mathematician 


Book Review: Wells’ Plant Propagation Practices 


Tolume XLIV January, 1956 


Number | 


Another article about the Ozarks appears in this issue. It is part of a series by 
various authors presenting different points of view about this interesting region so 
close to St. Louis — its past, its present, and its future. We are indebted to Leonard 
Hall not only for the article but for arranging for permission to use the line drawings 


from the Sf. Louis Post Dispatch and the photograph by Charles Swartz of the Con- 
servation Commission. 


Cover:—A farm pond in the Ozarks. Photograph courtesy Radio Station KETC 


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


Garden, 2315 Tower Grove 
St. Louis, 10, Missouri. 


Avenue, 

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. XLIV 


JANUARY, 1956 No.1 


THE OZARKS COME BACK 


LEONARD HALL, Possum Trot Farm 


LEON HORNKOHL, U. S. Forest Service 


4 evens was a time, long ago, when 
the Missouri Ozarks was a land 
of abundance, as pioneer communities 
know abundance. Then through the 
years it deteriorated into a place of 
poverty so that John Gunther was able 
to designate it, with some truth, one 
of the “slum citadels of America.” 
Today it is once again a land of hope 
and restoration where residents look 
with considerable confidence to a bet- 
ter future. The story of how all this 
came about lies in the land and the 
people; but chiefly in the land—using 
this term in its ecological sense to in- 
clude the parent rock, soils, water, 
climate, plants and animals of the 
region. 

It is generally agreed among geolo- 
gists that the Ozarks comprise one of 
the oldest land areas on our continent. 
Originally this land was level and we 
know that it was inundated in very 
early times by a succession of inland 
seas, on the floors of which were laid 
down thick layers of dolomitic lime- 
stones. These were, of course, made 
up of the skeletal remains of the many 
life forms which inhabited the waters. 


Then countless centuries ago—perhaps 


as much as 500,000,000 years ago— 
this level plain was pushed upward by 
violent internal pressures. Mountains 
were formed which rose 5000 feet or 
more above the plain; and now the 
ample rainfall of the region began to 


cut great gullies and river channels. 


Some of the rainfall, however, soaked 
into the soil — discovering here the 
cracks in the limestone created by the 
faulting of the uplift. Mild acids, 
formed by organic matter in solution, 
acted slowly to dissolve the rock; and 
through the milleniums great under- 
ground reservoirs and rivers began to 
form. As surface streams eroding 


(1) 


2 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


downward cut across these under- 
ground rivers, they emerged as springs 
along the valleys. 

There came a later period when a 
second uplift occurred, causing the 
valleys and river channels to dig still 
deeper into the overburden and_ the 
rock formations beneath the plain. 
Ground water found new cracks in the 
dolomite at still lower levels and de- 
veloped a second set of streams and 
reservoirs at this greater depth. And 
now the earlier channels above became 


great Caves, 


Geologists call this whole Ozark 
land mass a “plateau,” although it is 
actually a vast system of rivers and 
gullies or hollows divided by steep 
ridges. Were it not covered today by 
a blanket of vegetation, it would be 
one of the great erosion spectacles of 
the world; as indeed it must have been, 
millions of years before man appeared 
on the scene. There are areas in the 
Ozarks, as in the St. Francois Moun- 
tains of Iron and St. Francois counties, 
where ridge-tops have eroded down to 


granite, or even through the granite 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


ALLEY SPRINGS 


4 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


to the igneous rock, fired by the in- 
ternal heat of the earth. Here the en- 
tire overburden has worn away through 
the centuries, so that the hills have lost 
several thousand feet of altitude. This 
erosion has taken place so slowly and 
over such a long period of time, how- 
ever, that streams which traverse the 
Ozark country are not muddy or silt- 
filled as in areas of recent erosion like 
the Rockies, but run swift, clear, 


sparkling and cool. 


We think of Ozark soils as poor. 
Yet this was not always true, for these 
soils are tremendously old and highly 
developed, in sharp contrast to the new 
soils found in the western mountains. 
These latter have not evolved the com- 
plexity to support more than a few 
species of plants and animals. Ozark 
soils, on the other hand, are highly 
complex in their virgin state. At the 
time the white man arrived in Missouri, 
they were supporting some 2000 plant 
species and at least 700 kinds of ani- 
mals, birds, fishes, reptiles and am- 


phibians. 


It is hard to conceive today that 
when those first white men came they 
found in Missouri great herds of buf- 
falo, deer, elk and wild turkeys. French 
traders, with the help of Indian 
hunters, secured for many years large 
supplies of wild meat in the grassy 
openings of the forest like those along 
St. Francois River and in Belleview 
Valley. Much of this meat was floated 
down the Mississippi to New Orleans 
in great dugout canoes which had a 
50-foot length and 5-foot beam and 
were hollowed from giant cottonwood 
logs. One early woodsman described 
the land as “the best in the world for 
hunting, not even excepting old Ken- 
tucky.” And fishing in the Ozark 
rivers was unsurpassed on the conti- 
nent; the climax species being the black 
bass. 

Much of the Ozark terrain was orig- 
inally covered with forests of pine, 
oak, hickory and many other species; 
yet this forest was open and _ inter- 
spersed with grassy glades and prairies. 
Settlers found living here as easy as 
pioneer living can ever be; with the 
great abundance of fish and game—and 
plenty of forage for their horses, cat- 
tle, sheep and oxen. Eventually they 
found that hogs throve in the forest, 
growing fat on oak mast, hickory nuts 
and other nutritious foods. Thus for 
many years the people lived from the 
land, planting few crops except the 
kitchen garden which supplemented 
their livelihood from the forest. 

As the country became more thickly 
settled, owners of livestock found that 
their cattle fared better where the 


woods had been burned; for on the 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 5 


JACK’S FORK 
Ozark streams are swift and clear, abound in bass and wall-eye. 
Photograph by Charles Swarts. 


virgin land this released nutrients in 
the ash to feed the native grasses and 
legumes. Thus annual burning of the 
woods “to tame the wildgrass” became 
a custom of the region which persists 
in a few places even today. As num- 
bers of livestock increased and pressure 
on the small forest openings grew 
greater, trees started to encroach on 
the glades and natural grass prairies. 
And burning became a matter of des- 
perate necessity to keep the timber 
from moving in. 

It was not until about 1880 that 
the Ozark people turned to logging as 
a primary source of livelihood. The 
first cutting was in the areas of big 
pine which was easily turned into saw 
lumber and found a ready sale in the 
towns of the region. But it wasn’t 


long until the cutting extended to 
white oak for bourbon barrels, hickory 
for handle stocks, oak for railroad ties 
and mine props—and small trees of all 
species for charcoal. Timber cutting in 
the Ozarks has always been character- 
ized by “high-grading,”’ cutting the 
best and leaving the worst until noth- 
ing but “worst” was left. Another 
honored custom was ““Grand-mawing,” 
which simply meant cutting trees on 
someone else’s land and reporting to 
the sawmill that the logs had been cut 
“out on Grand-maw’s place.” And 
always the livestock farmer followed 
the unwise and wasteful cutting with 
fires in the slash to make the grass 
grow. What he didn’t know was that 
fire killed out the deep-rooted and 


nutritious native grasses and legumes 


6 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


GRANITE AND PORPHYRY ON THE ST. FRANCOIS RANGE. 


—and encouraged the little annuals 
which sprout green in May and die 
with the first hot weather of July. 
Real farming of the cut-over Ozark 
lands is a fairly recent innovation, the 
original method of cultivation having 
been to grow a kitchen garden and 
patch of corn in the creek-bottom as 
winter feed for hogs and cattle. No 
effort was made to husband the fer- 
tility of the soil and finally even the 
rich bottom fields were worn out, 
washed away by flash floods or so cov- 
ered with gravel as to become almost 
barren. This kind of damage became 
worse and worse as the naked hills 
caused greater run-off and worse and 
more frequent floods. The thin land 


of the upper hills was abandoned when 


it failed to produce and new cut-over 
land was grubbed off for plowing. It 
is estimated that more than 25 per 
cent of the Ozark land, much of it 
long since abandoned, has been cleared 
and cultivated at one time or another. 


As a result of this kind of logging 


and farming use—which might better 


be called abuse—the thin topsoil layer 
of 4 to 10 inches was eroded from the 
hills, leaving a mantle of useless white 
chert over much of the area. Now the 
rains, instead of soaking into the 
ground, ran off as overland flow. 
Stream channels once rich in aquatic 
life became choked with sterile gravel 
washed down from the hillsides. Fish- 
ing became almost a sport of the past 


and was no longer a reliable source of 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 7 


EROSION PROBLEM IN THE OZARKS 


food. The abundant grasses and shrubs 
on which the game herds had flourished 
were now gone, replaced by a dense 
and fire-scarred second-growth of such 
inferior species as post oak, black jack 
oak and hickory. Elk, buffalo, bear, 
beaver and passenger pigeon had long 
since disappeared entirely—and now 
the deer, turkey and small game species 
seemed on the road to extinction. The 
cattle industry, the timber industry, 
the tillable lands, the hunting and fish- 
ing—all the resources on which the 
Ozark people depended for a liveli- 
hood—were playing out. 

In addition to these ills, the hard- 
packed and barren soils which had been 
deprived for a full century of their 
annual accumulation of litter were 


sick. No longer could they soak up 
rainfall, and now the life-sustaining 
substance of the land was leached and 
eroded away. Along with soil erosion, 
the substance which gives people the 
initiative and incentive to go ahead 
was also eroding away. With less rain 
soaking into the ground, ever-flowing 
streams and springs now ran _inter- 
mittently. When rain came, it ran off 
in great gushes, causing floods and de- 
struction in the lower valleys. 

This was the state of the Ozarks in 
the early 1930’s when at least a few 
Missourians began to be concerned 
about their failing resources. In those 
years, new laws were passed which 
made it possible for the Federal gov- 
ernment to accumulate cut-over acre- 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 9 


age in Missouri, and as a result two 
National Forests were established These 
eventually embraced some 1,600,000 
acres in 14 Ozark counties. At about 
the same time, Missouri passed the 
Constitutional Amendment creating 
her now nationally famous non-part- 
isan Conservation Commission, charged 
with the proper and scientific man- 
agement of all the natural resources of 
the state. One of the first things de- 
veloped by the Commission was its 
Forestry Division, headed and staffed 
by trained foresters. 

These agencies of the state and fed- 
eral governments brought new knowl- 
edge and concepts to bear on the 
problems of the forested hill country. 
Both were by nature opposed to fire, 
over-grazing, timber and watershed 
destruction. Both rapidly developed 
programs of education designed to in- 
form the Ozark people of the need to 
conserve soil, water and forest cover. 
Both had the personnel necessary to 
cooperate with any and all individuals 
and organizations interested in the 
preservation of the forest resources. 
With the Forest Service came the 
Civilian Conservation Corps to work 
at road-building, tree planting and 
many other projects. Fire observation 
towers were erected on the National 
Forests and on State lands, telephone 
lines constructed and fire fighting 
crews built to combat the ever-present 
danger from forest fires. 

There was a period of several years 
when the century-old custom of burn- 
ing the woods continued to prevail. As 
late as 1936, forest rangers and CCC 
boys fought day and night throughout 


the fire season of spring and autumn, 
and jt sometimes seemed as though no 
progress whatever was being made and 
that the problem of woods burning 
would never be solved. And yet today 
it seems plain that those of us directly 
concerned were simply so close to the 
problem that we ‘“‘couldn’t see the 
trees for the woods.” Year by year, 
the acreage burned in the fire season 
went down. Small trained crews today 
are able to suppress the far smaller 
number of fires. Each year the Con- 


servation Commission increases the 
amount of private land within its Fire 
Protection Districts and gets better 
cooperation from local residents, while 
fire is no longer a major problem on 
the National Forests. Now and then 
we'll still have a big fire of incendiary 
origin, set in a sort of rebellion against 
authority or because of a grudge be- 
tween neighbors, but these are in the 
minority. Accidental fires from spring 


trash burning, campfires or cigarettes 


10 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


- é 
SS WE 


+ 


Y=, L 
~ Sh. 


still occur but seldom get far out of 
control. 

There are many reasons for the bet- 
ter fire record. Good livestock prices 
during the late 1940’s, plus “improved 
pasture programs” sponsored by the 
agricultural agencies proved to most 
farmers that they couldn’t afford to 
let valuable stock run wild in the 
woods, Youngsters in every rural school 
took home to their parents new knowl- 
edge of what actually happens when 
the woods are burned each year. On 
the National Forests, timber growth 


reached the point where rural people 


found employment in the harvest; 
cutting the logs, hauling and working 
in the sawmills. Public sentiment now 
frowned on woods burning, and farm- 
ers and townsmen allied to suppress 
fires when they started. 

During the first years of the new 
conservation program, results seemed 
to be coming slowly. On the poor, 
eroded National Forest lands there was 
little or no marketable timber left; 
while on private lands the tendency 
was still to cut each tree the moment 
it would make a railroad tie, 8-foot 


saw-log or even fence-post or mine- 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 11 


prop. Yet in lands protected from 
grazing, fire and over-cutting, a 
change was taking place. One of the 
interesting jobs undertaken by the 
U. S. Forest Service on their lands was 
the harvest of such old fire-scarred 
trees as would make some lumber. As 
this was sold and removed, part of the 
proceeds were used for girdling the re- 
maining cull trees wherever there were 
good stands of young timber—and 
even chopping out of the undesirable 
“weed” species. 

This release work, known as TSI or 
Timber Stand Improvement, returned 
countless tons of organic matter to 
the forest floor and released plant nu- 
trients which had been tied up in the 
old cull trees for a half century or 
more. Added to the annual litter 
which was no longer burned, this 
brought about a rebirth of soil fauna 
and flora which set to work to turn 
the woody plant residues into humus. 
Young oak and pine, with room above 
them to reach for the sun, and nutri- 


ents beneath them to feed on, doubled 
or even tripled in growth. Today this 
growth has reached a point where an- 
nual harvest of good saw-timber from 
the National Forests is approaching 50 
million board feet per year, with a 
total value of about $500,000. Mean- 
while the growth of timber for future 
harvest greatly exceeds this. 

The record on privately owned tim- 
ber lands in Missouri, unfortunately, is 
still not this good. Yet there are some 
tracts being well managed for future 
production and a larger acreage each 
year comes under the timber-farming 
program made possible by Missourt’s 
forward-looking Forest Crop Law. 
Under this law, forest land which is 
protected from fire and over-grazing 
and on which timber is allowed to 
grow for selective harvest is given 
certain advantages. It is given a nom- 
inal valuation and tax rate during the 
years of growth, and the owner then 
pays a severance tax when timber is 


harvested, this tax based on the yield. 


(To be continued) 


12 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


MISSOURI VEGETATION AND AN ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN 
EDGAR ANDERSON 


SUPPOSE it was from Sir Ronald 

Fisher that I acquired the odd, but 
effective, approach to biological prob- 
lems of paying particular attention to 
what does not happen. Sir Ronald is 
the distinguished statistician, biologist, 
and natural philosopher with whom I 
spent part of my fellowship year in 
England in 1929-30. Though I can- 
not remember that we ever talked 
about it at the time, he has written in 
the introduction to one of his books 
that mathematicians differ from biolo- 
gists not in the vigor of their minds 
but in the way they use them. Mathe- 
maticians, he writes, frequently op- 
erate by considering what does not 
happen, figuring out the consequences 
if it did, and from this round-about 
angle getting at the truth of the mat- 
ter; biologists, he says, almost never 
use such an approach. 

A typical example of this mathe- 
matical approach to a biological prob- 
lem is the question I used to assign 
early each term in a course for ama- 
teurs in the Henry Shaw School of 
Botany at Washington University. “As 
you drive about the country side,” | 
told them, 


on the red cedars, particularly in the 


c 


‘it’s easy to keep your eye 


winter time. The chief question for 
your final exam is going to be: In what 
kinds of places in Missouri are there 
red cedars and in what kinds are there 
none?) Why are they where they are 
and why are they not where they are 
not?” Given just a few hints, it was 
possible for most of the students to 
piece together from their own ob- 


servations a pretty good beginning to 
an answer for this double-barreled 
question. A complete answer involves 
you in a very large problem (or net of 
problems) but by observation and de- 
duction one can get quite a way into 
it. 

One fact is pretty obvious. Red 
cedars are largely planted by birds. 
Young cedars come up in places where 
birds have been perching after they 
fed on the spicy gray-blue cedar ber- 
ries. One repeatedly sees little cedar 
trees sprouting up alongside fence 
lines, particularly near the posts which 
make the best perching places. An old 
slippery-elm tree with wide spreading 
branches may eventually shelter a 
whole thicket of little cedars where 
the birds have dropped the seeds. 
Pastures do not begin to be dotted 
with cedars until enough old weeds 
are left unmowed to offer places where 
robins and bluebirds and cedar wax- 
wings can alight and void some of the 
hard seeds from the cedars on which 
they fed. 

Another point which one can figure 
out for himself is that cedars cannot 
tolerate very much shade and that the 
older they get the stronger is this thirst 
for sunlight. They may come up in 
the shade of a larger tree, but unless 
the tree dies or is cut down they do 
not live to maturity. In a deserted 
pasture they will grow rapidly in close 
competition with young oaks and 
hickories. In the early stages of refor- 
estation there may even be more cedars 
than oaks on some hillsides but when 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 13 


the broad-leaved trees grow high 
enough to shade the cedars, the latter 
pass out of the picture very quickly. 
Woodlands which have been so heavily 
pastured as to kill out most of the 
undergrowth and let in a lot of light 
may come up pretty thick with cedars 
but if the cattle are removed from the 
area the cedars die out when the shade 
thickens up again. 

With this background of observa- 
tion one begins to understand why 
cedars are so conspicuous on cliff edges 
and rocky hillsides. It is not that thev 
really prefer the soil on such sites. 
Transplant one to a farmhouse lawn 
with good soil. So long as you give it 
plenty of air and sunlight it will grow 
faster and make a larger tree than its 
former companions up along the cliff. 
No indeed, red cedars have no inherent 
need of the barren conditions under 
which they often live. It is simply 
that under those extremes they can 
take it and most other trees cannot. 
There they have little competition ex- 
cept from each other. 

This was a pretty good question, you 
see, to ask a group of interested ama- 
teurs. It is the kind of question which 
if a really good student once comes to 
grips with he will keep turning over in 
his mind for the rest of his life. The 
red cedar problem had a lot of angles, 
so many that it was quite as good a 
problem for the professor to think 
about as it was for the class. Intoler- 
ance of shade and the relation to birds 
are only two factors in the problem; 
there are many others, some of which 
still puzzle me. One in particular | 
should like to attack in a detailed, ex- 


perimental way. That is, the various 
kinds of reactions of the red cedar to 
city conditions. It is well known, in a 
general way, that few conifers like 
city smoke, but the relation of red 
cedars to man is a many-faceted one. 
Smoke is only one element. Way out 
in the suburbs where the cedars look 
green and healthy they are being af- 
fected in other ways. This is a prob- 
lem one can study every time he drives 
back into town from a trip in the 
country. Driving into the city one 
passes through the following zones: 

1. Cedars healthy; seedlings coming 
up vigorously. 

2. Cedars healthy; occasional seed- 
lings. 

3. Cedars healthy; no young self- 
sown seedlings. 

4. Cedars fairly attractive if well 
cared for. 

5. Cedars persisting in gardens 
when planted but obviously af- 
fected by city conditions. 

6. No cedars. 

The surprising part of the problem 

is how far out in the country zones 2 
and 3 already extend. Of man’s various 
impacts upon the countryside, which 
one or ones is responsible for stopping 
the cedars from reproducing them- 
selves at the very edge of the city 
(zone 2 now falls between Ladue and 
Chesterfield), stopping not only the 
cedars but many other plants as well? 
Some of the plants in our flora are 
much less sensitive to man than the 
cedars, some much much more so. 
Every one which I have studied care- 
fully is affected in some way or an- 


other. Nothing in the entire flora is 


14 MISSOURI BOTANIC 


quite indifferent to man. If, for in- 
stance, you know the Korean Lespe- 
deza, you can see the facts for your- 
self. It is an introduced plant but it 
reacts in much the same way as the 
native red cedars, though it is not so 
sensitive and spreads farther into the 
suburban area. 

For a botanical garden well inside 
the city these are more than_philo- 
sophical problems; they are of the 
utmost practicality. How are we to 


keep alive, in the middle of the city, 


AL GARDEN BULLETIN 


something of the country? The harder 
it becomes to carry out such a pro- 
gram, the more important it is that 
we should keep on trying. On the one 
hand, we make headway both at the 
practical problems of caring for such 
areas and the scientific problems of 
why these plants react as they do. On 
the other hand, we keep alive for 
those who live and work in the city 
something, which if it is really not a 
piece of the country any more, still 


gives that effect to the casual passer-by. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 15 


Book REvVIEW:— 


Plant Propagation Practices, by James 
S. Wells. 344 pages. The Macmillan 
Co. New York, 1955. Price $7.50. 

To plant propagators, the introduc- 
tion of synthetic growth hormones, 
polyethylene plastic, and mist-making 
devices, over the past few years, looks 
like the discovery of the century. For 
all their astuteness, these artisans of 
the scion have not advanced greatly 
their basic methods in controlling heat, 
light, and water since the introduction 
of the Wardian case a hundred years 
ago. Now, almost over night, the use 
of these recently introduced materials 
has alleviated several of the inherent 
shortcomings long troublesome to 
propagators, particularly in rooting 
cuttings. 

In the opinion of this reviewer, Plant 
Propagation Practices is an extraordi- 
nary and timely book. Mr. Wells 
writes from personal experience, and 
in most instances his conclusions are 
based upon carefully documented ex- 
periments. Particular emphasis is laid 
upon rooting cuttings by the new 
methods, although much basic material 
needed for a proper understanding of 
plant propagation in general is in- 
cluded. 

Mr. Wells discusses with consider- 
able verve a subject he has known since 
childhood, first in England under his 
father who was a “plantsman of the 
old school,’ and then in his own 
private nursery. Before coming to the 
United States, he was awarded the 
National Diploma of Horticulture, 
with honors, which is the highest award 
given by the Royal Horticultural So- 
ciety in England. Since 1946, Mr. 


Wells has been employed as a propa- 
gator in several leading nurseries in 
eastern United States and in the Mid- 
west where he has aroused considerable 
enthusiasm in the newer methods of 
plant propagation. 

This book, in the words of the 
author, is written especially for “‘the 
young nurseryman who has recently 
decided to do some of his own plant 


> 


propagation.” It is well produced with 
an appealing format. Nearly 100 
photographs and diagrams illustrate the 
text, and although the photographs are 
of varying quality the diagrams are 
generally well executed and clear. In 
my opinion, the photographs of graft- 
ing techniques would have been clearer 
as diagrams. 

Mr. Wells’ book should be consid- 
ered more in the light of a handbook 
than a textbook. It is divided into 
five parts, thirty-two chapters and 327 
pages of text. 

Part 1 deals with the propagating 
unit itself, how to set it up and the 
equipment needed. 

Part 2 is the shortest and the only 
theoretical part of the book but per- 
haps the most important in some 
respects. The significance of the photo- 
synthetic process is clearly reaffirmed, 
and the basic requirements for plant 
growth, 1.e, water, heat, and light, are 
rendered in sufficient detail for a 
clear understanding by the propagator. 

Part 3 concerns propagating proced- 
ures. Under this heading, eight chap- 
ters cover seeding, propagation of 
cuttings, aids to rooting cuttings, 
humidification and constant mist, 
grafting, layering and division, pests 
and diseases, and the production of the 


16 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


liner for field planting. The most im- 
portant factors for taking cuttings, in 
the estimation of Mr. Wells, are tim- 
ing (preferably before 9 A.M. for 
most plants), the correct rooting 
medium, and the follow-up in main- 
taining the proper balance of heat, 
light, and water for rooting. The chap- 
ter on aids to rooting cuttings lists 125 
kinds of trees and shrubs and_ the 
proper horn? ne treatment for each. 
The reader should note, especially, the 
efficacy in using stronger hormone 
concentrations, such as 2 per cent 
indolbutyric acid for rooting certain 
kinds of difficult-to-root plants. Con- 
siderable emphasis is laid upon wound- 
ing many kinds of cuttings prior to 
treating with hormone powder. Re- 
garding humidification, the use of in- 
termittent mist for summer-time 
propagation of softwood cuttings in- 
troduces one of the newest follow-up 
methods yet devised for regulating 
humidity and temperature under full 
sunlight. By this method, many kinds 
of plants, such as magnolia, dogwood, 
and Japanese maples, long propagated 
on a commercial scale only by graft- 
ing, can now be rooted almost 100 per 
cent during the summer from. soft- 
wood cuttings in full sunlight under a 
mist setup. The fact that hybrid 
French lilac cuttings taken in late 
spring can now be rooted successfully 


under intermittent mist fully justifies 


the use of this method for propagating 
“own root” lilacs. These and other 
examples lend to the book an extremely 
fresh and practical approach for the 
professional and amateur propagator 
alike. 

Part 4 may be the most interesting 
for many readers who want to get 
down to the business of propagating 
specific kinds of plants. At this point, 
in a series of chapters, Mr. Wells dis- 
cusses his results in propagating 
Japanese Maples, Azaleas, Boxwood, 
Camellias, Cypress, Dogwood, Ameri- 
can Holly, Junipers, Magnolias, Rhodo- 
dendrons, Hybrid French Lilacs, Yew, 
and Arborvitae. His experiments in 
rooting these plants by the newer 
methods is sometimes spectacular and 
most revealing for the would-be prop- 
agator with the view of profit in mind. 

Part 5 presents a useful month-by- 
month work schedule for propagating 
various kinds of plants over the entire 
year. Information of this sort is not 
of easy access. 

A most useful appendix lists sources 
for obtaining most of the materials 
used in the new propagation techniques 
by Mr. Wells, plus a number of perti- 
nent references to recent literature on 
propagation practices. The veteran and 
amateur home gardener alike will find 
it difficult to lay down the book until 
the last chapter is finished. 


F. G. Meyer 


THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


Henry HircHcock 
RicHarp J. Lockwoop * 
Henry B. PFLAGER 

A. WESSEL SHAPLEIGH 
RoBERT BROOKINGS SMITH 


JoHN S. LEHMANN, President 
Danievt K. Carin, Vice-President 
EuGENE Petrus, Second Vice-President 
LEICESTER B. FAustT 
DupLeY FRENCH 
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 

James F. Morre—tt, 


President of the Board ct Education 
of St. Louis 


ErHan A. H. SHEPLEY, 
Chancellor of Washington University 


ARTHUR C. LICHTENBERGER, 


Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri ae ; 
STRATFORD LEE Morton, 
RayMOoND 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 S. Lehmann, 
Edgar Anderson, W. F. Scott, Jr., Chairman. 


George T. Moore ~ 
Edgar Anderson 


Henry N. Andrews... —-.- 
August P. Beilmann __ 
LouissG. Brenner 


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 ~ a 
Kenneth A. Smith 
Julian A. Steyermark —_ . 
Alice F. Tryon —--.--------- 
Rolla M. Tryon, Jr. —.------------- 7 
enter B. Van Schaack 22542 
Robert E. Woodson, Jr... 


STAFF 
__ Emeritus Director 
- - : __......----. Director 
ee es ee __..... Paleobotanist 
_......Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit 
_... Arborist 


_.. Associate Director and Curator of the Museum 


ee! _ Mycologist 
Research Associate 
ite os ey Ie charge of Orchids 
_....... Librarian and Editor 

Associate Curator of Museum 

__.._ Assistant Librarian 
Floriculturist 

_._ Assistant Librarian 
Dendrologist 

ae Superintendent 

__ Assistant to the Director 

: ee ~weesesens. Engineer 
_.....Honorary Research Associate 
perce 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. 


AISSOURI BOTANICAL 
GARDEN BULLETI 


CONTENTS 


Botanical Gardens in Ancient Mexico Growing an Orchid Plant 


Balkan Holly (/lex aquifolium var. angustifolium ) 


lume XLI'V February, 1956 Number 2 


Cover: The “Hand-flower Tree” (Macpalxochiquahuitl) of the 
Aztecs, The finger, or claw-like structures are stamens 
equipped with hooked appendages. Cheirostemon platanvides 
(Cheiranthodendron larreategui), from Flore des Serres et des 
Jardins de ’Europe. Vol. 7, opp. p. 7. 1851-1852. 


Office of publication: 366 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. XLIV 


FEBRUARY, 1956 No. 


bo 


BOTANICAL GARDENS IN ANCIENT MEXICO* 


IDA K. 


LANGMAN 


Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 


65 HE first step in the process of 
making science’, says Singer, 
in his History of Biology “is the 
systematic collection of facts, In 
biology, this is especially aided by 
botanical and zoological gardens. The 
habit of forming them is of great an- 
tiquity. We hear of them from 
Pliny.” Others go back even farther 
and give the right of priority to Aris- 
totle, as the founder of a_ botanical 
garden in about 350 B.C. But it is the 
year 1543 which is generally accepted 
as marking the establishment of the 
first modern botanical garden. The 
place was Pisa, Italy, and the credit 
goes to Grand Duke Cosmo de Medici 
I. Also, in the 16th century, accord- 
ing to Singer, early attempts were 
made to acclimatize exotic plants. 

It is, therefore, of considerable in- 
terest to learn that, before Columbus 
discovered America, there already 
existed in Mexico gardens that might, 
in many respects, be considered botan- 
ical gardens. For example, the fa- 
mous gardens of Netzahualcdéyotl, 
king of Texcoco (of whom more 


*Prepared, on invitation, for the Inter- 
national Botanical Congress held in’ Paris, 
France, July 2-14, 1954. 


later), were already in existence by 
the middle of the 15th century. And, 
according to Fernando de Alva Ixtli- 
xochitl, a direct descendant of the 
Texcocan rulers, several of the gar- 
dens had belonged to Netzahual- 
coyotl’s father and grandfather before 
him. Clavigero, in his Sforia Antica 
del Messico, goes back to the era before 
the Aztecs, to show that their pre- 
decessors, the Chichimecas, had gar- 
dens before the Aztecs arrived, and 
that for a long time they used no hu- 
man sacrifices, but offered in their 
temples only herbs, flowers, fruits and 
copal for incense. Paso y Troncoso 
traces gardens back even farther, to 
the Toltecs, and cites tradition in 
Michoacan to the effect that the 
monarchs of Tzintzuntzan, the empire 
of another group of Indians, the 
Tarascans, maintained gardens in the 
hills near Patzcuaro where they, too, 
grew all the medicinal plants known 
to their people. 

As in the European gardens, med- 
icinal plants were a conspicuous 
element in the early Mexican gardens. 
Although, according to the noted 
Mexican naturalist, Dr. Manuel Mald- 


(17) 


18 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


From Solis y Rivadeynera, Historia 
(1684). 
are supposed to represent the following: 


A. Texcoco — northeast 


la Conquista de México, pp. 460-461. 


[Typical of illustrations based more on fancy than on fact. The letters 


of Mexico City 


B. The principal avenue into the city 


D. Ixtapalapa 
E. Mexico City 
F. Aqueduct 


southeast of Mexico City 


G. Covoacen, south of Mexico city 


K. Xochimilco 


L. Other avenues 


Any attempt to correlate the places listed in the illustrations with their localities 


can only result in complete frustration. 


onado Koerdell, the Mexicans may not 
have equalled their European con- 
temporaries in general knowledge, they 
were far advanced in their understand- 
ing of the curative properties of vari- 
ous plants. Dr. Emma Walcott 
Emmart, editor of the 1940 edition 
of the so-called Badianus Manuscript, 
concurs in that view. “Few countries 
in the world’’, she says, “can boast of 
such an extensive knowledge of native 
herb remedies as existed among the 
Nahuatl speaking people.” In the 
development of this knowledge it 
would seem quite likely that the royal 
gardens of the Mexicans played a very 


important role. 


EARLIEST REPORTS 


On what do we base our knowledge 
of these gardens? The earliest reports 
come from the letters that Hernan 
Cortes himself sent to the King of 
Spain. These “Cartas de Relacién”, as 
they are called, cover the period from 
July 10, 1519, to September 3, 1526, 
and have been translated into many 
languages and printed in many edi- 
tions. There were five letters al- 
together, and in the second of these, 
where Cortes described his march 
from Veracruz to Mexico City, we 
find our first reference to a Mexican 


garden, 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 19 


This was a garden located at Ixtap- 
alapa on the outskirts of Mexico City, 
in the palace of Cuitlahuatzin, brother 
of Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor. 
Here, in the last of the gardens to be 
built, Cortes spent the night just 
before his triumphal entry into the 
capital city of the Aztecs, and he 
describes what he saw as_ follows: 
“There are very refreshing gar- 
dens with many trees and sweet scent- 
. . He (Cuitlahuatzin), 
has also a large orchard near the house, 


ed flowers 


overlooking a high terrace, with many 
beautiful corridors and rooms 
toward the wall of the garden are 
hedges of lattice work made of cane, 
behind which are all sorts of planta- 
tions of trees and aromatic herbs.” 
From the botanical point of view, 
this description certainly leaves much 
to be desired and many have wished, 
with Prescott, that some one _ like 
Fernandez de Oviedo had accompani- 
ed Cortes on his Mexican adventure, 
for then we might have had more 
meaningful descriptions of the plants 
found in these early Mexican gardens. 
The gardens at Ixtapalapa made a 
strong impression, too, on another of 
the conquistadores, Bernal Diaz del 
Castillo, who waited almost fifty years 
to write his True History of the Con- 
quest of Mexico. Although there are 
some who criticise his writings as 
crude and boastful, most readers view 
the efforts of this soldier-author, rely- 
ing on his memories, as an extraordin- 
arily fresh and vivid account of the 
events of those bygone days. Of the 
gardens at Ixtapalapa he says, “The 
garden and orchard are most admir- 


able. I saw and walked about in them 


and could not satiate myself suffi- 
ciently looking at the many kinds of 
trees and enjoying the perfumes of 
each. There were walks bordered 
with the roses of this country, and 
flowers and many fruit trees and 


” 


flowering shrubs 


MOCTEZUMA’S GARDENS 

If such glowing terms as_ these 
could be used to describe the gardens 
of Moctezuma’s brother, imagine how 
splendid must have been the gardens of 
Moctezuma himself! For a_ general 
description of the Mexican royal gar- 
dens we turn first to the Franciscan 
monk, Toribio de Benavente, or Moto- 
linia, as he preferred to be known. He 
was one of the group of missionaries 
who came to Mexico shortly after the 
Conquest, and in 1541 he wrote his 
Historia de los Indios de la Nueva 
Espana, In it we find the following: 
“The greater part of the city was sur- 
rounded by fresh water and contained 
many cool groves of cedars, cypresses, 
willows and flowering trees. The 
Indian lords do not try to raise fruit 
trees because fruit is brought to them 
by their vassals, but rather forest trees 
from which they can pluck flowers.” 
Farther on, the King is quoted as hav- 
ing said, “The raising of plants for 
food is not the concern of rulers but 
that of slaves or merchants.” This 
idea is repeated by Antonio Solis in his 
Historia de la Conquista de Mexico, In 
describing the gardens of Moctezuma 
in Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), he 
says: “In all their houses they had 
large gardens carefully cultivated. All 
around were flowers of rare diversity 
and fragrance, and medicinal herbs 


which were used in flower beds and 


20 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Part of remaining row of ahahuetes at the “Bosque del ¢ 
g ] 
Nuttall, The 


1925). 


Nezahualcoyotl about 1450. From 


(Ann. Rept. Smithson. Inst. 1923, pl. 


bowers. These were given much care, 
and arrangements were made to have 
brought to the garden all the kinds of 
plants that this benign land produces. 
Here the physicians learned the names 
of the plants and an understanding of 
their virtues. They had herbs for all 
ills and ailments, and from the juices 
they prepared their remedies.” 
Then Solis repeats the point made by 
Motolinia: “But they did not like fruit 
trees nor edible plants in their places 
of recreation. In days gone by they 
used to say that orchards belonged to 
ordinary people, and it seemed more 
appropriate among the princes that 
their pleasures should not be marred 
by ideas of utility.” 
Bernal Diaz in describing the 
palace of Moctezuma, does not forget 
the gardens: 


“We must not forget the gardens of flowers 


and sweet scented trees, and the many kinds 


Ie 


al 


4% 


planted by 
Mexico 


ntador”’, 


Gardens of Ancient 


that there were of them, and the arrangement 
of them and the walks, and the ponds and 
tanks of 


at one end and flowed out of 


fresh water where the water entered 
the other; and 


the baths which he had there, and the variety 


of small birds that nested in the branches, 
and medicinal and useful herbs that were in 
the gardens. It was a wonder to see, and to 


take care of it there were many gardeners.” 


Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, an- 


other friend of Cortes and official 


chronicler of the city of Mexico, 
wrote his Cronica de Nueva Espana in 
1560-1567. (This work, once thought 
lost was rediscovered by Zelia Nuttall 
in 1911, in Madrid.) In it 


speci fic 


we find 
references to Moctezuma’s 
various gardens: one in the center of 
the capital city, Tenochtitlan; another 
to the west of the city, on the slope: 
of Grasshopper Hill, or Chapultepec 
(to use its Aztec name); a third, at a 
site called El Penon, in the midst of 
the lake of Mexico, noted for its hot 
thermal baths; and a 


springs and 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 21 


fourth, in Atlixco, used as a hunting 
preserve. An interesting map, attrib- 
uted to Cortes, and first published in 
Nurnberg in 1524, in the Latin trans- 
lation of Cortes’ second and third let- 
ters by Pedro de Savorgnani, shows the 
house and gardens of Moctezuma out- 
side the city, and the new palace with- 
in the city, also with an adjoining gar- 
den. 

According to Cervantes, “This great 
monarch had many pleasances and 
spacious gardens with paths and chan- 
nels for irrigation. These gardens con- 
tained only medicinal and aromatic 
herbs, flowers, native roses and trees 
with fragrant blossoms, of which there 
are many kinds.”’ In another of his 
works, México en 1554, Cervantes 
says, “On the top of the hill Mont- 
ezuma had cultivated trees as if it 
were a garden, and on its steep sides 
were terraces with other groves of 
trees and hanging gardens.” Fle, tvo, 
reports that Moctezuma had ordered 
his physicians to experiment with che 
medicinal herbs and to employ those 
best known and tried, as remedies in 
healing the ills of the lords of his 
court. 

Of special interest is Cervantes’ 
description of the period when Cortes 
He tells 
how the Aztec emperor was occasion- 


held Moctezuma_ prisoner. 


ally given permission to visit one of his 
gardens for rest and solace. At such 
time he generally chose the beautiful 
gardens in near-by Chapultepec, many 
of whose magnificent ahuehuete trees 
(Taxodium mucronatum) are still in 
existence. One can imagine the cap- 
tive Moctezuma walking disconsol- 


ately beneath these green giants, while 


his thoughts turned, perhaps, to those 
days when he was all-powerful and he 
had only to wish for something and 
his wish was granted. Perhaps he re- 
called the time when he heard of a 
king named Malinal, who lived south 
of Tenochtitlan, near Oaxaca, at a 
place called Tlaxiaco. Among the 
treasured possessions of this king, it 
was reported, there was a_ beautiful 
tree called in Nahuatl “‘tlapalixquix- 
ochitl’”’, or “tree of many red flowers”. 
(This is, according to Dr. Faustino 
Miranda, perhaps a variety of the tree 
known today as “huanita”, Bourreria 
huanita.) Moctezuma sent a demand to 
Malinal for this tree but surprisingly 
Malinal refused the request. Upon 
which Moctezuma promptly sent an 
armed force to Oaxaca. His men 
vanquished the troops of Malinal and 
returned to Mexico with the tree, and 
presumably with many captives be- 


sides. 


THE GARDENS AT HUAXTEPEC 

Moctezuma’s finest gardens, which 
he had inherited from his predecessor, 
Moctezuma the Elder, were located at 
some distance from the capital, in 
Huaxtepec. The story of their found- 
ing is in Diego Duran’s Historia de los 
Indios de Nueva Espana and in Her- 
nando Alvarado Tezozomoc’s Cronica 
Mexicana. Both tell how the elder 
Moctezuma, when reminded that, in 
the past, his ancestors had once in- 
habited that delightful area around 
Huaxtepec, decided to establish a gar- 
den there. First he sent to Cuetlax- 


tlan* along the coast for various plants. 
* According to Henry Bruman, this locality 
is known today as Coataxtla. 


mm 
hm 


Among those which arrived were 
“yoloxéchitl” (Talauma mexicana, the 
Mexican magnolia), ‘‘cacaloxtchitl” 
(Plumeria, known as frangi-pani in 
many tropical areas today), and “hua- 
caxochitl” (one of the Araceae). All 
these three plants were reserved for the 
Others 


were “cacahuaxochitl” (Quararibea), 


exclusive use of the rulers. 


“tlilxochitl” (vanilla), “ixquixdchitl” 
(the aforementioned Bourreria), 
“mecaxochitl” (Piper), and many 
others. The plants were sent carefully 
prepared, the roots covered with soil 
and wrapped, and the Indian garden- 
ers who accompanied the plants took 
such good care of them, and the land 
was so fertile and well watered that in 
less than three years all the plants had 
flowered and not one had been lost. 
All this caused much wonder among 
the gardeners for, it seemed, the plants 
grew better at Huaxtepec than they 
had in their native habitat. 

Another description of Oaxtepec, as 
it is sometimes spelled, is found in a 
group of reports written toward the 
close of the 16th century. These 
reports are called “Relaciones” and 
contain answers to a series of questions, 
covering every aspect of the land and 
its resources, as well as the life of the 
people and their culture. As an 
example, the Relacién for Oaxtepec 
(also written Guastepeque) which was 
prepared in 1580, states, among other 
things, that although the inhabitants 
did not pay tribute to “Motenzuma’”, 
they did accompany him on expedi- 
tions to Chiapas and Veracruz, and 
when they returned they brought with 
them various trees, among them cacao 


and “batey’. The latter was the tree 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


from which they extracted rubber 
(Castilla elastica?), says the report. 
And, it continues, ““Motenzuma order- 
ed them to be planted in this village, 
in a woods near by in a ravine, which 
spot was to serve later for his recrea- 
tion.” 

Huaxtepec, too, came in for its 
share of extravagant praise from Diaz 
del Castillo. “It is the finest that I 
have seen in all my life’, he says and 
quotes Captain Sandoval (who, on an 
expedition to the “tierra caliente”, was 
the first to see Huaxtepec), as calling 
it the most beautiful garden he had 
seen in New Spain. He then cites 
Cortes as stating that “he had never 
seen a finer garden in Castille.” Cortes 
corroborates this by writing in his 
third letter that the garden is the 
“best, most beautiful and refreshing 
that I have ever seen. A very pretty 
rivulet with high banks runs through 
it from one end to another. In it are 
an infinite number of trees with varied 
fruits, many herbs and fragrant 
flowers.” 

Still another report on Huaxtepec 
comes from Dr. Francisco Hernandez, 
who was in Mexico on a mission from 
the King of Spain at about the time 
Diaz del Castillo was writing his 
memoirs, Commissioned by Philip H 
to prepare a report on New Spain 
which would cover the natural re- 
sources of the area and its political 
history, Hernandez arrived in Mexico 
in 1570. He spent the next five years 
traveling over a very considerable part 
of México and, of course, visited all 
the important gardens then in exist- 
ence. In Ixtapalapa, for example, he 


noted much of interest, particularly 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 23 


From E. Stahl, Mexicanische Nadelbolzer (in Vegetationsbilder, edited 
by G. Karsten and H. Schenck, 2 Rethe, Heft 3, tafel 15). Taxodinm 


mucronatum Yenore, the “ahuehuete’” of the Aztecs, in Chapultepec, 


Mexico. Spanish moss hangs from 


a large “tlatzcan”, or cypress tree. 
(This is identified by Dr. Miranda as 
probably Cupressus Lindleyi.) 
Huaxtepec, of course, provided Her- 
nandez with much important in- 
formation for his studies of Mexican 
plants. Unfortunately, his work was 
not printed until almost a hundred 
years later and then in a much modifi- 
ed version. A copy of this version, 
in manuscript, fell into the hands of a 
Dominican priest, Francisco Ximénez, 


who lived at Huaxtepec, in the Hos- 


che branches. 


pital de los Hipolitos, founded there 
shortly after the Conquest. Ximénez 
added to the manuscript from his own 
knowledge of the plants of the 
country and, in 1615, published his 
highly interesting “Quatro Libros de 
la Naturaleza.” In it we find men- 
tion of many plants of medicinal value, 
among them “balsamo de las Indias”, 
or “‘hoitziléxitl” (Myroxylon — bal- 
samum var. Pereirac) and Cheirantho- 
dendron, the hand flower tree, ‘mac- 


palxochiquahuitl”. According to Cla- 


24 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


vigero, in 1780, medicinal plants were 
still being cultivated in the gardens at 
Huaxtepee and were being used in the 
hospital. 

Hernandez was deeply impressed, 
too, by the part that flowers played 
in the court ritual. He says that 
among the Aztecs it was a sign of 
respect to bring flowers when calling 
on some one, particularly if that some- 
one were the King. ‘Torquemada 
illustrates this with the story of a 
group of Indian chieftains who arrived 
at Tenochtitlan one day, and asked for 
an audience with Moctezuma. This 
was granted for the next day, but at 
sunset it was discovered that there 
were no flowers available, worthy of 
presenting to the king. Immediately 
they hunted up a youth famed for his 
speed as a runner, and dispatched him 
to Cuernavaca about 50 miles away. 
This town, which in the 15th century 
paid a daily tribute of flowers to the 
King of Texcoco, is still one of Mex- 
ico’s garden cities, famous for its year- 
round flowers. The runner reached 
Cuernavaca at midnight, picked up 
the flowers and the next morning was 
back in Mexico City with the desired 
offering. 

Having mentioned Cuernavaca, it is 
interesting to note that reports of the 
gardens near Quauhnahuac (Cuern- 
avaca) are included in the work of 
Diaz del Castillo. (Later accounts of 
a famous garden in Cuernavaca in the 
16th century, which belonged to some 
one by the name of Diaz, suggest that 
perhaps in helping to “liberate” the 
Mexicans from Moctezuma, Diaz 


liberated these gardens for himself. ) 


ve 


Torquemada, too, described the gar- 
dens at Huaxtepec. 


“The garden measured two leagues in cir- 
cumference. In the middle of it ran a river, 
its banks shaded by many groves of trees. Here 
and there were resting places with gardens of 
many different kinds of flowers and fruits. 
There were buildings, seed beds, fountains and, 
scattered among the rocky cliffs which were 
decorated with carvings, were arbors, chapels, 
look-outs and stairways cut into the very 
rock.” 


As mentioned earlier, the descrip- 
tions we have of the early Mexican 
gardens are often so superficial and 
inadequate that it is difficult to make 
up even a partial list of the plants that 
flourished in them. One such list, for 
Huaxtepec, was prepared in the 1920s 
by Zelia Nuttall, the American an- 
thropologist. It included Persea or 
“aguacate’, the avocado; Crataegus 
or “‘tejocote’, the hawthorn; Prunus 
capulin, the Mexican cherry; various 
members of the Sapotaceae Mocte- 
zuma speciosissima, of the Bombaca- 
ceae; Ceiba or “‘pochote’’, the silk cot- 
ton tree; Poinsettia; Cleome; Acacia; 
Yucca; Tigridia or “oceloxdchitl”; 
Tagetes or “cempalxdchitl”, the mari- 
gold; Zinnia; Hibiscus; Psidium_ or 
“xalxocotl”, the guava; Spondias; as 
well as many species of ferns, palms, 
orchids and cacti. One is tempted to 
accept Mrs. Nuttall’s list with some 
assurance since it contains plants that 
continue to be used in Mexico today as 


ornamentals and medicinal plants. 


THE GARDENS OF 
NETZAHUALCOYOTL 
Almost as famous as the gardens of 
Moctezuma and his brother were those 
of the King of Texcoco, Netzahual- 
coyotl, and for the first reference 


to these, we return to Motolinia. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


“Especially notable”, he says, “was the 
house of the principal lord; both the 
old house with its garden surrounded 
by over a thousand large and beautiful 
cedars, most of which are still stand- 
ing, although the house has been 
razed; and the other house, in which a 
whole army could be lodged, with 
many gardens and a very large pool 
which was entered in boats through 
an underground passage.” Motolinia’s 
work was used frequently by other 
writers on the history of Mexico, 
among them Francisco Lopez de Go- 
mara, chaplain to Cortes after his 
return to Spain, and his official his- 
torian, who wrote the His/oria General 
de las Indias in 1552. Most of his in- 
formation came, of course, from Cortes 
but the material on gardens seems to 
have been copied from Motolinia, and 
this, in turn, formed the basis of later 
references by the “‘cronista mayor de 
su magestad,”’ Antonio Herrera y Tor- 
desilla, who published his Historia 
General de los Hechos de los Castel- 
lanos in 1601. 

Two works by descendants of the 
Aztec rulers supply us with additional 
details of the gardens of Netzahual- 
céytol One called Relacion de 
Texcoco was written in 1583 by his 
grandson, Juan Bautista Pomar, and 
contains the following description of 
one of the gardens: 


“There is no principal and abundant source 
of water in this city ... It was necessary to 
unite into one the many springs at their 
sources, . . . channeling them into canals. 
This was done by Netzahualcoyotl and Netz- 
ahualpitzintzli, not so much to provide drink- 
ing water... as to provide water to irrigate 
the orchards and gardens . . . Not only did 
they raise the flowers that grow naturally in 
this area, but they also had others from the 
more temperate regions and the tropics, all of 
which they cared for with much effort.” 


tN 
w 


According to Dr. Maldonado, the 
exact location of this garden is not 
known, except that it was about 12 
leagues (30 miles) from Texcoco. 

The second work is the important 
Historia Chichimeca of Fernando de 
Alva Ixtlilxochitl, written early in the 
1600's. 
wonders of the gardens: elaborate 


Here we read of the many 


buildings, irrigation canals, reservoirs, 
baths, stairways, terraces; of how 
aqueducts brought water to fountains 
from which a spray fell like gentle 
rain over the plants in the garden; 
of how the job of caring for the exten- 
sive gardens was assigned to different 
tribes as their tribute to the sovereign, 
each charged with definite duties in 
certain parts of the gardens. Perhaps, 
as Susan Hale says, Ixtlilxdchitl “cast 
over his picture of the Golden Age of 
Texcoco a glow which is hardly justi- 
fied by the cold light of modern 
research’’, and perhaps his story is now 
“regarded as unreliable in many parti- 
culars’”. On the other hand, other 
authors talk of Netzahualcoyotl, the 
poet king, as a wise, enlightened and 
cultured sovereign who, during his 
long reign (1403-1474), made of 
Texcoco the ‘Athens of America.” 
Ixtlilxéchitl lists eight gardens that 
belonged to Netzahualcoyotl and sin- 
gles out one at Tzinanostic (also writ- 
ten Tzinacostoc and Tzinaconoztoc) 
as his grandfather’s favorite. Mend- 
izabal cites still another at Chichuhn- 
oyacan, which was supposed to have 
been the favorite of Netzahualcdyotl’s 
father. The most famous of the gar- 
dens in the kingdom of Texcoco was, 
however, without a doubt the one at 


Tetzcotzingo, on the slopes and sum- 


Bald Cypress (Ahuehuete) at Santa Maria del Tule, 


97 


UNV LOE IYDOSSIN 


DTV. 


TL 


lf Nuidyy 


1 


NILAT I: 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


mit of a hill near a spot now known 
as the Molino de las Flores. According 
to Fray Agustin Davila Padilla, as 
quoted by Mendizabal, ‘‘The entire 
hill was planted with beautiful groves 
of trees and lovely orchards, with 
many jasmin plants and other scented 
flowers.” One may wonder, in pass- 
ing, why the Royal Gardens in Mex- 
ico were so often placed on the sum- 
mits and slopes of hills. Perhaps it 
was because they were connected in 
some way with religious ceremonies. 
The kings were also priests, it must 
not be forgotten, and hill tops made 
ideal sites for astronomical observa- 
tions and for conducting impressive 


rituals. 


AFTER THE CONQUEST 


What has happened to all these gar- 
dens in the years since the Conquest? 
We have the answer in the reports of 
travellers who continue to visit México 
and describe the things they saw. One 
of the earliest to visit México after 
the War of Independence was W. Bul- 
lock who, after a trip to Mexico, in 
1823, wrote his Six Months Residence 
and Travels in Mexico. In this he 
described the aqueduct at Tetzcot- 
zingo and the old cypresses in the old 
palace of Netzahualcdyotl, as well as 
many aspects of the plant life that 
attracted him in his travels. 

In 1853, Brantz Mayer, of the U.S. 
diplomatic corps in México, wrote a 
scholarly detailed historical study of 
Mexico. In volume 2 of this work, 
he describes at great length the 
resources of México, and the things 


that interest visitors to that country. 


ho 
N 


Among the latter, he cites particularly 
the ruins near the summit of Tetz- 
cotzingo, 3 miles west of Texcoco, and 
the aqueduct that brought water to 
the gardens of Netzahualcoyotl. He 
describes also the Bosque del Contador, 
northwest of Texcoco as: 


“An ancient grove of double rows of giyan- 
tic cypresses, 500 in number, arranged in a 
square correspending to the points of the 
compass and enclcsing an area of nearly 10 
acres. At the northwest point of this quad- 
rangle, another double row of lordly cypresses 
runs westward toward a dyke north of which 
there is a deeply oblong tark, neatly walled 
and filled with water. From the soft spcengy 
character cf the soil in the center of the great 
quadrangular grove, it is supposed that the 
vact area was once occupied by a lake. Alon 
the raised banks and beneath the shadow of 
the double line cf majestic trees were the walks 
and arbors in which Netzahualcéyotl and his 
courtiers amused themselves.’ 


In 1861, Edward Burnett Tylor in 


his Anabuac, described the gardens at 


> 


Tetzcotzingo as follows: “The hill 
itself was overgrown with brushwood, 
aloes (agave, probably), prickly pear, 
but numerous roads and flights of 
steps cut in the rock were distinguish- 


 § 


able.” He, too, mentions going to the 
Bosque del Contador, near Texcoco, 
where there was a “grand square look- 
ing toward the cardinal points and 
composed of ahuehuetes, grand old 
deciduous cypresses, many of them 40 
feet round and older than the dis- 
covery of America.”” One finds simi- 
lar references in Susan Hale’s Mexico. 
“A magnificent grove of lofty 
ahuehuetes at some distance from the 
central part of the grounds surrounds 
a large quadrangle now dry, which 
was probably an artificial lake in the 
time of the great king.” At Texcoco 
“are left remains of terraced walls, and 
stairways wind around the hill from 


the bottom to the top. The country 


28 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


all about is full of artificial embank- 
ments, reservoirs, and aqueducts for 
leading water and developing the at- 
tractions of the place.” Miss Hale 
wrote also of her visit to Chapultepec: 
“There is now standing an ancient 
cypress or ahuehuete, huge among the 
other great trees of the grove, which 
goes by the name of Montezuma’s 
cypress. Its gnarled trunk must mea- 


sure more than 100 feet across and its 


branches themselves are as big as trees.” 


In October, 1941, Cora Oneal, writ- 
ing in the Bulletin of the Pan Ameri- 
can Union, gives her impressions of the 
gardens at Texcotzingo; “The gardens 
of this royal retreat were planted in 
terraces, and even now, after centuries 
of decay, some of the steps leading to 
them remain in good condition. 
Extremely well preserved nearby is a 
large bathing pool with a_ stone 
seat and small fountain, all carved 
from native porphyry.” It is interest- 
ing to note Mrs. Oneal’s use of the 
term “large”. An earlier writer 
describing the same bath wrote: “It 
might have been his foot bath, if you 
will, but it would have been an impos- 
sibility for any monarch, of larger 
dimensions than Oberon, to take a 
duck in it.” 

As for Huaxtepec, we have the 
description written in 1930 by 
Enrique Juan Palacios, when he visited 
the area to study the archaeological 
remains found there. Of all the 
exciting list of plants brought there 
at the orders of Moctezuma, there 
remains not one. Only the imposing 
grove of ahuehuetes has survived. 
Approaching this “bosque’’, says Pala- 


cios, “the terrain becomes rough and 


broken, covered with vegetation. 
Heavy matted thickets alternate with 
clumps of trees, mangroves (?), wil- 
lows and figs innumerable 
springs, clear “ojos de agua’’ bubble 
continuously at the foot of the majes- 
tic cypresses. In spots they gush forth, 
it seems, from the very roots of the 
bananas and other trees that flourish 
on the site’. He recalls the words 
cited by Duran, “I hear that it is 
fertile and plentiful land, with abun- 
dant water and springs. Especially 
famous are the springs in Hauxtepec 
where, for your relaxation and recrea- 
tion and for your descendants, it 
would be delightful to have a large 
basin or reservoir where all this water 
could be gathered as high as it could 
rise, to irrigate all the land that it 
could reach”. Palacios comments also 
on the enormous fig trees that he sees, 
and speculates that these could well 
have been the source of the paper 
which the inhabitants of nearby 
Tepoztlan prepared from the bark of 
these trees and sent as tribute to the 
Aztec capital. 

How shall we evaluate these gar- 
dens today? How much reliance can 
we place on the various descriptions 
and reports of these gardens that have 
come down to us? To answer the last 
guestion first, perhaps we might select 
the following kinds of reports as the 
most dependable and _ trustworthy: 
first, the accounts of the conquista- 
dores, themselves, Cortes, Diaz del 
Castillo; then the accounts of the 
monks who followed so closely on the 
heels of the soldiers; then the accounts 
written by the descendants of the 


Aztecs living in Mexico at the time of 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 29 


the Conquest; and, finally, the 
descriptions of various parts of Mexico, 
called Relaciones, which were men- 
tioned earlier in this article. 

On the other hand, many references 
to the gardens of the ancient Mexicans 
are second-hand accounts; often based, 
it is true, on original reports, but so 
embroidered and decorated with imag- 
inary details that they must be dis- 
counted when we try to evaluate the 
true value of the gardens which the 
Spaniards found in the land of the 
Aztecs. Such would be, for example, 
the Historia de la Conquista de Mex- 
ico, by Antonio Solis y Rivadeynera. 
Solis was never in Mexico, had not 
had any dealings with the Indians, did 
not know the American scene. What 
he knew of Mexico he learned from 
reading. Yet his writing was of such 
a high literary quality that he had an 
enormous following and his work went 
through many editions. The same 
might be said of Prescott, who made 
masterly use of all kinds of docu- 
ments, published and unpublished, to 
produce a work, that sets a high level 
of scholarship but reveals, in spots, the 
author’s lack of direct contact with 
the country of which he was writing. 

Finally, can we consider that these 
early Mexican gardens were truly 
botanic gardens; C. Stuart Gager, in 
Bailey’s Standard Cyclopedia of Horti- 
culture, defined a botanical garden as 
follows: “A collection of growing 
plants, both native and exotic, the pri- 
mary purpose of which is the advance- 
ment and. diffusion of botanical 
knowledge, as distinguished from 
agriculture and horticulture.’ Is this 


not faintly reminiscent of the tradi- 


tion against raising purely food plants 
in the royal Mexican gardens? Gager 
points out, too, that although botan- 
ical gardens are used today in many 
ways — for the identification and 
classification of plants, for the inves- 
tigation of plant morphology and 
physiology, for teaching, and for 
general plant research, they were 
developed originally out of an interest 
in plants that could be used medicin- 
ally. Modern botanical gardens, he 
recalls, were derived directly from the 
private gardens of the herbalists who 
were primarily interested in medicinal 
plants; and these gardens were, in their 
turn, outgrowths of the herb gardens 
in the monasteries of the Middle Ages. 

Certainly the early Mexican gardens 
meet a number of the criteria set up in 
the Gager definition. They were collec- 
tions of plants, both native and exotic. 
Their major purposes were the cultiva- 
tion of medicinal and ornamental 
plants. Furthermore, it might be 
pointed out that a study of botanical 
knowledge among the Aztecs, like the 
one carried out by Paso y Troncoso, 
indicates that these early Mexicans had 
even evolved a kind of system of plant 
classification that is not too far remov- 
ed from the taxonomy of their Europe- 
an contemporaries. It does not there- 
fore seem at all far-fetched to consider 
that the places where these plants were 
being grown and studied could have 
been what we might call today botan- 
ical gardens, or, perhaps _ better, 
arboreta, since the emphasis was on 
woody plants. Today, we must hunt 
for the fragmentary remains of these 
once magnificent establishments. What 


a pity that no attempt was made to 


30 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


preserve these gardens for posterity! of the priceless picture-manuscripts, 
As one views some of the results of the the neglect of the botanical gardens, 
conquest of the Aztecs by the Span- one is forced to wonder where to draw 
iards — the destruction of the superb the line between the civilized nation 
monuments and temples, the burning and the barbarian. 


DGSGPSORADPSveP AOS NSD Sign 


Cortes, Hernan Cartas y Relaciones de Herndn Cortes al Emperador Carlos V. Paris 1886; 
many editions. Translated into English by Francis Augustus MacNutt. New York 1908. 
(Written during the period 1519-1526.) 


Diaz del Castillo, Bernal Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva Espana. Madrid, 
1632; and numerous editions. (Written in 1568.) 

Jenavente, Toribio de (Motolinia ) Historia de los Indios de la Nueva Espana. Barcelona, 1914; 
Mexico, 1941, (Written in 1541.) 

Lopez de Gomara, Francisco Historia General de las Indias. Saragosa, 1552-1553. Also in 
Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles, Madrid, 1858. Vol. 22, Part I. 

Cruz, Martin de la The Badianus Manuscript — An Aztec Herbal. Baltimore, 1940. Edited 


by Emma Walcott Emmart. (Written in 1552; translated by Juan Badianus into Latin 
from the original Aztec.) 
Cervantes de Salazar, Francisco México en 15354 — Tres Didlogos Latinos. Mexico, 1875; 
with notes on plants by Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta. 
Crenica de Nueva Espana. Madrid, 1914. (Written between 1560 and 1567.) 
Hernandez, Francisco Nova Plantarum Animalinm ct Mineralium = Mexicanorum Historia. 
(Rerum Medicarum Nova et Hispaniae Thesaurus). Roma, 1651; Madrid, 1790. (Written 
1570-1575.) 
Duran, Diego Historia de los Indios de Nueva Expata. Mexico, 1867. (Written 1579-1581.) 
Gutierrez de Lievana, Juan Oaxtepec — Descripcion de Guastepeque. In Huaxtepec y sus 
Reliquias. Mexico, 1930; edited by Enrique Juan Palacios. Contribucion al XIV Congreso 
de Americanistes. (Lievana work written in 1580.) 


Pomar, Juan Bautista Relacion de Texcoco. Mexico, 1941. (Written in 1582.) 

Sahagun, Bernardino Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana. Mexico, 1829-1830; 
Mexico, 1938. (Written in 1538-1569.) 

Acosta, José de Historia Natural y Meral de las Indias, Sevilla, 1590; numercus editions. 

Alvarado Tezozomoc, Hernando Cronica Mexicana. Mexico, 1878. (Written around 1598.) 

Alva Ixtlilxéchitl, Fernando Historia Chichimeca. \n Obras Histéricas. Mexico, 1891-1892. 
(Written in 1600.) 

Herrera y Tordesilla, Antonio Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos. Madrid, 
1725-1727; numerous editions. (Written in 1601.) 

Torquemada, Juan de Primera Segunda y Tercera Parte de los Veinte y un Libros Rituales. 
Sevilla, 1615; Madrid, 1723; Mexico, 1943. (Written in 1612.) 

Ximeénez, Francisco Quatro Libros de la Naturaleza. Mexico, 1615; Morelia, 1888; Mexico, 
1888. 

Davila Padilla, Agustin Historia de la Fundacion y Discursos de la Provincia de Santiago de 
Mexico. Bruzelles, 1625. 

Sclis y Rivadeynera, Antonio de Historia de la Conquista de México Madrid, 1684; many 
editions. 

Clavigero, Francisco Xaviero Storia Antica del Messico. Cesena, 1789; numerous editions. 

Loudon, John C. An Encyclopedia of Gardening. London, 1822; Lendon, 1871. 

Bulleck, W. Six Months Residence and Travels in Mexico. London, 1824. 

L. R. (Rafael Lucio?) Jardines Antiguos de México. El Museo Mexicano 1240-46. 1843. 


Reprinted in El Arte y la Ciencia 7:169-181. 1905; also in El Mexicano 2:31-38. 1866. 
Taken criginally from Boletin Oficial del Conseije de Gobierno. 


Prescott, William H. History of the Conquest of Mexico. New York, 1843; numerous 
editions. 

Tylor, Edward Burnett Anahuac. London, 1861. 

Mayer, Brantz Mevico as It Is and as It Was. Philadelphia, 1847. 3d ed. 

Mangin, Arthur Les Jardins — Histoire et Description. Tours, 1867. 

Paso y Tronceso, Francisco del La Betanica entre las Nabues. An. Mus. Nac. 3:137-235, 


1836. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 31 


Gerste, Achille 
Hale, Susan 
Nuttall, Zelia 


Mexico. New York, 1901. 


Notes sur le Medecin et la Botanique des Anciens Mexicains. Roma, 1909. 


Los Jardines del Antiguo México. Mem. Soc. Cient. Ant. Alz. 37:193-213. 1921. 


Les Aficionados a las Flores y los Jardines del México Antiguo. Mem. Soc. Cient. Ant. 
Alz. 43:593-608. 1924. Appeared earlier in Jour. Int. Gard. Club, Mexico, 1922; reprint- 


ed in Ann. Rept. Smith. Inst. 1925. 
Solis, Octavio y Rigoberto Vazquez 

Jard. Bot. Mexico 1 (1):2-5, 1923. 
Galindo y Villa, Jesus 
Mendizabal, Miguel Othén de 

4):86-95. 1925. 


Palacios, Enrique Juan — see Gutiérrez de Lievana. 
A Short History of Biology. Oxford, 1931. 
Apuntes sobre la Antigua México-Tenochtitlin. Mexico, 1935. 
Mexican Plants for American Gardens. New York, 1935. 
Botanical Gardens of the World — Materials for a History. Brooklyn Bot. 


Singer, Charles Joseph 
Alcocer, Ignacio 
Matschat, Cecile Hulse 
Gager, C. Stuart 

Gard. Record 26 (3):149-353, 1937. 


Jardines de Anahuac. 


Resena Historica de los Jardines Botanicos de México. Bol. 


México Forestal 2(1):15-16. 1924. 
EI Jardin de Natzabualcoyctl. Ethnos (Mexico) 3a Serie, 1 (3- 


Betanical Gardens. In Cyclopedia of Heorticulinre by L. H. Bailey, 3d ed. New York, 1939. 


Maldcnado Koerdell, Manuel 
Hist. Nat. 2(1):79-84, 1941. 
Oneal, Cora Maud 


Los Jardines Botdnicos de los Antigucs Mexicanes. Rev. Soc. Mex. 


The Gardens cf Mexico. Bull. Pan. Am. Union, Oct. 1941. pp. 557-563. 


Gardens and Homes in Mexico. Dallas, 1945. 


Sanchez Ventura, Rafael 
Americanos 7 (1) :127-148, 1943. 

Linne, S. 
Museum; New Series Publ. 9. 
Dahlgren Jordan. 

Trouchet, A. 
53,1953); 


Flores y Jardines del México Antignue y del Mederno. Cuadernos 


El Valle y la Ciudad de Mexico en 1550. Stockholm, 1948. Statens Etnografiska 
Spanish translation by Ernesto Dethorey and Barbro 


Apercu sur les Jardins Botaniques. Ann. Scient. Univ. Besangen. VIII Fasc. 2:44- 


A FEW LINES ABOUT AN ORCHID PLANT 


Last year I was given a blooming 
orchid plant. After the blossoms 
had faded, I put it in my small green- 
house where I grow zonal geraniums, 
thinking that if it lived, all right, and 
if it died I would not worry. I have 
been trying to simplify my greenhouse 
operation by growing nothing but 
geraniums, so I placed the plant in a 
corner of one of the benches and left 
it to its fate. I did not even hang 
it up in the light and air as I had 
intended doing. 

The orchid plant has been on the 
bench in the midst of blooming geran- 
iums for a year. It has not been 
fertilized and has been watered as 
geraniums are watered, — every day, 
water being poured into the pots with 
practically no overhead sprinkling. As 
I do not do the watering myself, 


occasionally when working on my 


geraniums I remembered to sprinkle it 
lightly, but during summer heat for 
many days the plant had no water on 
its foliage. About two weeks ago it 
started to bloom. I brought it into 
the house and now it has four beauti- 
ful blossoms and a delicious fragrance 
which I notice every time I enter the 
room. It is a Brasso-Cattleya, and I 
am told its fragrance comes from its 
Brassavola parentage. 

So I found that an orchid plant is 
tougher than I had thought it to be. 
It can flower and flourish even if not 
treated according to directions (which 
say, for instance, that an_ orchid 
should be watered only every other 
day). I shall give it better treatment 
next year, but of one thing | am 
certain—it will not flower better than 
it has done this winter with no care 
at all. ANNE L. LEHMANN 


2 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


BALKAN HOLLY (llex aquifolium var. angustifolium) 


N 1934, during a plant-hunting 

expedition to the Balkan countries 
of southeastern Europe, Edgar Ander- 
son (then of the Arnold Arboretum) 
collected seeds and plants of several 
interesting evergreens, including the 
Bulgarian Ivy (Hedera helix “Bulg- 
aria’), Balkan Yew (Taxus baccata), 
Butcher’s Broom (Ruscus aculeatus) , 
and the Balkan Holly (Ilex aqui- 
folium). All these introductions were 
grown at the City Garden or the 
Arboretum at Gray Summit, and now, 
after twenty years of trial, are turning 
out to be among the best of their kind 
for this area. The number of broad- 
leaf evergreens hardy in this part of 
the Midwest has always been very 
limited, but it is increasing, and the 
Balkan Holly is one which will take 
its place. 

The ordinary English Christmas 
Holly (Ilex aquifolium), indigenous 
to western Europe, is not reliable in 
our area, even during normal winters. 
Plants sometimes do pull through a 
series of mild winters only to be killed 
outright or damaged severely in or- 
dinary years. Efforts to find hardy 
forms of it have proved fruitless. But, 
fortunately, several climatic forms of 
Hex aquifolium do exist in Europe, in- 
cluding the form native to the Balkan 
Peninsula. 

The Balkan Holly occurs in the 
Balkan) mountains in southeastern 
Europe where the climatic patterns 
closely simulate those in parts of our 
own Midwest. Plants grown from the 
original introduction of twenty years 


ago, although of slow growth, have 


survived the many rigors of winter 
and summer over this period. Tem- 
peratures of 10° below zero and a high 
of 115° above have not inhibited the 
growth of this holly in the Garden. 
From the original introduction, we 
have three plants, one a male, another 
a female, and a third plant of un- 
known sex which was repeatedly 
frozen back at the Arboretum during 
a couple of 20° below-zero winters 
before being brought into the City. 
This year our male and female plants 
flowered together for the first time, 
and the female plant, now about eight 
feet tall, has this autumn turned up 
with a few bright red_ berries, very 
reminiscent of those on ordinary 
English holly. The Balkan Holly looks 
like the English Christmas Holly with 
evergreen leaves and bright red berries, 
except that the leaves of the Balkan 
variety lack the lustre of its more 
comely English cousin. 

Further testing will, we hope, 
completely substantiate our views 
regarding the virtuous qualities of this 
evergreen holly for our area. 

The severe freeze of last March 26, 
did not faze the Balkan hollies in the 
Garden. Early or late freezes affect- 
ing tender growth plus warm-ups and 
bright sun in mid-winter generally do 
the most damage to broadleaf ever- 
greens in the St. Louis area. Climatic 
patterns, especially the timing of 
warm and cold weather, are of greater 
importance in relation to hardiness 
than the absolute minimum or maxi- 


mum temperature. F. G. MEYER 


THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


Henry Hircucock 
RicHarp J. Lock woop 
Henry B. PFLAGER 

A. WeEssEL SHAPLEIGH 
RoBert BROOKINGS SMITH 


JouNn S. LEHMANN, President 
DanieL K. Catuin, Vice-President 
EUGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President 
LEICESTER B. FAustT 

DupLeyY FRENCH 


EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 
James F. MorrELtl, 


President_of the Board of Education 
of St. Louis 


ErHaN A. H. SHEPLEY, 
Chancellor of Washington University 


ARTHUR C. LICHTENBERGER, 
Bish f the Diocese of Missouri . 
srendoean eee ere oe 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 S. Lehmann, 
Edgar Anderson, W. F. Scott, Jr., Chairman. 


George T. Moore 
Edgar Anderson - 


Henry N. Andrews —_.-.. 
August P. Beilmann 


Louis G. Brenner 
Ladislaus Cutak 
Hugh C. Cutler 
Carroll W. Dodge 


Tah, Deg 


Robert J. Gillespie — 
Nell C. Horner 
Lawrence Kaplan 


Ida M. Kohl ss = orc 
Paul A. Kohl oe 


Edna Mepham 


Frederick G. Meyer. 


George H. Pring 


Betty O’Brien Putney 


Kenneth A. Smith 


Julian A. Steyermark - 
FS ee Oe lp 3 |: ee er ere ene ne 
Rolla ciry ons: [ie ate 

George B. Van Schaack_____--...-..--.---------- 
Babert E. Woodson, Jr._... —--—-—.----.------..._ 


STAFF 
___.... Emeritus Director 
pret. a 5 _... Director 
8 _ Paleobotanist 
Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit 
_ Arborist 


_. Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories 

__ Associate Director and Curator of the Museum 
Mycologist 
Research Associate 
_....... In charge of Orchids 

__. Librarian and Editor 

Associate Curator of Museum 

_..... Assistant Librarian 

_.... Floriculturist 

__.... Assistant Librarian 

eee Dendrologist 

speinind _ Superintendent 

__ Assistant to the Director 

Pee oe beteeeese ene __ Engineer 
_.....Honorary Research Associate 
we _.... 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 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. 


AISSOURI BOTANICAL 


CONTENTS 


Giant City State Park Notes on Snowdrops 


Missouri’s Crop of Wild Annuals Book Review: Muenscher’s Weeds 
and Biennials 


What Makes A Garden: The St. Louis Garden Club Tour 


olume XLIV March, 1956 Number 3 


Cover: Trail between massive sandstone bluffs at Giant City 
State Park, Illinois. For this and other photographs 
we are indebted to J. W. Voigt, Department of 
Botany, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and 
the Illinois Division of Parks and Memorials, Spring- 


field. 


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. XLIV 


MARCH, 1956 No. 3 


GIANT CITY STATE PARK IN THE SPRING 
ROBERT H. MOHLENBROCK 


LONG about the fourth week in 
A April or the first week in May, 
the flora of low woodlands in southern 
Illinois reaches its glorious peak. While 
the drier oak-hickory forests are just 
awakening from their winter dor- 
mancy with blossoms of the Spider- 
wort (Tradescantia virginiana) and 
Hound’s Tongue (Cynoglossum  vir- 
ginianum) and while the arid sand- 
stone bluff tops of the Shawneetown 
Ridge show only the opening leaf buds 
of the Black Jack and Post Oaks 
(Quercus marilandica and Q. stellata) 
and Winged Elm (Ul/mus alata) and 
the flowers of Yellow Star-grass (Hy- 
poxis hirsuta) and False Garlic (No- 
thoscordum bivalve), the moist rich 
woods of the ravines and valleys have 
been decking themselves out in their 
finest spring formals. To capture 
some of this splendid show of wild 
flowers, let us take an unhurried walk 
through such a lush area. As a 
reminder, let us not pick any of the 
flowers, for we may want to come 
back and enjoy the show when it opens 
again next season. 

We are going to walk along part of 
the “two-mile foot trail’ in Giant 
City State Park. This park lies in the 
southern part of Jackson County and 
the northern part of Union County, 


Illinois, about 110 miles south of St. 
Louis. We go under an archway formed 
by massive sandstone bluffs on our 
right and a large boulder on our left. 
The boulder, through a long period 
of weathering and erosion, has broken 
away from the bluff. During its 
hundreds of independent years, it has 
developed on its exposed but shaded 
portions a carpet of mosses. And from 
the cracks and crevices of its outer 
edges is growing a little shrub we 
know to be Wild Hydrangea (Hy- 
drangea arborescens), It is not in 
flower yet, but we are able to see its 
clusters of flower buds. After pass- 
ing the archway, we find ourselves 
still bounded on our right by the 
bluff, but to our left is the beginning 
of the low woods. 

The first showy wild flower we see 
as we look to the left is the yellow 
Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum  di- 
phyllxn). At is not plentiful, but as 
we scan the woods occasional glowing 
patches of yellow stand out. If we 
walk down a small rocky slope to the 
valley flocr to get a better look at the 
Poppy, we suddenly find ourselves 
surrounded by a myriad of white, 
lavender, and violet blossoms. These 
turn out to be masses of the very 
common Spring Beauty (Claytonia 

(33) 


34 MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


Rock Slide along Stonefort Creek, Giant City State Park 


virginica), Bloodroot (Sanguinaria 


canadensis), Pepper-root (Dentaria 
laciniata), Missouri Violet (Viola 
missouriensis), Marsh Violet (Viola 


papilionacea), and Woolly Blue Violet 
(Viola sororia). 

Now we ascend to the path and on 
the bluff before us, just out of reach, 


isa ledge on which grow the drooping- 


flowered Yellow Dog-tooth Violets. 
Proceeding toward a grotto on our 
right, we notice the path has become 
lined, almost as if planned by man, 
with a whitish-flowered plant which 
has leaves that remind us of those of 
This is the Waterleaf (Hvy- 


maples. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 35 


drophyllum canadense). We can’t 
resist examining the grotto formed by 
massive sandstone bluffs on three sides. 
Back into the extremities of this grot- 
to, a small cave leads into the bluff. 
Coming from the cave is a stream of 
cool air which causes the small upright 
plants on the adjacent cliff to sway 
calmly back and forth. These plants 
which have very hairy leaves are as 
yet not in flower. They belong to a 
summer-blooming species known as 
Alum-root (Heuchera parviflora var. 
rugelii). At the base of these plants 
hundreds of tiny and some not so tiny 
green organisms are plastered up 
against the cool rocks. These are 
mosses and their relatives, liverworts. 
By kneeling and peering under a small 
overhang of the bluff, we can see one 
of the larger of these liverworts — a 
leathery, irregular-shaped plant (Con- 
ocephalum sp.). 

Let us continue along the trail at 
the base of the bluff. We don’t pro- 
gress far until we come to a large Bit- 
ternut Hickory (Carya cordiformis) 
whose base is only about three feet 
from the path. If we are observant, 
we notice at the base of the tree an 
attractive bronze-colored fern. This 
is the Bronze Grape Fern (Botrychinm 
dissectum var. obliquum). The forest 
floor is still covered by Spring Beau- 
ties and Violets and a small delicate 
green fern, the Fragile Fern (Cystop- 
teris fragilis). And what is this tiny 
little black-and-white flower at our 
feet? It’s the Harbinger-of-Spring 
(Erigenia bulbosa)! And a harbinger 
it is, indeed, for had we come this way 
the last of February, when everything 
still seemed sleeping, we could have 


found this sparkling little plant, often 
called Salt-and-Pepper, sprinkled 
throughout protected spots in the 
woods. Here and there are small white 
flowers which at a glance appear to be 
Spring Beauties but closer observation 
reveals the small three-lobed leaves of 
the False Rue Anemone (Isopyrum 
biternatum). 

The path narrows now, the bluff 
being our western boundary and the 
steep slope leading to the valley floor 
our eastern limit. Growing abund- 
antly on the slope are found two in- 
teresting shrubs — the Spice-bush 
(Lindera benzoin) with tiny yellow 
flowers, and the Bladdernut (Stfa- 
phylea trifolia) with rich creamy flow- 
ers. Both these shrubs are also featured 
later in the season when the Spice- 
bush presents its aromatic crimson 
berries and the Bladdernut its curious 
inflated fruits. 

A sharp turn to the right, followed 
almost immediately by an_ equally 
sharp one to the left, brings us to a 
very productive area of the woods. 
Here a rivulet flows at right angles to 
the bluff on our right. Under the bluff, 
the ground is soggy and densely shad- 
ed. It is here that we see an occasional 
cluster of leaves with a flower stalk 
arising from the center. This is 
French’s Shooting-star (Dodecatheon 
frenchii), known only in the world 
from similar darkened areas in a few 
of the counties of southern Illinois. It 
was probably from the very spot 
where we now stand that this little 
plant became known to science back 
in 1870. 

Let us now leave the path and walk 
along the rivulet for about twenty 


36 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Golden Seal 
(Hydrastis canadensis) 


feet until we come to a large isolated 
boulder to our left. On and around this 
boulder is a great variety of spring wild 
flowers. A patch of hairy heart-shaped 
leaves lie on the rich leaf mold, and 
we know that if we carefully lift them 
and look beneath, we shall see tiny 
maroon flowers belonging to the Wild 
Ginger (Asarum reflexum). And over 
here are the Dutchman’s-breeches 
(Dicentra cucullata) and the Squirrel 
Corn (Dicentra canadensis). The 
Dutchman’s-breeches are those with 
the petals pointed and _ spreading, 
resembling legs of trousers, while the 
Squirrel Corn has rounded, “closed” 
petals. Growing from some of the 
small crevices in the boulder is a plant 
we all know as Jack-in-the-Pulpit 
(Arisaema triphyllum). Other plants 
that attract our attention are the 
beautiful Yellow Bellwort (Uvularia 
grandiflora), Solomon’s-seal (Smilac- 
ina racemosa), Wild Larkspur ( Del- 
phinium  tricorne), Wild Geranium 
(Geranium maculatum), and Yellow 


Violet (Viola eriocarpa). 


We now cross the rivulet and climb 
the small bank on the other side. We 
find ourselves in the midst of hundreds 


of ferns 


some large and_ leathery, 
others small and more delicate. Among 
the former are the beautiful Christ- 
mas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides ) 
and the Marginal Fern (Dryopferis 
marginalis), while the latter include 
the Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum peda- 
fum) and Fragile Fern (Cysfopteris 
fragilis). 

While still away from the main 
path, we walk down the gentle slope 
toward the large Stonefort Creek. The 
forest floor is completely covered by 
vegetation. It is this slope that nature 
designated for the home of some of the 
more unusual southern Illinois species. 
A plant about a foot tall and bearing 


pale pink flowers is the Pink Valerian 


(Synandra_ hispidula) 


(Valeriana pauciflora). And here are 
strange-looking plants. At first glance 
they look like little spikes bearing 
rather ugly small yellow and brown 
flowers. But if we look more closely, 
we are able to discover large leaves 
lying on the ground which are ap- 
parently dying. Although this is 
spring, the leaves of this species actu- 


ally are withering. This is the Putty- 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 37 


root Orchid, and after flowering and 
fruiting, each plant produces a large, 
veiny, green leaf in August. This 
leaf persists throughout the winter but 


disappears when flowering time comes 


in the spring. 


Ae 


Yellow Lady’s Slipper 
(Cypripedium parviflora) 


If we look about us, we see large 
drooping white flowers borne from a 
whorl of three leaflets. This is the 
grandiose White Trillium (Trillium 
gleasoni). Its smaller maroon-flowered 
cousin, the Wake Robin (Trillinm 
recurvatum ), is common here, also. 

In this area the forest floor is shaded 
by a number of trees, some of the 
common ones being the Butternut or 
White Walnut (Juglans cinerea), 
Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), Sour 
Gum (Nyssa sylvatica) whose leaves 
turn so crimson in the autumn, Sugar 
Maple (Acer saccharum), and several 
kinds of Oaks (Quercus spp.). 

Could we but find the right tree, 
we would see beneath it, growing on 


loose sandstone rocks, the curious 


Walking Fern (Camptosorus rhizo- 
phyllus). And here are two plants we 
haven’t observed before — one with 
greenish-yellow flowers, — the Blue 
Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) , 
which later produces blue berries, and 
a white flowered one, Doll’s-eyes 
(Actaca alba), whose glossy white 
fruits remind one so much of the 
glassy eyes of a doll. 

Where the slope runs into the very 
bottom of the woods, the ground is 
misty with pale blue and white blos- 
soms. The plants accounting for this 
haziness are the White Violet (Viola 
striata) and the two-toned Blue-eyed 
Mary (Collinsia verna). If we are 
lucky, we may find a few plants of the 
very rare Synandra hispidula. This 
plant is about fourteen inches tall and 
bears rich white flowers which may 
recall the blossoms of the Snapdragon. 

So far, we have covered only about 


one-fourth mile of the foot trail. While 


Solomon’s Seal 


(Polygonatum canaliculatum) 
é 


38 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


MUI Yolo) 


Yerseyvillé . 


@ 68) (2D 


“ator Greenvil/ed " Lawrerrice 
Edwards vil/ep (37) Alouwisville WW le 
St Lou/s / 
Of G) 


fast Sf Louis 


\effingham 


3 
Giant City at etc, 
State Park 


Vienne 


37 
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145) 
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Metropolis 


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carro 


Map of southern Illinois showing location of Giant City State Park 
and some of the various routes by which it may be reached from St. 
Louis. The quickest is by way of Illinois routes 13 and 51. A more 
scenic route is via Illinois 3, 144, 13, and 51. This passes through 
several old German settlements—Columbia, Waterloo, and Redbud— 
where many of the spick-and-span brick dwellings line the very edge 
of the sidewalks. Many of these residences feature quaint “old- 
fashioned” flower beds of mignonette, bleeding-heart, sweet William, 
and the like. After leaving Chester, the Mississippi River frequently 
may be seen as it winds its way southward. To the left is probably the 
most unexplored terrain of southern Illinois—the “Kinkaid Hills’, a 
region of massive sandstone bluffs with numerous moist canyons and 
occasional waterfalls. Only scattered lonely cabins interrupt the 
continuity of Mother Nature’s handiwork. About 15 miles south of 
Chester, some 100 yards from the highway, is a small Indian mound, 
one of the few Indian burial grounds in the southern part of Illinois. 
After turning onto Route 144, a drive of five miles brings one to the 
entrance of the new Lake Murphysboro. The water is deep, clear, and 
well stocked with fish, and the surrounding woodlands are rich in wild 
flowers. Another pleasant drive is through Missouri on U.S. 61 (not 
indicated on map), taking the bridge over the Mississippi from Clary- 
ville, to Chester, Illinois, and then proceeding to Route 144. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 39 


A quiet rocky stream at Giant City State Park. 


we have seen many kinds of wild 
flowers, we would be rewarded further 
should we continue along the trail, 
although the number of new wild 
flowers encountered would become 
progressively less frequent. Still to be 
seen are the tiny Bishop’s Cap (M/tella 
diphylla) with its petals designed like 
the most delicate of snowflakes, Wild 
Phlox (Phlox divaricata), Jacob’s-lad- 
der (Polemonium reptans), and two 
rare and exciting orchids, the glorious 
Yellow Lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium 
parviflorum) and the mauve and 
white Showy Orchis (Orchis specta- 
bilis) which has the fragrance of the 
most exotic perfume. 

We hope you have enjoyed our little 


tour. Should you return in the sum- 


mer or autumn, you would find a 
great multitude of different species of 
plants. While the park is relatively 
small (1523 acres), over 820. species 
of ferns and flowering plants have 
been found here. This is approximately 
one-third the number of species that 
could be found in the entire state of 
Illinois. 

Should you be interested in further 
literature dealing with Giant City 
State Park, two publications in the 
Illinois Division of Parks and Memori- 
als and State Museum Series are avail- 
able free at the Giant City lodge. One 
concerns the geology of the park and 
is by Carlton Condit. The other, 
which treats the ferns and flowering 


plants of the park, was prepared by 


40 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Dry sandstone bluffs 


the writer. Cabins and camping 


facilities are available in the park. 


To reach the Park from St. Louis, 
follow Illinois Route 13 from East St. 
Then take U.S. 


Route 51 south about eight miles to 


Louis to Carbondale. 


the Giant City road which winds for 


about 


two miles through beautiful 


kaha 


ACrOSss 


from rich moist woods. 
hilly country. Or should you prefer 


a slightly longer but more scenic 
journey, follow Illinois Route 3 south 
to Route 144, then left for 15 miles 
to Carbondale, and from there south 


on U.S. 51. 


105 miles from St. Louis while the lat- 


The first route is about 


ter, which borders the Mississippi for 


quite a while, covers about 115 miles. 


haps 
Kort 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 41 


MISSOURI'S CROP OF WILD ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS 


JULIAN A. STEYERMARK 


TO" is something breath-taking 
and inspirational in the many 
forms and colors produced by Nature’s 
parade of flowers, and for many per- 
sons the blossoms are the chief or only 
attraction of a plant. But a true 
flower-lover wants more than just to 
see the flower; he wants also to be- 
come more intimately acquainted with 
the earlier stages of growth and leaf- 
formation preceding flower produc- 
tion. Take, for instance, the wild an- 
nuals. In the spring, summer, and 
fall, they provide masses of striking 
color on rocky ‘“‘glades”, pastures, 
meadows, and prairies. In early spring 
pale blues and lavenders are displayed 
by the bluets (Houstonia minima and 
H. patens), whites by  sandwort, 
Arrenaria patula), Leavenworthia 
(Leavenworthia uniflora), vernal 
Whitlow grass (Draba verna) ; yellows 
by Nuttall’s stonecrop (Sedum Nut- 
tallianum) and selenia (Selenia aurea). 
In the summer and fall centaury 
(Centaurium texense) and palafoxia 
(Palafoxia callosa) impart pink and 
rosy hues to the landscape, while white 
is provided by heliotrope (Helio/rop- 
inm tenellum). The mass effect of 
the colors attracts our attention im- 
mediately. After the plant flowers, 
however, interest in it wanes and few 
have much interest in what happens 
next. 

Yet, if we happen to be tramping 
around the limestone “bald knobs” or 
“glades” of southwestern Missouri in 


October and November, it may sur- 


prise us to learn that what appears to 
be a bare, drab, rocky soil surface is 
actually teeming with living plants. 
Look down closely and you may see 
infinitesimal bits of gray-green hug- 
ging the ground. What are they? They 
are the tiny young plants of various 
Short, thread-like 


leaves, so characteristic of the adult 


autumn annuals. 


sandwort  (Arenaria patula), are 
already developed and large enough to 
be seen on the seedlings ready to take 
the winter. Near by are the young 
plants of widow’s cross (Sedum pul- 
chellum) with broad, spoon-shaped, 
gray-green leaves appearing as tiny 
flat rosettes. 

They, and the clan of annuals to 
which they belong, signal to us that 
“spring is just around the corner”. 
They are “‘all set to go”, come winter, 
and are waiting for the first touch of 
spring to continue their growth. They 
are winter annuals that will survive 
the cold wintry blasts. The seeds they 
produced in quantity fell to the 
ground or were scattered by the wind, 
and lay dormant to “‘season”’ for a few 
months. Following late summer or 
autumnal rains, the tiny seeds germ- 
inated. In the fall-flowering annuals 
such as Palafoxia callosa, the pink- 
flowered member of the Composite 
Family found on the _ limestone 
“glades” of southwestern Missouri, 
germination of the seeds is delayed 
until the following spring. But those 
which normally flower in the spring 


germinate their seeds in the fall, and 


42 MISSOURI BOTANIC 


the young plants remain over the 
winter in a reduced state of develop- 
ment ready to continue their growth 
the following spring. 

If we look carefully now at the leaf 
mould covering the ground in the 
wooded valleys, we may be fortunate 
enough to see the little seedlings of the 
blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia  verna) 
already showing the adult type of 
short broad leaves with little notches 
on their margins, or the young stems 
of cleavers or bedstraw (Galinm 
Aparine) with the broad “‘seed leaves” 
followed by light green leaves arranged 
in tiers, one above the other. 

These annuals all have one feature 
in common: they germinate, flower, 
produce seed, and germinate again, all 
within the period of one year, The 
true biennials require two years to 


During the firs/ 
fo) 


produce flowers: 


"AL GARDEN BULLETIN 


year a rosette of leaves is produced; 
during the second year the flowers and 
seeds. Two good examples of native 
biennials of Missouri are the rose gen- 
tian (Sabatia angu'aris) and Indian 
paint brush (Castilleja coccinea). The 
first year the rose gentian is only a 
rosette cf two to four pairs of smooth, 
pale green, rounded leaves closely 
hugging the surface of the soil. This 
rosette gives rise during the following 
summer to a branching leafy stem 
bearing fragrant pink or white showy 
flowers. The first year Indian paint 
brush consists of a rosette of several, 
narrow, irregularly toothed, yellow- 
green leaves lying close to the ground. 
The second year an erect leafy stem 
rises from this rosette, bearing at its 
summit a cluster of scarlet or yellow 


bracts enclosing yellow flowers. 


ROSE PINK 


(Sabatia angularis ) 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 43 


NOTES ON SNOWDROPS 


Pe. 


Flowers of white, on slender scapes, 
poised like elfin insects in arrested 
flight—these are the snowdrops, har- 
bingers of spring and first hardy bulbs 
to flower. While it was easy to coin 
the name “Snowdrop” to characterize 
these flowers, it seems more difficult 
to call them “Bulbous Violets’ as did 
John Gerarde in his great herbal of 
1636. 

About a dozen species of the genus 
Galanthus (the botanical name _ for 
Snowdrops) are natives of the Old 
World, from the Alps to Asia Minor 
where the greatest concentration of 
species occurs, in Greece, its islands, 
and Turkey. But only two are really 
well known in American gardens. The 
Alpine Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) 
of the Alps has long been cultivated 
and still is the best known, _ Its 
green-tipped variety, var. scharlokii, is 
a bizarre form well worth growing. 
The Elwes Snowdrop (Galanthus 
elwesi), from Turkey, probably is the 
second best-known Snowdrop _ in 
America. 

Snowdrops are bulbous plants in the 
Amaryllis family, which includes the 
daffodil, snowflake, onion, and am- 
aryllis. Actually, the structure of the 
snowdrop flower most closely resem- 
bles the daffodil. On the other hand, 
the flowers of the snowdrop, which 
hang like crystal pendants at the sum- 
mit of slender green scapes between 
the two subtending leaves, could 
hardly be confused with any other 
plant in the Amaryllis family. The 


MEYER 


tallest species are not more than six 
to eight inches in height. In growth 
habit snowdrops are gregarious like the 
narcissus. The Snowflake (Leucojum) 
is most often confused with the Snow- 
drop, no doubt on account of the 
similar common names. 
Cultivation.—Snowdrops may easily 
be grown in St. Louis. They are a 
delight to have, because no other bulb- 
ous plant flowers so early. Galanthus 
elwesii and G. byzantinus are the first 
to come into flower, and the last one 
of the season is the Alpine Snowdrop 
(G. nivalis). It is possible to have a 
continuous show of snowdrops from 
the first of January until almost the 
middle of March. This year, a few 
flowers of Galanthus elwesii were out 
in the Mausoleum the first of January. 
Snowdrops are woodland plants 
preferring well-drained soil high in 
organic matter. They are most effec- 
tively planted in masses along a brick- 
lined walk, at the edge of a shrub 
border, or in clumps with tree trunks 
as a bold background. Well-established 
plantings left undisturbed for years 
will naturalize freely from seed and 
bulblets. The most effective snow- 
drop plantings at the Garden are mas- 
sive clumps framed against the ivy 
ground-cover in the Mausoleum. Some 
of these plantings are at least twenty- 
five years old. Regarding depth of 
planting, from two to six inches seems 
to suit them best. In a warm soil 
high in organic matter, bulbs planted 


two inches deep will flower the earliest. 


44 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


BYZANTINE SNOWDROP (Galanthus byzantinus) 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 45 


An occasional transplanting may be 
necessary whenever flowering seems to 
lag; however, fertilizing snowdrops 
with bone meal, at the rate of three 
pounds per hundred square feet, should 
keep these plants multiplying and 
flowering profusely over many years. 

Transplanting snowdrop bulbs 
should be done preferably while they 
are in flower. They just can’t stand 
drying out. Failure is almost always 
due to dried out bulbs that were dead 
when bought. Of the two sorts com- 
monly offered by dealers, Galanthus 
nival:s suffers more. Imported Dutch 
bulbs of G. elwesii planted in late 
October came through nearly 100 per 
cent. Snowdrops and the closely 
related Spring Snowflake (Leucojum 
vernum) do not have thick protective 
bulb coats to prevent desiccation. 
More of these bulbs would be grown 
if transplanting in spring was more 
fully appreciated. 

Elwes Snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii) 
is a native of western Turkey and one 
of the most variable in the genus. A 
number of garden forms and hybrids 
of this species have confused specialists 
for a long time. At least three forms 


are growing in the Mausoleum. An 
outstanding form has narrow, blue- 
green, more or less pleated leaves less 
than a half-inch wide, and flowers 
with the outer segments oblong and 
pointed. When full-blown, the blooms 
emit a delicate perfume very attractive 
to bees. The more common garden 
variety offered by Dutch bulb mer- 
chants has wider flat leaves covered 
by whitish bloom, with the outer 
flower segments less pointed and more 
deeply cup-shaped. Normally, a few 
flowers of this species are in bloom by 
the first of February. This year a 
few were out the first of January. 

The Byzantine Snowdrop (Galanthus 
byzantinus) is a reputed hybrid 
which was introduced into cultivation 
from Turkey at the end of the last 
century. This is one of the earliest 
species to flower but is rarely seen in 
American gardens. The plant illus- 
trated was grown from bulbs sent a 
few years ago from Dr. H. F. Dovas- 
ton at the Agricultural College at 
Ayr, Scotland. This has long been 
considered one of the choicest species, 
and it is hoped our introductions may 
bear out earlier appraisals. 


EXPLANATION OF ILLUSTRATION OF GALANTHUS BYZANTINUS 


Fig. 1. Stamen. X 212. 


Fig. 2. Habit of plant. Outer three flower segments (sepals) 
white, inner three segments corona-like, with a patch 
of green at the base and two spots at notch at summit. 


About natural size. 


Fig. 


bh Ww 


. Flower, face view. About natural size. 


Fig. 4. Outer and inner view of petals—stippled areas green. 


m2: 


Fig. 5. Flower components: stamens and flower segments (sepal 


and petal) in perspective. 


About natural size. 


46 


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 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. 
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 ene 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 Saturdays, 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 47 


Weeds. by W. C. Muenscher. 560 
pages. The Macmillan Co. New York, 
i955. Price $10.00. 

If your back is sore, your knees stiff 
and your hands blistered from digging 
and pulling; if you think weeds are 
overwhelming you, it’s time to stop 
and look into the new edition of this 
intriguing book first published twenty 
years ago. Dr. Muenscher is the 
country’s foremost authority on weeds 
and his career has been devoted to 
studying and teaching about these 
aggressive plants. He writes so much 
of interest that I am tempted to sub- 
title the book — How to make Friends 
with the Weeds. The bulk of the 
volume concerns the identification and 
description of some 571 kinds cf plants, 
often objectionable, which occur 
in the northern United States. What 
to do about them is not a purpose of 
this book although references are given 


to sources of such information as their 


topic is alas, mainly, dig, hoe and 
grub, There are 135 fine illustrations 
to help in recognition and accounts of 
their origins, life histories and cunning 
methods of dispersal supply clues for 
eradication. Several of the commonest 
as the Mustards, Docks, and Purslane 
are edible. Some are medicinal plants 
as the lovely Foxglove, the Wild 
Cranesbill, pesky relative of the 
Geranium, and that plague of the 
lawn, American Pennyroyal. About 
the very poisonous Jimson-weed com- 
men in barnyards, one wonders who 
tells the little pigs not to eat it. Many 
of those included might be welcomed 
into St. Louis gardens, among them 
Hay-scented Fern, Cinnamon Fern, 
Day Lily, Mountain Laurel, Spearmint 
and Horehound. Perhaps one might 
select some of these, relax and grow 
weeds. There is much to be learned 
about how and why plants are spread. 
The weeds have much to tell. 


chemical control. Advice on_ this Avice F. TRYON 


WHAT MAKES A GARDEN 
A TOUR FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 


The Garden Club of St. Louis invites you to visit the following ten outstanding 
gardens: 


The Dates 


Friday, April 27 
Saturday, April 28 
Sunday, April 29 
The Hours—10:30 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. 
Admission— $2.00, tax included. 
Tickets— | On sale at all of the gardens on the tour, at the Missouri 
Botanical Garden, and by mail. Send check to Mr. William 
Weld, 9936 Litzsinger Road, St. Louis, 17. 
GARDENS TO BE SHOWN ON THE TOUR 
1. Mr. and Mrs. Warren Chandler 
6357 Ellenwood Avenue 


A terrace and green garden designed by Peter Seltzer, a wonderful old gentleman who was 
over eighty years old when he designed and built this garden. The garden accents Italian 


48 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


ornaments, yew hedges, brick walls, and privacy — a peaceful garden, lived in, worked in, 
and loved by its owners. 

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Hoskins 

6416 Cecil Avenue 

Handsome clipped ivy columns on front of this brick Georgian town house. A curving walk 
leads to enclosed brick and wrought-iron terrace. A flourishing pair of Magnolia grandiflora 
accents the perennial garden. Toco! storage and work space in a shuttered area. Display of 
new and useful tools will be in the Georgian garage. 

Mr. and Mrs. Meredith Jones 

6419 Ellenwood Avenue 

The brick terraced garden adjoining the house was designed by the late Peter Seltzer, an 
outstanding garden architect of St. Louis. The outer garden, new this year, was designed and 
planted by Eleanor McClure. Both gardens feature statues by Wheeler Williams; dogwood, 
azaleas, and rhododendrons. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Bixby 

8930 Ladue Road 


A hundred-foot lot which was considered worthless has developed into an interesting Spring 
garden. 

Mrs. Robert Corley 

13 Upper Ladue Road 

The development of a sloping property, done little by little, has resulted in a particularly 
successful formal garden, below the house. This, because of its design, is pleasing to the eye 
both winter and summer. The greenhouse and the potting house, designed by Eloise Polk, are 
a feature of the formal garden. Adjacent to the open fireplace area will be a display of 
furnishings for outdoor entertaining. 

Mr. and Mrs. B. B. Culver, Jr. 

330 N. Warson Road 

The garden area is in three levels — the upper and lower terraces were designed by Edith Mason, 
An exceptionally fine lawn is surrounded by a brick wall backed by white pines. A meadow 
bordered by a creek edged with naturalized spring bulbs is one of the many interesting features. 
Most beautiful planting of flowering trees and shrubs. The studio will house a collection of 
old prints and garden books on exhibit and for sale. 

Dr. Ben Charles 

2 Fielding Road 

House and garden open. An 1875 farm house, remodeled by Beverly Nelson, has interesting 
living-room completely lined with bocks, many fine antiques including large portrait of Dr, 
Charles’ great grandmother. Hedged formal garden leads to swimming pool off terrace. 

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hitchcock 

Woods Mill Road 

Chesterfield, Missouri 

An extensive estate landscaped by Mr. Charles Gillette of Virginia. The grass lawn in front 
commands an extensive view. The many gardens have not been watered through the drought 
years. A large circular perennial garden is connected to the terrace by an alley of magnolias. 
A twelve-foot holly hedge adjoins the garage where there will be an instructive display of 
garden sprays. 

Mr. and Mrs. Leicester Faust 

Thornhill Farms 

Chesterfield, Missouri 

An estate overlooking the Missouri River — truly old world and full of charm. Old evergreen 
plantings—a natural wild flower garden never pastured or planted. Informal perennial flower 
gardens. Two tropical greenhouses. Famous statues of the “Rising and Setting Sun” by 
Weinmann on a grass terrace overlooking the river. Orchid plants will be offered for sale. 
(Barbecue sandwiches and coffee will be on sale here on Saturday, April 28, and Sunday, April 
29.) 

Mr. and Mrs. Warren Shapleigh 

R. R. 13, Mason Road 


A small prefabricated country house surrounded by three gardens. These were built and 
maintained by the owners. Eight years ago this land was a bare, eroded pasture, devoid of 
topsoil. Of particular note is the multiflora rose hedge, which surrounds the present pasture. 


THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


JouHNn S. LEHMANN, President Henry HitcHcock 
DANIEL K. CatTLIN, Vice-President RicHaArpD J. Lock woop 
EUGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President Henry B. PFLAGER 
LeicesTER B. Faust A. WESSEL SHAPLEIGH 
DupDLEY FRENCH ROBERT BROOKINGS SMITH 


EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 


ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEY, JaMeEs F. MorrELL, 
Chancellor of Washington University President of the Board of Education 
of St. Louis 


ARTHUR C, LICHTENBERGER, 


Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri Somarvonn: Lex Moron 
> 


RayMonp 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 S$. Lehmann, 
Edgar Anderson, W. F. Scott, Jr., Chairman. 


STAFF 
George T. Moore ietepasecges dicate sibecasecene eae Emeritus Director 
EGP DCP 6 1 5 acne cinaamnteseentinreniene cast deadewinisastene A ALCCEOE 
Henry N. Andrews Seo Paleohotanie 
August P. Beilmann SS Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit 
Lois... Brénne? gcse ese = = Seite es cae OLIIE 
Ladislaus Cutak. Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories 
Biteh C. Cotter cn Associate Director and Curator of the Museum 
GET 0 MAS Aa oc: (ee en ee ee een tes Sea Mycologist 
John D. Dwyer : ss : Research Associate 
Robert J. Gillespie == = SENSES xe In charge of Orchids 
TINY NL GS ET Orn rc ne Librarian and Editor 
Lawrence Kaplan : __.... Associate Curator of Museum 
OP") De) 1 a ee en Re EN Cena Mek re ae Assistant Librarian 
Paul A.-Kohl'2 2. pense - cede nepehesierc aaa UOPICULLUTIRE 
Edna Mepham ____-..- Ss Assistant Librarian 
Prederick Gx, MeV 66s. ccecocektle a at eee te ODEN 
George Hi. Pring 2. ___ Superintendent 
Betty O’Brien Putney... ie __ Assistant to the Director 
Boerne try A Site ee : _.-------------- Engineer 
Julian A. Steyermark Ms Honorary Research Associate 
Alice F. Tryon Research Associate 
| | ES Fe eg 70) oR | oe Assistant Curator of Herbarium 
George B. Van Schaack : Acting Curator of Herbarium 


Robert E. Woodson, Jr. moe Senior Taxonomist 


A Walking Fern, one of the interesting native plants 
found growing at Giant City State Park, in southern 
Illinois, a pleasant place for a day’s outing. (See Bob 
Mohlenbrock’s article on pages 33-40 of this BULLE- 
rIN.) It is called Walking Fern because the fronds 
root at the tip, forming eventually an entire little plant 
with further fronds which reach out and start new 
plants in turn. A single plant may, in this fashion, 


form a green mat all over the face of the boulder. 


USSOURI BOTANICAL 
GARDEN BULLETIN 


ha ee 
a a 


ope, 
a 


CONTENTS 


Azaleas for St. Louis Gardens 


lume XLIV April, 1956 Number 4 


Cover: Gable Hybrid Azalea oLp FarrHruL. These plants have bloomed profusely 
for ten seasons, normal blooming time being about April 20. 


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. XLIV 


APRIL, 1956 No. 4 


AZALEAS FOR ST. LOUIS GARDENS 


PAUL A. KOHL 


VER twenty years ago, Ernest 
H. Wilson of the Arnold Arb- 
oretum, in his book “If I Were to Make 
a Garden,” devoted a chapter to “The 
Brilliant Gaiety of Azaleas,” 
still earlier work he included azaleas 


and ina 


among the aristocrats of the garden. 
Azaleas are the true aristocrats for the 
gardens of the St. Louis area, and, if 
given a little extra care, can be the 
most cherished plants in a shrub col- 
lection, 

In gardening we are entirely depend- 
ent upon the changing weather condi- 
tions, and very often the St. Louis 
area is considered one of the most dif- 
ficult climates in which to garden. 
We have sudden changes in temper- 
ature, dry and wet summers, and late 
spring freezes; but by comparison with 
other parts of the country, our climate 
is not so rigorous as to discourage us 
from growing some of the choicer 
plants. We hope we are now emerging 
from the drought which has gripped 
this area for a number of years. 
While counting our plant losses we 
can’t help but wonder what the score 
is in Florida and the Pacific North- 
west after the damaging cold spells, 


or in the East after the hurricanes and 
floods and in the West after the 
floods. At least we are not the only 
ones who must adapt gardening to a 
fickle climate, but this adapting is the 
challenge that tests our abilities and 
makes gardening such an interesting 
and rewarding hobby or avocation. 

Azaleas are a little more exacting 
than the average plant in their require- 
ments as to soil, location and moisture 
and have therefore been considered 
difficult to grow in this region. We 
are learning more about them and with 
the introduction of better varieties are 
discovering that they are more adapt- 
able to our climate than we realized. 
There are many, many azaleas, but this 
article is about the kinds I have grown 
in the Garden. 

For many years, the Garden has used 
the Indian and Kurume azaleas in its 
floral displays and in the spring flower 
shows formerly held in the Arena and 
Kiel Auditorium. These plants have 
been grown in large pots, some of 
them for more than twenty years. This 
may be considered a good record for 
this part of the country, but not 


unusual, for there are instances where 


(49) 


50 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 


MOLLIS HYBRID AZALEA 


The Mollis hybrids may be grown in full sun. 
ous and the flowers large. 


BULLETIN 


The plants are vigor- 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 51 


Indian azaleas have been grown in pots 
in England for more than forty years 
and the Japanese have very old azaleas 
trained as Bonsai trees. 

While our potted azaleas are watered 
with city tap water, which contains 
calcium, they seem to tolerate it if 
they are grown in soil containing peat 
and are supplied with nutrients which 
counteract the accumulation of lime. 
We have grown azaleas in pure peat 
and also in sphagnum with excellent 
results. To keep the plants in good 
condition we use such materials as cot- 
tonseed meal, iron sulphate, ground 
sulphur, and balanced fertilizers 
especially prepared for camellias and 
azaleas. When azalea leaves lose their 
dark green color we know the plants 
are in trouble, although we cannot 
pin-point the cause for the change. 
The yellowing foliage might be the 
result of starvation, alkaline soil, or 
poor drainage. When soil in a_ pot 
becomes water-logged, air is excluded 
and the yellowing leaves are the first 
symptom of poor drainage. If the 
drainage is good and an azalea becomes 
anaemic the cause is probably due to 
a deficiency of iron and other trace 
elements, and such a plant is said to 
be “chlorotic.” This does not neces- 
sarily mean that there is a shortage of 
iron in the soil, but it might be in an 
insoluble form so that plants cannot 
utilize it. Iron sulphate, used at the 
rate of from one-half to one ounce to 
two gallons of water, applied to the 
roots or sprayed on the foliage, has 
frequently been used to restore the 
normal green color to the leaves. A 
good combination fertilizer for potted 


azaleas is one teaspoonful of iron sul- 


phate and eight teaspoonsful of a 
water-soluble fertilizer in one gallon 
of water. 

Iron chlorosis occurs in other plants 
as well as azaleas. It is a nutritional 
problem in the citrus groves in central 
Florida and it is there that great strides 
have been made in recent years in 
restoring chlorotic trees through the 
use of iron chelates (pronounced 
“keylates”). In 1953 the first iron 
chelates became commercially available 
and now they may be had under vari- 
ous trade names such as Edco iron, 
Azalea Acid Kapco, Sequestrene NaFe, 
Versen-Ol iron chelate, and Versen- 
Ol iron chelate on Vermiculite. In the 
last two years, whenever we fed our 
potted azaleas, we added 12 per cent 
chelated iron to the fertilizer at the 
rate of one-fourth teaspoonful (1 
gram) per gallon of water. We have 
used this new material cautiously on 
our potted azaleas, but from our 
experience thus far we feel that we 
can safely use it on all azaleas and in 
stronger amounts. The suggested rate 
of application of Versen-Ol for a 2- 
to 4-foot azalea in the garden is 12 to 
1 ounce in 2 to 4 gallons of water, 
applied as a soil drench in the root 
area of the plant. To correct severe 
chlorosis on alkaline soils, two to three 
applications may be necessary at six- 
to eight-week intervals. 

Aluminum sulphate has been used 
to acidify soils, but its continual use 
may produce aluminum toxicity in 
plants. Powdered sulphur is much 
safer and can be used at the rate of 1 
pound to 100 square feet per applica- 
tion on light soils and 2 to 3 pounds 


on heavier soils. Regardless of which 


THI 


MISSOURI BOTANICAI 


KOREAN RHODODENDRON 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


(Rhododendron mucronulatum) 


THE EARLIEST-FLOWERING RHODODENDRON. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 53 


inorganic chemicals are used to in- 
crease acidity, it will not be possible to 
grow good azaleas unless the soil is 
well supplied with organic matter. 

Much is still to be learned about the 
acidity of the soil in relation to the 
growth of azaleas and rhododendrons. 
Many gardeners have probably been 
discouraged from growing them _ be- 
cause of the emphasis placed on the 
need for acid soil. This is the cultural 
point which is the most frequently 
stressed, as if it were the only matter 
to consider, whereas location, light and 
shade, moisture, organic content of the 
soil, and the selection of suitable kinds 
of azaleas are just as important as the 
acidity of the soil. In this connection 
it is interesting to refer to an article 
in the 1956 Rhododendron and Cam- 
ellia Year Book of the Royal Horti- 
cultural Society. Lanning Roper 
describes the Kurume Punch Bowl in 
the Great Park at Windsor, a project 
initiated in 1946 and completed in 
1950, with the planting of over 
50,000 Kurume azaleas. The follow- 
ing quotation describes the soil, but 
nowhere in the article is acidity or the 
pH of the soil mentioned: 


“In the beginning there was some 
fear of erosion. The soil was sandy, 
but it had been improved by a great 
deal of natural forest leaf-mould which 
had accumulated on the site through 
the years, coupled with vast quantities 
of leaf and peat which were dug in as 
the land was trenched.” 

It is not intended to dismiss the 


subject of acidity, but to consider it 
in its proper relation with the other 
cultural practices in growing azaleas. 
A small testing kit can be used to 
determine the acidity or alkalinity of 


the soil, or soil samples can be sent 


to state experiment stations or soil- 
testing laboratories for analysis and 
recommendations. The neutral point 
on the “pH scale’’ is 7.0, and a degree 
or two below this point is the range of 
acidity azaleas prefer. The domestic 
and imported peats have a strong acid 
reaction of about pH 4.5, and if a 
good amount of peat is added to the 
soil one can be reasonably sure that 
the degree of acidity will be low 
enough for azaleas. The addition of 
sulphur or any other acidifying agent 
to the soil will reduce the pH, but a 
fairly accurate reading cannot be 
obtained until months after the ap- 
plication. 


Location: While most of the 
deciduous azaleas may be grown in full 
sun, the evergreen and semi-evergreen 
kinds prefer light shade part of the 
day. Shade cast by trees or buildings 
during the hottest part of the day will 
also prolong the blooming period. Not 
every garden has a suitable location for 
azaleas, although by studying the site it 
is usually possible to create a sheltered 
spot with hedges, fences, shrubs, or 
evergreens, High shade cast by trees 
is preferred, and if the trees are oaks 
there will be no surface roots to rob 
the azaleas of food and moisture. 


PLANTING Time: Azaleas may be 
purchased in various sizes as potted or 
balled and burlapped plants. Since in 
this area azaleas normally bloom in late 
April and early May, planting time is 
in March and early April and again 
Potted 


plants may be set out at any time 


in September and October. 


except during the first flush of 
growth. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


ee 
ES 


THE PINXTERBLOOM (Rdododendron nudiflorum) 


The small, usually white flowers are borne in great profusion. 


dodendron roseum has deeper-colored, fragrant flowers. 


Rho- 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 55 


Always moisten the root ball before 
planting, by standing it in a tub of 
water for a few minutes and then 
setting it aside to drain. 


SpacinG: When a small azalea is 
planted it is difficult to visualize its 
height ten years hence, therefore, the 
tendency is to space plants close 
together. Four or five feet apart is 
advisable for most kinds. Generally, 
the spread of azaleas will be about the 
same as the ultimate height given in 
the catalogs. Plants that are placed 
two or three feet apart for immediate 
effect may be thinned when they 
begin to crowd, but the thinning must 


not be delayed too long. 


Sort: A well-drained, fibrous and 
spongy soil is the type azaleas prefer. 
In creating such soil our aim is to 
duplicate woodland conditions in 
which the yearly growth cycle pro- 
vides a continual supply of decaying 
leaves. We would be fortunate if we 
had partially decayed oak leaves to mix 
with the soil, but since this seldom is 
the case, our best substitute is com- 
mercial peat. At times this is very dry 
when delivered and needs to be moist- 
ened by exposing the opened bale or 
bag to rain, or wetting it with the 
hose and turning it with a rake until 
it is uniformly moist. Canadian peat 
can be conditioned faster than German 
peat, but the latter is a little more 
acid. 

Azaleas are shallow-rooted plants 
and in a well-drained location only the 
top 12-18 inches of soil need be pre- 
pared. If sufficient organic matter is 
available it is well to prepare an entire 


bed, but when azaleas are interplanted 


with other shrubs or evergreens, 
individual holes will suffice. Soil 
removed from a hole 2 feet in dia- 
meter and 1 foot deep equals approxi- 
mately 3 bushels. By mixing from 
1 to 12 bushels of peat with the soil 
we have approximately a 50 per cent 
soil-peat mixture. At that rate a 6- 
cubic-foot bale of peat will be suf- 
ficient for four azaleas, and if the di- 
ameter of the hole is increased to 3 
feet, one bale will be needed for every 
two plants. If good leaf mold or old 
manure is available either one or both 
could be used to replace half of the 
peat. As the soil and peat are being 
mixed, add a cupful each of sulphur 
and super-phosphate; and if the soil 
is inclined to be stiff, add about a 
bucketful of sand per plant. 

While the hole is open, loosen the 
subsoil and mix in peat, leaves, or old 
manure. Firm the soil as it is returned 
to the hole so that when an azalea is 
planted the soil ball will be a little 
higher than the level of the surround- 
ing area. This allows for settling of 
the spongy soil and also for the addi- 
A slight 
depression should be left around the 


tion of an annual mulch. 


plant for water which will help settle 
the soil. The application of a mulch, 
about three inches thick, is the final 
step of the planting operation. A mulch 
retains moisture, discourages weeds, 
keeps the roots cool, and_ prevents 
rapid changes in temperature in win- 
ter. Oak leaves, if available, are pre- 
ferred but other materials can be used 
such as peat, ground corn cobs, spent 
hops, tobacco stems, oak tow, sawdust 
and wood chips. It is advisable to mix 


peat with other mulching materials, 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Mollis hybrid azaleas may be had in varying shades of salmon, yellow, 
orange, and rose colors. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 57 


for when used alone it sheds water 
when it becomes dry. A combination 
of oak leaves and peat, topped with a 
dressing of wood chips, would make a 
satisfactory mulch. The annual mulch 
is easily renewed each year in autumn 


when leaves are so plentiful. 


WaterING: When watering azaleas 
during dry periods the use of a perfor- 
ated plastic sprinkler will insure deep 
penetration without run-off or inter- 
ference from the wind. On very hot 
days the plants will benefit by a 
syringing with the hose, morning and 
evening, to increase the humidity 
about the plants. 


FEEDING: The continual decomposi- 
tion of a mulch will supply food for 
the azaleas, and this may be supple- 
mented with acid fertilizers form- 
ulated for camellias, azaleas, and rhod- 
odendrons. Such fertilizers may be 
mixed with an equal amount of cot- 
tonseed meal and spread around the 
plants in February and March and 
again in June, if necessary. The vigor 
of the plants is the best indicator of 
the amount and frequency of the ap- 
plications. Apply 3 to 4 pounds per 
100 square feet of bed space and '4 to 
1 pound per plant, in keeping with the 


SIze. 


PRUNING: Compared with other 
plants in the garden, azaleas require 
very little attention. In the first ten 
years they seldom need any pruning 
except for the shortening of a few 
vigorous canes. Azaleas grow taller 
and broader each year, in a definite 
pattern, as new. sets of branches 
develop at the base of the flowers. 
After ten or more years it will be 


noticed that the canes of some types 
of azaleas, like the Mollis, are an inch 
or more in diameter and that they do 
not produce flowers as freely as they 
once did. If one or two of such heavy 
canes are removed each year, by cut- 
ting them back almost to the ground, 
in a few years the entire plant can be 
rejuvenated. The new canes will be 
vigorous and will flower as freely as 
when the plants were young. 


Pests: The lace bug is a sucking 
insect that feeds on the underside of 
the leaves of azaleas and rhododendrons 
and also attacks chrysanthemums, per- 
ennial asters, and other garden plants. 
These insects have appeared some years 
on our potted azaleas, but so far have 
never been observed on any of the 
plants growing in the garden. Strange 
as it may seem, we can say that we 
have never had to spray our azaleas 
either for insect or fungous attacks. 
If lace bugs should appear, control 
them with sprays of nicotine, DDT, 
lindane, chlordane, or malathion. 
Spider mites are on the increase, and 
if they attack azaleas spray them with 
a miticide, such as Aramite. 

Rabbits are fond of young azaleas 
but let the plants alone when they 
become woody. Most damage occurs in 
winter when the rabbits’ normal food 
supply is frozen or covered with snow. 
People sometimes are unaware that 
rabbits are in their gardens, but if they 
find twigs that have been cut on the 
slant, as if with a knife, the evidence 
is that this pest is in the neighborhood 
and might return to do more damage. 
That being the case, the only possible 


way of protecting young azaleas is to 


58 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Rhododendron obtusum amoenum 


An example ot hose-in-hose flowers 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 59 


Rhododendron mucronatum cuttings 


These were made in December, rooted in a sand-peat medium in 70° greenhouse temperature. 


The photograph, made in April, shows cuttings with ample roots for planting in an outdoor 


frame. 


surround the individual plants, or a 
bed of azaleas, with one-inch mesh 
wire netting 12 or 18 inches high. 
Individual cylinders of wire can be 
slipped over each azalea and held in 


place with wire or bamboo stakes. 


Species AND Hysrips: Although 
botanists group all species of azaleas 
and rhododendrons in the one big 
genus, Rhododendron, in horticultural 
literature and in catalogs they are 
usually treated separately. For in- 
stance, when information about a 
plant listed as Azalea ledifolia alba 
in catalogs is sought in a plant dic- 
tionary, it will be found under 
Rhododendron mucronatum instead of 
Azalea ledifolia alba, which is a 
synonym. 

Like other groups of plants, it is 
possible to extend the blooming period 
of azaleas in a garden by selecting the 
early and late kinds. The first azalea 
to bloom in April in most years, when 
forsythia and narcissus are in flower, 


is Rhododendron mucronulatum, the 


Korean azalea, whose clusters of rosy- 
purple flowers appear before the leaves. 
The plant grows tall and narrow, and, 
according to Wilson, is found in dry 
and stony situations in its native 
habitat. Unfortunately, like the early 
magnolias, the flowers of this azalea 
are ruined in some years by late frosts. 

The next species to flower is Rho- 
dodendron Schlip penbachii whose com- 
mon name, the Royal Azalea, is much 
more pleasing and easily remembered. 
The slightly pink buds expand into 
large, white flowers. In the sixteen 
years that we have had this beautiful 
azalea its growth has been slow com- 
pared to other varieties planted in the 
same bed. 

Rhododendron obtusum amoenum 
is a small-leaved, semi-evergreen azalea 
which eventually grows into a large 
mound as broad as it is tall. The plant 
is very twiggy and bears a profusion of 
hose-in-hose, rosy-purple flowers. A 
‘“hose-in-hose” flower is one in which 


there are two perfect corollas, one set 


60 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


within the other. This azalea is un- 
mindful of dry weather and is one of 
the easiest to grow. Because of its 
strong color, it is best planted against 
an evergreen background or combined 
with white or pale-pink and lavender 
azaleas. A striking combination of 
plants can be created by combining 
this variety with evergreens and white 
redbud. 

The pinkshell azalea, Rhododendron 
Vaseyi, is a native of the mountains 
In St. 
Louis it blooms in late April and early 


of western North Carolina. 


May, and since the flowers are a deli- 
cate pink it is best planted in light 
shade. 

Our native azalea, Rhododendron 
nudiflorum, the Pinxterbloom, grows 
to a height of six feet and about May 
Ist its white or pale-pink flowers ap- 
pear just as the leaves unfold. Rho- 
dodendron roseum is similar and is pre- 
ferred because of its fragrance and 
deeper-colored flowers. 

In 1925 the seed firm of Henry A. 
Dreer, of Philadelphia, introduced a 
Kurume azalea named sNow, which is 
a hose-in-hose variety, but this is not 
to be confused with the snow 
AZALEA, Rhododendron mucronatum, 
which has been grown’ in _ this 
country for more than a_ hundred 
years. The latter is listed in catalogs 
under various names — Azalea indica 
alba, A. ledifolia alba, A. rosmarin- 
ifolia, and varieties of mucronatum. 
Opinions differ as to where this azalea 
originated and whether the white form 
we have is a species or an albino form 
of a lavender-flowered azalea which 
Wilson named Rhododendron mu- 


cronatum var. ripense. It 1s semi-ever- 


green, with wide-spreading branches 
which grow horizontally to form a 
mound six to ten feet wide. 

Of the seven azaleas described, three 
are native American species and the 
other four are from the Orient. One 
other hardy azalea that should be 
included in an azalea collection, is the 
Flame Azalea, Rhododendron calendu- 
laceum. It is from the mountains of 
Virginia and the Carolinas and is the 
most colorful of the native American 
species, 

GaBLeE Hyprip AzaLeas: In the 
Allegheny — foothills, — at 
Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, Joseph B. 
Gable has been hybridizing rhododen- 


southern 


drons and azaleas for many years. In 
1953 the American Rhododendron 
Society awarded Mr. Gable its gold 
medal in recognition of the fine work 
he is doing in creating hardy azaleas. 
More than thirty-five named varieties 
of the Gable azaleas are now commer- 
cially available and more are to come. 
lor ten years we have grown two of 
the Gable varieties of which the first to 
bloom in late April is OLD PAITHFUL 
an orchid-pink, single-flowered vari- 
ety; and a few days later ELIZABETH 
GABLE, a rose-pink, hose-in-hose, ever- 
green variety comes into flower. These 
plants are now four feet tall and 
equally broad. Until more of the 
Gable varieties are given a trial the 
following list of currently popular 
varieties will serve as a guide in mak- 
ing selections: 

BOUDOIR —single, watermelon-pink 

caMEO —double, soft pink 

ELIZABETH GABLE —double, rose-pink 

ETHELWYN —single, light pink 

HERBERT —single, crimson-purple 


LOUISE GABLE —double, salmon-pink 
PURPLE SPLENDOR —dark purple 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 61 


ROSEBUD —double, pink 
ROSE GREELEY —hose-in-hose, white 
SPRINGTIME. —single, pink 


GLENN Dace Hysrip AZALEAs: In 
1950 and 1951 we received a total of 
167 clones of azaleas from the Bureau 
of Plant Industry, Beltsville, Mary- 
land. The plants were small and have 
been growing in pots until such time 
as they are large enough for planting 
out. These plants, sent to us for trial, 
are a part of the greatest azalea breed- 
ing project ever undertaken, instituted 
in 1929 by Mr. B. Y. Morrison, Prin- 
cipal Horticulturist, Division of Plant 
Exploration and Introduction of the 
United States Department of Agri- 
culture, until his retirement in 1951. 
Many of these clones are now listed in 
azalea catalogs, and as more informa- 
tion becomes available, it will be pos- 
sible to select those kinds best suited 
The following 
is a suggested list of Glenn Dale 


for a given locality. 


varieties, seven of which are in our 


collection: 
ANGELA PLACE —4’, white 
arctic —3’, white 
BEACON —5', near scarlet 
CRINOLINE —5’, pink 
CYGNET —4’, white 
DAYSPRING —6', pink 
EROS —3’, pink 
FASHION —6’, rose 


GLACIER —5’, white 

HELEN GUNNING —5', white, pink margins 

MARTHA HITCHCOCK 

margins 

MORNING STAR —6_, rose 

Any one wishing to know more 
about these azaleas will find Agricul- 
tural Monograph No. 20, “The Glenn 
Dale Azaleas’”’ by B. Y. Morrison, an 


interesting booklet. It may be obtained 


, ‘ 
4, white, magenta 


from the Superintendent of Doc- 
uments, United States Government 
Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C. 
The price is 40 cents. 


Motus Hysrips: The Mollis hy- 
brids originated in Europe about 1880 
and have for parents Rhododendron 
molle, Rhododendron japonicum and 
Ghent hybrids (which in turn are the 
product of some seven American 
species), and Rhododendron flavum 
from eastern Europe. The Mollis hy- 
brids are easily grown from seed in a 
variety of colors from the clearest yel- 
low through rose to deep orange-red. 
The plants grow tall and broad, can 
be planted in full sun, transplant 
easily, and tolerate neutral and slightly 
alkaline soil. They have one minor 
fault, in that occasionally they emit 
a slightly unpleasant odor, but this 
should not deter any one from grow- 


ing them, 


Exspury Hyprip Azaceas: The late 
Lionel de Rothschild of Exbury, Eng- 
land, hybridized many azaleas in his 
lifetime, and now about fifty of the 
clones are available in this country. 
Several of these were mentioned by 
Mr. Fador Kernin in the January issue 
of the Quarterly Bulletin of — the 
American Rhododendron Society as 
having withstood fifteen degrees below 
zero in Shelby, Nebraska, their only 
protection from the wind being tar- 
paper tubes, open at the top. If the 
Exbury hybrids can be grown in 
Nebraska they certainly are worth a 
trial here. This spring we will plant 
BASILISK and PINK DELIGHT at the 
Garden. 


GROWING YOUR OWN AZALEAS: One 
can derive a great deal of enjoyment 
and satisfaction by propagating his 
own azaleas either by seeds or cuttings. 


Some azaleas produce an abundance of 


62 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


MOLLIS HYBRID AZALEA SEEDLINGS IN A COLD-FRAMI 


After two or three years such plants are large enough for planting in their permanent location. 


seed which is gathered during the fall 
and winter months. Much seed is lost 
when the capsules open and are shaken 
by the wind, but even after months of 
exposure to the elements, when the 
supposedly empty pods are gathered 
and vigorously shaken in a paper bag, 
more seed is collected than is needed 
for an average sowing. 

Azalea seed may be sown in February 
in a greenhouse, or in April if only a 
cold-frame is available. Sphagnum 
moss, rubbed through a half-inch mesh 
wire-screen, is an excellent medium on 
which to sow the seed. The sphagnum 
is moistened, placed in a pot or pan, 
and firmed. The seed is sown evenly 
and dry sphagnum lightly sifted over 
it. The pot is then watered from be- 
low by standing it in a pan of water, 
or from above using a fine spray. A 
pane of glass will prevent drying of 
the surface and paper will protect the 
seed from the hot rays of the sun. A 
greenhouse bench, shaded by a lath 
screen suspended from the roof, is an 
ideal location for starting seedlings. 
Azalea seed germinates in three to four 


weeks, and after the seedlings are a 


week or two old they are benefited by 
a light feeding of liquid fertilizer. 
When the seedlings have two or three 
leaves, they may be transplanted to 
flats of peat and sand, or peat and 
perlite or styrafoam, where they will 
remain until transplanted to pots or 
prepared beds the following spring. 
During the first winter the seedlings 
need the protection of a cool green- 
house or a good coldframe. By the 
third year there will be some flowers 
and by the fifth year many of the 
plants will be large enough for plant- 
ing out in their permanent location. 

A hybrid azalea can only be per- 
petuated vegetatively, and by that is 
meant that a piece of the plant must 
be grown on its own roots either by 
cuttings or layering or by grafting 
onto some other azalea stock plant. 
The simplest and quickest of these 
methods is by cuttings, but it cannot 
be accomplished as easily as rooting a 
geranium, ‘The best rooting medium 
is an equal amount of peat and sand, 
or peat and vermiculite. The propaga- 
tor must rely on his knowledge and 


experience to determine when cuttings 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 63 


AZALEA SEEDLINGS FOUR MONTHS OLD 


For best results, seedlings are transplanted when they have developed three or four true leaves. 


have reached the proper degree of 
firmness for insertion in the rooting 
medium. This varies with the kind 
of azalea and the time of the year. 
Cuttings may be taken when the 
shoots of the current season have be- 
come firm, which usually is about four 
to six weeks after flowering. When 
they are gathered they are dropped 
in water or wrapped in damp paper 
and prepared for insertion in the root- 
ing medium as soon as possible to 
avoid wilting. The preparation con- 
sists in removing a few basal leaves, 
dipping the end of the cutting in No. 
2 or No. 3 Hormodin powder and 
dibbling it into the pot or flat of root- 
ing medium. When all cuttings are 
inserted, they are watered with a 
sprinkling can and the flat or pot is 
covered with a tent of polyethylene 


sheeting, placed in a sheltered and 
shaded part of the garden or cold- 
frame, and shielded from the direct 
rays of the sun. Except for an 
occasional watering, the cuttings will 
need no further attention until they 
are rooted, which will require sixty 
days or longer, depending upon the 
kind of azalea, the temperature, and 
the time of year. When cuttings are 
rooted they are hardened off before 
potting by gradually removing the 
plastic sheeting. Deciduous azaleas 
are rooted in the spring, but some of 
the evergreen and semi-evergreen kinds 
may also be rooted in the fall and as 
late as December. 

Plants may also be started by layers 
if a plant with pliable canes is avail- 
able, but the process is slow, requiring 


at least a year. 


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. 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. 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


JoHN S. LEHMANN, President Henry HitcHcock 
DANIEL K. CatTLin, Vice-President RicHarp J. Lock woop 
EuGENE Perrus, Second Vice-President HENRY B. PFLAGER 
LeIcesTER B. Faust A. WEssEL SHAPLEIGH 
DupDLEY FRENCH RoBERT BROOKINGS SMITH 


EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 


EtHan A. H. SHEPLEY, JaMeEs F. MorreELt, 
Chancellor of Washington University President of the Board of Education 


f St. Louis 
ARTHUR C. LICHTENBERGER, ‘ 


Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri SrraTForD LEE MorToN 
’ 


RayMonp R. Tucker, President of the Academy of Science 
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis 


Secretary 
Oscar E. GLAESSNER 


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 Ts MOOre nets oan open ee meres Director 
Wear ae Ren ae ce een ee Director 
|g S004 21 Gm, ©) [pv eee eee Rene RENEE aOR MNCEI 4 heey hy al Dicer) 3 
Henry N. Andrews... scenic iicetcpncianeeis oa. saainck AAO DOL ATISE 
Ausust-P.. Beiimaan- Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit 
Louis G. Brenner. peered Arborist 
Ladisiaus Catak cn ee Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories 
Piugh ©, Cutlets oe ee ator of the: Museum 
Carroll W. Dodge_-.---...---. Peper stanton ees Miso eeaecera ys ates Mycologist 
Joun: D. Dwyer.2 ; = Research Associate 
ober’ Fc Giles iG. 52 cee eee In charge of Orchids 
Oscar E. Glaessner oes __...._Business Manager 
Pie leroy ae ts aes _.Librarian and Editor 
Ida. Mi. Robt..23. eee ee __...Assistant Librarian 
Set nec; | ae a eer yo ii atic | 
chek TUN py ata cc ace tcievneentoaienecee SSI, D ratiads 
eacel ote aOR, ', | eee eee ncenreMMmaOraMs PT fs /colio. a7 15 
(George = Pring= = 2 et ee, Se ee eee Superintendent 
boast aie Ge by 2 U-1rs Sd td |: RUN Ser aD Ane RNP BE Assistant to the Director 
jee 3): Be od | en Shs ice EA RUMCET 
Julian A. Steyermark 2 Honorary Research Associate 
Phe, ah PER © g20) Sane ne a naan Soe ve Research Associate 
|e) OF Ge Oe Bias co) en | 9 Assistant Curator of Herbarium 
Ord Lge MERE Criss eo) Se oe i Acting Curator of Herbarium 


Robert E. Woodson, Jr. cee Senior Taxonomist 


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Published monthly except July and August. Subscription price, 
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A TOUR OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
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What it is and what it does. Price, 25 cents. 


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{ISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARD 


N BULL 


a IN 


Porage 


Herbs and Their Uses 


Prepared by the St. Louis Herb Society 


Emily Dingeldein, Virginia Schreiber, Charlotte Osborn, Alice F. Tryon, Catherine 
Kieffer, Jane P. Blank, Reka N. Fisher, Emilie Schemm, Mary E. Baer, 
Edith Baron, Meredith Carson, Isabel Adreon, Louise Horwitz 


lume XLIV 


May, 1956 


N umber 5 


Cover: Borage, an original drawing by Louise Horwitz. 


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. XLIV MAY, 


1956 No. 5 


SALAD BURNET 


(Sanguisorba minor) 


HERE are three Burnets. 

Two belong to the Rose 

family, and the other, “Saxifrage 

Burnet,” to the Carrot. The Salad 

Burnet is of the Rose family and is the 
“lesser” Burnet. 

Our Burnet of interest is a peren- 
nial, putting out new pinnate leaves 
every year. Its leaves are small, 
dainty, with a picoted edge. They are 
borne on slender stems. Both flower 
and leaf stalk are a deep crimson color. 
It is neat in habit and ferny in appear- 
ance; good for edging the perennial 
border. 
cucumber flavor and should be cut 


The leaves have a pleasant 


when about 4 inches tall. 

It is best to sow the seeds as soon 
as they ripen in the autumn, or to 
propagate by division of the roots in 
the spring. Choose a dry sunny posi- 
tion for the bed, and if the soil is 
deficient in lime, fork in a little before 
sowing. 

The Salad Burnet is common in dry 
pastures and by the wayside. It forms 
much of the pasturage in England and 
was cultivated in Germany for the 


same purpose. Its great advantage is 


that it remains green all winter and 
provides food for sheep; they are 
especially fond of it. 

In the herb gardens of olden days, 
Gerard 
says, “’tis pleasant to be eaten in 


Salad Burnet had its place. 


sallade, in which it is thought to make 
the hart merry and glad.” 

Oscar of the Waldorf gives us the 
following recipe for ‘Fine Herbs 
Vinegar.” 

“Take equal quantities of Tarragon, 
Burnet, Chervil and Cress, all of which 
should have been gathered the day 
before. Fill a wide-mouthed bottle or 
jar with this, adding also two cloves of 
garlic and a green pepper. Cover the 
whole with vinegar, cork the bottle 
tightly, and place it in a warm tem- 
perature for a fortnight. Strain the 
vinegar through a fine hair sieve, press- 
ing the herbs well. Then — filter 
through paper until quite clear. Pour 
into bottles and keep tightly corked.” 


Try Burnet: 

As a garnish on meat instead of 
parsley. 

As a garnish on canapes, a single 
leaf is effective. 

As an ingredient in summer salads 
for its pleasant cucumber flavor. 

EmMity DINGELDEIN 
(65) 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


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MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


SWEET 


GARDEN BULLETIN 67 


MARJORAM 


(Origanum majorana or Majorana hortensis ) 


HE small, dainty erect gray- 

green plant of Sweet Marjoram 
does not attract immediate attention 
in the herb garden, but it is one of our 
most indispensable plants. The highly 
aromatic leaves are widely used, both 
for industrial and for culinary pur- 
poses. Growing to a height of about 
ten inches, the square reddish-brown 
central stem is covered with tiny 
branches; the tip of each branch end- 
ing in a small knotted ball of shutter- 
like leaves. Tiny creamy white 
flowers begin to peep through these 
shutters in early August, at which 
time the plant is ready to harvest. 
Usually two cuttings may be made in 
a season, 

Sweet Marjoram seed are very tiny 
but may be sowed outdoors as soon as 
the ground is warm. Germination 1s 
good but slow, taking from twelve to 
twenty-one days. After danger of 
cutworm is over, the plants should be 
thinned to about five inches apart. A 
sunny, well-drained, chalky soil is best. 
While Sweet Marjoram thrives inside in 
pots, the leaves lose some of their 
aromatic quality. The plant is 
drought-resistant, which is a boon to 
St. Louis summers. Sweet Marjoram 
is a perennial but must be treated as 
an annual in the North. 

Marjoram, “joy of the mountains,” 
has been regarded as a symbol of hap- 
piness through the ages. Sweet Mar- 
joram comes from Portugal and was 
introduced in England during the 
thirteenth century. There are some 
thirty varieties of Marjoram known in 


Europe, the three most common being 
Wild, Pot, and Sweet or Knotted. 
Sweet Marjoram has the most delicate 
flavor for culinary use. 

Fresh or dried, there is nothing 
superior to the leaves of Sweet Marj- 
oram for culinary use. Incredibly 
fragrant, it is an entity in itself, yet 
enhances the flavor of other herbs used 
Sweet 


with it, especially thyme. 


Marjoram improves almost any recipe 


using beef—meat loaf, stew, steak, 
roasts, and meat sauces. Nothing can 
replace it in turkey or chicken stuffing 
or in potato soup. The chopped fresh 
leaves add to the flavor of green peas 
and tossed salads. 

A Good Herb Mixture to Keep on 
Hand for Seasoning: 
Marjoram and Winter Savory, with 


Equal parts 


half-quantity Basil, Thyme and Tar- 
ragon, all rubbed together and kept 
air-tight. 

Home-made Sausage: Mix two 
pounds of coarsely ground lean pork 
with one pound of pork fat; work all 
together with hands, adding salt, red 
and black pepper, Sweet Marjoram and 
Thyme. Keep cool. 

Pork Tenderloin with Herbs: 

2 small pork loins—salted and 
peppered 

1 onion sliced thin 

1 cup orange juice 

1 tbsp. sugar 

Sweet Marjoram, Thyme, Rose- 
mary. 

Cook at 325° until tender, basting 
rather often. 

VIRGINIA SCHREIBER 


68 MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


OREGANO 
(Origanum vulgare) 


RONUNCIATION of. the 
name of this herb and_ the 
identification of it have caused much 
confusion. Some authority may be 
found for each of these pronuncia- 
tions: QO-rig-an-o, O-reg-an-o, O-ri- 
gan-o. Identification has been much 
more difficult. It has been said that 
the plant which established itself in 
our country as a hardy perennial is a 
kind of Wild Marjoram; which kind 
no one seems willing to say. Our Wild 
Marjoram is said to lack the flavor and 
the aroma of the imported herb; the 
latter may be grown here. What 
Parkinson had to say centuries ago may 
still be said, “There is so much con- 
troversy among the moderne writers 
about the two herbs, sweet and wild. 
The rest are all mussed up in gardens, 
their natural places not being known”, 
In the past plant names have varied 
from time to time and from place to 
place. For example, once the names 
for Wild Marjoram and Sweet Mar- 
joram had something in common: 
Origanum vulgare, Origanum major- 
ana; today, they have nothing in com- 
mon: Origanum vulgare, Majorana 
hortensis. We can see how the names 
Oregano and Marjoram came _ into 
common use. 

To enjoy Oregano to the fullest, 
buy some of the imported kind and 
use it in cooking. This brings out the 
flavor and aroma, and points up the 
relationship to Sweet Marjoram. When 
sprinkled on roasting or broiling meat 
the resulting fragrance is very like 
that of Sweet Marjoram; the flavor is 
similar, too. Then we understand 


and take delight in the ancient Greek 
description of Oregano. “Joy of the 
Mountain.” 

The American Spice Trade Associa- 
tion of New York (1950) says that 
Oregano is grown mostly in Italy and 
Mexico, that it is a seasoning essential 
to chile-con-carne, excellent when 
sprinkled in meat sauce for spaghetti, 
fine for omelet or boiled eggs, beef 
stew, meat sauces, and a good flavor- 
ing for pork dishes. According to 
Gourmet Magazine, Oregano is an 
“important ingredient in most Italian 
dishes including pizza, veal scallopini 
and all the pasta sauces ... for pork, 
Mexican chicken, and chili dishes.’ 

Broiled Steak: 


smooth a few drops of olive oil into 


Before _ broiling, 


each side of steak, brush with melted 
butter and Oregano (1 tbsp. fresh or 
1 tsp. dried). After broiling, dust 
lightly with freshly ground pepper and 
garlic salt. 

Broiled Beef Tongue: Slice a cooked 
tongue. Arrange in a shallow pan. 
Brush with melted butter and Or- 
egano. Broil till brown. Repeat for 
other side. 

Roast Chicken: Halve broilers. 
Brush with melted butter, sprinkle 
To the 


juice of two lemons, add 1 tbsp. fresh 


with Oregano and_ pepper. 


Oregano or 1 tsp. of dried Oregano, 
and '4 c. of butter, which has been 
melted and lightly browned. Pour 
mixture on chicken. Bake at 400 
degrees until done. Baste often. 
Garnish with parsley. 


CHARLOTTE OSBORN 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 69 


A MATTER OF THE MINTS 


-y~ HE true Mints or Menthas 
are aggressive even in St. Louis 
gardens. Many stems are produced 
just under the surface of the soil which 
not only spread the plants but adapt 
them to our searing St. Louis summers. 
What are the kinds of Mints? This 
matter furrows the brows of gardeners 
and botanists alike and a ninth-cen- 
tury writer claimed: “There are as 
many Mints as there are sparks from 
Today we believe 


Vulcan’s furnace.” 


that there are about twenty-five 
species but myriads of sparks because 
the species interbreed. 


I have found ten of the species in 


St. Louis gardens plus an additional 
half-dozen varieties. Two of these 
were introduced by our members. 
Where several kinds of Mints have 
flourished for a while the gardens are 
sparkling with hybrids. 

Keys are used to identify plants and 
are so named because they unlock the 
identity. Using a simple key is some- 
thing of a game certainly not more 
strenuous than Bridge or Scrabble. The 
following one was prepared from the 
Mints in St. Louis gardens. For each 
of the paired letters you make a choice 
then go on to the next pair until you 


end with a name. 


KEY TO THE MINTS 


A. Plants forming creeping mats; leaves less than 3¢% broad 2.0.0.0... Pennyroyal 

A. Plant erect; leaves more than 14” broad 20.2... ..e.cesccescccecccsstceteecteoessersressteneseennnecncesesceenconereseneseees 
B. Leaves with long stalks about 1% the length of the blade... eee Peete GF 
C. Flowers clustered at stem tip or just below ..........0.2-c2.ceccecceeeecceeseeseeeeceeeceeeteeeeeeeeeeeeereeteeee DD 


D. Peppermint-scented; flower clusters spike-like 
D. Lemon-scented; flowers in short heads ......... 


C. Flowers clustered among leaves on much of the stem ....0...222..............12ceeeee cece cece cece cece eee E 


E. Leaves egg- or diamond-shaped 


F, Leaves with yellow patches .... 


F. Leaves entirely green 
E. Leaves Jance-shaped 


......Goldenapple Mint 
peesaeteseqsteeess Field Mint 


B. Leaves without stalks or with short stalks eer © 
G. Leaves woolly or velvety eer 
H. Leaves roundish, about as bread as long, woolly I 


I. Leaves entirely green; plants tall 
I. Leaves variegated; plants small, creeping 
H. Leaves 2 or more times longer than broad, velvety 
G. Leaves scarcely hairy or with no hair 
J. Leaves oval to egg-shaped 


J. Leaves diamond- to lance-shaped a 


Woolly Mint 
Pineapple Mint 
European Horsemint 


: See eee ee ee J 
Mrs. Schemm’s Kentucky Mint 
(cross of Woolly & Spearmint) 


_...... (a crisp-leaved Spearmint is common) 


Auice F. Tryon 


70 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


TARRAGON 


(Artemisia dracunculus ) 


RENCH Tarragon is a 

perennial which grows to a 
height of about two feet. It has 
aromatic leaves which are long, nar- 
row, and undivided. It blossoms in 
August. The small yellow-and-black 
flowers appear in round heads, bouquet 
type. The roots are runners, long and 
fibrous. There are two kinds of Tar- 
French and Russian. The 
French Tarragon has smooth, dark 


ragon: 


green leaves and fine flavor. It is 
native to southern Europe. The Rus- 
sian Tarragon, an annual, has_ less 
smooth leaves, is of a fresher green 
shade, and has a bitter taste. It is a 
native of Siberia. 

French Tarragon rarely, if ever, 
produces fertile flowers in this 
country, and thus it is not raised from 
seed. It is propagated in two ways: 
first, by root division, done when the 
spring growth is about two inches 
high. Lift the entire plant carefully 
to separate; allow two shoots to each 
root. Second, cuttings may be struck 
when new growth on plants is about 
four inches long. Root in clean, 
sharp sand. Set out before August or 
the plants will not survive the winter. 
A few young plants should be raised 
each year to keep a supply. The plant 
must be divided every third year to 
disentangle the mass of shallow roots. 

Tarragon succeeds best in a warm, 
dry situation. It likes sunshine, with a 
little shade, and thrives in well- 
drained, rather poor soil. It needs 
some protection in the winter. This 


winter three out of four plants in our 


garden survived. Last fall we mulched 
the plants with leaves. This spring we 
added lime and well-rotted cow man- 
ure. 

My first crop of green leaves is 
picked in late June or early July, when 
my best vinegars are prepared. My 
second crop, harvested in August 
when the buds begin to open, is used 
for drying. 

To dry, pick the leaves, remove 
defective ones, wash, place on a wire 
mesh to drain, Air must circulate 
above and below drying herbs. Dry at 
about 80° temperature for several 
days. When thoroughly dry, pulverize 
and bottle tightly. Observe for several 
days to be sure that no moisture ap- 
pears to create mold. Fresh Tarragon 
possesses an essential, volatile oil, 
chemically identical with anise. This 
oil is lost in drying the herb. 

To some, Tarragon is synonymous 
with salads, but its use is far more 
extensive. I use it with egg dishes, 
chicken, mushrooms, and in’ cream 
sauces. I frequently use it in combina- 
tion with Rosemary, Parsley, and 
Thyme in a butter sauce for fish. Tar- 
ragon vinegar is the only flavoring for 
tartar sauce. French cooks usually 
mix their mustard with Tarragon 
vinegar. 

To me, Tarragon is a must in my 
garden. It is attractive and ever so 
useful. It is quite a favorite with my 
friends, too. At Christmas time, 
particularly, I have found that my 
Tarragon vinegar spreads good cheer. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


Tarragon Sauce for Fish: 
1c. milk 
3 tsp. lemon juice 
2 tsp. capers (or nasturtium seed ) 
3 tsp. flour 
'4 tsp. Tarragon 
1 hard-boiled egg. 
Salt and pepper to taste 
Stir the flour into 4 c. of milk 
until well blended, add the remain- 


GARDEN BULLETIN 71 


ing milk. Add Tarragon, capers, 
lemon juice, salt and pepper. Heat 
over slow fire, stirring constantly 
until sauce is proper consistency. 
Chop the hard-boiled egg and blend 
with the sauce. Serve with boiled 
or sauteed fish. Especially good 
with haddock, cod or halibut. 


CATHERINE KIEFFER 


Rosemary 


MATIHIOLI, 1560 


72 MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


HERB VINEGARS 


T is suggested that pasteurized 

I vinegars be used as the basis. 
Pasteurization stops the mother-form- 
ing bacteria, One may use white or 
red wine vinegars, cider or other fruit 
vinegars; malt vinegar prepared from 
sprouted cereal grains; white or dis- 
tilled vinegars made by the acetic 
fermentation of dilute distilled alcohol. 
Herb vinegars may be made in many 
varieties and combinations. The basic 
vinegar is infused with herbs, seeds, 


petals of flowers. Seasonings include 


Basil, Burnet, Borage, Tarragon, 
Thymes, Marjoram, Chives, Mints, 
Rose Geranium leaves, rose petals 


(these in a cider or distilled base), 
nasturtium flowers. 

The time required for infusion of 
the vinegar varies according as fresh 
or dried herbs are used. If dried herbs 
are used, boiling vinegar should be 
poured over them; let stand ten days. 
If fresh herbs are used, either they may 
be placed in cold vinegar, corked and 
set aside, or the infusion put into a 
jar, set in a pan of water on the stove 
ull the water boils, then removed, 
cooled, and corked. Fresh herb vinegar 
should stand for from two to four 
weeks. When the vinegar has stood 
the proper time, strain it through fine 
muslin or filter papers, and rebottle. 

The following should be observed 


when making vinegars for sale or for 


competitive judging: 
1. Vinegars for sale must be made 
All herbs 


washed. 


under sanitary conditions. 
used must be thoroughly 
Bottles must be sterile and new. 

2. Criteria with Point Values for 
Competitive Judging of Vinegars: 


Clarity (No foreign matter or 


cloudiness ) a . 30 points 
Flavor and Bouquet (Herbs 

predominant) | . . 30 points 
Packaging (New, sterile bottles) 20 points 


Material (Perfect specimen of herb 
in bottle) sizenes 
Presentation (Attractive container, 
or manrer of decorating it) 10 points 
Labeling (Label showing herb 


wa 


points 


and vinegar used must be 


neatly done) = 5 points 
Total 100 points 


Old Creole Recipe for a Spiced Vinegar 
—Vinaigre Aromatisé: 


1 


1 qt. cider vinegar; ‘3 oz. dried 


mint; / oz. dried parsley; 1 grated 
clove of garlic or 1 tsp. juice; 2 small 
onions; 2 whole cloves; 1 tsp. coarse 
pepper; corn of grated nutmeg; salt to 
taste; 1 tbsp. of sugar; 1 tbsp. good 
brandy. Add the above to vinegar and 
let stand three weeks. Strain and 
bottle. 

Try a white wine vinegar with Sweet 
Basil, Lemon Thyme, Rosemary, 
crushed celery seed, and Lemon peel. 

Try your own combinations, but do 
not have two prima donnas in your 
production. 


JANE P. BLANK 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


THE SAVORIES 


HE Satureias comprise hu- 

dreds of varieties, but our con- 
cern is with the savories, both summer 
and winter savory, low-growing, fra- 
grant shrubs native to the Mediter- 
ranean area. They greatly resemble 
plants of Thyme and Nepeta. 

Winter Savory (Satureia montana) 
grows about twelve inches high, with 
woody branches, and small, dark green, 
shiny leaves. Its many small flowers 
of white touched with pink do not 
blossom all at once, but are starred 
over the plant. It is a hardy perennial 
which  self-sows. Winter Savory is 
almost evergreen and, planted as a low 
hedge, keeps the herb garden attractive 
even in winter. It likes poor, light, 
well-drained soil. Clipping the shrubs 
will induce new growth and keep them 
from becoming spindly. 

Summer Savory (Satureia hortensis ) 
is similar but is an annual plant. It 
has reddish, hairy, branching stems, 
few leaves and pale pinkish-lavender 
flowers. It grows about eighteeen 
inches high, and the plants should be 
grown fairly thick as they tend to be 
knocked over by wind and storm, The 
leaves are small, long, narrow and 
downy—flowers come in midsummer. 
Seeds may be sown in the open as early 
as possible, but as they are minute they 
should be mixed with sand for easier, 


more open sowing. Summer Savory 


GARDEN BULLETIN 73 


(Satureia hortensis and Satureia montana) 


likes well-drained, 


garden soil and does well in full sun, 


moderately — rich 


but it can gratefully use a little shade 
in the heat of the day. 

Both Savories are excellent in the 
rock garden and for edging. They are 
used in soups, stuffings, and meat 
cookery, but Winter Savory has a 
stronger, ranker taste. Summer Savory 
is one of the most useful of the sweet 
kerbs and tastes much like Marjoram, 
but with a more pungent, biting 
flavor. 

Recipes Using Summer Savory: 

Fried Red Beans—Pour the juice 
from one can of red kidney beans. 
Slightly mash the beans, so that the 
flavors may be absorbed into the body 
of the bean. Mince an onion and saute 
till golden brown in one or two table- 
Add_ beans, 


and '% teaspoon of Summer Savory 


spoons of bacon grease. 


and saute till beans become crusty on 
bottom of the pan. Turn out on a 
plate, crust side up, and garnish with 
chopped parsley. 
Sim ple Hot Hors d’Ocuvre — Place 
a thin slice of small yellow onion on a 
number of Saltines. Top with a mix- 
ture of Hellman’s Mayonnaise (only 
Hellman’s seems to work in_ this 
recipe) and sour cream to which you 
have added to taste, Summer Savory 
and celery seeds. Broil till bubbly. 
Reka NEILSON FISHER 


Mrs. Jesse Osborn’s Punch: 

Pour 1 pint boiling water over 4 
sprigs each of Apple Mint, Orange 
Mint, Spearmint. 
Strain. 


Cover. Steep 15 
minutes. Boil for 5 minutes 


14 ¢. water, 1 c. sugar. Cool. Com- 


bine 1 c. pineapple juice, juice of 6 
Blend all with 
contents of 1 large bottle of ginger 
ale. Serve in tall glasses half filled 


oranges, 2 lemons. 


with crushed ice. Top with sprig of 


Pineapple Mint for delightful aroma. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAIT 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


PARKINSON, 1640 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 75 


CHERVIL 


(Anthriscus cerefolium) 


HER-VIL. is’ a-tall,, hardy 
Ore from one to two feet in 
height. 
weather, moist soil rich in humus, and 


Locally, it thrives in cool 


partial shade, preferably that of taller 
plants or on the north side of a build- 
ing. Sow the seeds in early August for 
robust plants in about sixty days. They 
will remain green under leaves or snow 
until spring. In May the main crop 
may be cut, as the plants quickly bolt 
to seed and self-sow if left undis- 
turbed. 

Chervil with its fragile, fern-like 
foliage and froth of milk-white blos- 
soms signifies joy and gladness. 

We use three methods of preserving 
Chervil: dehydration, freezing, salt- 
ing. This herb is used extensively by 
the French. It may be used in any 


recipe calling for parsley. It is always 
one of the four “fines herbes’’; the 
second is chives, and the others may 
be Savory, Thyme, Basil, Tarragon, as 
you choose, 


Herb Butter: For fish, chicken, 
freshly steamed vegetables, or on 
canapes. 

4 lb. (1 stick) sweet butter 
1 tsp. (or less) lemon juice 
2 tbsp. fresh chopped Chervil, or 
'4 tbsp. dried Chervil (If dried 
Chervil is used, add 1 tsp. chop- 
ped chives or parsley for color). 

Have the butter at room tempera- 
ture, cream it and add lemon juice 
slowly. Blend in the herbs. 


EMILIE SCHEMM 


SSSMOSMSSMSLSSDSEs sai siBPoSox 


FLOWERS FOR A FRAGRANT POT POURRI 


E T ALS are used in the mak- 
ing of pot-pourri. 

Red: Rose, holly, geranium, bee 
balm, peony, bergamot, carnation. 

Pink: Hollyhock, dittany of Crete, 
hyssop, rose. 

Orange: Calendula marigold nas- 
turtium, tansy, coreopsis, elecampane. 

Yellow: Daisy, primrose, flag, 
camomile, mullein, cowslip, buttercup, 
yarrow, pansy. 

Blue: Cornflower, borage, larkspur, 
Anchusa, pansy, forget-me-not, del- 
phinium. 

White: Feverfew, hollyhock, yar- 
row, pansy. 


Violet: Heliotrope, foxglove, lav- 
ender, pansy, flower-heads of mint 
and rosemary. 

Gray: Santolina, “Silver King” 
Artemisia, wormwood, southern-wood, 
peppermint geranium. 

Green: Leaves of sweet-scented 
geraniums, sweet basil, sweet mar- 
joram, bergamot-mint, apple mint, 
orange mint, lemon balm, rosemary, 
and, to be ordered from an importer, 
the Asian mint patchouli (for a 
musty odor which gives a mellow 
fragrance). 


76 MISSOURL BOTANICAI 


THE DRY METHOD OF 


Gather the choicest blossoms. Be 
sure they are thoroughly dry. Strip 
petals from blossoms and spread loosely 
upon a wire- or window-screen.  Ele- 
vate the screen between two supports 
for the air currents to reach both sides 
of the petals. Place in a warm, shady 


room. Turn petals until they are 


chip-dry. Store in a covered jar or 
container, Immediately add preserva- 
tive. 

To make perfume stock for pot- 
pourri it is necessary to add a fixative 
which is a material to absorb and help 
retain the fragrant oils which are so 
volatile. There are two types of fixa- 
tives, those of animal and those of 
vegetable origin. The latter are more 


crushed 


preferred for our purpose 


orris-root (coarsely powdered) — or 
calamus root, or benzoin-siam, Orris 
is the least expensive. 

To the fixative add an equal portion 
of mixed spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, 
allspice, and a little mace). Mix these 
together, add enough essential oil to 
create a fine lumpy mass. It should 


be neither too moist to allow the oil to 


oe ASR ait 
a ; « J eye 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


MAKING POT-POURRI 


seep over the petals, nor too dry to 
have the powdered fixative and spices 
dust the leaves. If properly mixed 
it will have the appearance of damp- 
ened cornmeal and when sprinkled 
over and through the jar will, in about 
one month’s time, season each petal 
with a lasting bouquet and fragrance. 

Oils for delicate scent of flower 
fragrance are: synthetic rose, orange 
flower, lavender, lemon verbena, 
jasmin, and a score of others. Experi- 
ment with the oils until you find a 
pleasing fragrance. To one gallon of 
petals (of which roses should make up 
two-thirds of the bulk) add about 3 
tbsp. orris-root, 3 tbsp. spice mixture, 
and enough oil or oils to moisten. 

Other ingredients which might be 
added to give fragrance are:  corian- 
der and cardamon seed (pounded in a 
mortar), tonka beans also pounded, 
clove heads, spicy slivers of orange and 
lemon rind, sandalwood — shavings, 
vetivert root, cut into small pieces, 
dried orange flowers, lavender flowers, 
and patchouli leaves. 


Mary E. Barer 


LD 
SLY 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN ae 


POMANDERS 


EBSTER defines a pomander 
as ‘‘a perfume or mixture of 
perfumes, enclosed in a perforated box 
or bag, and carried on the person, to 


> 


guard against infection.” He referred 
to the historic pomander ball, which 
Rosetta Clarkson describes so well in 
her book, “Magic Gardens.” And our 
own Mary Baer brings us right up to 
date by reintroducing the custom of 
making fruit pomanders as a charming 
adjunct of today’s living. So here’s a 
bit from both Rosetta Clarkson and 
Mary Baer: 

The name derives from the early 
French—pomme d’ambre — denoting 
an apple shape, and perfume (amber- 
gris). 

In “pre-sanitation days,” rich and 
poor alike were offended by evil smells 
at home and abroad, and shared the 
same fear of infection in crowded 
Those who could afford it 


used the pomander ball to help them 


places. 


endure the noisomeness of streets and 
public places, and to protect them- 
selves from germs. The common “man 
in the street” carried and sniffed at 
sprigs of Rue or Rosemary, in order 
“to live above the foul and filthy air”. 

The well-off could enjoy the costly 
pomander, its richly ornamented case 
filled with rare perfumes, but as the 
fad grew those who were not well off 
began to make pomanders they could 
afford, by simply sticking cloves into 
oranges, which were cheap, easy, and 
produced the same result. 

The word “‘pomander” applied to the 
perfume ball, as well as to its recep- 
tacle. The foundation of the perfume 


ball was plain earth, or “good garden 
mold”, or fine white wax, to give it 
bulk. The 


fixatives were added, according to the 


desired perfumes and 


varying recipes of the day, and the 
whole formed into a mass or ball 
which was encased in a receptacle of 
wood, metal or ivory, usually globular 
in shape, about 2 to 3 inches in diam- 
eter, made in halves which were 
hinged and held together by a clasp, 
and perforated to allow the perfume 
to escape. 

Some perfumes used were: lavender, 
sweet bay; essential oils of cinnamon, 
cloves, sandal, cedar, lemon, jasmine; 
the “sweet waters’ of rose, jasmine, 
orange flowers; shredded fruit rinds— 
orange, lemon, quinc2; the exotic 
spikenard, betel nut, lignum aloes, 
tragacanth, costus, labdanum.  Fixa- 
tives to retain these scents included 
benjamin (benzoin), storax, amber- 
gris, civet, musk, powdered calamus 
root of sweet flag). 

Pomander cases were of wood band- 
ed with silver, or more often, of silver 
or gold elaborately worked and_be- 
decked with jewels. The pomander 
vas a rich ornament and worn on a 
chain about the neck or from the belt. 

It was the custom in early times to 
give New Year’s gifts, and the poman- 
der was a favorite offering. The 
wealthy could vie with each other in 
the lavishness of their gift pomanders, 
while those who could not afford 
costly perfumes in fancy cases gave 
instead pomanders made of oranges 
stuck with cloves. 


Present-day sanitation and the end- 


78 MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


less variety of germicides, deodorizers 
and perfumes have made the pomander 
as defined by Webster obsolete, but 
the custom of making orange poman- 
ders as the holiday season draws near 
has persisted throughout the centuries, 
and few of us can resist the old-world 
charm of the fragrant fruit pomander. 
This is how Mary Baer taught me to 


make them: 
Mary Baer’s Fruit Pomander: 


“Use thin-skinned, firm, fresh fruit: 
oranse, grapefruit, lemon, lime, kum- 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


quat, apple, quince, pomegranate, and 
large full-headed Madagascar or Zanzi- 
bar cloves. 


“Indicate four sections on the fruit 
and stud each quarter with cloves, leav- 
ing about '%4 inch between each section 
for tying on the ribbon later. Allow 
to dry for about a month or six weeks. 


“When thoroughly dried, roll in a 
fixative spice mixture (coarsely crushed 
orris root’ with an equal portion of 
spices—cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and 
a little mace—and a few drops of oil 
of clove). Leave in spice mixture a 
few days, then brush off and tie with 
ribbons.” 


EpitH BARON 


cary A, a mo. 


THYME 


HE word “Thyme” may be 
traced back to a Greek word 
meaning “‘to burn; fumigate.”” To the 
Greeks, the name of the plant itself 
Before the 
8th century B.C., and the introduction 


ecame one with its use. 


of oriental incenses, fragrant herbs 
were used in Greece. They were stuffed 
into the bodies of sacrificial animals to 
dispel the odors of burning flesh, 

The uses of Thyme’s fragrance are 
wonderfully illustrative of all the 
significances of perfume—as propitia- 
tion, as medicine, and as fumigator. 
The word 
“perfume”? means the odor given off 


Thus 


All uses are interrelated. 


with smoke (‘per fumum’’). 


perfume was literally the first incense. 
Thyme’s name gives it primal import- 
ance in all these things. 

Thyme was extremely common in 
Greece and flavored the famous honey 
of Mt. Hymettus, so important in 
food, cake offerings, and mead. Thyme 
was spread on graves. It was one of 
the “simples” of Hippocrates and its 
perfume was believed to have medicinal 
powers curing melancholia, splenic 
diseases, and nightmare. It gave cour- 
age to soldiers who bathed in its in- 


fusions. It was mentioned by Pliny, 
Theophrastus, Horace, and Aristo- 
phanes, 


MEREDITH CARSON 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


MATTHIOLI, 1560 


79 


80 MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


BORAGE 


(Borago officinalis ) 


T HIS annual is native of the 
eastern Mediterranean region. 
The plant grows about two feet high; 
its oval leaves are rough and hairy. The 
beauty of the plant is in its pure-blue 
flower clusters. Because these clusters 
droop and are seen best from below 
they should be planted at the top of 
a slope. The flowers are unusually 
rich in nectar, thus the plant is good 
for bee pasturage and is referred to as 
“bee bread’’. It is also given the name 


c 


‘star flower” because of its five- 
pointed blue blossom, 

The cultural requirements of Bor- 
age are a dry, poor, light soil in a 
sunny spot. It is easily grown from 
seed, and the mature plants should be 
spaced 12 inches apart. Because of 
their delicate root systems, seedlings 
should not be transplanted but weaker 


ones should be thinned out. 


Borage 


flowers quickly after sowing and it 
can be sowed at intervals during the 
summer to keep a succession of bloom. 

The flowers and leafy tops were used 
to make the beverage known as cool 
tankard, a mixture of wine, lemon 
cider and sugar. They are also steeped 
in such cold drinks as claret cup and 
negus, to which they impart a cucum- 
bery flavor. The flowers alone can be 
floated in cold drinks for decorative 
value and can be used to garnish 
salads. Cakes and cookies can be 
decorated with candied borage flowers. 
The tender young leaves can be used 
as a salad green, or can be cooked like 
Miloradovich 


a vegetable. recom- 


mends cooking them’ with other 
greens, using half and half. Dried or 
fresh Borage leaves can be used to 
make herb tea to be served hot or iced. 


ISABEL. ADREON 


A pomander: from an old woodcut. 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


JOHN S. LEHMANN, President Henry HitcHcock 
DanieEL K. CaTLin, Vice-President RicHarp J. Lockwoop 
EUGENE Petrus, Second Vice-President Henry B. PFLAGER 
LeicesTER B. Faust A. WEssEL SHAPLEIGH 
DupLryY FRENCH ROBERT BROOKINGS SMITH 


EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 


ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEy, James F. MorRELL, 
Chancellor of Washington University Preuss of the Board of Education 


f St. Louis 
ARTHUR C. LICHTENBERGER, 
is he Diocese of Mi i 
Bishop of the Diocese o issouri STRATFORD LEE Morton, 


RayMOND R. Tucker, ar of the Academy of Science 
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis 


Secretary 
Oscar E. GLAESSNER 


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 = ee Seco ee Emeritus Director 
1G ee 29-1 21, ORR ae ae Lee Director 
Hugh C. Cutler -__- Associate Director 
Henry N. Andrews... .--2.0 sektasarene bee _-.-..-..------Paleobotanist 
August P. Beilmann_ ee oe the Dee. Gray Summit 
POUis Ge COR BOE scene Leo Gon gecanecac out POISE 
Ladislaus Cutak _ ere Se eeaes Hinwreuleuens in eh of Conservatories 
Ls 's sO Gee G11 | (-\ eee ee re ..........Curator of the Museum 
MAT TOUE WN GG ces no esse ere pee we A COLOR TIE 
i (2) ae 2 Bel B.S) ee ee lee eer ees Research Associate 
RODeRe 1. Gonlespiet cc eho seat ee In charge of Orchids 
Oscar. Btelacsenen 25 oe a et eee Manauer 


Nell C. Horner. ee eee eens el LD raniane and oe Gitor 
Wide Me Bohl 25g ee a  Aesistane 1 ibrarian 
Paul A. Kon). ee ee Bloriculearit 
Edna Mepham ._.__-.----- Assistant Librarian 


DCD iC CN ceca ee RNOTOIOEEE 
ROE Og eee pp NG ee SRE 
Betty O’Brien Putney. Assistant to the Director 
ACT rv ga) | (ol ee Cee eee Engineer 
Julian: Ax. Steyerinyd te ise snee Hear Rees Associate 
MECN sieaiea B3,20, 1 ete ea eS a Research Associate 
RollacM. Ievyon, i _...Assistant Curator of Herbarium 
George DV an Schenck 2s Acting Curator of Herbarium 


Robert FE. Woodson; Jri os 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 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. 


UISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GAJIRD 


HN BU 


4 UN 


Book Reviews 


Continuation of St. Louis Herb Society Bulletin 
Allene Klippel: Basil 


CONTENTS 


How to Use a River 


Dorothy Anderson: Thyme 


ume XLIV 


June, 1956 


Grass Exhibits at the Garden 


Number 6 


Cover: The native wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides) flowering in the Mausoleum 
grounds. Planted in the ivy, which helps conceal the dying leaves when bloom- 
ing time is past, it is very much at home. Its pale gray-blue flowers make 
an attractive display in early May. 


Note: The St. Louis Herb Society not only turned in enough copy for an entire 
number of the BULLETIN (May, 1956) but several articles and a number 
of shorter notes remain to be published. Mrs. Klippel’s and Mrs. Anderson’s 
contributions appear in this issue. Other articles will be published from 
time to time during next fall and winter. 


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 


JUNE, 1956 


Vol. XLIV No. 6 


HOW TO USE A RIVER 
KENNETH A. POOS 
INTRODUCTION 


Hy MuST the story of every river be a tragedy? Inherently it should be a 

gay or strong or placid story, with the excitement and beauty of the earth 
its theme. And yet who knows a river that is exultant with its destiny as that 
destiny has been determined by mankind? Rivers do not object to work, for 
that is born in them. But with mistreatment they can be disobedient, plotting, 
and vengeful. With great diligence we have brought out the worst in our streams. 
The time has come to restore them, to live with them, and to discover the rich 
sources of inspiration they can contribute to our lives, In St. Louis, we have a 
perfect place to begin such an adventure. In the following paper, written as 
a term report for my evening class in Ecology, but deserving much wider circu- 
lation, Ken Poos challenges us to take some action. 

—ALFRED G. ETTER, 


Washington University School of Medicine, 
Clopton Experimental Farm, Clarkesville, Mo. 


Upstream and Long Ago:— 


HE Meramec River has many be- 

ginnings, but one of them is best. 
Meramec Spring is a place of wonder- 
ment, a continuing miracle of nature. 
Water, pure and forever coming from 
the earth, forever, deep, clear, and 
cold, it wells up beneath a moss- 
covered ledge and green eddys swirl 
down river into a wide gravelly bed. 
Between screens of willows the river 
sings softly to itself. The air is sweet 
with the smell of trees and wet earth, 
the unforgettable earth with its wild- 
ness, rawness, and utter familiarity. 


Frothy rapids melt into long crescents 


of smooth water. On summer evenings 
whip-poor-wills chant their vespers in 
endless succession from the dark foli- 
age, and large-mouth bass slap at may- 
flies on the quiet pools. 

Upstream much of the Meramec 
Valley is still a timeless place that con- 
tains in its autumn mists the magic of 
a primitive river, the memory of ‘‘old 
Octobers and tawny Indians in their 
camping places long ago.”  Half- 
asleep on a sunny gravel bar, one does 
not find it hard to imagine an Indian 
canoe floating on the water like a 


willow leaf, or a frontiersman quietly 


(81) 


82 MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


A gravel bar at a river’s bend. 


watering his sweated horse in the shade 


beside some ford. 


From Paradise to Problem Child:— 
These illusions vanish quickly down- 
stream! Over the two-hundred-year 
period that white men have used the 
lower river most that is primitive and 
beautiful has been destroyed. The 
automobile, the tractor, the chain-saw, 
the outboard motor, and the flush 
toilet have changed the river and 
changed it mightily. In the early days 
men stood on the stumps of trees and 
made speeches about prosperity and 
Then they 


cut more trees and made more speeches 


rising standards of living. 


and shot more squirrels and gigged 
more fish and cut more trees and made 
more speeches. And as they talked the 
fields got sandier and the fishing poor- 
er. Then men from the city came to 
the river for recreation. They bought 
big lots and built clubhouses, and sold 
lots and built more clubhouses. so that 
in some places the river bank became 


lined with clubs. Here a man could 


relax on holidays and drink a beer and 
throw the empty bottle in the river. 
Now this man has sold his “haven” to 
a new occupant who lives there all 
year round and not only throws his 
empty beer cans in the river but all 
the trash, including the old ice-box 
and stove. “After all,” he says, ‘‘it 
helps keep the bank from washing.” 
The river has indeed changed mightily. 


A Trip of Discovery:— 
Nowadays taking a trip on the 
lower Meramec requires a good deal of 


courage—not the kind the pioneers 
possessed. but the courage to see ugli- 
ness and to hope for some change. Put 
your boat in the river at Highway 66 
and motor up past Valley Park and 
enjoy a visit to St. Louis’ playground. 
The chances are you'll find the river 
low just as I did when I made the trip 
recently. This is not just because 
we've had a drouth, but because the 
channel has been clogged by years of 
mismanagement of the river. Tied 


up beneath the new “66” bridge were 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 83 


two barges which had been used in its 
construction. They had been waiting 
several months for water enough to 
All along the banks of the 
river there was a litter of trash. ‘No 


refloat. 


dumping” signs were being ignored as 
usual. It was apparent that people 
drive down Yarnell Road and jettison 
paper bags of cans and garbage from 
their moving automobiles. Here, in 
cans and bottles mosquito larvae can 
live in peace, for fish and birds cannot 
feed on them as they would in natural 
areas. Man has created another prob- 
lem for himself and he will no doubt 
solve it by calling for airplane spray- 
ing of the area; and so the mosquitoes 
will have their revenge upon the fish 
and birds. 

The next thing to come in sight was 
a great number of shabby boat docks 
and boats. Packed closely together they 
stretch up the west bank to a point 
two miles above the Vandover bridge, 
and sometimes line the east shore, too. 
These docks are privately owned and 
serve only the interest of the owners 
and their friends. Public launching 
facilities are almost non-existent. Ey- 
erywhere you are met with signs warn- 
ing trespassers with prosecution. Signs 
proclaiming no hunting or fishing are 
also there in numbers as if there were 
anything to shoot or catch. Even if 
you find a place to launch your boat, 
you may still have trouble finding 
water deep enough to float it. My 
small motor hit bottom many times. 
1 had to drag my canoe over the Val- 
ley Park rapids, and without a load 
this craft draws only two and a half 
inches. It is hard to visualize so big 


a river so feeble. 


No Channel, No Fish:— 


Even at drouth level this stream 
once had enough current to keep a 
channel. That was when trees staked 
down the alluvial banks along the river, 
and kept the water working. Now 
the burden of gravel that has been 
poured into the valley from cleared 
lands in the headwaters has nothing to 
compel it to build banks. The river is 
lazy, and when it comes to the level 
stretches of the lower basin it drops its 
The channel 
chokes up and the river spreads out 


load almost any place. 


over a broad shallow bed, or flows be- 
neath the surface through the porous 
gravels, 

Aside from the fact that this shal- 
lowing of the channel makes power- 
boating risky, it does even more im- 
portant damage. Water temperatures 
become more extreme, hotter in summer 
and frozen more often in winter. This 
brings a change in the species of fish. 
Game fish abhor hot water. 

There are many other factors work- 
ing for a change of water temperatures 
in the lower river. Not the least of 
these is the fact that many of the trees 
that once shaded the stream have been 
cut down. Most of these were willows 
that hung out over the river’s edge. 
They will be missed, not only by the 
fish and fishermen they shaded, but by 
the birds that nested in them—and 
what of that sweet willow fragrance 
that is the very breath of a river? The 
people that cut them probably asso- 
ciated snakes with willows and thought 
that by cutting the willows they 
would get rid of the snakes. They 


were right, but at the same time they 


84 


Endless flow of gall 


disrupted the whole ecology of the 
river bank. What they didn’t foresee 
was that they contributed to the loss 
of wildlife and fish, which they didn’t 
want to lose. In fact, each bird, ani- 
mal, and fish was a small reason that 
contributed to a big reason for going 
to live on the river bank in the first 
place. The sad part is that these people 
know the river has changed but they 


talked 


with anyone yet who assumed his own 


don’t know why. I haven’t 


personal burden of guilt. 


The River’s Martyrdom:— 

As I continued up stream I heard 
water running in from a small brook. 
Under natural conditions I would have 
had the impulse to throw a dry fly to 
the spot in belief that a bass or even a 
trout might be facing into the current 


of the small stream, waiting for a bug 


MISSOURI BOTANIC? 


AL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


or unsuspecting minnow. This was 
There was a black 


pipe sticking out of the bank sending 


not the case here. 


filthy, stinking gall into the river in 
an endless flow. This was the end of 
the Valley Park sewer system. Less 
than a mile and a half downstream the 
city of Kirkwood took it back in and 
processed it for drinking water until 
the early 1940’s. Because of increasing 
high costs of filtration and fluctuating 
river levels they now use a drilled well 
for their water supply. 

Without scientific measurement I 
would say that the pollution resulting 
from the sewage effluent is moderate. 
It has, however, had its effect in chang- 
ing the aquatic habitat. Any one who 
has seen whole schools of suckers gob- 
bling raw sewage knows what species 
is aided by its introduction into the 
stream. Sewage has become for the 
suckers a rather constant food supply. 
Perhaps we ought to be thankful that 
they are there to help break down the 
stuff! 

There are a number of important 
reasons why sewage and other waste 
products can hurt a river. First of all, 
they can cause a change in the tem- 
perature of the water, not only by 
sheer physical exchange of heat, but 
more importantly, by chemical heating. 
Any one who has been in a barnyard in 
the winter knows that the ground can 
be frozen everywhere but where de- 


This 


same “heating” occurs when raw sew- 


posits of waste are concentrated. 


age is dumped into the river and is 
broken down there. 

Raw sewage reduces the oxygen in a 
river. Species of fish that require a 


lot of oxygen have to move out or die. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 85 


I was not able to find a single fisher- 
man who knew of any jack-salmon 
being caught in the fast water below 
Valley Park in the past three years. 
Until recent years, this particular fish 
was caught there in numbers. Oxygen 
deprivation may well be the reason for 
its disappearance. Reduced water flow 
during the last few years brought up 
the level of pollution. At the same 
time Valley Park, Kirkwood, and other 
municipalities within the Meramec 
watershed are growing rapidly and 
pumping more sewage into the river. 
One of the maintenance engineers of 
the city of Kirkwood admitted that 
during peak periods it was impossible 
to process all the sewage and it had to 
be ‘“‘turned loose.” Valley Park makes 
no attempt to process its sewage at all. 
Until the situation changes radically, 
bass and jack-salmon don’t have a 
chance. 

One of the hazards of boating on 
the Meramec, or for doing anything 
else on the river for that matter, is 
the chance of catching a stray bullet. 
This trip was no exception. I found a 
group of boys tossing cans and bottles 
in the water and plinking at them 
without any regard for wild slugs. 
They got a big laugh out of it when 
I told them that the river was not a 
dump and that they should do their 
target shooting somewhere else. ‘Time 
and again I have found people using 
firearms in crowded areas and few ever 
showed any respect for the weapons 
they were using. 

If we add all this mismanagement 
and negligence to the social problems 
that have arisen in the area, such as 


the high incidence of drunken brawls, 


crimes and drownings, we have a pic- 
ture of the established character of 
the lower Meramec River basin today. 
You don’t have to be a trained ob- 
server to see what is going on there. 
The tragedy of it all is that the com- 
munity allows a wonderful natural re- 
source to slip away and be lost because 


of a deep-seated lethargy! 


The Need and the Solution Exist:— 


The present recreational value of the 
Meramec River for the community of 
Greater St. Louis is negligible, in spite 
of its proximity to the vast population 
that sorely needs a clear-water recrea- 
tional area with impressive natural 
beauty. Once a natural area is blight- 
ed it is increasingly subject to mis- 
treatment. Add to the situation that 
now exists in the Meramec River basin 
a decade or two of abuse and the total 
loss to the community will be appal- 
ling. Estimates of population growth 
in this area leave no doubt about the 
need for greatly expanded recreation 
facilities near the city. The lower 
Meramec is the place to find them. 

The Meramec meets the chief  re- 
quirements for a first-class metropol- 
itan park. It is large enough. It is 
within thirty miles drive of the aver- 
age user. New highways exist that can 
carry the trafhe. Water, the first goal 
of the recreationist, is available and 
with some planning and management 
it could be clean water in adequate 
quantity. Remnants of its old beauty 
still remain, in the quiet waters below 
still bluffs, and, with encouragement, 
wildlife could soon add much to the 


attractiveness of the park. 


86 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Recreation First:— 

It is vital that @ master plan for the 
development of the Meramec should 
put recreation first. 1 consider the 
proposal of a thirty-five hour week 
for workers a threat both to their own 
well-being and to that of the nation 
if there is no place for them to go 
and enjoy their leisure and employ it 
constructively. Flood control is im- 
portant, industrial development is im- 
portant, but preservation of physical 
vigor and mental balance of our people 


supersedes all of them. 


Specifically:— 

We cannot be too bold in planning 
for the obvious needs of the future, 
and for that reason it is felt that the 
following suggestions are well within 
the limits of a reasonable project. 

1. Pool state and federal and local 
resources to purchase the entire flood- 
plain area and such adjacent areas as 
may be desirable from Tyson Valley 
Park to the confluence of the Meramec 
River and the Mississippi. 

2. Institute a ten-year master plan 
that would include the demolition of 
buildings, cleaning up of litter, and 
return of the area to its natural con- 
dition. 

3. Eliminate pollution. 

4. Prepare some areas near the river 
for immediate use while construction 
proceeds on the remainder. 

5. Build concessions which would 
be available for lease to private in- 
terests subject to Park Commission 
standards. 

6. Make the park free to all. 

7. Draw up a diversified recrea- 


tional program including: 


a. Safe swimming areas that could 
be supervised, preferably swimming- 
pools. 

b. Picnic areas, including tables 
and barbecue pits, that afford a view 
of the river. 

c. Ball diamonds, tennis, basket- 
ball, and volley-ball courts, etc., 
adjacent to picnic areas. 

d. Overnight camping areas for 
tent campers. 

e. Main lodge for nature lectures, 
motion pictures, and other activities. 
f. Summer camps for children. 

g- Area for riding concession. 

h. Primitive area for study of 
fauna and flora. 

i. A rifle and pistol range that 
could be supervised by the Nation- 
al Rifle Association. Competitive 
matches and instruction in proper 
handling of firearms should be part 
of the program. 

j. A similar program for archers. 

k. Waterfront area which would 
include launching ramps and canoe 
rentals, Canoe instructions avail- 
able, and speed limits for boats to 
be five miles per hour within the 
park river area. 

l. Areas where school children 
can come and help reforest the area 
and learn basic principles of land 
use and ecology first hand. (Motion 
becomes emotion. ) 


How About Floods?— 


Almost all of these activities could, 
if properly planned and carried on, be 
adapted to the conditions that exist in 
the valley at present without elab- 
orate flood-control structures. With 
complete control of the flood plain, 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 87 


It takes courage to see ugliness and hope 
for a change. 


the occupants of the valley would not 
be claiming high-flood losses and bur- 
dening governments and_ charitable 
agencies. Further developments in 
the region would be halted and a hun- 
dred future headaches would be cured 
before they began. 

A current proposal to build a bar- 
rier dam across the Meramec would be 
unnecessary. This proposal, by elim- 
inating the Meramec Valley as a reser- 
voir for flood waters, would only ag- 
gravate flood conditions on the main 
Mississippi. It is also a matter of 
speculation whether such a_ reservoir 
as has been proposed would literally 
hold water since the underlying strata 
near the confluence of the Meramec 
and Mississippi rivers are full of solu- 
tion caverns. In addition, a barrier 
dam presumably would include locks, 
thus permitting use of the valley for 


navigation and consequently encour- 
aging heavy industry. This would be 
fatal to any recreational development 
on the river for many reasons. <A 
stable reservoir thus created would 
also become a liability within a short 
time by creating extensive marsh areas, 
drowning timber stands, and by ag- 
gravating mosquito problems. Even 
more important, it would serve as 
a catch-all for silt and gravel, and 
within a short time the head of the 
reservoir would build up so that future 
floods in the Valley Park region would 
be beyond anything experienced in the 
past. With the valley devoted to rec- 
reational use, the need for expensive 
dam building, either upstream or down, 
would be greatly minimized. Good 
land use in the water-shed would still 
be of great importance. In the long 
run, the program suggested would be 
a money- and headache-saving plan for 
governments at all levels. They should 
be glad to contribute funds for its 
accomplishment. 

Paradise Regained :— 

If the lower Meramec River basin 
were restored to its natural conditions 
as much as possible, it would give to 
the community the kind of environ- 
ment mankind needs: a place where a 
man can go after work and sit on the 
quiet river bank in meditation, a place 
where a boy can fish with his cane 
pole, and where the family can enjoy 
the adventure of a camp out. This 
would be a sanctuary where men and 
women and children of future genera- 
tions could come and see a cool flow- 
ing stream, singing birds, and green 
grass. ‘“‘The leaf, the twig, the un- 


found door, Return, Return!” 


88 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Book REvIEWws:— 

What’s New in Gardening. By Dr. 
P. P. Pirone, Plant Pathologist at the 
New York Botanic Garden. 244 
pages plus Index 11 pages. Hanover 
House, New York, 1956. Price $3.50. 

HE author planned to_ report 
T items new to gardeners during the 
last two years, but has included some 
of the fundamentals which, though 
not new, yet have great value now and 
for many years to come. 

The first 110 pages, divided into 
six chapters, discusses plants under 
expected titles: Annuals, Perennials, 
Bulbs, Roses, other Shrubs and Hedges, 
Trees 


shade, ornamental, fruit—, 
Vegetables, and, happily, House Plants. 
The remainder of the book, 123 pages, 
deals with practices involved in the 
successful culture of plants under the 
logical, albeit somewhat unusual, titles 
for such a small book: Plant Propaga- 
tion, Lawns, Landscaping, Soils and 
Plant Foods, Growth Regulators, In- 
sects, Diseases and Pests, Garden 
Gadgets and Equipment. 

In general, the book will be found 
useful by the more experienced as well 
as the novice gardener. It is certainly 
worth the price. This reviewer felt 
the author was sacrificing a great op- 
portunity to give of his knowledge by 
saying so little about so many subjects. 
He also feels that the millions who are 
starting their first garden this year 
would be quite well repaid if they 
could have somewhat more detailed 
information on a smaller number of 
subjects by the same author. After 
all, one of the biggest news items in 
gardening is the large increase each 


year in the number of gardeners. Or, 


if we choose to let them learn to walk 
while we help the more experienced 
run, then we suggest omission of the 
extremely short and_ possibly pithy 
(certainly containing little meat) 
paragraphs which are largely made up 
of four to six lines to mention a few 
characteristics of some varieties of 
plants. This deletion would permit 
the book to give more space to the 
variations in culture needed by the 
various climatic zones. It would help, 
of course, to include as a fundamental 
the map of Hardiness Zones and to 
discuss some of the factors by which 
hardiness is limited, even if trends 
rather than absolute data must be 
used, While some statements clearly re- 
fer to areas as Midwest, Southern, and 
Pacific Slope, in general this book does 
not recognize some of the newer con- 
cepts of climate and microclimates. 
This reviewer feels that listing vari- 
eties helps gardeners less than bringing 
the fundamentals up to date. 

The author really puts sparkle into 
his book when he tells the story of 
how a paleobotanist described Meta- 
sequoia from fossil specimens when the 
tree was believed to be extinct, and 
how, three years later, by sending $250 
to China, bushels of seed of this tree, 
the Dawn Redwood, came to Amer- 
ica and make it possible for thousands 
of seedlings to be shooting skyward at 
the rate of 2 to 4 feet each year. 
| Note those near the path which leads 
directly south from the old Shaw Resi- 
dence at the Garden. | 

His remarks on Holly are not so 


Re 


fortunate when he says, . one of 
the most beautiful hollies I have seen 


is Ilex altaclarensis, James G. Esson . . 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 89 


resembles the finest English Holly... 
far more striking than any American 
Holly.’ It would have been helpful 
to have the species name so as to fur- 
nish some basis for determining prob- 
able utility value of the author’s 
nomination. It is no doubt more dif- 
ficult to maintain an even balance of 
fact and opinion in a book than in a 
review. Perhaps the real reason for 
writing reviews is to call attention to 
books and really help potential readers 
to enjoy a new book. 

There are several truly exciting spots 
in the book. One is the story of the 
discovery of the New Dawn Rose. 
“How New Plant Varieties Arise” 
would justify the title of the book. 
The second subject is given almost 
nine pages of interesting, fast-moving 
factual statements which ably pre- 
sents the concepts and implication of 
the terms Sporting, Hybridization, 
Natural Selection, Mutation, Natural 
Bud Sports and Chimeras! While 
much of the facts come under the title 
of worth-while fundamentals, they 
form a substantial foundation for the 
very good story of the development of 
the “Mother of Millions” which the 
author finally admits is a Male Tree. 

The chapter on Propagation is well 
done while the chapters on Landscap- 
ing and Soils and Plant Foods would 
have been of more value if the author 
had encouraged the reader to seek and 
follow local professional advice, either 
from the agricultural extension agents 
or professional landscape architects. 

When dealing with Growth Regu- 
lators, Weed Killers, and Pesticides the 
author writes of the field in which he 
is truly an expert. He shows this in 


his insistence on the integrity of the 
labels being placed on packages of 
pesticide by the manufacturer under 
the watchful and_ well-informed 
supervision of the U.S.D.A. He shows 
quite simply and effectively that pesti- 
cides which kill insects are often toxic 
to warm-blooded animals and that 
most gardeners who use the millions of 
pounds each year are not as contemp- 
tuous of garden chemicals as are those 
who are careless in using aspirin, other 
salicylates, and petroleum products. 
The author helpfully divides the more 
than 2,500 trade-marked insecticides, 
fungicides, and related materials into 
less than twelve categories. He then 
discusses the principal ingredients and 
their suitable application for control 
of pests from mites to deer and from 
degree of eradication to the rate of 
disappearance of residue left on plants. 
The last chapter deals with Gardening 
Gadgets. No doubt its information is 
helpful but hardly exciting, except for 
one short comment on a soil moisture 
recorder. 

As one lays the book aside and pon- 
ders, the thought expressed earlier in 
Why doesn’t he 


write other books on more limited 


this review recurs. 


subjects? The few pen-and-ink draw- 
ings and black-and-white illustrations 
do much the same for the reader as do 
many of the short paragraphs devoted 
to really large subjects. The book stim- 
ulates; it contains some real food and 
leaves the reader hungry for more in- 
formation about how and when to put 
water on his garden, and what plants 
would do well in his area. What more 
should one get for $3.50. 
—CLARENCE BARBRE 


90 MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


Vascular Plants of Illinois. 
N. Jones and G. D. Fuller. 
University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 


By G. 
593 pages. 


and the Illinois State Museum, Spring- 
field, Illinois. 1955. Price $10.00. 


HIS is a Companion volume, par- 
eae treating the ecology and 
distribution of the plants of Illinois, 
and is designed to be used with the 
earlier work, Flora of Illinois by G. N. 
Jones. 1950 (second edition), which 
contains the keys and descriptive in- 
The valid 


plants with author and reference, syn- 


formation. names of the 
onymy, all known references on the 
occurrence of the species in Illinois, 
flowering time, general distribution, 
habitat and distribution in Illinois, 
with maps, has been compiled for the 
more than 2400 species which occur 
in the state. A vegetational map and 
descriptions of the vegetational divi- 
sions including the characteristic plants 
are given in the introductory matter. 
An extensive bibliography of works 
published pertaining to the flora of the 
state and the principal collectors are 
given. These are the data. From this 
and other works like this it is possible 
to study fundamental problems related 
to the evolution of plants, their origins 
and relationships. In Illinois where 
much of the land has for many years 
been intensively cultivated there are 
special problems related to the plants 
man has eliminiated and introduced. 
Such matters cannot be adequately dis- 
cussed until documented facts on the 
kinds of plants and where they grow 
are presented. This represents a tre- 
mendous amount of work, compiling, 


recording and checking, and it is done 


, 


GARDEN BULLETIN 
here with much thoroughness. 

Some difhculty is encountered in 
identification of plants due to the 
limited descriptive matter in the two 
volumes although a manual supple- 
ments this lack. It is a most critical 
work and will be useful not only for 
botanists but agriculturists, teachers 
and students. Gardeners who specialize 
in native plants rather than exotics 
will find an unlimited list of horti- 
cultural possibilities, among them ten 
kinds of Dogwood, nine of Phlox, five 
Mallows, twelve Roses and hosts of 
Hawthornes and Sunflowers. 


—Atice F, Tryon 


Garden Design, Illustrated. By John 
and Carol L. Grant. 
Washington Press. 
1954. Price $5.75. 


University of 


145 pp. Seattle, 


OME amateur gardeners become so 
S pleased that they can grow any- 
thing at all, especially if it is colorful, 
that they never get beyond this kin- 
But if 


they have learned the knack of mov- 
y 


dergarten stage in gardening. 


ing a shrub without the plant feeling 
the shock of it, and if they have 
learned what plants grow where, and 
they bloom, they 


when and_ how 


should be ready for the next stage 


which is designing a garden. 

Books on garden design are fre- 
quently too technical or too ambitious 
for the amateur. Some of them speak 
of “building” a garden, which brings 
up visions of surveys, blue-prints, con- 
struction, and probably a greater out- 
lay of time and money than most dirt 


gardeners have. Grants’ “Garden De- 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 9] 


sign” is not that kind of a book. As 
the authors say in their introduction: 
“The purpose of this book is not to 
outline a cut-and-dried approach to 
garden design . . . rather to open up 
vistas of possibilities through the un- 
derstanding of naturalistic principles.” 
It has no text-book attributes but 1s 
written with simplicity and charm. 
It can be enjoyed by all garden lovers, 
whether they grow plants or just walk 
through them. The authors have been 
successful in putting their lessons 
across by illustrations—plans, photo- 
Most of the 


gardens illustrated are in the Pacific 


graphs, and anecdotes. 


Northwest, so the planting could not 
be exactly duplicated here. How- 
ever, the principles of design are the 
same no matter what the geography, 
and with a little imagination a middle- 
western shrub or tree could be used to 
give the same landscape effect as the 
northwestern one suggested. 

Many people think that a designed 
garden means a formal garden but the 
authors dispose of that in a few words 
in the first chapter. What the book 
does is to help the beginner adapt the 
arrangement of living material to the 
site, to make the planting appear to 
have happened rather than designed. 
If you want your garden to have a 
naturalistic look, which most amateurs 
strive for, read the chapters twice on 
Naturalistic Character, Scale, and on 
Color, Drifts 
(“planting with the wind”), Con- 


Foundation Planting. 


tours and Curves are also explained 
and illustrated. One chapter takes up 
a specific example—a moderately large 
house on a 60 100 foot lot—and 


tells us in words and pictures the 


landscape problems connected with it 
and how they were met. 

If the beginner only looks at the 
65 illustrations in this book he will 
learn something about design, and the 
chances are that reading it might 
arouse a spark of ambition to make 
his back-yard more attractive—maybe 
even to make it a “garden”. 

—NELL C. HorNER 


Cities in Evolution. By Patrick 
Geddes. xxxt + 241 pp. New and 
revised edition. Oxford University 
Press. New York, 1950. Price $3.75. 


E scientists are an ignorant lot 
W of people. Until I was asked to 
review this book I had never read a 
word by Sir Patrick Geddes and was 
familiar with only the most fleeting 
references to his career. I had no idea 
that he was trained as a botanist and 
only the haziest notions as to his pro- 
fessional history. Yet I do read widely 
in a haphazard, undisciplined sort of 
way and part of my technical training 
was in England. I have therefore had 
a better chance than most present-day 
American scientists to have blundered 
across his trail somehow, in a book or 
at an exhibition or in conversation. 
That it is a trail still worth coming 
upon (whether accidentally or by de- 
sign) will be clear to any thoughtful 
person who goes through this book. 
Some of the best of his writing is 
attractively brought together with 
thumb-nail biographical references and 
a selection of illustrative material from 
one of his big exhibitions, the whole ef- 
fectively integrated with editorial com- 


92 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


ment and a few personal recollections. 

Geddes had a genious for seeing 
large complicated problems as a whole 
and a gift for communicating these 
insights with apt phrases: 


“Coal will still last a long time, and 
cotton might expand accordingly, but 
water is the prime necessity after air itself; 
and, unlike it, is limited in quantity. 
Food can be brought for almost any con- 
ceivable population as long as ships can 
sail the seas, and we have the where- 
withal to buy; famine one can survive for 
months; total starvation even for weeks; 
but without water we can last barely 
three days . those innumerable coster- 
mongers’ barrows of cheap and enormous 
bananas, which range through the poorer 
streets of New York, and grimly suggest a 
possible importation of tropical conditions, 
towards the maintenance and multiplica- 
tion of an all too cheap proletariat 
Thus to take only one of the very foremost 
of our national luxuries, that of getting 
more or less—alcoholized, this has been 
vividly defined in a real flash of judicial 
wisdom as ‘the quickest way of getting 
out of Manchester’,” 


He was quite as eloquent in his orig- 


inal field of Botany. Here are two 


excerpts from his last official lecture 
at Dundee, and remember, he did not 
write this; it was taken down by one 
of his audience. 


“How many people think twice about a 
leaf? Yet the leaf is the chief product 
and phenomenon of Life: this is a green 
world, with animals comparatively few 
and small, and all dependent upon the 
leaves. By leaves we live. The world is 
mainly a vast leaf-colony, growing on and 
forming a leafy soil, not a mere mineral 
mass; and we live not by the jingling of 
our coins but by the fullness of our har- 
vests... An Assyrian sculptor admired 
this Acanthus leaf, and modelled it; and 
it has been copied ever since, and by all 
the schools, till we are weary of it. In 
each great period of design, new plants 
have been observed and used by artists; 
but here in the garden around us there 
is a whole world of beauty for designers 
to choose from—only the edge of which 
has been touched.” 


This same report of his final lecture 


gives us echoes of quite another mat- 
ter, Geddes’ relationships with his own 
university where he was nominally 
professor of botany, though by the 
terms of his appointment he was re- 
quired to be in residence only one term 
a year and the rest of the time was 
free to write or to travel as he wished. 
We are told that though reporters 
were present at the final lecture and a 
good many townspeople, there was 
little in the papers the next day. Even 
more significantly, the faculty of the 
college was absent and its governing 
body too, and this was a matter of 
comment among those who did attend. 
Even though Dundee had given Geddes 
a professorship when he had_ been 
passed over at Edinburgh as too un- 
orthodox, thirty years of world tours 
and exhibitions here and there, of tak- 
ing his students through gardens and 
woods rather than to lecture indoors, 
had made him somewhat of a truant 
in his own university. One notes in 
his own lecture an ironic reference to 
Dundee as “this city of marmalade,” 
and his description of the botany field 


trips of other professors as “week-end 
airings conducted by a sort of aca- 
demic nursemaid given to pedantic 
language.” Somewhere in this area is 
the nub of the Geddes story. He was 
eloquent to the point of genius, and 
of all native endowments, none more 
than eloquence has the capacity of 
bringing special problems in its train. 
A little eloquence will help almost any 
man. <A shower of it and the world 
wants to hear; it is difhcult to get 
on with one’s regular work, however 
much one may wish to do so. Priva- 


cies are invaded, the ordinary schedules 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 93 


of daily life and work are upset; 
jealousies are multiplied, one’s whole 
career is thrown out of balance. Read 
Whistler’s ‘Ten O’clock Lecture” in 
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies 
for a waspish account of the problems 
which come with such gifts. Elo- 
quence gives us the power to corrupt 
others whether we mean to or not and 


ultimately to corrupt our own ends, 
No gift requires greater wisdom to use 
cannily. Geddes was warm-hearted, 
imaginative, and greatly eloquent. 
How effectively did he deal with the 
special problems brought upon him by 


his own genius? 


—Epcar ANDERSON 


THYME 


| Dianna the genus Thymus 
is a ragbag, all jumbled together, 
so that names and species mean little. 
Plants range from a low, creeping true 
Mother-of-Thyme to a woody, bushy 
type, which is almost shrubby. Blos- 
soms may be lavender, blue, pink or 
even red. The average height is six 
to eight inches, but varies in either 
direction. Flowers are in spikes, and 
are so tiny one can barely distinguish 
parts—only the spike and color. The 
plants grow in mats or mounds when 
given plenty of spreading room, sun- 
shine, and a well-drained location. 
Seeds of Thyme are round and very 
tiny. Mix with sand to sow thinly on 
gravel, chat or even cinders, or in a 
very well-drained spot where the soil 
is not too rich. A slope is fine. Water 
well at first, until plants are well 


established. 
propagated by root division. 


Plants may also be 


Medicinally, Thyme is one of the 
few herbs whose use has not declined in 
modern times. Extracting the oil is 
still big business. Thyme is strongly 
germicidal, with an action resembling 
that of carbolic acid, but stronger and 
less irritant to wounds. It is used to 


medicate surgical dressings, in anaes- 


thetics, in gargles and mouth washes, 
as a sedative for coughs and bronchitis. 
It yields three essential oils: cymene, 
thymene, and thymol. Thymol is most 
used. 

In cooking, Wild Thyme is the 
mildest, but all are useful in binding 
herb mixtures for soups and _ salads. 
The Romans used it for flavoring 
cheese and liqueurs. Spanish people 
infuse it in the pickle for preserving 
olive. Thyme is a distinct addition to 
pea or bean soups, tomato juice, stuff- 
ings, potato salad. Lemon Thyme 
makes good tea and is good cut fresh 
in fruit salad. 

Armenian Dolma: Grind meat from 
lamb shoulder. Rub bowl with onion 
or grate one onion to put into meat. 
Add three teaspoons of dry Thyme. 
Cover bowl and let stand for several 
hours. Add a half-cup of uncooked 
rice. Add tomato sauce to moisten. 
Wrap in cabbage or grape leaves. 
Steam 114 hours. Serve with wedge 
of lemon. 

Lemon Thyme Vinegar: Heat a 
good wine vinegar until warm but not 
boiling. Pour into bottles in which 
are some bruised Lemon Thyme 
sprigs. Let stand at least six weeks. 

—DorotHy ANDERSON 


94 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


PARKINSON, 1640 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 95 


BASIL 


ASIL is a native of India. The 

derivation of the name is the 
subject of much controversy. Accord- 
ing to some sources it comes from the 
Greek basilikon meaning “kingly”, 
because, as Parkinson says, “‘the smell 
thereof is fit for a king’s house.” 
Others attribute it to a shortened ver- 
sion of “‘baselisk”, a fabulous creature 
that could kill with a look. This might 
have come from the old_ herbalists’ 
association of Basil with scorpions or 
because it is under the zodiacal sign of 
the Scorpion. It was also considered a 
symbol of hate in some countries. 
Quite to the contrary and much more 
in keeping with its delightful nature 
is the Italian tradition that Basil is 
symbolic of love. 

Basil is a plant that can offer you 
everything from a variety with such 
religious significance that no true 
believer in India would be without it 
for a moment, to a deep purple plant 
that goes equally well in the salad or 
the centerpiece. 

There are at least 35 varieties of 
Basil; however, the following varieties 
are the ones more generally used. 
Ocimum basilicum: 

Sweet Basil is the best-known variety 
of the herb. Its narrow, light green, 
ovate leaves emit a strongly clove-like 
perfume when crushed. Its square 
stems reach a height of 30 inches, 
topped with whorls of small white 
blooms. 

Lettuce Leaf is a taller form with 
large, often curled leaves. The blos- 
soms are more compactly arranged. 


Purple Leaf is a tall form with 


large, deep purple leaves and_ pink 
flowers. 
Ocimum minimum: 

Appears with green leaves and white 
flowers and also with purple leaves and 
purple flowers. These are compact 
little bushes about a foot high. 

Lemon Basil is a more recently in- 
troduced variety with more ovate, 
lighter green leaves. It has a decidedly 
citrous odor. 

Ocimum sanctum: 

Tulasi, or Sacred Basil, is a holy 
plant in India. To the Hindus it is a 
protector from evil and a key to 
Heaven. Members of that religion 
must be adorned with a sprig of Basil 
when dying. A plant of Basil stands 
on the altar of each Brahmin house- 
hold, 

Sacred Basil is easily distinguishable 
from other Basils by its hairy, heavily 
veined, roundly ovate leaves and _ its 
strong pungency. The flowers are 
pinkish with orange stamens. 

Basil’s culture requirements are a 
fairly rich loam, full sun, and adequate 
moisture. It can be sown in the open 
after the ground is warm. It germin- 
ates quickly and transplants readily at 
any time after four true leaves appear. 
Being a native of warm countries, it 
likes the hot nights and humid days of 
midsummer and is especially well 
adapted to our St, Louis climate. 

Basil seems to have a special affinity 
for tomato and egg dishes. It is used 
fresh or harvested and dried, or made 
into vinegar which adds a real zest to 
French dressing or tomato cocktails. 

—ALLENE K. KLIPPEL 


96 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


GRASS EXHIBITS AT THE GARDEN 


y Mip-May the Garden’s turf and 
B ground-cover program advanced 
another step with the installation of 
simple semi-permanent signs calling 
attention to the kinds of grass and 
the effects on them of various treat- 
ments such as fall fertilizing and high 
mowing. 

Lawn grass in this part of the Mid- 
west is a very special problem. We 
are too far south for northern grasses 
but too far north for all but a few of 
the southern or “hot weather” grasses. 
There is no perfect grass for St. Louis; 
Kentucky Bluegrass is still the best for 
this region but it has to be carefully 
managed, particularly in extremely hot 
weather (when it goes dormant) or 
during long-continued droughts. 

During the last two seasons various 
areas with some bluegrass in them 
have been allowed to go to seed at 
the Garden in an attempt to seed-in 
strains which were best adapted to a 
Last fall all the turf 


areas were heavily fertilized as soon as 


city garden. 


the nights turned cool. Both of these 
policies have paid off well and there is 
now more and _ better-looking blue- 
grass at the Garden than for many 
years. Most of it is being mowed 
high, at about four inches, since low 
clipping removes much of the leaf 
surface on which its health depends. 


The new signs were designed, con- 


structed, and donated to the Garden 
by Mr. Paul Hale of the Garden’s 
Horticultural Council. They are of 
light metal and are held a few inches 
above the turf but are slanted so that 
they are easy to read. The actual sign 
is lettered free hand with India Ink and 
then weatherproofed with a_ plastic 
spray. They are so simple and easy to 
care for that they can be removed 
during mowing and can be changed 
from season to season or year to year. 

Mr. Hale is now preparing a set of 
smaller signs to identify the most im- 
portant turf weeds as well as some of 


This is all 


part of a long-time program for better 


the lesser-known grasses. 


lawns in the St. Louis area. Though 
grasses all look much alike, they differ 
markedly in their requirements, their 
times and patterns of growth, and 
their response to low or high mowing, 
to spring or fall fertilizing, to summer 
sprinkling and to heavy irrigation dur- 
ing droughts. Not until at least a 
handful of gardeners have gotten to 
know and part way to understand the 
lawn grasses of St. Louis can we hope 
to have the best possible lawns in this 
community. Golf enthusiasts have 
demonstrated what can be done for 
the management of putting greens and 
fairways; some of these special grasses 
and cultural practices can successfully 
be translated for the average home- 


owner but not very often. 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


JoHn S. LEHMANN, President Henry HitrcHcock 
DanieL K. Cart Lin, Vice-President RicHArD J. Lockwoop 
EuGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President Henry B. PFLAGER 
LeIcesTER B. Faust A. WEssEL SHAPLEIGH 
DupLEY FRENCH RoBERT BROOKINGS SMITH 


EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 


ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEY, James F. MorreELtl, 
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 
Oscar E. GLAESSNER 


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 
J. Layton, John E. Nies, Gilbert Pennewill, Harold E. Wolfe, John $. Lehmann, 
Edgar Anderson, W. F. Scott, Jr., Chairman. 


STAFF 
George-T. Moore’ 2:2... 22 A Emeritus, Director 
Edgar Anderson _. _---...........-Director 
Pe fe te ae animators Associate Director 
Henry N. Andrews_____... ____.. Paleobotanist 
August P. Beilmann___-__----_---_-__. Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit 
Louis G. Brenner... _------........ Arborist 
Ladislaus Cutak Pee Read Ss Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories 
AU 4 Oe O26 col (| ee pe ee Peet NL Ree arene Curator of the Museum 
REN y a A cise kc ald rade cas chang eee Mycologist 
John D. Dwyer-__.-__-...- Research Associate 
Uo) 2 ok OR G1) 5) (ee eo NEO ne In charge of Orchids 
Oscar E. Glaessner eh. Business Manager 
Nell. Hornét ncn. 2: Librarian and Editor 
Ida M. Kohl = Assistant Librarian 
15212) a an) :| ce ie ae ee eats renee ore Floriculturist 
Edna Mepham ____ _Assistant Librarian 
Frederick G. Meyer Gsalag tensscdesieceornsbreentvces oo atnansieeong meee Dendrologist 
i EN a i cichnienid Richie cies agile pan Ate a, Superintendent 
sii) gas Ps Ss a gts) ee ce enema 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 
George B. Van Schaack Acting Curator of Herbarium 


Robert E. Woodson, Jr 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. 


{ISSOURI BOTANICAL 
GARDEN BULLETIN 


CONTENTS 


September is the Time to Build Your 


Lawn 
Eastern Witch Hazel 


The Lore of Mints 


Rare Missouri Plants—IV. 
Whorled Pogonia or Purple Five-leaved 


Orchid 


lume XLIV 


September, 1956 


The Lore of Basil 


Two Courses in Bulb Forcing 


Rare Missouri Plants—V. 
Umbrella Plant 

3ald Cypresses for St. Louis 

Book Review: H. L. Li's Chinese Flowe) 


lrrangement 


Number 7 


Cover: Fruiting plant of the rare Purple Five-leaved Orchid showing the elongated 
stalk supporting the fruiting capsule. 


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. XLIV 


SEPTEMBER, 1956 No. 7 


SEPTEMBER IS THE TIME TO BUILD YOUR LAWN 


S EPTEMBER | to November 15 is the 
time to work on your blue-grass 
lawn. You can have a good lawn in 
St. Louis by following these sugges- 


tions: 


1. Cut all crab-grass as short as 


possible. 


2. Spread a good commercial ferti- 
lizer. About 60 pounds will be needed 
for a small city lawn (30 Ibs. to 1000 
sq. ft.). Water it in on the same day 


with a gentle spray. 


3. If you have many dandelions, 
plantain, or other broad-leaved weeds 
use one of the selective weed killers 
containing 2-4-D, on the first warm 
day. Wait at least one day after ferti- 
lizing and at least three days after 
using the weed killer before planting 


new seed. 


4. Sow the best-quality blue-grass 
seed (or a good lawn-grass mixture) 
and sprinkle lightly after sowing. The 
ground needs to be kept moist for at 
least three weeks. Sprinkle the area 
lightly every evening if there is no 


rain. 


5. Remember blue-grass does _ its 
growing underground and when the 
nights are cool. Take good care of 
your lawn every fall and you'll have a 


good lawn. 


6. Never fertilize after early March. 
Blue-grass wants to go dormant dur- 
ing hot weather when weed grasses are 


most active. 


7. Do not sprinkle your lawn in 
summer unless you want weed grasses 
to come in. If the ground is dry give 
your lawn a good soaking once every 


ten days but do not sprinkle. 


98 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


EASTERN WITCH HAZEL (Hamamelis virginiana) 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 99 


EASTERN WITCH HAZEL 


JULIAN A. STEYERMARK 


“_ was the night before Labor Day, 
’t was the night before Hallow- 
e’en, *t was the night before Thanks- 
giving, ’t was the night before Christ- 
mas—and at any of these particular 
occasions, if we chanced to be outdoors 
in certain parts of the southeastern 
Missouri Ozarks, especially along rich, 
shaded, north-facing wooded _ slopes 
along streams, either in granite or lime- 
stone country, we might welcome an 
unfamiliar yellow-flowered shrub whose 
fragrance filled the air. I am referring 
now to the Eastern Witch Hazel 
(Hamamelis virginiana). It is well 
known to the folks of the eastern half 
of the United States, mostly east of the 
Mississippi River, as the last of their 
native shrubs of the year to bloom. 

“When the frost is on the punkin, 
and the fodder’s in the shock,’ when 
the autumn nights begin to take on 
that certain briskness, when the grace- 
ful sprays of the last purple- and 
white-rayed asters and yellow golden- 
rods enliven the forest slopes—days in 
October and November—that is the 
time our Eastern Witch Hazel takes 
on especial importance. Up until then 
it has seemed like any other shrub of 
the woodlands, its branches bedecked 
with numerous leaves. But as the tiny 
buff-brown buds begin to open—some- 
times in late August, sometimes in 
September or October or November 
or even December—behold, suddenly a 
new yellow patch of color appears in 
the woods! The once-drooping flower 
buds now take on prominence as from 


each one four tiny yellow ribbon-like 


petals uncurl and eventually straight- 
en out, each nearly two-thirds of an 
inch long. These are so delicate and 
frail-looking as to appear to have been 
cut out by a tiny hand with a small 
pair of scissors. And there are hun- 
dreds of these sprinkled all along 
the spreading, wand-like, pale gray 
branches so characteristic of the East- 
ern Witch Hazel. The mass effect is 
indeed refreshing to behold.  Fre- 
quently, at blossom-time, all the leaves 
have dropped off, accentuating the 
yellow-studded bare branches. But this 
shrub knows no hard-and-fast rules to 
hold or not to hold the leaves while 
flowering, because, as often as not, the 
leaves remain attached to the branches 
during the flowering period. 

The leaves are mostly oval or egg- 
shaped with wavy edges. During the 
spring and summer they are pale green, 
but turn a solid yellow when autumn 
colors begin to run rampant. But as 
the leaves disappear from the branches, 
the deceptively fragile-looking flowers 
hang on. Instead of falling after a 
few days or a week of blossoming, as 
is the habit of many other species of 
plants, these four-petaled blossoms 
continue—and how they do! They are 
so tough that they are not fazed by 
snow, sleet, or ice. I have seen these 
“toughies” resist November and De- 
cember snow and ice storms, with the 
temperature near zero, yet they appear 
afterwards none the worse for it. I 
have seen these shrubs remain in flower 
during prolonged cold wintry spells 


when it would seem that no living 


100 MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


flower would stand a chance against 
the bitter weather. So there is some- 
thing remarkable about the powers of 
resistance of the protoplasm, the living 
make-up of such a tiny flower. 

It is difficult to state whether or not 
the protoplasm of the flower during 
such cold spells goes into a state of 
suspended dormancy or lifelessness. 
However, it is certain that the blossom 
is anything but dead, because at some 
time during flowering the tiny pollen 
from one of the four stamens is trans- 
ferred to one of the two short styles 
of the minute pistil, usually of another 
flower, and the life processes of pol- 
lination and of fertilization take place 
—even on a cold November or De- 
cember day. This process goes on, 
indeed very slowly, but during the fol- 
lowing year what seems like a miracle 
happens: the tiny two-chambered 
ovary, with an even tinier ovule in 
each chamber, the whole no larger 
than a pin-head, gradually enlarges and 
finally turns into a capsule about half 
an inch long. This capsule eventually 
matures and splits open, ejecting with 
sudden force the two black, shining 
bony seeds within. Thus, nearly a 
year’s time has elapsed from the open- 
ing of the first flower to the onset 
and ripening of the mature fruit the 
following autumn. 

What a remarkable life process has 
taken place. Yet, like many another 
flower whose fragrance is “wasted on 
the desert air,” the Eastern Witch 
Hazel is all but unknown to Missouri- 
ans in its native haunts. To see it, one 
must travel into the Ozarks of south- 


eastern Missouri—Reynolds, Iron, Mad- 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


ison, Shannon, and Carter counties. 
These five counties are the only ones 
in the state where it has been found 
wild. It favors rich, wooded hillsides 
usually facing north where it thrives 
in the relatively cooler and moister 
atmosphere of such locations. Places 
where it may be seen to advantage are: 
along the East Fork of the Black River 
at ““Johnston’s Shut-in” and along the 
ravine of Cook Spring branch in the 
Clark National Forest, both located in 
Reynolds County; along limestone 
wooded bluffs of the St. Francis River 
in Madison County; on Cardareva 
Mountain along Current River in 
Shannon County; along the ‘Royal 
Gorge” in Iron County; and along 
various creeks in the Clark National 
Forest in Carter County. But there 
are many other places, too, where it 
may be seen in these counties, if one 
likes to hike. Here in the Missouri 
Ozarks it reaches one of its known 
southwestern limits of geographical 
distribution. 

The Vernal or Ozark Witch Hazel 
(Hamamelis vernalis), on the other 
hand, is much more familiar to Mis- 
sourt people who travel through the 
Ozark region. From January to April 
it flowers along Ozark streams, follow- 
ing water courses, and especially on 
gravel bars of such rivers as the Mera- 
mec, Niangua, Gasconade, Piney, St. 
Francis, Current, Eleven Points, Jacks 
Fork, Black, White, North Fork, and 
their tributaries, and along rocky 
draws of smaller branches. It is the 
first of the shrubs to flower in the Mis- 


souri Ozarks and is found throughout 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 101 


the Ozark region south of the Missouri 
River ascending the Meramec River 
nearly as far as, but not quite to, the 
Missouri Botanical Garden’s Arboretum 
at Gray Summit. Instead of the yellow 
flowers of the fall-flowering Eastern 
Witch Hazel, the Vernal species has 
flowers of an orange or even reddish 
hue, and even more fragrant than its 
eastern relative. Although both kinds 


are sometimes found in the same gen- 
eral locality in the Ozarks, the Vernal 
Witch Hazel usually hugs the margins 
of the streams, especially the gravel 
bars, while the Eastern Witch Hazel 
inhabits the cooler, lower and middle 
forested slopes usually above the stream 
banks. 


souri, the Vernal species is found in 


Besides being native in Mis- 


Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. 


THE LORE OF MINTS 


HEN the nymph Mintha, be- 

loved by Pluto, was turned by 
jealous Proserpine into the plant Men- 
tha, she became with her various faces 
both a delight and a source of con- 
fusion to mankind. Traveling with 
human migrations, mints were known 
in ancient times. They were intro- 
duced into England with the Roman 
conquest and into the United States 
with settlers. Peppermint escaped wild 
here before 1672. It was the first mint 
to be grown commercially by 1855, in 
Michigan. The American Indian used 
mint as a pot herb, a cure for fever 
and as perfume. 

Mint was used in witches’ brews, by 
doctors in drinks to clear the mind. 
Its odor stimulated the brain and it 
was made into orator’s wreaths. The 
sacred perfume Kyphi burnt by Egyp- 
tians at sunset to Re contained mint. 
Pliny lists forty-one diseases curable by 
mint. The plant was strewn on the 
floors of Roman baths and theatres. 

Peppermint from Asia was the Chal- 
deans’ aid to digestion, and an early rat 


repellent. Spearmint was called ‘Our 
Lady’s Mint,” “Lamb Mint,” or “Sage 
of Bethlehem.” It was used as a meat 
relish in Roman feasts. Wine was 
scented with it; Bergamot mint en- 
dows chartreuse with bouquet even 
today. Horsemint was believed to be 
one of the bitter herbs of the Passover. 
If wounded soldiers ate it they would 
never recover. During Pompey’s time 
it was thought that chewing it repelled 
the dread parasitic worm of elephanti- 
asis. Field mint was used in Japan for 
centuries as a source of menthol for 
medicine. Pennyroyal’s name ‘‘Pule- 


gium’’ comes from the Latin “‘pulex” 


—flea, and “‘agere’—to drive. It was 


also a cure for coughs. Virgil said 
that deer when hurt sought it out to 
cure their wounds. 

Old herbals said that one could tame 
a “wild” mint for one’s garden by 
sowing the seeds with the sharp ends 
down! But anyone knows that the 


lady Mintha is untameable! 


—MEREDITH CARSON 


102 MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


RARE MISSOURI PLANTS—IV 


WHORLED POGONIA OR PURPLE FIVE-LEAVED ORCHID 


JULIAN A. STEYERMARK 


A' THE time (1935) of publication 
of the “Annotated Catalogue of 
Flowering Plants of Missouri” by Mr. 
E. J. Palmer and myself, this orchid 
had not been recorded for the state. 
But a few years later in the Herbarium 
of the Chicago Natural History Mu- 
seum (formerly Field Museum) I dis- 
covered a pressed specimen of this 
species collected on August 3, 1897, 
by Savage and Stull from Butler 
County, southeastern Missouri. This 
record was verified by the orchid 
authority, Dr. Donovan S. Correll. 
Beginning in the spring of 1951 a 
new drama unfolded. Mr. Oscar Peter- 
sen, a life-long friend of the writer, 
and well-known in the St. Louis area 
as a poet-naturalist, an enthusiastic 
lover of flowers, and a charter member 
of the St. Louis Wild Flower Club, at 
age 85, was tramping around one 
of his beloved wild beauty spots of 
Nature, unmarred by man, and acci- 
dentally stumbled onto a large colony 
of the Whorled Pogonia orchid in one 
of the Ozark counties of southeastern 
Missouri. He wrote me an enthusi- 
astic letter about this great discovery, 
and included a sketch of the orchid. 
Just a single young flower was seen in 
the entire colony, and, like a good 
conservationist, he had left it there. 
We could not be sure, therefore, what 
kind of Whorled Pogonia it was. For 
there are two kinds, the Smaller 
Whorled Pogonia or Green Five-leaved 
Orchid (lsotria medeoloides) with the 


flowers stalkless or nearly so and the 
sepals pale green, and the Whorled 
Pogonia or Purple Five-leaved Orchid 
with the flowers on a stalk an inch or 
more long and with brownish-purple 
sepals. The discovery made by Mr. 
Petersen was all the more remarkable 
because it was found in a general area 
that had been visited many times by 
botanists. This particular spot, however, 
apparently had never been searched 
until Mr, Petersen came across it. 
The following June I visited the 
place with 86-year old Petersen, known 
to members of the St. Louis Wild 
Flower Club as “The Vagabond 
Dreamer,” as chief and only guide. 
There were three colonies of the orchid 
with a grand total of nearly 150 
plants. One colony of about fifty 
plants occurred in a rather level bot- 
tom along a small creek in a ravine 
hemmed in by La Motte sandstone 
bluffs and shaded by alder (Alnus ser- 
rulata), sassafras, Flowering Dogwood, 
Red Maple, sapling Black Oak, Sour 
Gum, Hop Hornbeam, and _ native 
azalea, Other plants growing around 
the colony were early Sweet Blueberry 
(Vaccinium vacillans), Sawbrier (Smi- 
lax glauca), Hispid Goldenrod (Sol- 
idago hispida), St. Andrew’s Cross 
(Ascyrum hy pericoides), Yellow False 
Foxglove (Gerardia flava var. macran- 
tha), and Pigeon Grape (Vitis cinerea). 
The other colonies, containing ap- 
proximately 100 plants, were found 
about 90 feet away and 15 feet higher 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


up than the first colony on the north- 
facing slopes of the same ravine, but 
in slightly drier soil covered with a 
dark green moss (Dicranum sco pari- 
um) and dominated by azalea, early 
Sweet Blueberry, and Sour Gum. The 
dominant trees in this ravine were 
Southern Yellow Pine, White Oak, and 
Shagbark Hickory, and the soil was 
decidedly acid. 

At this time of year (June 7) the 
plants were at the stage of early fruit- 
ing and the young fruits were standing 
erect on definite stalks nearly an inch 
or more long. The identity of the 
orchid was now clarified: it was the 
Purple Five-leaved Orchid that has the 
flowers or fruits on definite long stalks. 


Also, the fact that the plants occurred 


GARDEN BULLETIN 103 


in colonies, rather than as isolated in- 
dividual plants, confirmed the identi- 
fication as being this orchid and not 
the Smaller Whorled Pogonia. The lat- 
ter was found in 1897 in Bollinger 
County by Mr. Colton Russell and has 
never since been seen, so far as records 
indicate. 

Mr. Petersen has made annual pil- 
grimages to this spot since 1951 and 
reports tales of erratic behavior on the 
part of this orchid. One year he could 
not find any plants, another year only 
a few stunted individuals, and another 
year many plants but all lacking flow- 
ers (sterile). Now, as he approaches 
age 90, he hopes to have the thrill of 
seeing the actual flowers some day in 


May. 


A colony of Purple Five-leaved Orchid (Isofria verticillata) photographed at the cnly 


Missouri station known. 


104 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


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TWO COURSES IN BULB FORCING 


wo courses in bulb forcing will 
be given at the Garden this fall, 
with Dr. Frederick G. Meyer as in- 
structor. The new cool-storage green- 
houses worked out very well last year, 
and those who took the course had 
excellent bulbs to take home. This 
year there will be an advanced course 
on new and rare bulbs which are sel- 
dom available in St. Louis. 

As materials for the courses are pur- 
chased immediately after the closing 
registration date, no registration fees 
can be refunded after the last day of 
registration. Please send registration 
fees to: 

Horticultural Courses, 
Missouri Botanical Garden, 
2315 Tower Grove Ave., 
St. Louis 10, Mo. 
Course I—BuLB ForcinG 
Six sections (no prerequisites). Lim- 
ited to 180 persons, 30 persons each 
section. 


Registration: September 1—October 8. 


Place: Experimental Greenhouse, Mis- 
sourt Botanical Garden. Enter 
Cleveland Ave. gate, 2221 Tower 
Grove Ave. 

When: 

Week-day afternoon sections—1:30— 
4:00 P.M. 

Monday, October 8 

Wednesday, October 10 

Friday, October 12 

Wednesday, October 17 
Saturday morning sections—9:30 
A. M.-12:00 Noon, October 6 and 
October 27. 

Content of Course: 

Lecture on technique of bulb forc- 
ing 

Hints on outdoor bulb culture 

Five 7-inch bulb pans for each 
student 

Tulips, narcissus, paperwhites, hya- 
cinths 

Each student receives at least 24 
top quality bulbs 

Planted bulbs will be given cold 


treatment in the Garden bulb pit and 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


cold greenhouse until ready to flower 
(approximately 60-80 days).  Stu- 
dents will be notified by postcard when 
to pick up the bulbs. 

Registration Fee—$5.00 (covers all 


materials) 


CoursE II—AbDvaNcED BULB 
FORCING 


This course will feature new Euro- 
pean introductions. All of them make 
charming and distinctive living-room 
ornaments. Registration is limited to 
20 persons and is restricted to those 
who have taken the elementary bulb 
course in previous years. 

Registration: September 15—October 

13): 

Place: Experimental Greenhouse, Mis- 


souri Botanical Garden. Enter 


GARDEN BULLETIN 105 


Cleveland Avenue gate, 2221 Tower 
Grove Ave. 
When: Saturday, October 13, 9:30 
A. M.-12:00 Noon. 
Content of Course: 
To learn about forcing rare bulbs 
Bulbs directly imported from Hol- 
land to be used 
Ten pots of bulbs 
Lachenalias, Sparaxis, Ixias, Tulip 
“Duc Van Tholl,’ Narcissus 
“Grand Soleil d’Or.” 
each kind). 
Planted bulbs will be given cold 


(Two pots 


treatment in the Garden cold green- 
house and bulb pit. Students will be 
notified by postcard when to pick up 
bulb pans. 

Registration Fee—$10.00 (covers all 


materials ) 


RSS E NSN. NASM EMS BENS NEMNENIRE NENENS LENE NE NEN 


THE LORE OF BASIL 


ae HERE is something sinister about 
the lore of Basil. Pliny said the 
more the plant was abused the better 
it prospered and that it should be sown 
with curses. Since scorpions were seen 
to lie under its leaves it was thought 
that the plant bred them. Once, a 
man who smelled it was said to have 
had ‘‘a scorpion bred in the brain.” 
There is a famous story from Boccac- 
cio about a lady who placed the sev- 
ered head of her murdered husband in 
a flower pot, planted Basil over it and 
watered it with her tears. The Basil 
thrived. 

“Basil,” some say, came from the 


Greek word “‘basilikon”’ meaning king- 


ly, because it was fit for a king. Or 
“basilisk,” a 
fabulous creature which killed with a 
look. 


In Greece the plant meant “hatred,” 


it was derived from 


possibly because of an old custom of 
representing poverty in paintings as an 
evil and ragged old woman seated be- 
side a pot of Basil. In Italy, however, 
the plant if put in the shoes of one’s 
enemy was supposed to turn his hatred 
to love. In Crete it meant “love washed 
with tears.” In England, where it was 
used for warts and for indigestion, its 
seed was pounded fine and eaten ‘“‘to 
procure a merrie hearte.”’ 
—MEREDITH CARSON 


106 MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


RARE MISSOURI PLANTS—V 


UMBRELLA PLANT (ERIOGONUM LONGIFOLIUM ) 


JULIAN A. 


T HE only evidence for the occur- 
rence of Eriogonum longifolinm 
in Missouri was from an_ herbarium 
specimen which the writer encountered 
in the Drury College collection at 
Springfield, Missouri. This specimen 
was collected by Mr. J. W. Blankin- 
ship around 1890 from “Oregon Coun- 
ty.” Mr. Blankinship had made other 
remarkable finds in his years of collect- 
ing, especially in the region around 
Springheld. This Oregon County 
record remained as a challenge and no 
one since 1890 seemed to have been 
able to locate any other plants pertain- 
ing to this species. 

Now Oregon County borders Ar- 
kansas, and the writer on several occa- 
sions tried to visit likely-looking spots 
where the Umbrella Plant might occur. 
As the species had been found from a 
number of places in Arkansas—dry 
cedar glades, rocky dry bluffs of the 
White River, and similar habitats— 
such types of areas were mapped out 
for exploration by the writer for Ore- 
gon County. But without any definite 
lccality being indicated on the original 
label, trying to find the spot where 
Eriogonum longifoinm existed in a 
county consisting of thousands of 
square miles was like searching for the 
proverbial “needle in a haystack.” As 
the plant flowered during the hot sum- 
mer months, it did not help matters 
any when repeated climbs and_ hikes 


» 


over rocky “barrens” and ‘“‘glades”’ 
under a broiling hot July or August 


sun failed to reveal any sign of an 


STEYERMARK 


Umbrella Plant. 

Then, in the spring of 1938, quite 
by accident, while I was engaged in 
making a survey in Ozark and Taney 
counties along rocky limestone bluffs 
of the White River to be flooded by 
the now-completed Bull Shoals Dam, I 
found the basal rosettes of leaves be- 
longing to a plant which I did not rec- 
ognize. The leaves were long and nar- 
row, dull olive-green on the upper side 
and on the lower side covered with a 
dense, velvety, gray-white hairiness. In 
1949 while I was cccupied with another 
survey of the White River country, 
in order to rescue plant records from 
impending dam construction, I en- 
countered additional basal leaf rosettes, 
like these which I had found eleven 
years earlier. I dug up a plant and 
transplanted it to the Ozark “glade” 
section of my wild flower garden in 
northern Illinois. Although the plant 
came through each winter, it did not 
flower. So the mystery of the basal 
rosette continued. 

Finally, in 1953 1 matched the basal 
rosettes of my herbarium specimens 
with—you guessed it—the basal leaves 
of the Umbrella Plant (Eriogonum 
longifolium), and found that they 
agreed in every particular. The long- 
lost Umbrella Plant had been found. 
Now, all that remained was to return 
to the scene of the collection I had 
made in April and May of 1938 along 
the White River, and try to find the 


plant in flower. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


Note the tall flowering stem of Umbrella 
Plant. Compare with height of lady (Mrs. 
Steyermark). 


As the dates of flowering and fruit- 
ing recorded on herbarium sheets indi- 
cated the months of July through Oc- 
tober, I planned my return visit for 
the Labor Day week-end of 1955. 
Accompanied by Mrs. Steyermark I 
revisited the Ozark County locality 
first. We set out with cameras and a 
field press. It had been seventeen 
years since I had been to this place. | 
did not know what to expect after 
such a long interval of time, because 
man’s activities had destroyed so many 
other natural areas through burning, 
overgrazing, logging, and real estate 
or industrial development. Climbing 
over the rocky slopes above the Bull 
Shoals Lake, which now has flooded a 


considerable part of the area, it was dis- 


GARDEN BULLETIN 107 


couraging to see so much overgrazed 
woodland and ‘‘glade” robbed of their 
natural cover. Then we climbed over 
a fence on the other side of which no 
grazing had been allowed, and_ the 
vegetation took on a natural appear- 
ance and became more abundant. 
Now we entered a small limestone 
“glade” or opening above the rocky 
bluffs, dotted here and there with red 
cedar, chinquapin oak, and_ small 
shrubs. 


enthusiasm, and soon, more and more 


> 


“Here it is,” I shouted with 


plants were spotted. And what a 
pleasant surprise! The plants were 
flowering and the stems bearing the 
flowers were 5'% feet tall! An exam- 
ination of the yellow-green flowers 
showed that each one had six calyx 
segments and nine stamens. Several 
little flowers were grouped together in 
bunches arising from a tiny cup (in- 
volucre), covered on the outside with 
grayish-white hairiness. The outside of 
the flowers themselves, as well as the 
flower-branches, had this gray-hairy 
covering. A few specimens were col- 
lected for distribution to the major 
herbaria of the United States, color 
notes recorded, and both kodachrome 
and black-and-white photographs made 
to perpetuate this noteworthy occasion. 

As we trekked happily back to the 
car, another search had ended after a 
couple of decades, and the mystery of 
the basal leaf rosette had been solved. 
And another lost Missouri plant had 


been re-discovered! 


108 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Central portion of the main display of Bald Cypresses in 
Tower Grove Park. They are scattered through the east circle 
which is on the central east-west drive through the park, about a 
block and a half west of its Grand Avenue entrance. While 
beautiful at all times of year they are usuaily at their best during 
the month of October. There is also a fine planting of them in 
Francis Park. Through much younger, the trees have been well 
fed and have grown very rapidly. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 109 


BALD CYPRESSES FOR ST. LOUIS 


EDGAR ANDERSON 


ieee: fall the Garden will again 
set out a considerable number of 
specimen trees of the Bald Cypress, 
Taxodium distichum. For over a year 
we have spent most of our efforts with 
the Garden’s trees in getting rid of 
weed trees. These are such species 
as Tree-of-Heaven and Silver Maple 
which came up, mostly self-sown, dur- 
ing the years when St. Louis had a 
terrific smoke problem and such trees 
were not weeded out because they 
helped to fill up the gaps. Now that 
they have been taken out, there is 
room for something better and we are 
laying plans to put in some showy 
groups of Bald Cypress this fall, prin- 
cipally in the central part of the 
Garden near the big lily pools. It is 
certainly one of the finest trees for St. 
Louis; many of us think that for park 
and estate planting it is the best of all. 
Unfortunately, it is not always avail- 
able in nurseries in the numbers and 
sizes one needs. This year it is in 
good supply and we plan to add con- 
siderably to our collection. 

Not that the Garden does not al- 
ready have many excellent specimens 
—every superintendent and Director 
we have had, since the days of Mr. 
Shaw’s James Gurney a century ago, 
has set them out. Since they do well 
here and usually live to be very old we 
now have many handsome specimens. 
The most conspicuous are the towering 
pair set out to the rear of Mr. Henry 
Shaw’s old country home Tower 
Grove. Others are set here and there 
throughout the grounds, and there is 


a fine collection at the Garden’s Ar- 
boretum at Gray Summit, Missouri. 

The Arboretum Cypresses are of 
more than passing interest. A former 
member of the Garden staff, Dr. Her- 
mann Von Schrenk, took a special in- 
terest in the Bald Cypress and studied 
them throughout their range from 
southern Mexico to the coast of New 
Jersey. The collection at Gray Sum- 
mit grew out of his efforts and has 
groups of trees from seeds collected in 
various parts of the natural range of 
the cypress including its westernmost 
limit near Kerrville, Texas. This Texas 
strain is of considerable botanical and 
horticultural impact. The trees are 
shorter and sturdier. Their bark is so 
much more resinous than the ordinary 
Bald Cypress that when they were 
young seedlings, just set out, they did 
not need a wire guard to protect them 
from rodent damage, as did the other 
strains. 

The Garden’s long interest in Bald 
Cypresses is directly responsible for a 
good many of the fine trees around St. 
Louis in addition to those in the Gar- 
den itself. At the turn of the century 
several of the families in the Compton 
Heights neighborhood (near Grand 
and Russell) had close connections 
with the Garden, and the numerous 
fine specimens of Bald Cypress in that 
part of town are lingering evidence of 
this interest in fine trees a half century 
ago. 

The finest display of all, however, 
was started in the east circle of the 


central drive through Tower Grove 


110 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Park by Mr. Shaw’s first superintend- 
ent, James Gurney. It has been cared 
for and added to by three generations 
of Gurney’s, and is now certainly one 
of the handsomest plantings of Bald 
Cypresses anywhere in the world. It 
is charming in late spring when the 
trees leaf out in a ferny feathery bril- 
liant light green. It is dramatic in a 
winter snow when the flagpole-straight 
trunks of the larger trees are more 
conspicuous than in summer. It is at 
its very best, however, in October 
when the cypresses turn from dark 
green to a green with a touch of gold 
and then, day after day, week after 
week, slowly turn from a_ brown 
yellow-green to a rich golden-brown. 
In years when we do not have a hard 
freeze too early, the nearby Ginkgoes 
turn a clear imperial yellow. The fin- 
est moment of all is those clear frosty 
mornings when the Ginkgo leaves 
first start to fall in the crisp quiet air, 
making round circles of a slightly 
tawny yellow under each Ginkgo while 
all the Cypresses are feathery spires of 
rich brown. 

It is this unusual contrast of the 
delicate with the gigantic which gives 
the Bald Cypress its peculiar effect in 
the landscape. Its main outlines are 
bold. It matures slowly but lives to 
be an old tree, eventually dominated 
by the main trunk. Side branches are 
small and mostly delicate; the leaves 
are positively fern-like. Each leaf is a 
tiny, plain tongue of green an inch or 
so long; up to fifty of these leaves are 
arranged side by side on tiny twigs, 
most of which fall with the leaves, so 


that of all the conifers, none looks 


quite so much like a tall telephone pole 
hung with clustered ferns. 

The Bald Cypress is indeed the most 
distinctive of our native American 
trees, and even to one who knows 
nothing of its botanical history it 
suggests something which really be- 
longs to another world, as indeed it 
does. With its close relatives, the Se- 
quoias of California, the Cryptomerias 
of Japan, and the Dawn Redwoods 
(Metasequoias) of China, it has per- 
sisted from times when trees of this 
sort were much more common in the 
world than they are today. The Cryp- 
tomerias, Redwoods, and Big-Trees are 
likewise gigantic towering trees with 
delicate, fern-like foliage. They too 
make dramatic avenues for parks and 
big estates in these parts of the world 
where they are winter-hardy enough 
to grow readily. 

It is really surprising that of all 
these trees the Bald Cypress should do 
so well in a city park, because, unlike 
them, it is native only to swamps and 
overflow lands. The closely related 
Mexican Cypress grows in river-beds, 
not on river-banks, but down in the 
actual rocky bed of the stream itself. 
Our Bald Cypress grows in such places 
too, particularly in Texas, but it is 
more commonly found in bayous where 
there is water over its roots a good 
deal of the year. Under such condi- 
tions it does well, though its form 
usually becomes more rugged and pic- 
turesque than when it is grown as a 
lawn tree. Under these swamp condi- 
tions there are few other trees which 
can compete with it, and throughout 
the Gulf South, long winding lines of 


MISSOURI ROTANICAL 


Bald Cypress along the horizon mark 
the presence of the nearest bayous. In 
Mississippi and Louisiana one may drive 
for days along roads in the low coun- 
try and never be out of sight of them. 
They extend from Texas to around 
the coast to New Jersey, running far 
up the coastal plains along the larger 
river systems. Below Cape Girardeau 
they are common in Missouri, though 
the vast stands which once character- 
ized our ““swampeastern” part of the 
state were greatly reduced when the 
land was cut-over and drained. Like 


many other southern species, they 


Chinese Flower Arrangement. By 
H. L. Li. 122 pp., 20 plates, 10 figs. 
Hedera House, Philadelphia. $4.00. 


Faas the time the Pilgrims landed 
on the wild New England coast, 
a Chinese gentleman was writing a 
book on flower arrangement which is 
still a classic. He included references 
to Chang Ts’u, who wrote five cen- 
turies earlier on the twenty-six condi- 
tions most suitable for enjoying the 
blossoms of Japanese Apricots and 
made his own list of conditions for 
enjoying flowers in general. These in- 
cluded ‘wind among pines,” “‘kettle 
sings deep in the night,” and “an in- 
timate friend arrives when flowers are 
in full bloom.” Living in Peking 
(whose mid-continental dust storms 
eclipse those of our own dust bowl in 
frequency if not in intensity), he gave 
minute directions as to how flowers 
should be sprayed to keep them in 
good condition. To him flower ar- 
rangement was so much a matter of 


GARDEN BULLETIN 111 


spread farther north along the Wabash 
than along the Mississippi itself. They 
are common in lower reaches of the 
Ohio, and from the mouth of the 
Wabash are found northwards to about 
the latitude of St. Louis. 

As a specimen tree for the lawn, or 
set out in a park or large formal gar- 
den they do not need any more water 
They do 
not like to be crowded and they prefer 


than any other large tree. 


fertile soil, for they are strong feeders 
but north of their natural range they 
actually are better off in well-drained 


sites. 


atmosphere that he even listed the 
kinds of people who should be in- 
trusted with rinsing off various kinds 
of flowers! Chrysanthemums, he 
thought, should be cared for by one 
“who prefers everything that is old 
and extraordinary,” crabapples by a 
charming guest, and peonies by a 
fashionable young lady. Two hundred 
years later, in the nineteenth century, 
another Chinese elegant was publishing 
a note-book which included a section 
on flower arrangement and bore the 
apt title, ‘Six chapters from a floating 
life.” A modern Chinese scholar, Dr. 
Li, of the staff of the Morris Arbore- 
tum, includes all these and various 
other classics in his beautiful and sen- 
sitive book on Chinese flower arrange- 
ment. There are twenty full-page re- 
productions of Chinese prints and silk 
paintings of the 17th and 18th cen- 
turies, illustrating flower arrangements, 
as well as ten text-figures and a col- 


ored frontispiece. Dr. Li has supplied 


112 
discussion of the ways flowers are 


used in Chinese homes, with notes 
about the actual flowers used and the 
symbolism which plays so large a part 
A translation of 
1595 


vase flowers is given in an appendix, 


in their enjoyment. 
Chang Ch’ien-te’s treatise on 
along with an enumeration of common 
Chinese flowers and the Chinese dynas- 
ties with their dates. There are chap- 
ters on dwarf trees and other house 
plants and their use in Chinese homes, 
and the book has a good index. 

All of this and more you will find 
in Dr. Li’s book. 
rangement has a literature extending 
900 years, 


a hundred pages, 


Chinese flower ar- 


In a little more than 
Dr. Li 


transmit to the American reader 


over 
manages to 
some- 
thing of the atmosphere out of which 
this art arose, to induce even amidst 
American bustle a mingled sense of 


childlike 


and whimsical scholarship. It is a 


wonder, studied casualness, 


MISSOURI BOTANIC. 


A] 


Cyan 
EM L& 


CODD, 7 


MOOT 
—_—_—_—_—_—_—_——_—_— 


GARDEN BULLETIN 


window into another kind of life and 
the 
Lilyturfs (Liriope) grow- 


another attitude toward plants 
around us. 
ing in porcelain containers alongside 
weathered rocks of curious shape are 
presented to Chinese scholars, not only 
because they make an effective house 
plant but because the long narrow flat 
leaves are thought to be particularly 
appropriate as book-marks for ancient 
books. Pine, bamboo, and Japanese 
apricot are so traditionally mingled in 
winter bouquets that they have come 


“Three 
Magnolia, 


to be commonly referred to as 
friends of the cold season.”’ 
crabapple, and peony flowers are given 
to one’s friends because, in addition to 
making an effective arrangement in a 
basket, their names, strung together in 
complicated pun. 


Chinese, make a 


said in 


“Magnolia - crabapple - peony” 
also be taken to mean: 


Chinese, can 
“Wealth and honor in the halls of 
jade.” —E. A. 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


JoHN S. LEHMANN, President Henry HitcHcock 
DanieL K. CatTLiIn, Vice-President RicHArp J. Lock woop 
EUGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President Henry B. PFLAGER 
Leicester B. Faust A. WESSEL SHAPLEIGH 
DupLey FRENCH RoBeRT BROOKINGS SMITH 


EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 


ErHAN A. H. SHEPLEY, James F. MorreELt, 
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, 


RayMONnD R. TUCKER, Bee eae of the Academy of Science 
Mayor of the City of St. Louis f St. Louis 


tee 
Oscar E. GLAESSNER 


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 
J. Layton, John E. Nies, Gilbert Pennewill, Harold E. Wolfe, John S$. Lehmann, 
Edgar Anderson, W. F. Scott, Jr., Chairman. 


STAFF 
George T. Moore __.. Gs ae ee eee eee CrieuS IOirector 
Edgar Anderson ee ee Bhd -loh cote 
Ae eC el ae oe oe te caer ee SR SSUCIA Pe. IDITeCtOR 
eentrye Ni Amid re:w.s = yen ee ee —_ _----.-.------------Paleobotanist 
August P. Beilmann_____..____-- Monager: wf the aber. Gray Summit 
Louis G, Brenner.i2:2 a ee ee AE DOLISC 
Daas Ue tek oe Horticuleurist.; in aataese ef Coy atories 
Hugh C, Cutler —._.._. ue Curator of the Museum 
Carroll W. Dodge. eee ee My colorist 
h fovet ee Pan Bh '2 7 ire mene aenegee ena ee eRe EL _.......Research Associate 
PROG E sc MaRS SN cae ae In charge of Orchids 
Oscar E. Glaessner -.............-.. Business Manager 
Nell C. Horner___. ae ae ort chee aT tat Veda eee ee ee Librarian and Editor 
Vilas OI eee ae a ee es eee A EAT “Lalir ata 
hed ile. a Sh 5 | ee ene eaene ese ae oe oareias Plereulturist 
Emmet J. Layton ______.--------------------------eeneeeeeeeeeeeeeees-------- Landscape Architect 
ye FE Wat Cle] C50) kno ae a wiaeseaa sO 2S ee eee Assistant Librarian 
Precerick Gy Meyer... peiabuee ee he. LONG EOIORISe 
George il. Pring... ee ouperintendent 
Berry Brien Puce ye ce bees es INE be Ne a ECIOL 
Bae rates em A Ns a a 8 ae Oe eet Engineer 
Multa ys) SEGV OPIN AT... oe eI a ie aaeaisy Research Associate 
Alice F. Teese see de. ee ee _..----------------Research Associate 
Reoilarwe evan, lt cee oa et a et Asean Citsior of Herbarium 
CeGree B.2V ail SchaaGK sce oe Acting Curator of Herbarium 


Roper Ey Woodie, |i ee a 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 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 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. (spring 
to fall) and until six (in the winter time) though the green- 
houses close at five. Tower Grove, itself, Mr. Shaw’s old 
country home, is open from one until four, admission twenty- 
five cents, with special guides. The Garden is nearly a mile long 
and has several entrances. The Main Entrance, the one most 
used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora Place 
on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southhampton 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 
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The step-in gate (more or less 
concealed by the big Cleveland Ave. gate, 2221 Tower Grove) 
is nearly always open, and 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. 


USSOURI BOTANICAL 
HN BULLETIN 


GAIRID 


CONTENTS 


The Linnean House 
In Memoriam Benjamin Minge Duggar 


The Missouri Botanical Garden 
Herbarium 


Late October Flowers in Missouri 


Rose of Brody: An Outstanding New 
Daffodil 


lume XLIV 


October, 19 56 


Korean Lespedeza: Ozark Gold 

Book Reviews: C. O. Rosendahl’s 7rees 
and Shrubs of the Upper Midwest— 
Ladislaus Cutak’s Cactus Guide—John 
V. Watkins’ 4 BC of Orchid Growing 

Plants Near a Hot Wall 


Books Make Excellent Gifts 


Number 8 


Cover: Linnean House in the fall. Photograph by Martin Lammert III. 


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. XLIV 


OCTOBER, 1956 


No. 8 


THE LINNEAN HOUSE 


HE Linnean House was built by 

Henry Shaw in 1881 and 1882 to 
house the palm collections and part of 
the floral displays. This is the only 
greenhouse remaining which was built 
and used by Mr. Shaw; and, although 
it has had many repairs over the years, 
the house is not greatly different from 
what it was in 1882. Receipts and 
ledger entries in the Garden’s collec- 
tion of Mr. Shaw’s papers show that 
most of the work on this greenhouse 
was completed in 1881. By the sum- 
mer of 1882 it was being used for 
plants; but it was not until June 22, 
1883, that the marble busts of Lin- 
naeus, Thomas Nuttall, and Asa Gray 
were unveiled and dedicated before 
members and guests of the American 
Association of Nurserymen, Florists 
and Seedsmen, then holding its annual 
convention in St. Louis. For many 
years this was the principal plant house 
in the Garden. Mr. Shaw must have 
planned to place other figures or orna- 
mental features on the corners of the 
building and on the highest points of 
the ends, for into the centers of the 
stones at these points are cut holes for 


anchoring figures or ornaments. It is 


possible that vases or rounded stones 
similar to those used on so many build- 
ings, walls, and posts throughout the 
Garden actually were installed, but so 
far no pictures have been found which 
show these in place and there are no 
receipts or entries in ledgers which 
refer te an additional six ornaments. 
This summer the north half of the 
roof of the Linnean House was re- 
moved, all the wood sheathing replaced 
with redwood and treated lumber, the 
framework cleaned, treated and paint- 
ed, new flashing and roofing applied, 
and glass installed. This was done with 
funds raised by the Garden Club of 
St. Louis during their Spring Garden 
Tour. It is hoped that next year this 
work will be continued and the de- 
cayed windows and frames replaced. 
Usually the greatest splash of color 
can be found in the Linnean House in 
February when the camellias are in 
flower; but this year there will be an 
added show. Throughout November 
bright chrysanthemums will stand out 
in sharp contrast to the dark green 
leaves of the ivy, camellia, and the 
creeping fig which covers the north 


wall. —H.C.C. 


(113) 


114 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


IN MEMORIAM BENJAMIN MINGE DUGGAR 


orD has been received from 
Ws Lederle laboratories at Pearl 
River, New York, of the death of Dr. 
B. M. Duggar on September 10, at the 
age of 84, after a very short illness. 
Dr. Duggar is remembered at the Gar- 
den as the Plant Physiologist, in charge 
of the Graduate Laboratory of the 
Henry Shaw School of Botany from 
1913 to 1927. 
teacher and during his headship the 


He was an inspiring 


School of Botany attained the prestige 
for which it has since been noted. 
Among the botanists who received 
their doctor’s degrees under his tute- 
lage at the Garden were: A. R. Davis, 
Henry Schmitz, J. Warren Severy, L. 
J. Klotz, R. A. Studhalter, Robert W. 
Webb, George M. Armstrong, Joanne 
Karrer Armstrong, S. M. Zeller, Taka- 
hashi Matsumoto, A. F. Camp, W. H. 
Chambers, G. W. Freiberg, P. L. 
Gainey, Grace Howard, D. C. Neal, 
Emery R. Ranker, Fanny Fern Smith 
Davis, H. C. Young. 

In 1927 Dr. Duggar left St. Louis 
for the University of Wisconsin where 
a special Research Professorship had 
been created for him. In 1943 when 
he reached the retiring age he went on 
to the Lederle Laboratories where he 
played a leading role in the commercial 


« 


development of the “wonder drug” 
aureomycin. 

Dr. Duggar was a talented, many- 
sided person and during his long pro- 
fessional career he achieved distinction 
in more than one special field. He was 
intensely interested in the teaching not 


only of advanced students but of ele- 


mentary botany classes and was author 
or co-author of various textbooks. As 
a young man he pioneered in the sci- 
entific breeding of mushrooms and as a 
kind of hobby wrote the standard book 
on mushroom growing. While at the 
Garden he developed and maintained 
a small business devoted to produc- 
ing and selling high-grade mushroom 
spawn, Old-timers at the Garden re- 
member this enterprise with affection 
because to produce mushroom spawn 
effectively one has to raise a lot of 
mushrooms. Dr. Duggar was not in 
the business of selling mushrooms and, 
since he was a most generous man, 
during those years every one from the 
janitor to the director enjoyed the 
surplus crop. 

Though at the time it looked like a 
by-path, this experience stood Dr. Dug- 
gar in good stead when late in life he 
turned to the commercial production 
of antibiotics and was faced with the 
problem of growing various fungi in 
enormous quantities and as cheaply as 
possibie. 

Dr. Duggar and his family were 
active in the social life of the city and 
were widely known, yet in his day it 
was dificult to explain to the public 
just what he and his students were up 
to. The mushroom spawn business was 
understandable but that was just a side- 
line. With his students he was busy 
studying the physiology of fungi. 
Moulds, rots, mildews, rusts (and 
many a fungus so anonymous to the 
general public that one can find no 


common name to tag it with) were 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 


Their 
Pre- 


cise determinations were made of just 


in flasks and bottles. 
diet was scientifically regulated. 


grown 


what chemical substances they would 
feed on; and what they turned this 
food into was determined in so far as 
possible. Fungi are remarkable chem- 
ists; Dr. Duggar and his students took 
Yet 


in those days it was almost impossible 


the lead in establishing that fact. 


to make his various non-scientific 
friends understand that he was not just 
trying to learn how to prevent mildew 
or kill rusts or save man and his crops 
attacks of various micro- 
What he and his students 


were doing was basic research; they 


from the 


organisms. 
7 


were trying to understand precisely how 
these organisms lived. Out of this ef- 
fort have come such things as anti- 
biotics and the various industrial uses 
of fungi; but even these advances are 
only by-products of the central effort 
he was making. 


It is significant that even the august 


YY) j 


Tg 
f 


S 
3 
~ 


i 


y 


BULLETIN 115 
NEW YORK TIMES, which devoted two 
eight-inch columns to his obituary, 
never even mentioned what is probably 
his most important scientific work, 
his pioneer studies of virus. Are vi- 
ruses disease germs or are they just a 
chemical substance? Dr. Duggar took 
the lead in establishing with precision 
something about their exact size and 
suggested that they were like an hered- 
itary particle (a gene, perhaps) which 
had gone off on a career of its own. 
He 


viruses, making a direct attack on the 


was, you see, in his work with 
study of life itself, a study in which the 
Henry Shaw School of Botany is still 
The farther a 


man is ahead of his fellows, the less are 


playing a leading role. 


his efforts appreciated and understood. 
Dr. Duggar lived long enough for the 
people to understand some of the bear- 
ings of his work; but the central core 
of it is still beyond them—or at least 
beyond the NEW yorK TIMES, leader 
though it may be. 
—EpcGAr ANDERSON. 


1Z 


Nels! r 
AY 
be 
Less Ww 
), ; 


Un 


116 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


LATE OCTOBER FLOWERS IN MISSOURI 


JULIAN STEYERMARK 


fi Ben latter half of October in 
Missouri is still a time for wild 
flowers. Not only do certain flowers 
normally blooming in the spring, such 
as False Garlic, Violet Wood Sorrel, 
and Birdfoot-Violet, put forth blos- 
soms a second time, but the last shrub 
of the season, the Eastern Witch Hazel, 
is in full flower. The asters, golden- 
rods, and gentians cover the land with 
white, purple, blue, and yellow; and 
some Love-grasses (Eragrostis) and 
Hairgrass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) 
form rosy patches over the fields and 
rocky slopes. Altogether, one may find 
in bloom during the latter part of 
October as many as 196 different kinds 
of wild flowers in different sections of 
the state. 

Over the hills, fields, and glades, 
members of many families, in addition 
to the well-represented Grass family, 
are conspicuous. Most outstanding, 
perhaps, are plants of the Sunflower 
family (Compositae), with its numer- 
ous asters, goldenrods, sunflowers and 
coneflowers, but also the Gentians 
(Gentianaceae) and Spurges (Euphor- 
biaceae) are well represented. Even 
members of the Mustard family (Cru- 
ciferae) , Orchid family (Orchidaceae) , 
Mallow family (Malvaceae), Violet 
family (Violaceae), Morning-glory 
family (Convolvulaceae), Pea family 
(Leguminosae), and several others, 
including the late-flowering members 
of the Lily family such as False Garlic 
(Nothoscordum) and Wild Onion 
(Allium stellatum), are to be found in 
late October. 


While the species included in the 
following list represent the majority 
of those likely to be found in any year 
in Missouri during the latter half of 
October, others could be added that 
are stragglers of earlier-blooming spe- 
cies, and in some exceptional years it is 
possible to add still others. 


Pondweed (Potamogeton illinoensis) 

Love-grass (Eragrostis spectabilis ) 

Tall Red-top (Triodia flava, T. elongata, T. 
stricta) 

Drop-seed (Sporobolus neglectus, S. canovirens, 
S. asper) 

Northern Drop-seed (Sporobolus heterolepsis) 

Poverty-Grass (Sporobolus vaginiflorus ) 

Thingrass (Agrostis perennans v. aestivalis) 

Nimble Will (Muhlenbergia Schreberi) 

Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia sobolifera, M. 
tenuiflora, M. cuspidata, M. mexicana, M. 
brachyphylla, M. frondosa, M. racemosa) 

Hairgrass (M. capillaris) 

Triple-awned Grass (Aristida oligantha, A. pur- 
purascens ) 

Poverty-Grass (Aristida dichotoma, A. longe- 
Spica) 

Beardgrass (Andropogon Gerardi) 

Bluestem (A. scoparius) 

Broom-sedge (A. virginicus, A. Elliottii) 

Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans ) 

Yellow Nut-grass (Cyperus esculentus) 

Dayflower (Commelina diffusa) 

Wild Onion (Allium stellatum ) 

False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve) 

Nodding Pogonia (Triphora trianthophora) 

Ladies’-tresses (Spiranthes cernua) 

Nettle (Urtica procera) 

Yellow Cress (Rorippa sinuata, R. sessiliflora, 
R. islandica vy. hispida) 

Creeping Yellow Cress (R. sylvestris) 

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) 

Alumroct (Heuchera puberula) 

Grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia grandifolia) 

Eastern Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) 

Partridge-Pea (Cassia fasciculata, C. nictitans) 

Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) 

White Clover (Trifolium repens) 

Tick-trefoil (Desmodium ciliare, D. marilandi- 
cum, D. paniculatum, D. perplexum, D. 
sessilifolium ) 

Bush-clover (Lespedeza virginica) 

Yellow Flax (Linum sulcatum) 

Yellow Wood-Sorrel (Ovalis europaea, O. 
stricta) 


MISSOURI 


Blanche Ames del 


BOTANICAL GARDEN 


Ladies’ Tresses 


BULLETIN 


117 


118 MISSOURL BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Violet Wood-Sorrel (O. violacea) 

Croton (Croton glandulosus v. septentrionalis, 
C. capitatus, C. monanthogynus ) 

Three-seeded Mercury (Acalypha gracilens v. 
monococca, A. rhomboidea, A. virginica) 

Nettle-leaved Tragia (Tragia urticifolia) 

Painted-leaf (Euphorbia heterophylla) 

Spurge (Euphorbia dentata) 

Milk-purslane (Euphorbia supina) 

Creeping Spurge (Euphorbia serpens) 

Yellow False Mallow (Sphaeralcea angusta) 

Prickly Mallow (Sida spinosa) 

Rose-Mallow (Hibiscus lasiocar pus) 

St. Andrew's Cross (Ascyrum hy pericoides) 

St. John’s-wort (Hypericum mutilum, H. gym- 
nathum, H. Drummondii) 

Pansy-Violet or Birdfoot-Violet (Viola pedata) 

Common Blue Violet (Viola papilionacea) 

Water-purslane (Ludwigia palustris v. ameri- 
cana) 

Evening-Primrose (Oenothera biennis v. pycno- 
carpa) 

Gaura (Gaura biennis) 

Queen Anne’s-lace (Daucus Carota) 

Suff Gentian (Gentiana quinquefolia v. occi- 
dentalis ) 

Downy Gentian (Gentiana puberula) 

Closed Gentian (Gentiana Andrewsii, G. clausa) 

Yellowish Gentian (Gentiana flavida) 

Morning-glory (Ipomoea lacunosa) 

Love-vine (Cuscuta Polygonorum, C. Cephalan- 
thi, C. campestris, C. Gronovii, C. glomerata, 
C. compacta) 

Fall-Phlox (Phlox paniculata) 

Heliotrope (Heliotropium tenellum ) 

Turn-sole (Heliotropium indicum ) 

False Pennyroyal (Isanthus brachiatus) 

Bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum ) 

Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris v. lanceolata) 

False Dragonhead (Physostegia virginiana) 

Dittany (Cunila origanoides) 

Ground-cherry (Physalis pubescens, P. sub- 
glabrata) 

Jimsonweed (Datura Stramonium ) 

Conobea multifida 

False Pimpernel (Lindernia dubia) 

Gerardia (Gerardia tenuifolia, G. Gattingeri) 

Lousewort (Pedicularis lanceolata) 

Ruellia (Ruellia humilis ) 

Buttonweed (Diodia teres) 

Houstonia (Houstonia nigricans) 

Hedyotis (Hed yotis Boscii) 

Bur-Cucumber (Sicyos angulatus) 

Tall Bellflower (Campanula americana ) 

Ironweed (Vernonia crinita) 

Elephant’s-foot (Elephantopus carolinianus) 

Brickellia (Brickellia grandiflora) 

False Boneset (Kuhnia eupatorioides v. angusti- 
folia) 

Gumweed (Grindelia lanceolata) 

Broom-Snakeroot (Gutierrezia dracunculoides) 

Golden Aster (Chrysopsis cam porum) 


Blue-stem Goldenrod (Solidago caesia) 

Goldenrod (S. altissima, S. arguta, S. Buckleyi, 
S. Drummondii, 8. flexicaulis, 8S. Gattingeri, 
S. graminifolia, 8. gymnospermoides, 8. his- 
pida, S. nemoralis, S. patula, S. petiolaris and 
v. Wardii, S. radula, 8. rugosa, S. speciosa v. 
angustata, S. ulmifolia) 

Aster (Aster anomalus, A. azureus, A. cordi- 
folins, A. ericoides, A. laevis, A. lateriflorus, 
A, linariifolius, A, novae-angliae, A. oblongi- 
folins, A. patens, A. pilosus and v. demotus, 
A. praealtus, A. puniceus v. firmus £. lucid- 
ulus, A. sagittifolius and v. Drummondii, A. 
sericeus, A, simplex, A, turbinellus, A. vi- 
mineus v. subdumosus ) 

Everlasting (Gnaphalius obtusifolium ) 

Ragweed (Ambrosia bidentata) 

Cocklebur (Xanthium pensylvanicum, X. chi- 
nense) 

Leafcup (Polymnia canadensis) 

Rosinweed (Silphium integrifolinm ) 

Cup-plant (S. perfoliatum ) 

Prairie-Dock (S. terebinthinaceum ) 

Yerba-de-Tago (Eclipta alba) 

Coneflower (Rudbeckia missouriensis, R. tri- 
loba, R. umbrosa) 

Sunflower (Helianthus grosseserratus, H. hir- 
sutus, H. Maximiliani, H. tuberosus) 

Crown-beard (Verbesina virginica) 

Stick-tight (Bidens cernua, B. connata, B. dis- 
coidea) 

Galinsoga (Galinsoga ciliata, G. parviflora) 

Palafoxia (Palafoxia callosa) 

Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale, H. nudi- 
florum, H. tenuifolium ) 

Fetid Marigold (Dyssodia papposa) 

Western Mugwort (Artemisia ludoviciana vy. 
mexicana, A, ludoviciana vy. gnaphalodes) 

Fireweed (Erechtides hieracifolia v. intermedia) 

Thistle (Cirsium altissimum ) 

Chicory (Cichorium Intybus) 

Dandelion (Taraxacum erythrospermum, T. of- 
ficinale) 

Wild Lettuce (Lactuca floridana) 

False Dandelion (Pyrrhopappus carolinianus ) 

Rattlesnake-root (Prenanthes altissima v. cin- 
namomea ) 

Hawkweed (Hieracium Gronovii) 


In this group are found 18 kinds of 
aster, 17 of goldenrod, four of sun- 
flower, five of tick-trefoil, six of love- 
vine, and five of gentian, and at least 
29 different kinds of grasses. Of the 
late-flowering grasses, the most con- 
spicuous ones are Muhly Grass, Triple- 
awn Grass, Drop-seed, and Broomsedge 
or Bluestem. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 119 


ROSE OF BRODY: AN OUTSTANDING NEW DAFFODIL 


EDGAR 


We you like to call them 
“pink” or not, the new varieties 
of daffodils like Narcissus Mrs. R. O. 
BACKHOUSE in coloring are a great 
addition to the spring flower border. 
Pink really isn’t the word, nor could 
any one word be found. Part of their 
charm is that all of them open one 
shade and then slowly change to 
another. Sometimes they are almost 
the color of a muskmelon, sometimes 
an off-white with a faint wash of ecru, 
a sort of fading grayish pink. Their 
color varies with the season and with 
the part of the world where they are 
being grown. In all of them which | 
have seen, the yellow or apricot tone is 
strongest when they open, and the 
pink (if we may call it that) gets 
noticeably stronger as the yellow fades 
away. Their greatest beauty is shown 
when three flowers which opened on 
three successive days are in bloom side- 
by-side producing a whole series of 
subtle shadings. 

For all their charm of color, few of 
these pink daffodils are really pleasing 
in form. The first varieties to appear 
were raggedy by show standards, and 
most of the newer hybrids have the 
same set of faults—floppy narrow pet- 
als, an irregular pinched look in the 
trumpet, a sort of general air of a 
beautiful flower made of wax which 
had softened a little and lost its per- 
fection of line. With Rose or Bropy 
all this is changed. It would be a good 
variety even if it were not pink. The 


flower is large, the perianth segments 


ANDERSON 


are wide, the cup of the trumpet is 
flaring and beautifuily formed. One 
only wishes that there would be cool, 
wet weather every spring to keep the 
clear lovely tint on the inside of the 
cup to its full perfection. The trum- 
pet is wide enough to see into. Look- 
ing straight down into it is like looking 
into an exquisite vase of milk-white 
glass, delicately colored on the inside 
and deepening in tone toward the base. 

Rost oF Bropy is a new introduc- 
tion and I suppose a horribly expensive 
variety in this year’s catalogues. For- 
tunately, my bulbs were given to me 
by a fellow Narcissus fancier. I am 
happy to report that with me, at least, 
the variety is a “good do-er”. It grows 
readily and increases well. The price 
should come down in a few years’ 


time. 


Rose or Bropy 


120 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN HERBARIUM 


JOHN D. DWYER 


W HEN we read about explorers as- 
cending the snow-studded peaks 
of the Himalayas or descending to the 
floor of the dark and voiceless ocean, 
we are often tricked into forgetting 
about the serious objectives of most 
scientific expeditions, so vivid are the 
word-pictures of the‘author. If there 
is a botanist in the expedition, he will 
be studying the plant life, perhaps 
picking the snow-clad aconite from a 
mountain slope, or snatching the gelat- 
inous seaweed from the ocean. These 
he will carefully press and dry. The 
author describing the adventure, no 
doubt, will refer to the hardships in- 
volved in the collection and the im- 
portance of the plants, but usually he 
will give little information as to the 
destiny of the material being gathered. 

For an answer to the fate of such 
materials collected we find ourselves in 
the Administration Building of the 
A faint 


odor of paradichlorobenzene, so com- 


Missouri Botanical Garden. 


monly used as an insect repellent in 
clothes closets, may serve as the first 
clue to the fact that this building is 
a treasure house of preserved botanical 
material; in fact it houses one of the 
largest collections in the United States, 
and, for that matter, one of the largest 
in the world. In addition it contains 
the library and the ofhces of many 
staff members and personnel. It is to 
such places as this in botanical institu- 
tions all over the world that most 
plant specimens, whether collected on 


mountain, in tropical rain forest, on 


Arctic tundra, or in a waste-lot in the 
railroad yards of St. Louis, are ulti- 
mately traceable. 

If we take the elevator to the second 
and third floors where the plant collec- 
tions are stored, the odor of paradi- 
chlorobenzene becomes stronger. Yet 
no specimens may be in sight! Steel 
cabinets about 7 feet high, arranged in 
rows, occupy much of the floor space. 
Upon opening one of the cabinet doors 
we are confronted with shelves of 
manila folders each bearing a scientific 
name. If we examine a sheet of paper 
(slightly smaller than a folded news- 
paper) in the folder marked, for in- 
stance, Aconitum (a plant of the 
Buttercup family commonly called 
Monkshood), we may find the pre- 
served plant which once flourished in 
the melting montane snows. On the 
label in the corner of the sheet will be 
the details of the collection: the sci- 
entific name of the plant, the habitat 
in which the plant grew, the collector’s 
name, etc. 

When the botanist on the alpine 
slope carefully placed his living speci- 
men between blotters to be pressed and 
dried, his reasons for collecting it may 
have been several. Perhaps, as a spe- 
cialist on the aconites he sought ad- 
ditional material for study in the 
preparation of a monograph (descrip- 
tions of the species which make up 
a plant group and their arrangement 
according to relationships). Perhaps, 
on the other hand, he wished to fur- 


nish the biochemist in distant New 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 121 


Jersey, studying the powerful alkaloids 
from the roots of the aconite, with the 
name of the particular species which is 
so fruitful in its yield of the drug. 
Perhaps he felt the urge to add another 
species to the ever-expanding horizon 
of the biological world. 

Wandering through the maze of 
cabinets we conclude that there must 
be a great number of specimens in the 
herbarium (a collection of dried and 
preserved plant specimens arranged in 
an orderly fashion for scientific study). 
In the Missouri Botanical Garden Her- 
barium there are approximately one 
and one-half million specimens. These 
are grouped, with other specimens to 
which they are obviously closely re- 
lated, into distinct plant families (e. g. 
the Rose family, the Orchid family) 
which are filed in the cabinets in sys- 
tematic order ranging from the sim- 
plest to the most complex plant forms. 
A plant brought into the herbarium 
for identification is first classified into 
its family by the use of reference 
works, then compared with the speci- 
mens in that family for determination 
of its generic and specific name. Suc- 
cess in using this method is, of course, 
dependent upon the degree to which 
the herbarium is representative of all 
plant species. 

The early history of the herbarium 
in Shaw’s Garden helps to explain the 
magnitude of the collections. In ex- 
amining numerous sheets from various 
cabinets, for example, we may note the 
label ““Bernhardi Herbarium” stamped 
thereon. In 1857 Dr. Engelmann, the 
eminent botanist and first curator of 
the herbarium, was commissioned by 


Mr. Shaw to purchase dried specimens 
from the equally distinguished bota- 
nist, Prof. John J. Bernhardi of Erfurt, 
Germany. Bernhardi had amassed a 
large herbarium by exchange or by 
purchase of plants from botanists and 
collectors active in most areas of the 
world. In bringing many of the Bern- 
hardi specimens to St. Louis, as well 
as in purchasing books to establish a 
library, Dr. Engelmann laid the foun- 
dations for the then-infant Missouri 
Botanical Garden as a center of re- 
search in systematic botany and related 
fields. 
Dr. Engelmann in his lifetime amassed 
a private herbarium of over 100,000 
specimens. These included important 
collections made by numerous bota- 
nists from 1838 to 1880, principally in 
many sections of the United States then 
virtually unknown from a_ floristic 
viewpoint. In 1889 Dr. Engelmann’s 
son presented this priceless collection 
to the herbarium of Shaw’s Garden. 
Obviously, such a large herbarium 
demands expert care and constant at- 
tention. Dr. George B. Van Schaack, 
Acting Curator of the Herbarium, in 
addition to his curatorial duties, must 
provide for the handling and filing of 
new accessions of specimens. Special 
attention must be given to type speci- 
mens or plants on which the authors 
of new species or varieties based their 
descriptions. These specimens, in 
special folders identifiable by a con- 
spicuous red edging, are an important 
source of reference for botanists at- 
tempting to interpret the original 
description and concept of the species. 
To offset the lack of many type speci- 


122 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


mens a large collection of photographs 
of types found in other herbaria is 
maintained. 

The value of an herbarium is to be 
estimated not only by the numbers of 
specimens on deposit but also by the 
use being made of them. Perhaps your 
first clue to the activity of the Garden 
in this respect would be the large pack- 
ages frequently seen at the front en- 
trance of the Administration Building, 
addressed to herbaria in Europe, Eng- 
land, China, or perhaps to a little- 
known college in Pennsylvania. For 
dried specimens are sent on loan to 
scientific institutions throughout the 
World, including those behind the Iron 
Curtain. In the herbarium itself, bot- 
anists from all parts of the United 
States and occasionally from abroad, 
avail themselves of the opportunity to 
study the priceless collections. Fre- 
quently their visits extend over periods 
of weeks or months. 

In the herbarium and adjacent of- 
fices staff members and graduate stu- 
dents from Washington University are 
at work on problems involving the 
nomenclature, classification, and evo- 
lution of plant groups. Dr. Robert 
Woodson, Senior Taxonomist, an au- 
thority on the Milkweed family, and 
Dr. Rolla Tryon, Associate Curator, a 
specialist on ferns, are among the well- 
known staff members. Their training 
of graduate students serves to perpetu- 
ate the heritage of a science which is 
absolutely essential to botanical and 
scientific progress. Many prominent 
American taxonomists received their 
early training at the Missouri Botan- 
ical Garden and Washington Univer- 


sity. Through the pages of THE 
ANNALS OF THE Missourt BOTANICAL 
GARDEN and similar journals, as well 
as by teaching and lecturing, they have 
advanced the knowledge of plant sys- 
tematics. There is scarcely a univer- 
sity or botanical garden that has not 
felt the impact of the botanical work 
of Shaw’s Garden. 

Of great importance to the herbar- 
ium is the large collection of living 
species maintained at Shaw’s Garden 
and at Gray Summit. <A_ student, 
armed with the knowledge of the 
morphology of a species gained from 
a study of herbarium material, is in 
far better position to appreciate the 
dynamics of development as well as 
the range of variability of plants in 
the living state. Some features im- 
portant to identification of the species 
are often difficult to study or are not 
retained by the dried material and are 
thus best observed in the living plant. 
Then, too, in the modern concept of 
the plant species, in which it is inter- 
preted and defined in terms of a com- 
munity of living and interbreeding 
plants, greater emphasis is being placed 
on the detailed study of many living 
plants from a large experimental popu- 
lation rather than of dried specimens 
collected at random. 

This newer approach to the defini- 
tion of the species in no sense lessens 
the value of the herbarium for it 
represents the historical record of the 
world population of plants, and the 
student of the plant community will 
continue to add specimens to it as evi- 
dence of the observations made in the 


field or in the experimental garden. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 123 


The herbarium, in serving all of the 
plant sciences, plays an integral role in 
the progress of science inasmuch as the 
problems of botany are a segment of 
the maze of problems in science today. 
Not only is it the tool of the taxono- 
mist in solving the intricate problems 
of nomenclature, classification, and 
evolution of plants, but it also serves 
other botanists, horticulturists, and 
gardeners who must fall back upon the 
taxonomist and his herbarium for the 
specific names of plants, In the vast 
scheme of scientific advancement, the 
herbarium plays an important part, 
even though its role may not be fully 
appreciated. 


If we pause for a moment before 
leaving the herbarium, perhaps we can 
sense the drama hidden in the neat 
piles of herbarium sheets. While life- 
less and usually drab in comparison 
with the living, these plants represent 
the labors of countless workers and 
collectors for more than 200 years. It 
is dificult to imagine that one speci- 
men may have been collected in the 
shadow of an Indian tomahawk, or 
another snatched by a quivering hand 
from a rock precipice in the Andes, or 
another from the icy rocks of Green- 
land. It was the enthusiasm of such 


workers that filled these cases. 


Book REVIEW:— 


Tree and Shrubs of the Upper Mid- 
west. By C. O. Rosendahl. 411 pp., 
260 figs. University of Minnesota 
Press, Minneapolis. 1955. Price $6.00. 


1 woody plants, because of the 
economic importance of the group, 
have always received their full share 
of attention by botanical authors. 
The present treatment will be wel- 
comed for it not only provides ade- 
quate means for identification but also 
notes on the distribution, hardiness and 
habitat preferences of the species. The 
inclusion of the commonly cultivated, 
as well as the native species, gives it a 
greater scope than the usual book of 
its kind and will make it an especially 


useful reference for problems in land- 
scaping. 

There are keys and descriptions for 
each of the some 350 species and ex- 
cellent illustrations for most of them. 
The technical terminology has been 
simplified and there is a glossary of the 
necessary terms. Most of those that 
apply to the leaves are illustrated. Any 
person interested in plants will cer- 
tainly have no difhculty in using the 
book. 

This is an enlarged and revised edi- 
tion of the long out-of-print “Trees 
and Shrubs of Minnesota,’ and the 
University of Minnesota Press is to be 
congratulated on this continuation of 
their fine series of publications in Nat- 
ural History. 

—A.F. T. 


124 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


KOREAN LESPEDEZA: OZARK GOLD 


| a people outside the field of agri- 
culture are familiar or interested 
in Lespedeza. This weedy little plant 
is practically unknown to urbanites. 
Although this plant never ventures far 
enough into the city to become a 
troublesome weed nor produces flowers 
large enough to be of horticultural 
significance, most city dwellers at one 
time or another have surely seen it, 
because it grows in great profusion 
along many highways and roadways of 
middle America. 

Seven out of ten persons in St. Louis, 
by actual survey, have never heard the 
name Lespedeza. Two out of ten 
know it as a plant, and only one 
person out of ten, all farmers or farm- 
ophiles, knows anything more than its 
name. In spite of its obscurity, this 
legume has been one of the major 
factors in the advancement of agri- 
culture in this section of the United 
States. 

Perhaps one of the reasons why Ko- 
rean Lespedeza is so little known is 
because of its ugly and ordinary ap- 
pearance after it is frosted. Not even 
the most enthusiastic naturalist could 
claim that it is beautiful in the winter 
landscape. Early in the autumn most 
of the leaves drop off, the few remain- 
ing turn a gray-brown and shrivel up, 
and the slender stems lose most of their 
color. There are so many stems, set so 
close together, that they give the gen- 
eral impression of old worn scrubbing 
brushes, scattered bristle-like through- 
out the fields and along the roadsides. 


Credit for its introduction from 
Korea is given to the United States 
Department of Agriculture. It was 
introduced into the southern states in 
1919, and gradually spread northward 
until today it is found in the southern 
part of Canada. Its natural and arti- 
ficial spreading ability can be readily 
shown by its acreage figure; 349,000 
acres being planted in 1929, as com- 
pared to 7,000,000 acres in 1946. 

Since the original introduction of 
Korean Lespedeza, new varieties have 
been bred and imported. Plant breed- 
ers have extended the climatic range 
and soil tolerance to the extent that 
today it is seen in many locations where 
other forage and hay crops refuse to 
grow. Being an excellent crop in a 
half dozen ways, there is nothing spec- 
tacular about the spread of Korean 
Lespedeza. 

Unlike Alfalfa, its lush but demand- 
ing cousin, Lespedeza does not require 
rich alluvial soil. Barren hillsides sup- 
port Lespedeza; but of course it grows 
better on richer soil. On poor soils it 
also serves as a good erosion checker. 
Highway departments have seeded road 
cuts with this short stubby legume in 
order to prevent washing. 

As a hay crop, Lespedeza ranks quite 
close in many ways to Alfalfa. In 
protein content it is superior. For this 
reason many farmers prefer it to Al- 
falfa. Many farmers also say that its 
keeping quality is much better than 
Alfalfa. It is valuable for increasing 


the available nitrogen of the soil 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL 


through solid crop rotation procedures, 
and frequently as a green manure crop 
it is plowed under in the field. Usu- 
ally only one hay crop is taken each 
year. The field is then allowed to 
grow and produce seeds again. In this 
fashion the plant reseeds itself and only 
sparse plantings will be required the 
following year. 

In the nerthern Ozarks, where Ko- 
rean Lespedeza is seldom planted as a 
clean crop, it nearly always has a 
patchy appearance. It will show up 
in late fall pastures as little bristly 
bunches of red-brown or gray-brown 
stems, from three inches to a foot or 
more high. One of the easiest places 
to learn to recognize it is along the side 
of new highways where little else will 
grow. In such places it may line the 
roads for hundreds of feet, or even for 
several miles—in surnmer a mat of 
dark green rather cloverish leaves; in 
winter, dark red-brown masses of bare 
stems. For long stretches these masses 
may be only a few imches wide next to 
the pavement edge, broadening out 
to several feet when the road _ goes 
through more of a cut where the red 
soil is exposed. 

In many places these little patches 
of Lespedeza persist in practically the 
same spots year after year. If one ex- 
amines them in early spring, he will 
find that many of the seeds have 
sprouted in the shade of the mother 
plants. They grow slowly for some 
weeks and not until summer is really 
here do they grow up above the shelter 
of the old, dead skeletons of last year’s 
plants. The form and size of Korean 


Lespedeza are tremendously affected by 


GARDEN BULLETIN 125 


the place in which it grows. On poor 
soils and in dry situations it may be 
only two or three inches high. Single 
plants sometimes come up here and 
there on the gravel bars of Ozark riv- 
ers. When one of these is absolutely 
isolated from all other plants it may 
grow out side-wise instead of upwards 
and form a flattish little mat a foot 
or so wide, but less than an inch high. 

A plant which is adding tons of 
available protein to the sterile hillsides 
of the Ozarks is worth examining 
more closely. Let us take one of these 
frayed-out branch ends and put it 
under the microscope, or look at it 
with a hand-lens. Seen in this way it 
has its own charm of line, if not of 
color, and one can find some pleasure 
in working out the ultimate pattern in 
which these simple seed pods are set 
upon the plant. 

As the tip of the stem is approached 
the internodes get progressively shorter 
in an harmoniously rhythmic sequence. 
Along one side of each node, just be- 
low the next joint, is a tiny comb of 
curved hairs, one of the easiest char- 
acters by which to distinguish the 
Korean Lespedeza from its close rela- 
tive, the Japanese Lespedeza. At each 
joint are two tiny leaves or bracts, 
which weather to whitish gray by late 
winter. Rising from beneath the 
bracts are the delicately formed stalks 
on which the seed-pods are borne, one 
stalk to each pod with usually two 
The seed- 


pod is a delicate little urn a little 


such stalks at each joint. 


larger than the head of an ordinary 
pin, made up of two tightly clasping 


halves which can be forced apart to 


126 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


reveal the small shiny brown seed 
within. 

If one pulls up a few of these plants 
and examines them carefully they take 
on a little more interest if not much 


added charm. 


are about the size and texture of. stiff 


The tiny hard stems 


broom straws. Near their tips they 


feather out into bunches of gray, dry 
bracts among which many of the seed- 
pods remain all winter. It is these tiny 
seed-pods, each with its pin-point pill 
of protein, which make the Lespedeza 
so important to game birds and other 
wild life.—(From a report prepared by 
Dr. Anderson’s class in field botany.) 


RENN ENNE NOMS SNRS NEE NENNS NEMNENEE ME MNEMNS WEENIE NON 


Book REvIEws:— 


Cactus Guide. By Ladislaus Cutak. 
144 pp., 18 pp. illustrations. Van 
Nostrand Co. Princeton, N. J. Price 
$3.95. 


o Lad Cutak cacti are the most 
beautiful and the most fascinating 
flowers on earth, and the remarkable 
thing about his Cactus Guide is that 
he is able to impart that feeling to the 
reader. After laying down his book 
one is left with the wonder that every 
gardener does not grow cactus. In the 
greenhouses at the Missouri Botanical 
Garden, where Lad has worked since 
he was a young boy, he was exposed to 
many rare and beautiful plants but he 
chose the cactus as his love and the 
object of his enthusiastic attentions. 
Their variety, their beauty, their gro- 
tesqueness fascinated him, and what’s 
more they were “the easiest of all house 
plants to grow.” 
The book is written for the amateur, 
and when a technical word has to be 
used, Cutak defines it clearly or illus- 


trates it with a drawing. The draw- 


ings, for which he has a special apti- 
tude, are often more expressive than a 
lot of words would have been. He in- 
cludes a whole chapter to tell you what 
a cactus is and another on varieties. 
The care and propagating of cacti are 
made simple provided that you have 
digested the first part of the book, and 
know what kind of cactus you have. 
In the chapter on uses of cacti we 
learn that they are nearly as various as 
the plants themselves. They make 
wonderful glass gardens (‘‘desertari- 
ums’) when planted in Wardian cases; 
they are good in dish gardens, or in 
pots or novelty containers on window- 
sills; and they may even be planted on 
buttons. In flower arrangements they 
are quite effective, leaves of aloes or 
sansevierias being used as a background 
and the rosettes of hen-and-chickens 
or mamillarias for focal points. Plant- 
ed outdoors, they are very much at 
home in rock gardens or against a wall 
in a sunny location. 

For the cactus enthusiast who would 
like to associate himself with a group, 


a list of cactus societies or clubs, with 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 127 


their locations, is given at the end of 
the book. 

Lad tells us that when his enthusi- 
asm began to get the better of him 
there weren’t too many cactus books 
written in English, and he had to dili- 
gently make his own observations. “It 
was difficult to cram into a short book 
everything that he had learned,” he 
says, but the reader feels that he has 
made a very good job if it. 

—Ne Lt C. Horner 


A BC of Orchid Growing. By John 
V. Watkins. 190 pp., 45 pls., 4 figs., 
2 tables, 1 color pl. Prentice-Hall, 
Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N. J. $3.50. 


very handy little book, chock 

full of valuable information! Par- 
ticularly useful is the “Orchid Grow- 
ers’ Reference Table” printed on the 
end-sheets. This charts, in easy-to- 
read form, bloom time, when to pot, 
potting medium, minimum tempera- 
tures, amount of light, and when to 
fertilize twenty-five popular kinds of 
orchids. The author obviously has had 
immense personal experience with or- 
chids, and, in addition, has drawn on 
the experience of many famous growers 
in preparing his text. A large number 
of black-and-white plates illustrate the 
book. Mr. Watkins is not ready to 
admit that orchid growing is easy to 
accomplish in the home, without 


greenhouse conditions. In his preface 
he says: “There has been a tendency 
for some writers to oversimplify orchid 
growing. Could these spinners of 
glamour tales be folks who never grew 
a greenhouse full of orchids through 
the years single-handed? This is now, 
and always has been, a time-consum- 
ing, painstaking pursuit—one chosen 
by thousands as a rewarding hobby.” 

Despite this insistence that growing 
orchids is difficult, the author then 
plunges into a text which is worded so 
that even the rawest beginner can 
grasp what is said, and he then pro- 
ceeds to prove to his readers how very 
easy it really is to grow most orchids. 

This is a book for everyone inter- 
ested in orchids. The beginner will 
find in it answers to the most elemen- 
tary of questions. The advanced 
hobbyist will find gathered here infor- 
mation long sought after, but seldom 
found in such understandable form. 
Even the experienced grower will want 
to pick up the book again and again, 
to reread some of the more technical 
passages, which reflect a great percep- 
tion of the many problems involved in 
managing a large greenhouse. 

Though you may have numerous 
books in your orchid library, this one 


is distinctly worth while adding. 


—W. F. Scott 


128 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


PLANTS FOR A HOT PLACE NEAR A WALL 


OBERT Frost began one of his 

best known poems with the line 
“Something there is that doesn’t love a 
wall” and I frequently think of it as I 
struggle with the small portion of my 
garden which is located between the 
stone house in which I live and the 
high stone boundary wall twenty feet 
away. During the morning there is 
little shade, the sun pours in and it is 
always blistering hot by noon in sum- 
mer time, then all the afternoon it is 
sunless. Anything which does really 
well there is going to have to relish 
heat. So far the only things which 
have been really happy under these 
conditions are Lantana (in various 
colors), Vetiver Perfume Grass, old- 
fashioned small-flowered cannas, Snow- 


on-the-Mountain and Beefsteak Plant 


(Perilla). These last two are coarse, 
almost weedy, annuals but the one is a 
gray-green and white, the other a dark 
red and a green which is almost black. 
Grown next to each other they form a 
beautiful contrast; neither is too strong 
a neighbor, and in combination they 
look almost elegant. Vetiver Grass is 
not hardy here, and one has to buy 
roots of it somewhere in the south. 
However, it travels easily in the mail, 
grows rapidly as soon as the hot 
weather begins, and gets up to eight to 
ten feet if planted in a sheltered sunny 
nook. The white crinkled roots have 
a delightful fragrance and when 
washed and dried can be used like 
lavender in scenting linen closets or 
in making sachets. 


—E. A. 


BOOKS MAKE EXCELLENT GIFTS 


ET us help solve your problem for 
Christmas and other occasions, as 
well. Call our Information Center— 
Prospect 6-1785—and we shall be 
pleased to fill your needs. Order early 
for prompt delivery. Following is a 


partial list we offer as suggestions: 


Anderson, Edgar, Plants, Man and 
Life. With illustrations. 

Carr, R. E., Stepping Stones to Jap- 
ancese Floral Art. Well illustrated. 

Chidamian, Claude, Bonsai. The art 
of dwarfing trees and other plants. 
Very fascinating. 

Cutak, Ladislaus, Cactus Guide. 
Written by one of our staff members. 


Many drawings. 


Dustan, Alice, Landscaping Your 
Own Home. Photographs, drawings, 
plans, and plant lists. 

Jenkins, D. and H. Van Pelt Wil- 
son, House Plants for Every Window. 

Li, H. L., Chinese Flower Arrange- 
ment. Every flower arranger should 
own this book. 

Northen, Rebecca, Home Orchid 
Growing. Full of information. 

Northen, Rebecca, Orchids as House 
Plants. Orchid fanciers will enjoy this 
book. 

Schulz, Peggie, Growing Plants Un- 
der Artificial Light. A growing hobby. 

Westcott, Cynthia, Anyone Can 
Grow Roses. Written by a well-known 


authority. 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


JouHNn S. LEHMANN, President Henry HitcHcock 
DanieEL K. Catiin, Vice-President RicHarp J. Lockwoop 
EuGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President Henry B. PFLAGER 
Leicester B. FAust A. WEssEL SHAPLEIGH 
DupLEY FRENCH RoBert BROOKINGS SMITH 


EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 


ErHan A. H. SHEPLEY, JaMeEs F. MorrELL, 
Chancellor of Washington University President of the Board of Education 
of St. Louis 


ArtHurR C. LICHTENBERGER, 


Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri STRATFORD LEE MorTON 
’ 


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


Secretary 
Oscar E. GLAESSNER 


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 
J. Layton, John E. Nies, Gilbert Pennewill, Harold E. Wolfe, John S$. Lehmann, 
Edgar Anderson, W. F. Scott, Jr., Chairman. 


STAFF 
George T. Moore ce eee Meniiis, irector 
Edgar Anderson __. = Wee nese Director 
Mueh C, Cutler * 2. Associate Director 
Henry N. Andrews... _................. Paleobotanist 
August P. Beilmann- Manager of the Arboretum, Gray Summit 
Louis G. Brenner _.......- ee POOTINE 
Ladislaus Cutak_____________._... Horticulturist in charge of Conservatories 
Hugh C. Cutler... Curator of the Museum 
ON EV ct MO eee eee Mycologist 
| (sith ge 6 ae Dh dee : Research Associate 
Robert J. Gillespie... In charge of Orchids 
Oscar E. Glaessner —- Business Manager 
INelleG; Elorner_ 2 = Se a Oe Librarian and Editor 
Fo Fae) Cae Co) 9 cee ct cea Sei ee ee Seve Assistant Librarian 
ae aceon ete eeasaeene Magee asec eet see Floriculturist 
Emmet J. Layton peo el Bi ea ae ee ROSCA De AAT ORILECE 
BiulnaeMep itd, cccsrce tte ea __ Assistant Librarian 
Frederick G. Meyer_____-...-.- _---------.----Dendrologist 
George H. Pring. _. Superintendent 
Kenneth A. Smith__-...... _.---.-------- Engineer 
Julian A. Steyermark Honorary Research Associate 
721 Foy sl «3 f 0) 2 COR A RR ee ACEO Rene Ae ele CE Research Associate 
Rolla M. Tryon, Jr. Assistant Curator of Herbarium 
(ser Oe Ey an SCN AAC ta Acting Curator of Herbarium 


Robert E. Woodson, Jr. _._ 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 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. (spring 
to fall) and until six (in the winter time) though the green- 
houses close at five. Tower Grove, itself, Mr. Shaw’s old 
country home, is open from one until four, admission twenty- 
five cents, with special guides. The Garden is nearly a mile long 
and has several entrances. The Main Entrance, the one most 
used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora Place 
on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southhampton 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 
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The step-in gate (more or less 
concealed by the big Cleveland Ave. gate, 2221 Tower Grove) 
is nearly always open, and 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. 


{ISSOURI BOTANICAL 
GARDEN BULLETIN 


y. 


+o agg ns 


pais i ll 


CONTENTS 


The Ozarks Come Back The Metropolitan St. Louis Council of 
African Violet Club 
The Chrysanthemum Show bateg eee cae 
Rice, Northward Ho! The Henry Shaw Christmas Party! 
An African Violet Society Is Born — hid 1 Sy : boas fo 
The African Violet Society of ‘ BA i i laa 
America, Ine. 


lume ALI'V November, 1956 Number 9 


Cover:—Swift rapid or gravel run leads down into a Jong deep pool. At Jack’s Fork. 
Photo by Leonard Hall. 


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. XLIV 


NOVEMBER, 1956 No. 2 


THE OZARKS COME BACK 


(Continued from January, 1956 BULLETIN) 


LEONARD HALL, Possum Trot Farm 


NE of the great problems we face 

in bringing about total rehabili- 
tation of the forested lands of the 
Ozarks and in putting them into 
profitable sustained-yield production 
has to do with open range grazing. 
This is the custom, sanctioned by law 
in the open range counties, of allowing 
any farmer to turn out his cattle, hogs, 
horses, mules and goats to forage on 
forested land which is not only pri- 
vately owned but belongs to some one 
else. The custom dates back, of course, 
to a day when most wild land had not 
been taken up by pvivate owners. Be- 
cause it enables the small marginal 
farmer to run many more animals than 
his own deeded land can support, the 
custom dies hard. 

There are many reasons why open 
range grazing, which almost always 
means over-grazing, is destructive. 
The one most often noted is that it 
causes great damage to young trees, 
practically eliminating all tree re- 
production. But there are other rea- 
sons equally important, and some of 


these are sociological and physiological. 


Open range grazing breeds a kind of 
lawlessness by the very fact of sanc- 
tioning by law the right of a minority 
group to exploit for profit the prop- 
erty of another group who is denied 
redress for damages sustained. It en- 
courages sub-marginal farming and 
sub-marginal living in many Ozark 
counties. It goes hand-in-hand with 
incendiary fire-setting (“we burn to 
make the grass grow’’), and the fires 
inhibit tree reproduction, damage the 
growing and mature timber, cause ero- 
sion, and destroy wildlife. 

These are the facts about open range 
although they do not mean 


grazing 
that a good many responsible and re- 
spectable citizens do not also use the 
open range. Many Ozark counties, 
however, have already found it profit- 
able to pass county-wide stock laws 
which eliminate open range grazing 
entirely. Others have started to close 
the range, one township at a time. But 
in the counties with the largest forest 
acreage and the fewest agricultural re- 
sources, stock laws go down to defeat 


in every election, despite the fact that 


(129) 


130 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


potential forest income is far greater 
than the actual livestock income. The 
answer to the problem is probably a 
state-wide law which will come into 
being when enough people have been 
killed by running into livestock on 
Ozark highways. 

In our Missouri national forests, the 
Forest Service has instituted a control 
program in most areas where grazing 
pressure was excessive. As a result of 
this program the actual amount of good 
forest grazing, measured in pounds 
of meat per section of land per year, 
has increased. Timber reproduction 
and growth have improved. Wildlife 
populations have made a tremendous 
recovery. Finally, by means of a pro- 
gram encouraging farmers to improve 
their home pastures and hay lands, 
agricultural income in areas contiguous 
to the forest has probably been in- 
creased—while many poor, sub-mar- 
ginal holdings have been closed out to 
the benefit of all concerned. 

Most of the steps which make for 
better forest management—especially 
control of fire and grazing and im- 
provement of timber stand—are also 
beneficial to wildlife. And, fortunate- 
ly for the people of Missouri and for 
the flora and fauna involved, both the 
U. S. Forest Service and our own Con- 
servation Commission have had wild- 
life as a primary interest. Thus in the 
early days of the program, back in the 
mid-1930’s, cooperative wildlife ref- 
uges were set aside in our national 
forests in an effort to increase the 
numbers of whitetail deer, wild turkey 
and other birds, and small mammals. 


In these refuges the Forest Service 


worked to manage and improve the 
land as a habitat for wildlife, while 
the Conservation Commission assumed 
responsibility for protection and man- 
agement of the wildlife itself. 

Many things have followed from 
this small beginning; and as more and 
more forest land in the state comes 
under good management, the area 
which will support wildlife populations 
increases steadily. Most spectacular of 
all has been the come-back of the 
Back in 1934 when 
Drs. Bennitt and Nagel made their 


whitetail deer. 


survey of the “Resident Game and 
Furbearers of Missouri’® it was esti- 
mated that no more than about 2500 
deer remained in the state. Today deer 
are reported from every county right 
up to the Iowa line, and, with perhaps 
200,000 deer in the herd, the problem 
is becoming one of keeping them in 
balance with the available supplies of 
food and cover. 

Other wildlife species have bene- 
fitted from the forest program. On 
many streams today, good numbers of 
Wild turkeys, 


which seemed on the way to certain 


beaver are reported. 


extinction, are at least holding their 
own, and one 25,000-acre refuge is 
devoted largely to increasing their 
numbers. In the improved areas of for- 
est land, at least, there have also been 
substantial increases in the number of 
racoons, squirrels and other mammals 
—and even of Bobwhite quail. 

One important result of better for- 
est management is adequate protection 
for the watersheds of the Ozark area. 
Under the old conditions of over- 


cutting and over-grazing, annual burn- 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 13 


ing and general misuse, the condition 
of the forest soils went steadily down- 
hill. The soils became tightly com- 
pacted and the lack of humus allowed 
the normally thin topsoil to wash away. 
There were few soil micro-organisms 
left to keep the land “alive.” The 
rains as they fell could no longer in- 
filtrate these impervious soils and so 
ran off down the hollows, carrying 
their load of gravel and silt. Growth 
of trees and all other plants was slowed 
by lack of water and the nutrients 
normally built up in a good forest soil. 
Tests by the Forest Service showed that 
even where the water was held on the 
land and could not run off, up to three 
hours might be required for a two-inch 
rain to soak in. This meant a serious 
lowering of the forest water table and 
the gradual depletion of the great reser- 
voirs of ground water which pour into 


our springs and streams. 


(Photo by Missouri Conservation Commission ) 


The first step in getting the forest 
“water works” to function again is to 
build up the humus layer by prevent- 
ing fires. Second is the elimination of 
grazing to promote the growth of the 
forest under-story which consists of 
many shrubs, grasses, legumes and other 
small flowering plants. At this point 
the soil organisms begin to increase and 
the land comes alive again. The third 
step is to improve the stand of trees by 
girdling the old cull trees and by cut- 
ting out the brushy-type trees (which 
are thickly entangled, the older growth 
usually dead and not adding to the 
annual deposit of humus) thus increas- 
ing the deposit of organic matter and, 
at the same time, releasing quantities 
of plant nutrients for use by the re- 
maining trees. When these steps have 
been taken, we find that we have in- 
creased tremendously the infiltration of 
rainfall into the forest floor, thus hold- 


132 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


ing surface run-off to a fraction of 
what it was. The soil which formerly 
took two hours to absorb two inches of 
water will now take up this amount in 
two minutes or even less. 

When the measures here described 
are applied to an entire forest water- 
shed, we can predict many of the 
interesting things which happen. First 
of all, forest tree growth on areas 
where the stand has been improved 
makes a big spurt. As an example the 
following case can be cited, although 
it may not be entirely typical. Re- 
cently we saw in the office of Pioneer 
Forest at Salem a cross-section of a 90- 
year-old pine tree taken from an area 
where a release cutting (the removal 
of old and dead trees and clearing of 
underbrush) had been made eight years 
previously. Judging from the rings, in 
the eight years following the release 
cutting the growth was almost equal, 
in terms of diameter, to that in the 
preceding 80 years—which means a 
greater increase in volume of lumber 
in the tree. 

As might be expected, with the 
build-up of humus on the forest floor, 
less and less water is lost by overland 
flow following a rain. It is disposed 
of, instead, by evaporation, subsurface 
absorption, and transpiration by plants. 
And as this water moves through the 
soil and subsoil, instead of over the 
surface, streams in the watershed are 
no longer subject to sudden flash 
floods; instead, they flow clear and 
with only moderate rises, even in 
periods of heavy rainfall Moreover, 
stream-flow is more even throughout 
the year, peaks after rain are not as 


great, nor are the lows as severe in 


time of drought. The reason for this 
is that water stored in underground 
reservoirs and in the upper soil filters 
out into the stream channels more 
slowly and at a fairly even rate. 

There are interesting secondary re- 
sults from this improvement in the 
forest “water works.’ As erosion is 
checked, less gravel is carried down- 
hill into the streams and they begin to 
stabilize. More cover grows along the 
banks and on the gravel and sand-bars 
which have built up through the years 
of misuse; and this in itself helps 
check the damaging effect of future 
floods. More aquatic plants appear in 
the streams and are not scoured out by 
recurring high waters. These plants 
are at the base of the food chains in 
the stream, encouraging the growth of 
plankton, small crustaceans and other 
life forms which in turn furnish food 
for the forage fishes such as minnows; 
and thus the pyramid builds up 
through the sunfish and goggle-eye to 
such higher forms as wall-eyed pike 
and bass. Thus even the fisherman 
benefits from better forest manage- 
ment. 

The botanist also finds interesting 
material for study in this new forest. 
For now the plant successions which 
might have been expected in the over- 
grazed, over-cut and over-burned 
timberland no longer take place. New 
species—or at least species which have 
long been absent—begin to appear. 
Perennial grasses such as bluestem and 
Indian grass take the place of annual 
cheat and poverty grass, and these are 
fertilized by native legumes of which 
there are a dozen or more. Shrubs ap- 


pear in the forest understory which are 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


The house at Possum Trot looks across a wooded valley. 
Cedar and White Oak like limestone soil. 


(Photo by Leonard Hall) 


134 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Big Springs 


not detrimental to tree growth and 
which furnish food for deer and other 
forms of wildlife. It would be inter- 
esting to botanize some of these im- 
proved forest stands after twenty years 
of good management, making the logi- 
cal projection into the future; and then 
to compare the record with studies 
made when the same areas were on the 
way downhill. 

All in all we've made progress 
in the Ozarks during the past two 
decades; yet a lot remains to be done. 
Roughly, it might be said that the 10 
per cent of land now held by such 
public agencies as the State and Fed- 
eral governments is 90 per cent well 


managed; the approximately 15 per 


(Photo by Rex Gary) 


cent held in corporate and large private 
ownership is about 50 per cent well 
managed; and the remaining 75 per 
cent which is in small private holdings 
and farm woodlots is perhaps 90 per 
cent badly managed if it is managed at 
all. Yet we should not conclude from 
this that the case is hopeless, for there 
was a time when all forest land capable 
of being exploited was mismanaged; 
and there is evidence today that for 
the first time in the past 100 years, 
timber growth has caught up with 
timber use in the nation as a whole. 
What really good forest management 
can mean to the Ozarks and_ their 
future was revealed dramatically in a 


study in which I participated not long 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 135 


ago. Working with competent for- 
esters, we selected a county in which 
about 85 per cent of all land is classed 
as timber land, in which tax revenue 
is so low as to constitute a real prob- 
lem, and in which the population is 
declining because of lack of economic 
opportunity. An analysis was made of 
increased growth and current yields 
from National Forest acreage in the 
county after 15 years of good manage- 
ment, and the future sustained yields 
when the maximum growth rate has 
been reached was estimated. Briefly, it 
was determined that if this growth rate 
and yield could be duplicated on all 
forest land in the county, the labor of 
some 1200 additional families would be 
required to handle just the initial pro- 
cessing of forest products; that is, the 
felling of trees, hauling, and rough 
milling. Value of rough milled lum- 
ber alone would add $3,000,000 to the 


annual income of the county, while 
value of forest lands for tax purposes 
would show a substantial increase. 
Moreover, if processing were carried a 
single step further—by turning rough 
oak boards into oak flooring, for ex- 
ample—both number of workers re- 
quired and additional income for the 
county would increase accordingly. 
While this study was made for a 
single county, the facts apply to prac- 
tically every county in the forested 
area of the Missouri Ozarks. And while 
progress comes slowly—still it comes 
surely. In the forests of the Ozarks 
conditions generally are far better than 
they were twenty or even ten years ago. 
Thus it seems reasonable to say, as we 
did last January, in the first article of 
this series, that “today the Ozarks is 
once again a land of hope and restora- 
tion where residents look forward with 
confidence to a better future.” 


THE CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW 


HE Fall and Winter shows at the 

Garden will cover longer periods 
and occupy more greenhouse space this 
year than ever before. The early 
chrysanthemums, featuring a fine ex- 
hibit by the St. Louis Chrysanthemum 
Society, went on display the last week 
in October, along with fall-blooming 
orchids, principally Baby Moth (Den- 
drobium Phalaconopsis) and Bowringi- 
ana hybrid Cattleyas in variety. Later- 
flowering chrysanthemums were staged 
in the Linnaean House where they are 
already making a fine showing against 
the rich green background of the ca- 


mellias and evergreen vines. In this 


cool greenhouse the last of them will 
stay until the camellias come into 
bloom, so that this beautiful old build- 
ing will give the appearance of an old- 
fashioned flower garden in the deep 
South from November to March. The 
orchids will gradually be replaced by 
later-flowering varieties and Poinset- 
tias will be on mass display during the 
Christmas holidays. During February 
and March the orchid exhibit will 
culminate in a special Golden Jubilee 
orchid show, honoring Mr. Pring’s 
long connection with the orchid 


department. 


136 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


RICE, NORTHWARD HO! 


JULIAN A. STEYERMARK 


R“ (Oryza sativa), one of the 
world’s most important food 
plants, is cultivated in warm countries 
at low altitudes where there is suffici- 
India, China, 
Japan, Korea, Java, the Philippine Is- 


ent moisture present. 


lands, and other oriental countries pro- 
duce and use vast quantities of the 
grain. It is also grown and consumed 
in considerable amounts in parts of 
Africa and in South and Central 
America. In the United States the prin- 
cipal commercial rice-growing districts 
are in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Cali- 
fornia, and North and South Carolina. 

What is the story of rice in Mis- 
souri? In the boot-heel lowlands 
section of southeastern Missouri it is 
grown in very small quantities, al- 
though this corner of the state is where 
one would expect to find it, since its 
climatic range is similar to that of 
cotton. However, in September of 1956 
I experienced quite a shock while driv- 
ing along a stretch of highway in ex- 
treme northern Marion County between 
Taylor, Missouri, and Quincy, Illinois. 
For there, in the bottomland just east 
of the city limits of Taylor (about 
25 miles northwest of Hannibal), | 
spotted numerous bright green clumps 
of a grass growing in a dried-up swale. 
It appeared unfamiliar at a distance, 
the fruiting sprays nodding gracefuliy 
above a leafy cluster of stems that was 
two to three feet high. Closer inspec- 
tion of the plants at once revealed their 
identity as rice. But how unexpected, 
finding rice this far north in Missouri! 

A check-up of this phenomenal oc- 


currence of rice only 30 miles or so 
away from the Iowa line revealed some 
additional information regarding its 
distribution in that area. I was told by 
the local residents that rice was grown 
on a commercial scale just a few miles 
south of Taylor, in a section of the 
Mississippi River floodplain known 
as Mark Bottom, occupying hun- 
dreds of acres of fertile wet soil. This 
was news to me, and I was sure that it 
would be to many other Missourians. 
Apparently, the rice plants which I 
had found along the highway had be- 
come established from seed acciden- 
tally dropped here. It had germinated 
in the wet soil, and had grown into 
mature grain-producing plants. An 
interesting sidelight of this discovery 
was that, although several people in 
Taylor had seen rice growing in the 
extensive acreage under cultivation in 
Mark Bottom, none of them had real- 
ized that rice was growing so close by 
along the highway until I had called 
attention to it. 

It should be pointed out that an- 
other kind of plant of the grass family, 
a species of wild rice, also called 
Water-Millet (Zizaniopsis mi'iacea), 
occurs in the cypress swamps and 
drainage ditches of southeastern Mis- 
sourt lowlands and in the sink-hole 
ponds (swampy remnants of the an- 
cient peneplain of the Ozarks) of 
several southeastern Ozark counties. 
It occurs from Florida to Texas north 
to Maryland, Kentucky, southeastern 
Missouri, and Oklahoma, and extends 


south into Mexico and South America. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 137 


On the other hand, the Wild Rice of 
the northern states (Zizania aquatica 
with its several varieties), which was a 
staple food of northern tribes of Amer- 
ican Indians, especially of the Great 
Lakes region, is occasionally found 
around borders of ponds and sloughs in 
parts of central and southeastern Mis- 
souri. It is often planted as a food for 
waterfowl. Although it can be pur- 


chased at maay food stores, it com- 


mands a fairly high price, and for that 
reason is not used as frequently as the 
commonly cultivated Oryza sativa. 
However, it is becoming increasingly 
popular as a complement to turkey or 
other fowl served at Thanksgiving or 
Christmas dinner. Together with its 
varieties, Zizania aquatica ranges from 
portions of Canada and Nova Scotia 
south to Florida and west to Idaho, 
North Dakota, Nebraska, and Texas. 


AN AFRICAN VIOLET SOCIETY IS BORN — 
THE AFRICAN VIOLET SOCIETY OF AMERICA, INC. 


ADELE. PRE DIER 


| fi Is rather astounding to realize that 
a little house-plant such as the 
African Violet (known botanically as 
Saintpaulia) is responsible for a na- 
tional plant society. Yet, when a small 
group of people presented the first 
African Violet show in Atlanta, Geor- 
gia, on November 8 and 9, 1946, the 
interest in an organized society was 
manifested first by the formation of 
the Atlanta African Violet Club; and, 
later, as a result of an extra meeting 
on the final day of the Show, in the 
organization of the African Violet 
Society of America. The Society was 
incorporated on June 30, 1947, and, 
since the number of members had in- 
creased so rapidly, the charter member- 
ships were closed by July, 1947. 
Under the editorial direction of 
Alma Wright, assisted by Mary Parker, 
the material for a bulletin was assem- 
bled and the African Violet Magazine 
was published in 1948 with a first 
issue of 500 copies. The Society held 


its first annual meeting in Atlanta in 


the Fall of 1947, with an accompany- 
ing African Violet Show, thus estab- 
lishing the custom of presenting a large 
show with each annual mecting of the 
Society. 

The object of the Society is to afford 
a beneficial association of persons inter- 
ested in African Violets, to stimulate 
an interest in the propagation and 
culture of African Violets, to encour- 
age the organization of -new and im- 
proved varieties, and also to gather and 
publish reliable information concerning 
the culture and propagation of African 
Violets. There are six classes of mem- 
bership: individual, commercial, re- 
search, sustaining, life, and honorary. 
There are now more than 328 afhliated 
chapters with a total membership of 
about 15,000; in addition, there are 
123 commercial memberships. The 
Society now has clubs and members 
in other countries including Canada, 
Alaska, British Columbia, Africa, 
Nova Scotia, Cuba, Italy, Hawaii, 
Germany, Indo China, and England. 


138 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


THE METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS COUNCIL OF 
AFRICAN VIOLET CLUBS 


ADELE TRETTER 


fen first African Violet Club in 
this locality (the “Webster Groves 
African Violet Society”) was organized 
in January 1949 by a group of Web- 
ster Groves women who were inter- 
ested in growing African Violets as 
a hobby. Through the influence of 
this club, more African Violet enthusi- 
asts in St. Louis began grouping into 
organized societies; the earliest of 
which were the ‘Viking Club” (1949) 
and the “Normandy” (1951). 

In the spring of 1952, these three 
clubs sponsored the first African Violet 
Show for the St. Louis vicinity with 
Mrs. Farris of Webster Groves as gen- 
eral chairman. The show was success- 
ful in further popularizing the African 
Violet and in stimulating the organiza- 
tion of five new clubs in St. Louis and 
St. Louis County—the “‘Tonantha”’, the 
“Greater St. Louis”, the “Rainbow”’, 
the ““Amethyst’’, and the ‘“Holly”—all 
organized in 1952. 

On February 3, 1953, the president 
and two representatives of each club 
met for the purpose of integrating the 
groups into a Council which was to 
have one general meeting and two 
With the 
formation of the Council, Mrs. A. 


board meetings each year. 


Zimmerman, of the Webster Groves 
group, was elected the first President. 
As one of its first functions the Coun- 
cil presented the second St. Louis Afri- 
can Violet Show April 18, 1953, under 
the chairmanship of Mrs. W. Mock 
of Webster Groves. The “County 
Bells” and the “Twilight” clubs were 


organized that same vear. At the gen- 
eral Council Meeting, Mrs. Wayman of 
“Viking” was elected president for 
1954. 

When the “Evening Sunset” club 
organized in January, 1954, the total 
number of clubs in the Council was 
brought to eleven. The Council, with 
Mrs. Mock as chairman, was hostess to 
the National African Violet Society 
Convention and Show held at the 
Hotel Chase in April of 1954. Among 
the activities planned for the guests by 
the Council was a tour of St. Louis 
ending at the Missouri Botanical Gar- 
den where, following a guided tour of 
the Garden, tea was served at the Mu- 
seum. At the 1954 General Council 
Meeting Mrs. Thelma Usinger of 
“Amethyst” was elected to succeed 
A twelfth club and 


the first to include husbands with their 


Mrs. Wayman. 


wives, the “Knights and Ladies”, was 
formed in 1954. 

Twelve clubs participated in the 
Third African Violet Show given in 
April of 1955 (the “Cinderella” club 
had been added and the ‘Evening 
Sunset” discontinued). In November 
Mrs. W. F. Anderson of “Viking” was 
elected by the Council to serve as pres- 
ident during 1956. At this meeting 
the “Normandy” and the “lonantha” 
clubs agreed to unite to form the 
“Normandy-Ionantha Club”. The 
Fourth Show was held at the Missouri 
Botanical Garden in April of 1956 
with Mrs. Fred Tretter of ‘‘Greater 
St. Louis Club” chairman. The fifth 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 139 


and most recent Council meeting, held 
in October, elected Mrs. Tretter to be 
the 1957 president. 

Plans are being made for the fifth 
African Violet Show to be given in 
March of next year at the Missouri 


a 


Botanical Garden. The Council, now 
consisting of ten clubs, is called the 
“Metropolitan St. Louis Council of 
African Violet Clubs” and it is afhli- 
ated with the ArrICAN VIOLET Soct- 
ETY OF AMERICA, INC. 


THE HENRY SHAW CHRISTMAS PARTY! 


HIs year, as last, the Women’s 
Committee of the Garden will 
stage a special Christmas Show in 
Mr. Shaw’s Old Residence, ‘Tower 
The show, “Henry Shaw’s 
Christmas Party”, will be given under 


GROVE”. 


the chairmanship of Mrs. Martin Lam- 
mert III with Mrs. William Hedley and 
Mrs. Carroll Mastin as very active co- 
chairmen (since Mrs. Lammert is re- 
covering from a serious injury). Plans 
are now being made, under the direc- 
tion of Mrs. T. Randolph Potter and 
co-chairmen Mrs. Grant William and 
Mrs. Edward L. Bakewell, Jr., to create 
exciting room decorations. Every 
room of the handsome Shaw Residence 
will offer a spectacular Christmas 
theme, filled with ideas that will be 
easy and thrilling to adapt to one’s 
own home. In the Museum building 
there will be a display featuring the 
botanical aspects of Christmas decora- 
tions, prepared by Dr. Cutler and his 
students in Economic Botany. <Ac- 
companying this exhibit will be ‘Sugar 
’n Spice”, a baked goods sale, with Mrs. 
J. J. Jannuzzo and Mrs. Steven J. 


Wolff as co-chairmen. The hostesses 


will be Mrs. George Pring and Mrs. 
Arthur J. Krueger. Other special 
committees and their chairmen are: 
General Arrangements, Mrs. Robert 
W. Otto and Mrs. Lewis B. Stuart; 
Publicity, Mrs. Rolla M. Horwitz; 
Music, Mrs. William P. Chrisler; Cor- 
sages, Mrs. E. J. Neuner; Christmas 
Treats, Mrs. Mary Baer; Ticket Sales 
(Federated Garden Clubs), Mrs. Frank 
Vesser—(Women’s Committee and 
General Distribution), Mrs. Charles 
Rice with Mrs. Earl Hath and Mrs. 
P. H. Britt; Treasurer, Mrs. John R. 
Shepley. 

The show will be open from Thurs- 
day, December 6th, through Sunday 
the 9th, from 11 in the morning until 
7 in the evening. Admission will be one 
dollar for adults and fifty cents for 
children, and the entire proceeds will 
go to the Garden. Tickets are now 
available from members of the Wom- 
en’s Committee, at Lammert’s Clayton 
Store and at the Main Gate House of 
the Garden. Checks should be made 
payable to Shaw’s Garden and _for- 
warded to Mrs. Charles M. Rice, #1 


Oak Knoll, St. Louis 5, Missouri. 


140 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


THIRD ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM OF SYSTEMATICS 


()* October 26th and 27th the 
third annual symposium on prob- 
lems of Systematics (the scientific 
classification of plants and animals) 
was staged by the Garden and_ the 
Henry Shaw School of Botany, with 
generous financial help and moral sup- 
port from the National Science Foun- 
dation. Visitors (136 in all) arrived 
by plane, train, and motor car. The 
bulk of them were from the Middle 
West but some came from as tar as 
the New York Botanical Garden, the 
University of Colorado and Baton 
Rouge, Louisiana. All were interested 
in basic problems connected with the 
classification of plants and animals; 
they came from universities, colleges, 
museums, botanical gardens, natural 
history surveys. Some (about a third) 
were technically zoologists, the rest 
Not guite half 


of them were graduate students just 


were mostly botanists. 


starting out on a technical career, a 


at 


Th rman ana 


few were amateurs, the remainder were 
teachers and staff members, several 
of them scholars with international 
reputations. 

Now that the continued encourage- 
ment and development of science are 
becoming of real national concern, 
support for the scientific work which 
goes on at such independently endowed 
centers as the Garden is growing from 
With its 


outstanding herbarium and fine library 


year to year in various Ways. 


(both of them begun by Henry Shaw) 
the Garden makes an ideal place for 
informal get-togethers of this sort. 
Many of those attending this confer- 
ence arrived a day or two early or 
stayed over the following Sunday in 
order to make full use of the herbarium 
and library. Sessions were held in the 
old Museum built by Mr. Shaw, now 
so popular as a meet:ng place for plant- 
minded groups that it averages one 


meeting a day during some months. 


eae 
4). oy 


ion 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


JoHN S. LEHMANN, President Henry HircHcock 
DANIEL K. CaTLin, Vice-President RicHaArp J. Lockwoop 
EuGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President Henry B. PFLAGER 
Leicester B. Faust A. WEssEL SHAPLEIGH 
DupLey FRENCH ROBERT BROOKINGS SMITH 


EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 


ErHan A. H. SHEPLEY, JAMES F. MorrRELL, 
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 
Oscar E. GLAESSNER 


THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL 


Clifford W. Benson, E. G. Cherbonnier, Robert E. Goetz, Paul Hale, Mrs. W. 
Warren Kirkbride, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet J. Layton, Francis McMath, 
D. O’Gorman, Robert W. Otto, Robert Walm, Harold E. Wolfe, John S. 
Lehmann, Edgar Anderson, G. W. Pennewill, Chairman. 


STAFF 
George T. Moore —____......_----. ------------------- Emeritus Director 
Bdgar- Anderson... eS saaetocess LAS RCEOE 
Mura ©, Cutler 2 ees Associate Director 
Lee, me in 1 | - 1 f eca  ne Ree ee ER ON clearer Paleobotanist 
Evelyn Barbour___-_----------..-.---------.-----—----+-.-.--.........Research Assistant 
Louis G. Brenner. Arborist and Grounds Superintendent 
Ladislaus Cutak Horticulturist and Greenhouse Superintendent 
Pigen- C sCucet .....-Curator of the Museum 
Carroll W. Dodge Mycologist 
i (0) :\o0) © FEHB). '2' | eh ante a ee a eS eee eee meena ee) Research Associate 
Robert J. Gillespie ieee In charge of Orchids 
sear Bi Glachsner os ta ele. Business Manager 
Nell C. Horner________ : Librarian and Editor 
131) aed | ee eee ee a ee -..Floriculturist 
TENOR, 1k VO cies t nerace ncaenseie eine ban ne et Landscape Architect 
Edna Mepham — : Assistant Librarian 
Frederick G. Meyer_.___-..-_- _.........Dendrologist 
RSIS GG oh, eR ee Superintendent 
Kenneth A. Smith a Engineer 
Tuilian iy aeeyertiat kee Honorary Research Associate 
PVC gh CPs i 20): ee ee ae ae ee ee ee Research Associate 
Rolla M. Tryon, Jr. Assistant Curator of Herbarium 
George B. Van Schaack...._.-_-_-__ Acting Curator of Herbarium 


Robert E. Woodson, Jr. ne 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 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. (spring 
to fall) and until six (in the winter time) though the green- 
houses close at five. Towrr Grove, itself, Mr. Shaw’s old 
country home, is open from one until four, admission twenty- 
five cents, with special guides. ‘The Garden is nearly a mile long 
and has several entrances. The Main Entrance, the one most 
used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora Place 
on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southhampton 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 
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The step-in gate (more or less 
concealed by the big Cleveland Ave. gate, 2221 Tower Grove) 
is nearly always open, and 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. 


{ISSOURI BOTANICAL 


GARD 


HIN BULL 


y 


Tan 


TCIUIN 


lume ALITV 


December, 1956 


Number 10 


“Delightful scientifick Shade! 
For Knowledge, as for 
Pleasure made.” 


From a poem on the Oxford Botanic 
Garden, published in 1713 in a book, 
Vertumnus, by Abel Evans. 


CONTENTS 
“How Can I Save My Poinsettia Plant?” Personal Memories of Mr. Shaw 
Dr. George T. Moore, Director 1913-1953 Why Botanists Visit Math Departments 
The Lippagator Method of Plant Notes 


Propagation Villa Aldobrandina Tuseulesca—A. Gift to 


Horticultural Courses for Spring 1957 Garden Library 
General Index, Volume XLIV 


Notice: There will be no January BULLETIN. In 1957 the BULLETIN will be pub- 
lished in February, March, April, June, September and October. 


HE question most frequently asked the Garden in December is “How can I save 
my poinsettia plant? 

Commercial growers produce poinsettias for Christmas by starting new plants 
from cuttings in early summer; but if you want to save your plant for next year, the 
Garden recommends the following procedure. After the plant has lost its leaves, store 
it in a cool place until May. Do not water it. In May, cut the stems back to six or 
eight inches above the rim of the pot. Shake some of the soil from the roots and 
repot, using good garden soil, into a six- or seven-inch pot, which has a_ piece, of 
broken pot placed over the hole in the bottom. After the poinsettia has been repotted, 
water it, then put it outside in a sunny place with the pot set into cinders or gravel 
to a depth of about three inches. Within a few weeks several shoots will appear, two 
or three of which should be kept and the others removed. These branches will grow 
quite tall in one season and must be tied to a support, preferably a bamboo cane. The 
plants may be started in June and even early July. Although late planting will prevent 
the poinsettias from growing too tall, weak plants that have been kept dormant too 
long often fail to grow. The pots should be lifted occasionally to prevent large roots 
from growing through the hole of the pot into the soil beneath, for the severing of 
the main root will cause the leaves to drop when the plant is taken inside in the fall. 


Cover: Dr. George T. Mocre 


Missour1 Botanical 
Garden Bulletin 


Vol. XLIV 


DECEMBER, 1956 No. 10 


DR. GEORGE T. MOORE, DIRECTOR 1913-1953 


N THE evening of November 27th 
Dr. Moore died at his home in 
the Garden grounds, thus bringing to 
a close almost half a century of service 
to this institution. He came to St. 
Louis in 1909 at the age of 38, al- 
ready well known as a brilliant teacher 
and investigator, who at the very out- 
set of his professional career had solved 
the problem of controlling effectively 
those microscopic plants which can be 
so obnoxious in public water supplies. 
St. Louisans knew Dr. Moore as a 
skillful administrator, an effective par- 
ticipant in many civic enterprises, a 
polished and witty master of cere- 
monies on many public occasions . 
but he was much more than this. His 
brilliant research has already been men- 
tioned. He was closely connected with 
building up the Marine Biological Re- 
search Station at Wood’s Hole, Massa- 
chusetts, into a national biological 
research center and he kept up this 
work after moving to St. Louis. Until 
after World War I, he taught one of 
its outstanding summer courses every 
year and many of the country’s top 
flight biologists received part of their 
training under his sharp eyes. Through 
the twenties and thirties he maintained 


his summer home in Woods Hole and 


continued as an effective influence in 
national scientific affairs there and else- 
where. During his early years in St. 
Louis he taught both graduate and 
undergraduate courses in the Henry 
Shaw School of Botany. He was most 
effective as a teacher; the few students 
who carried on graduate work under 
his personal direction have all had dis- 
tinguished careers. 

In 1913 he was made Director. 
Under his supervision the Garden was 
rapidly rebuilt. Then as now its 
greatest problem was rising operating 
costs, particularly labor costs. These 
were greatly reduced by redesigning 
the entire garden. Inefficient old 
greenhouses were replaced by new 
ones, the elaborate and time-consuming 
flower beds of Mr. Shaw’s day were 
streamlined or eliminated altogether. 
Outstanding scientists were added to 
the staff, special fellowships were 
offered to graduate students in bot- 
any and the herbarium was _ rapidly 
expanded. 

After World War I the Garden 
again faced the problems which rising 
prices bring to endowed institutions. 
They were met for the time being by 
getting court permission to sell enough 
Garden property to acquire the Gray 

(141) 


142 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Summit Arboretum and to build a set 
of orchid greenhouses. 

For the last half of his directorship, 
Dr. Moore’s first concern was the at- 
tempt to raise the large endowment 
necessary to keep the Garden on the 
course charted by Henry Shaw. His 
annual reports were eloquent, yet his 
own operating finesse kept the com- 
munity at large from realizing the 
Garden’s increasingly urgent needs. 
He retrenched as skillfully as he ad- 
vanced. All work in Plant Physiology 
and considerable portions of the library 
were gradually transferred to Wash- 
ington University. Mechanized equip- 
ment replaced hand labor. Elaborate 
displays such as the Iris garden requir- 


ing many man-hours per year were re- 


placed by smaller ones. Yet through 
all these strategic retreats he kept up 
his morale, as well as that of his staff, 
and as late as 1946 was having archi- 
tects draw up detailed plans for a new 
herbarium building. 

To those who knew him well, he was 
generous, warm-hearted, and a master 
Outwardly, he 


maintained a dignified reserve, yet, be- 


at kindly repartee. 


hind the curt nod, there was always the 
twinkle in the eye; an innate kindliness 
softened the firm lines around the 
mouth, Many a student or staff mem- 
ber suddenly faced with overwhelming 
personal or professional problems found 
his burden lightened by Dr. Moore’s 
quick perception, human understand- 


ing, and vast common sense.—E. A. 


THE LIPPAGATOR METHOD OF PLANT PROPAGATION 
HELMUT TUTASS 


[* RECENT years, methods of vege- 
tative plant-propagation have de- 
veloped, which are superior to those 
practiced in the past. One which has 
proved to be especially valuable to the 
gardner whose greenhouse is the living- 
room, kitchen, or basement, involves 
the use of the “‘lippagator” (named for 
Mr. Louis Lipp of the Holden Arbore- 
tum near Cleveland, who promoted the 
use of this method of plant propaga- 
tion). The lippagator is a flat box 
filled with a loose rooting mixture and 
covered with a plastic sheet supported 
by a frame. Such a box can be built 
easily at low cost and has been used 
successfully in homes as well as here at 
the Garden. 

To build a lippagator (see sketch), 
use a greenhouse flat or a box approx- 


imately 21 inches long % 15 inches 
wide 6 inches high, made of wood 
or a light-weight metal. In the bottom 
drill holes, one-half inch in diameter, 
about three inches apart, to provide the 
necessary drainage. If a wooden box is 
used, the bottom can be made of wire 
screen—quarter-inch mesh is good for 
most rooting mixtures (sand may re- 
quire a finer mesh). Good drainage is 
essential to prevent the water from be- 
coming stagnant and the cuttings from 
rotting. For the frame, use any wire 
which is strong enough to support the 
weight of the plastic sheet and which 
can be bent easily into the form illus- 
trated. The distance from the bottom 
of the box to the highest point of the 
frame is about 14 inches; the outer 
edges should be 1 to 2 inches lower so 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


i 
yh 


\ 


oS 
S SS 

es S'S 
_ SSS SS 
— LSS oS = 


so" _— = 


Sketch of wooden lippagator box with wire screen bottom 


143 


that the water which condenses on the 
inside of the plastic can run down the 
sides, instead of dripping on the cut- 
tings, causing them to rot. The plastic 
should be large enough to cover com- 
pletely the top and sides, with margins 
wide enough to be folded beneath the 
box and held by its weight. Since the 
plastic holds moisture and thus main- 
tains a high humidity, yet is porous 
enough to permit such gases as oxygen 
and carbon dioxide to pass freely, it 
creates in the lippagator a microclimate 
which has proved favorable for root 
growth. 

A good rooting mixture can be made 
with peat moss mixed with equal parts 
of one of the following: styrofoam, 
permalite, or medium-coarse sand, 
washed; all of which can be obtained 
at a garden supply store. Put a 4-inch 
layer of one of these mixtures into the 
lippagator box and sprinkle it thor- 
oughly with water. Into this loose 
mixture, insert the cuttings. If the 
cuttings are from several kinds of 


plants, differing in their rooting habits, 


it is best to keep the different kinds in 
separate pots or pans, filled with the 
rooting mixture, which can be set in 
the lippagator box. This will allow 
removal of plants that are well-rooted 
without disturbing those less well- 
developed. Furthermore, if rooted in 
separate pots, the cuttings will not need 
transplanting when they are taken 
from the lippagator; but rather, they 
can be removed undisturbed in the pot 
and, therefore, can better withstand 
the change to the more normal climate 
of the greenhouse or livingroom. 

Rooting hormones can be used to 
speed up root development on plants 
known to respond favorably to their 
influence; however, for those plants 
whose response is not known, the use of 
hormones should be avoided, since they 
may have an injurious effect. 

After the cuttings have been placed 
in the lippagator, cover the frame and 
box with the sheet of plastic, tucking 
it under the edges in such a way that 
one end can easily be lifted as a win- 


dow to check on the progress of root- 


144 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


ing. Additional water may not be 
necessary for weeks; however, if the 
bedding material becomes dry, water 
thoroughly, using a gentle spray and 
warm water (slightly higher than 
room temperature). Cold water shocks 
plants—the yellow leafspots on Afri- 
can Violets, for example, are well- 
known signs of such mistreatment. 
The lippagator should be kept at about 
60° to 75° F. (room temperature) in 
a bright place, but not in direct 
sunlight, especially in summer. Good 


locations are an east, West or north 


window in the house in winter and in 
the shade of a tree in summer. 

As soon as the cuttings have rooted, 
they can be removed from the lippa- 
gator. They wilt slightly for a few 
days until they become acclimatized to 
the conditions of the open air. If but 
one kind of plant is put into the lippa- 
gator, the cover can be removed grad- 
ually, permitting the plants to adjust 
slowly. 

This method of propagating plants 
is simple to use; it requires little care, 


and the results are excellent. 


HORTICULTURE COURSES FOR SPRING 1957 


HREE courses in Horticulture will 

be offered by the Garden in the 
Spring of 1957. Two of these, Plant 
Propagation and Spring Horticulture, 
will be conducted in the Experimental 
Greenhouse at the Garden; the third, 
Growing Orchids in the Home, will be 
a single, full-day session at the Orchid 
Range of the Garden Arboretum, Gray 
Summit, Missouri. 

One of the best ways to learn to 
garden effectively is to exchange in- 
formation and plant materials with 
other amateur gardeners. A good fea- 
ture of these courses is that they bring 
amateurs together in an informal way, 
enabling them to learn from each 
other as well as from their instructors. 

As materials for the courses are pur- 
chased immediately after the closing 
registration date, no registration fees 
can be refunded after the last day of 
registration. Please send registration 
fees to: 

Horticultural Courses, 
Missouri Botanical Garden, 


2315 Tower Grove Avenue, 
St. Louis 10, Missouri. 


Course II]—PLANT PROPAGATION 
Instructor: F. G. Meyer 


Four sections (each with two periods 
of instruction). Limited to 60 per- 
sons (minimum of 10 per section). 

Place: Experimental Greenhouse, Mis- 
sour! Botanical Garden. Enter Cleve- 
land Avenue gate, 2221 Tower 
Grove Avenue. 

Schedule: Section I— 

Friday afternoons, January 18, 25, 
1:00-4:00 P.M. 
Section []— 
Saturday mornings, January 19, 
26, 9:00 A. M.-12:00 Noon. 
Section I][— 
Wednesday afternoons, January 
30, February 6, 1:00-4:00 P.M. 
Section IV— 
Saturday mornings, February 2, 9, 
9:00 A. M.-12:00 Noon. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 145 


Content of Course: 

Discussion of the principal methods 
of propagating plants by vegeta- 
tive means: root cuttings, suckers, 
division, crowns, hard- and soft- 
wood stem cuttings, summer wood 
cuttings, offsets, layering, scales, 
tubers. 

Display of various propagating 
methods. 

Rooting plants under mist. 

Rooting plants under plastic (the 
“Lippagator’’). 

Air layering. 

Two practice sessions in greenhouse, 
making cuttings. 

One Lippagator (plastic-covered 
propagating box) given to each 
student. 

At least 50 kinds of plants per stu- 
dent (house plants, broad leaf 
evergreens, etc.). 


Registration (by phone or mail): De- 


cember 15 to January 14, Fee 
$10.00 (includes all materials). 


Course IV—Sprinc HortTicuLTURE 


Instructor: Members of the 


Garden Staft 


Four sections (five periods of instruc- 
tion). Limited to 85 students. 
Place: Experimental Greenhouse, Mis- 


souri Botanical Garden. Enter Cleve- 


land Avenue gate, 2221 Tower 
Grove Avenue. 
Schedule: Section I— 
Friday afternoons, 1:00-4:00 


PLM. Match 22; 29, April 5, 
L226 
Section []— 

Monday afternoons, 1:00-4:00 

P.M. March 25, April 1, 8, 
22.29 


Section IHI— 

Wednesday afternoons, 1:00-4:00 
P.M. March 27, April 3, 10, 
24, May 1 
Section [V— 
Saturday mornings, 9:00 A. M.— 
12:00 Noon. March 30, April 
6, 13, 27, May 4 
Content of Course: 

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

Demonstration of pruning trees and 
shrubs. 

Instructive tour of the Garden’s 
world-famous library and herbar- 
lum. 

Five sessions in the greenhouse. Each 
student will receive four metal 
seed flats with instruction in seed 
sowing and transplanting of sum- 
mer annuals and perennials. 

Plants and flats may be taken home 
at end of course. 

There will be enough space to plant 
16 kinds of seeds in seed flats. 
Seeds available at the greenhouse, 
or bring your own special kinds. 

Registration (by phone or mail): Feb- 
ruary 11 to March 22, Fee — 
$15.00 (covers all materials, includ- 
ing flats). 


CoursE V—GROWING ORCHIDS 
IN THE HOME 


Instructor: R. J. Gillespie 


One section (one period of instruc- 
tion). 

Place: Orchid Range, Missouri Botan- 
ical Garden Arboretum, Gray Sum- 


mit, Missouri. 


146 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Time: April 20, 1957, 10:00 A. M. to 
4:00 P.M. 


Schedule and Content of Course: 


10:00 A.M. 

Kinds of orchids suitable for home 
culture (orchids that like St. 
Louis). 

Discussion of factors influencing or- 
chid growth and development: 
light, temperature, etc., for home- 
adapted genera only. 

How these conditions can be created 


in the average home. 


Potting demonstration. Question 
and answer period, if time permits. 
12:00 Noon. Lunch. Garden supplies 
coffee and soda. 
1:00 P.M. 


usual containers in the home. Dem- 


Growing Orchids in un- 


onstration of potting and care. 
2:00 P. M. Inspection of greenhouses. 
3:00 P.M. 

struction by members of Orchid 


Individual potting in- 


Department staff. Students may 
take potted plant home. 
Registration (by phone or mail) : 
March 15 to April 15, Fee—$10.00. 


PERSONAL MEMORIES OF MR. SHAW 


N Henry SHaw’s day it was the 

fashion to put on public celebra- 
tions with formal speeches duly reprint- 
ed in the local newspapers. In his will, 
a long and remarkable document, he 
provided special funds for formal ban- 
quets, and it is from the records of one 
of these banquets, held in 1892, three 
years after his death, that we owe our 
best first-hand accounts of Mr. Shaw 
as a merchant and a man of affairs. 
One of the speakers at this particular 
banquet was Professor J. D. Butler of 
the University of Wisconsin. For over 
twenty years he had maintained an in- 
creasingly close friendship with Mr. 
Shaw, visiting him repeatedly in_ his 
own home, and entertaining him in 
return. In the Garden’s library is the 
original typewritten record of the en- 
tire banquet, complete even to inserts 
for “Laughter” and “Applause.” It 
tells us something of Mr. Shaw’s mem- 
ory of Mill Hill school where he was 


trained as a boy and goes on in con- 
siderable detail to describe how he built 
up the beginnings of his fortune.—E.A. 

“T was so favorably introduced to 
Mr. Shaw that he urged me, whenever 
I should be coming in this direction, to 
make my home with him. He told me 
the course of his life so that I would 
know whether to find him in Locust 
St. or in Tower Grove, and the result 
was that for more than twenty years 
I broke his bread and I have had him 
under my own roof breaking my bread. 
He loved to talk of his early days in 
Mill Hill. To speak of the cedar that 
was planted there by Linnaeus in 1736. 
He led me to a tree six years ago near 
his own ground planted by himself 
that was already a hundred feet high. 
He was pleased with a couplet that I 
remembered to quote,— 

‘A forest planted by himself he sees, 

And loves the old contemporary trees.’ 


“He used to tell me that every 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 147 


scholar at Mill Hill had a square rod of 
ground that he was allowed to fill in 
any way he chose. The child is father 
of the man. We see there the baby 
figure of a giant mass of things to 
come at large. He told me in our 
manifold conversations of his voyag- 
ing four and seventy days with his 
father in an old Danish prize vessel, 
then reaching Quebec, of business 
prospects there and in Montreal not 
flattering, of sleighriding across Ver- 
mont to reach New York, no room 
for him there; of a twenty-three days 
voyage to New Orleans, of his wel- 
come there by an old family friend, a 
sugar planter, and of his half resolu- 
tion to become a sugar planter, but he 
knew something about cutlery but 
nothing about canebrakes. He found 
that at New Orleans he was within 
ninety days by keel boat of St. Louis. 
He was about putting his baggage 
aboard a keelboat when a_ vessel, 
schooner rigged, arrived there from 
Philadelphia that had also a steam 
engine aboard and promised a passage 
in forty-five days to St. Louis. He 
went on board the steamer and she ar- 
rived here on time, within two years of 
the first steamer’s arrival in this City 
which was in 1817, six weeks voyage 
from Louisville. 
Charles before settling here. Thought 
St. Louis too big a place for him at 


He went up to St. 


first. In his parlor in Locust St. he 
had standing the arm chair with a 
table leaf that he used in the days of 
his business. Sitting there he used to 
tell me of his early adventures. One 
of the first things he learned was that 
hardware was brought across from 


Philadelphia at nine dollars a hundred 


but he had ascertained that he could 
bring it for three dollars from Liver- 
pool. He at once laid in a good stock 
of every variety of hardware and was 
master of the market here. As early 
as 1824 he obtained a contract for 
supplying all the hardware needed in 
Chicago at Fort Dearborn, and kept it 
for a dozen years. 

“He was up to everything in aspira- 
tion, and down to everything in the 
drudgery of detail. 

he first time he went down the 
River, having observed that sugar here 
ran up to twenty-five cents at some 
time in the vear, he bought a large 
quantity slightly damaged at two cents 
and brought it here for cne more. It 
was a drug. But when he began to 
repent of his huge inlay of sugar a 
flotilla came along here with supplies 
for the United States posts up the 
River, but they had no sugar. Their 
barge that had it had sunk on a snag, 
and all the sugar to be had in St. 
Louis was in the hands of Henry Shaw. 
(Laughter and applause. ) 

“Is it any wonder, in view of these 
two or three little things that within 
one and twenty years he had all the 
money, as he thought, that any bache- 
lor needed to have, and resolved hence- 
forth to enjoy his fortune? It was 
because he had sense enough to retire 
that of no distemper, of no blast he 
died, but fell like ripened fruit that 
mellows on, still wondered at because 
he dropped no sooner. I hope every 
rich man here will learn by his ex- 
ample. (Applause. ) 

“T will not tell you half the things 
I thought of, but there is one I will 


mention. The Shakespearan mulberry 


148 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


has become celebrated in the Garden, 
planted on a spot selected by Adelaide 
Nielson. = Mr. 
with that lady began in this way. We 


Shaw’s acquaintance 


were sitting together in the back parlor 
there at Tower Grove when a card was 
brought in from a lady asking permis- 
sion to dry her feet, and that card bore 
the name of Adelaide Nielson. She 
was cordially greeted and seated her- 
self at one side of the grate, took off 
her shoes and warmed her feet. I sat 
at the other side of the grate, Mr. Shaw 
between us. She was exultant just 
then at finishing her one hundredth 
impersonation of Juliet. She enjoyed 
our conversation all the more because 
we both of us had been in her native 
Spain. 

“Many a walk did we take through 


the Garden. The last one we lingered 


at the cenotaph for Nuttal, the first 
botanist that explored the Arkansas; 
passed on, then, to the shrine of the 
temple and I noticed the writing on 
the roof and proposed the phrase ‘Ig- 
norance, the curse of God; Knowledge, 
the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.’ 
“Too many words for the shrine,’ said 
Shaw, ‘But I would gladly see it on 
the cornice.’ We passed on, then, to 
We had the gate 
opened. His statue, recumbent on the 


his mausoleum. 


lid of the sarcophagus with the rose in 
its hand was there laying one side; the 
grave open. I said to him, ‘I have 
lately been in Egypt and in the heart 
of the great pyramid have laid me 
down and folded my arms on the coffin 
of Pharaoh, and, with your permission, 

> 99 


I will have the first use of yours. 
(Laughter and applause. ) 


WHY BOTANISTS VISIT MATH DEPARTMENTS 


EDGAR ANDERSON 


N THE early summer of 1931 Sir 

Ronald Fisher, the great English 
statistician, Came to visit me in St. 
Louis. At the very last minute St. Louis 
mathematicians tried to arrange a 
luncheon for him, an attempt which 
fell through because the distinguished 
guest-of-honor was busy making a 
pilgrimage to Meramec Highlands and 
to Kirkwood. He spent the morning 
out in what is now Osage Hills, look- 
ing at redbud trees on the rocky hill- 
sides above the Frisco tracks. At the 
actual hour when the luncheon might 
have been held, he was dining infor- 
mally on sandwiches and_ ice-cold 


lemonade in a screened porch at the 


corner of Argonne and Dixon, remin- 
iscing happily with Mrs. Phil Rau. 
Sir Ronald was not behaving capri- 
ciously; it was a pilgrimage in a very 
real sense. Mrs. Rau’s brother, the late 
J. Arthur Harris, was the first staff 
member of the Missouri Botanical 
Garden to bring mathematics to the 
study of evolution. Early in the 1900’s 
he made a statistical study of redbud 
seedpods from Meramec Highlands. 
Though it was a pioneer effort and 
contributed nothing directly to our 
understanding of their amazing vari- 
ability it was mathematically most in- 
genious. Sir Ronald developed from it 
his widely used “Analysis of Variance’. 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 149 


Dr. Harris left St. Louis nearly fifty 
years ago and at the time of his death 
was a botanist at the University of 
Minnesota, dealing skillfully with such 
diverse problems as the chemistry of 
drought resistance in desert plants and 
the measurement of crop yields. Yet 
scarcely a working day passes, but that, 
by way of Sir Ronald’s methods, J. 
Arthur Harris’ bubbling originality is 
put to good use in our local scientific 
laboratories and industrial establish- 
ments. Of the hundreds of St. Louis- 
ans who in this way follow in Harris’ 
footsteps during any one year, few 
indeed realize that a basic part of the 
sharp mathematical tool they use was 
forged at Shaw’s Garden. Somehow, 
the fact that botanists are really up to 
such things never catches the public’s 
imagination. 

Two years before Sir Ronald’s visit, 
one of the best science reporters we 
have ever had in St. Louis, Miss Edna 
Warren of the Globe-Democrai, wrote 
a feature article about my own first 
attempt to analyze evolution mathe- 
matically. She somehow waded through 
my dullish technical paper, with its 
page after page of measurements, and 
produced an understanding and inter- 
esting account of my four years of 
work with native species of Iris. 

This early work led to a scholarship 
in England for study with Sir Ronald. 
I was greatly helped by the association 
with his sharp and original mind. Yet 
much as I was impressed by the good 
sound practical help his methods were 
bringing to many other fields (scoring 
blood counts in hospital laboratories, 
yield-testing of oats and wheat, the 


laying out of experimental plots), one 


fact became increasingly clear. They 
did not help my particular problem. 
To my basic quest for a measurement of 
species differences so efficient that one 
could use it in studying how evolution 
is actually going on right now, they 
had little to offer. In some phases of 
the work they helped; in others they 
gave an incomplete answer, sometimes 
even a wrong one. 

For a good fifteen years after Sir 
Ronald’s visit, I blundered away at the 
basic problem. I read, experimented, 
studied species in the field, the labora- 
tory and the herbarium. Gradually I 
dug down to pay dirt, working out 
methods of putting the complicated 
sets of facts into exact little pictures 
and diagrams. In my book, Plants, 
Man and Life \ have written the story 
of how, working through the winter 
of 1944 on a sunny roof-top in Mex- 
ico, I finally hammered out a new 
method which was half a mathematical 
table, half a precise picture. With it 
one could record and measure the dif- 
ferences between two Mexican corn 


fields with only a few hours of work 


and get an answer which agreed with 


common sense and good judgment. 
Now the road was clear; I rapidly 
got down to fundamentals. The basic 
techniques were refined to the point 
where (to take an actual example) one 
could describe species he had never 
seen. By measuring thirty plants in 
one mountain meadow, a detailed tech- 
nical description of another species 
which had once hybridized with their 
ancestors could be drawn up, even 
when one knew nothing about the flora 
of the region or anything at all about 


the species which he was predicting! 


150 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Finally in 1952 I waded into the 
basic problem of why statistical meth- 
ods are sometimes so helpful, yet some- 
times give the wrong answer. The ex- 
planation was a simple one. If the 
basic facts in any particular problem 
are numbers (let us say the yield in 
bushels of a series of wheat varieties) 
then statistics does a good job. If the 
basic facts are patterns (as for instance 
the intricate and complicated kinds of 
differences between two species), then 
at best statistics is ineflicient; at the 
worst it gives the wrong answer but 
veils its failure in impressive technical 
language. 

This was (and is) a new idea to most 
statisticians. Outsiders who rush in 
with fresh ways of looking at old prob- 
lems are seldom popular. However, a 
few of the country’s best mathemati- 
cians took a most sympathetic attitude 
and began to recommend these new 
ideas and methods, not merely to biol- 
ogists, but to scholars in any field 
where the basic facts were patterns. 
This group who have brought their 
problems to me in the last year or so 
are so varied, seen as a whole, that it is 
almost comic to think of them arriv- 
ing together at the door of a busy 
botanist. One was concerned with a 
medical study of healthy versus dis- 
eased tissues, another dealt with the 
problem of measuring depressed areas 
in our big cities. The easiest problem 
to solve was an analysis of basic pat- 
terns in English poetry. The one in 
which the new methods and insights 
are already of the most assistance is a 
large-scale attempt by a group of social 


anthropologists to analyze what hap- 


pens when groups of men live and 
work closely together. 

The deeper I dug, the more apparent 
it was that I had gotten down to some- 
thing basic, something of real impor- 
tance to science, to industry, some- 
thing which, if we must classify it, 
belongs in the wide field of applied 
mathematics. Accordingly, for the 
last two years (on top of my regular 
duties), I have been working out the 
details of shifting as much of my work 
as possible to other shoulders and of 
arranging for funds to carry on my re- 
search. In odd moments in the last 
year I have even managed to write 
chapters for two books which are now 
in the press. One is technical. It grew 
out of the fact that these new meth- 
ods and points of view are so useful in 
plant breeding that seven of my stu- 
dents are now highly successful plant 
breeders. The other is in the Golden 
Jubilee Volume of the Botanical Soci- 
ety of America. In the preparation of 
it, | was greatly helped by Professors 
Feinberg and Primakoy of the Physics 
Department at Washington University, 
as well as by my mathematical friends. 
In as simple language as possible it dis- 
cusses the area where statistics, and 
natural history, and applied mathe- 
matics come together. 

A generous grant from the Guggen- 
heim Foundation will allow me to take 
half-time leave of absence during the 
I shall first be the 
guest of the Mathematics Department 


next year or so. 


at Princeton, where I have been drop- 
ping in every six months or so for 
several years. I am taking along data 
and materials on problems that lie in 
the field between mathematics and bi- 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 151 


ology, including one or two that were 
chosen because they are comparatively 
simple ones. It is the simplest prob- 
lems which are the most rewarding 
when you finally see how you can get 
down to them—and in this case I 


think I do. 


To me one of the most surprising 
things about my adventures out into 
the unknown has been the quick re- 
actions of a few industrialists. Appar- 
ently in these days some American 
businessmen are, on the whole, more 
alert to new developments than are 
many scholars in our great universities. 
Before I had published a single paper 
on my studies of corn, one of the big 
corn-breeding companies had sent its 
research director to see me. Since that 
time it has supplied the money for 
technical assistants and graduate fellow- 
ships for use in basic research. All I did 
in return was to take an interest in the 
company’s research problems and _ talk 
from time to time with the men who 


were carrying them on. More recently 


the Brewing Industry has been sup- 
porting some fundamental studies of 
hops in which my new methods have 
been strikingly successful. A former 
student is finding them useful in Sor- 
ghum breeding, another has applied 
them effectively to the baffling prob- 
lem of how to pick out from the 
thousands of kinds of beans in Central 
America, the dozen or so which are 
best to breed from. This summer the 
American director of a coffee-breeding 
project in Ethiopia came to work with 
me and I hope world conditions may 
permit me to work with him there 
within the next year. Two other stu- 
dents are now working in the South 
Pacific on the classification and im- 
provement of native crop plants. All 
of these projects bring in at least 
enough money to carry on the work 
and sometimes a little more. At a time 
when the Garden is hard-pressed finan- 
cially, they are making it possible to 
build up our Museum of Useful Plants 
into an internationally significant 


center. 


NOTES 


|B eames October and November, 
two scientists interested in the 
flora of Mexico worked for extended 
periods in the Garden library and her- 
barium. Dr. Ida Langman of the 
Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sci- 
ences staff has been working for some 
years on a comprehensive bibliography 
of Mexican botany. Her stop-over here 
en route to Mexico was mutually prof- 


itable. She was able to locate a number 


of references here not available else- 
where and to consult with the staff 
about various details of her trip to 
Mexico. On the other hand she helped 
several of us who were puzzling over 
obscure references and departed for 
Mexico City with a long list of scien- 
tific errands to carry out for us there. 
Ing. Efriam Hernandez Xolocotzi, an 
authority on both the native flora and 
the varieties of cultivated plants of 


eae 


- be ™ - bs mit ze 4 
Y, th t quo shes ig © %; # , ly n turn bleato’ a fronts Videue i ( iy 
PtOpRMMuS, Guo Sf diatum digue of Acahum ef sm Oblique milurnies oblatato a fronte siddur ingress torch ( midauy 
yf / ce? ae bem Pens 2d —— wee o a eR ae 


rom “Villa Aldobrandina Tusculana”’, a book of etc uings by Dominique Barriere depicting the famous Villa , obrandina in 

I Villa Aldok | I l book of I gs by D ] 3 {ey | t Vill Aldok 1 

Tusculum near Rome. This magnificent old garden book, published in Rome in 1647, was recently presented to the Garden 
F y | 

library by Mr. Henry Putzel. 


wl 


bho 


INV LOG IYQOSSIW 


NAdYV)D TY: 


NILATTOd 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 15 


Mexico, has been closely associated with 
the basic agricultural research and plant 
breeding program carried on in that 
country by the Rockefeller Founda- 
tion and the Mexican Government. 
He is now in this country for a year’s 
work on the range grasses of Mexico. 
During his few weeks at the Garden 
he worked in the library and the grass 
herbarium, and consulted with mem- 
bers of the staff. Dr. Alfredo Cocucci, 
of the University of Cordoba, Ar- 
gentina, is here for a year’s study 
and work in the herbarium on_ the 
annual assistantship provided by 
the National Science Foundation to re- 
lease Dr. Rolla Tryon from routine 
curatorial duties. Dr. Tryon’s Fern 
Flora of Peru continues to go forward 
under the sponsorship of the National 
Science Foundation. He and his wife, 
Dr. Alice Tryon, who is assisting him 
in this work, returned from Peru the 
last week in November. They report 
an interesting and profitable visit spent 
partly in the field and partly in work- 
ing with Peruvian scientists in their 
Dr. Tryon’s Flora 


will be the first complete consideration 


own institutions. 


of the ferns of any large tropical area. 

Of the staff and students at the 
Garden during the last few years, the 
following have received new appoint- 
ments: Dr. Reino O. Alava, formerly 
Rosarian at the Garden, is now in the 
department of botany, University of 
California, Berkeley. 

Dr. Harold Kidd is at the Pioneer 
Hi-Bred Corn Company experiment 
station at Manhattan, Kansas. Dr. 


ww 


Edward L. Davis, who studied hops 
under a special fellowship from the 
Brewing Industries, has returned to 
the University of Massachusetts, Am- 
herst, where, in addition to teaching, 
he will continue his research on hops. 
Dr. Lawrence Kaplan, who completed 
his graduate work at the Garden under 
Dr. Hugh C. Cutler and received his 
degree from the University of Chicago 
in June, is professor of Biology at 
Wright Junior College, Chicago. Dr. 
A. S. Rao, who studied the genus 
Rauvolfia under a fellowship from 
Ciba Pharmaceutical Products Inc., has 
taken a position in the botany depart- 
ment at the University of Toronto, 
Toronto, Canada. Dr. Ding Hou, who 
last year assisted in the publication of a 
Flora of China at the Arnold Arbore- 
tum of Harvard University, has ac- 
cepted an appointment in Leyden, 
Holland to work with van Steenis on 
the Flora of Malesiana. Word has been 
received that Dr. Nalini Nirodi is now 
on the staff of the Indian Agricultural 
Research Institute, New Delhi, India. 
The herbarium assistant during 1955- 
56, Mr. George Eiten, has returned to 
the New York Botanical Garden where 
he will continue work toward his doc- 
torate. Dr. Bernard Mikula is at Madi- 
son, Wisconsin, in the botany depart- 
ment of the University of Wisconsin. 
A graduate student from Claremont 
College, California, Mr. Calaway H. 
Dodson, is completing a four months’ 
study of the orchid collection as a part 
of his research under a scholarship grant 
from the Garden Clubs of Missouri. 


ERK ERR ERK 3X ND MD NS 


154 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


GENERAL INDEX 


Figures in ifalics refer to page numbers of illustrations. 


A 

Acidity in soil, for growing azaleas, 53 

Adreon, Isabel: Borage, 80 

African Violet, 137; Society of America, his- 
tory of, 137; clubs in St. Louis, 138 

Ahahuete, at “Bosque del Contador”, 20 

Ahuehuete, in Chapultepec, Mexico, 2. 

Alava, Dr. Reino O., 153 

Alfalfa, 124 

Alley Springs, in the Missouri Ozarks, 3 

Aluminum sulphate, for azaleas, 51 

Anderson, Edgar: Bald Cypresses for St. Louis, 
109; Dr. George T. Moore, Director 1913- 
1953, 141; In Memoriam, Benjamin Minge 
Duggar, 114; Korean Lespedeza, 124; Mis- 
sourt Vegetation and an English Mathemati- 
cian, 12; Plants for a Hot Place near a Wall, 
128; review of Geddes’ “Cities in Evolution’, 
91; review of Li’s “Chinese Flower Arrange- 
ment’, 111; Rose of Brody: an Outstanding 
New Daffodil, 119; Why Botanists Visit 
Math Departments, 148 

Anderson, Dorothy: Thyme, 93 

Annuals and biennials, wild, Missouri’s crop of, 
41 

Anthriscus cerefolinm, 75 

Artemisia dracunculus, 70 

Azalea indica, 60; ledifolia alba, 59, 60; ros- 
marinifolia, 60 

Azaleas, diseases of, 51; feeding, 57; fertilizers 
for, 31; for St. Louis, 49; growing from 
seed, 61; hybrids, 59: Exbury, 61, Gable, 60, 
April cover, Glen Dale, 61, Mollis, 50, 
50; locations for, 53; mulching, 53; native 
in Missouri, 102; pruning, 57; seedlings of, 
four months old, 63; seedlings of, in a cold- 
frame, 62; soil for, 51; species, 59; watering, 
57 


Aztee and pre-Aztec gardens, 17 
B 


Baer, Mary E.: Flowers for a Fragrant Pot 
Pourri, 75; The Dry Method of Making Pot 
Pourri, 76 

Bald Cypress at Santa Marie del Tule, Mexico, 
20; in Tower Grove Park, ro&; for St. 
Louis, 109 

Balkan Holly (Ilex aquifolium var. angusti- 
folium), 32 

Barbre, Clarence: Review of Pirone’s “What's 
new in Gardening”, 88 

Baron, Edith: Pomanders, 77 

Basil, O4, 95, 105 

Bergamot, 69 

Biennials, 42; Missouri’s crop of, 41 

Big Springs, 134 

Blank, Jane P.: Herb Vinegars, 72 

Bluegrass in St. Louis, 96 

Book Reviews: Cutak’s “Cactus Guide,” 126: 
Geddes’ “Cities in Evolution,” 91; John and 


Carol Grant’s “Garden Design, Ilustrated,” 
90; Lis “Chinese Flower Arrangement,” 
111;  Muenscher’s ‘Weeds,’ 47; Pirone’s 
“What's New in Gardening,” 88; Rosen- 
dahl’s ‘Trees and Shrubs of the Upper 
Midwest,” 123; Watkins’ “ABC of Orchid 
Growing,” 127; Well’s ‘Plant Propagation 
Practices,” 14 

Borage, 80 

Borago officinalis, 80 

Bosque del Contador, ahahuetes at, 20; de- 
scription of, 27 

Botanical gardens: definition of, quotation 
from C. Stuart Gager, 29; in ancient Mex- 
ico, 17; of Missouri (see Missouri Botanical 
Garden) 

Boureria huanita, 21 

Brasso-Cattleya, growing a, 31 

Bulb forcing, 1956, fall courses in, 104 

Burnet, 65, 06 

Byzantine Snowdrop, 43, 44 


Cc 
Camassia scilloides, June cover, 81 
Carson, Meredith: Thyme, 78; The Lore of 
Mints, 101; The Lore of Basil, 105 
Cedars, Red, habitats of, in Missouri, 12 
Cheirostemon platanoides, Feb. cover 
Chapultepec, gardens of, 21 
Cheiranthodendron larreategui, Feb. cover, 23 
Chervil, 74, 75 
Cocucci, Dr. Alfredo, 153 
Cortes, Hernan, letters of, early reference to 
Mexican gardens, 18 
Cupressus Lindleyi, 23 
Cutak’s “Cactus Guide,” review of, 126 
Cutler, H. C.: The Linnean House, 113 
Cypresses in Mexican gardens, 20, 27 
Cypripedium parviflora, 37 
D 
Daffodil, new pink, Rose or BRopy, 119, IIQ 
Davis, Dr. Edward, 153 
Dendrobium Phalaconopsis, 135 
Dicranum scoparium, 103 
Dingeldein, Emily: Salad Burnet, 65 
Dodson, Calaway H., 153 
Drought in St. Louis area, 49 
Duggar, Benjamin Minge, in memoriam, 114 
Dwyer, Dr. John D.: The Missouri Botanical 
Garden Herbarium, 120 
E 
Eiten, George, 153 
Eriogonum longifolium, 106 
Etter, Alfred G.: How to use a river, Intro- 
duction, 81 
Evergreen, new broadleaf, 32 


F 
Fern, Walking, March back-cover 


MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 155 


Fish in Meramec River, 83 

Fisher, Sir Ronald, 12 

Fisher, Reka Neilson: The Savories, 73 
Flowers for a fragrant pot pourri, 75 


G 

Galanthus byzantinus, 43, 44; elwesii, 43; 
nivalis, 43, var. scharlokii, 43 

Geddes’ “Cities in Evolution,” review of, 91 

Giant City State Park in the spring, 33; dry 
sandstone bluffs at, 49; rock slide along 
Stonefort Creek in, 34; quiet rocky stream 
at, 39; trail between massive sandstone 
bluffs, March cover 

Ginkgo, in the Garden, 110 

Golden Seal, 16 

Granite and porphyry on the St. Francois 
range in the Ozarks, & 

Grant and Grant’s “Garden Design, Ilus- 
trated,” review of, 90 

Grass exhibit at the Garden, 96 

Gravel bar at a river’s bend, 82 

Gravel run at Jack’s Fork, Nov. cover 

Green Five-leaved Orchid, 102 

Growing an Orchid Plant, 31 

Growing Orchids in the Home, course in, 145 


H 


Hall, Leonard: The Ozarks come back 129; 
and Leon Hornkohl: The Ozarks come 
back, 1 

Hamamelis virginiana, 99, O8; vernalis, 100 

Hand-Flower Tree (Macpalxochiquahuitl), of 
the Aztecs, Feb. cover 

Henry Shaw Christmas Party, 139 

Herb vinegars, 72 

Herbarium, of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 
120 

Herbs: and their uses, 65-80; Basil, 94, 95, 
lore of, 105; Bergamot, 69; Borage, 80, May 
cover; Burnet, 65, 00; Chervil, 74, 75; 
European Horsemint, 69; for Pomanders, 77; 
for Pot Pourri, 75; Marjoram, 67; Mints, 
69, lore of, 101; Oregano, 68; Pennyroyal, 
69; Peppermint, 69; Rosemary, 71; Savory, 
79; Spearmint, 69; Tarragon, 70; Thyme, 
78, 93; medicinal, used by the ancient Mex- 
icans, 18 

Hernandez X., Ing. Efriam, 151 

Holly, Balkan, 32 

Horner, Nell C., book reviews: of John and 
Carol Grant’s “Garden Design, Illustrated,” 
90; of Cutak’s “Cactus Guide,” 126 

Hornkohl, Leon: The Ozarks come back, Leon- 
ard Hall and, 1 

Horsemint, European, 69 

Horticulture, courses in, 144 

Hou, Dr. Ding, 153 

Huaxtepec, gardens at, 21, 28 

Hyacinth, native wild, June cover, 81 

Hydrastis canadensis, 36 


I 
Ilex aquifolium var. angustifolinm, 32 
Illinois, Giant City State Park in, 33; map of 


southern, showing location of Giant City 
State Park, 38 

Iron chelates for azaleas, 51 

lsotria medeoloides, 102; verticillata, 103 


Jack’s Fork in the Missouri Ozarks, 5 


Jones and Fuller’s ‘Vascular Plants of Illi- 


nois,” review of, 90 


K 
Kaplan, Dr. Lawrence, 153 
Kidd, Dr. Harold, 153 
Kieffer, Catherine: Tarragon, 70 
Kohl, Paul A.: Azaleas for St. Louis Gardens, 
49 
Klippel, Allene K.: Basil, 95 
1 EF 
Lady’s Slipper, yellow, 37 
Ladies’ Tresses, 117 
Langman, Dr. Ida K.: 
Ancient Mexico, 16 
Lawn grass in St. Louis, 96 
Lawns, building and care of, 97 
Lehmann, Anne L.: Growing an Orchid Plant, 
+k 
Lespedeza, Korean, 124 
Leucojum vernum, 45 
Li’s “Chinese Flower Arrangement,” review of, 
111 
Linnean House, Oct. cover; history of, 113 
Lippagator, Use in plant propagation, 142 


M 

Majorana hortensis, 67, 68 

Marjoram, Sweet, 67 

Menthas, 69 ° 

Meramec River: conservation of, 81; endless 
flow of gall in, 84; trip of discovery on, 82 

Mexico, botanical gardens in, 17 

Mexico City and environs, view of, 7&8 

Meyer, Dr. F. G.: Balkan Holly, 32; Notes on 
Snowdrops, 43; review of Well’s “Plant 
Propagation Practices,” 14 

Mikula, Dr. Bernard, 153 

Mints, 69; lore of, 101 

Missouri, Late October Flowers in, 116; rice 
in, 136; wild annuals and biennials of, 41; 
vegetation, 12 

Missouri Botanical Garden: Chrysanthemum 
Show at the, 135; Grass exhibits at the, 
96; Henry Shaw Christmas Party, 139; 
herbarium, 120; horticulture courses at the, 
104, 144; Linnean House at the, 113; 
(Shaw’s Garden), some facts about, 46; 
Third Annual Symposium of Systematics at 
the, 140 

Missouri Ozarks, 1; cattle in, 4; changing 
plant successions in, 132; erosion in, 7; 
farming in, 6; farm pond in, Jan. cover; fire 
control in, 9; forest management in, 134; 
forests, 4, 9; geology of, 2; lespedeza in, 125; 
logging in, 5; open range grazing in, 129; 
soils, 4 

Missouri’s crop of Wild Annuals and Biennials, 
41 


Botanical Gardens in 


156 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 


Missouri vegetation and an English Mathe- 
matician, 12 

Moctezuma’s gardens, 19 

Mohlenbrock, Robert H.: Giant City State 
Park in the spring, 33 

Montezuma’s gardens, see Moctezuma 

Moore, Dr. George ‘T., Director 1913-1953, 
141, Dec. cover 

Muenscher’s “Weeds,” review of, 47 

N 
Native Plants, 41; rare, 102, 106 
Nirodi, Dr. Nalini, 153 


Notes, 151 
Oo 
Ocimum basilicum, 95; minimum, 95; sanc- 
tum, 95 


October Flowers in Missouri, 116 

Orchid plant, a few lines about an, 31 

Orchids: growing in the home, course in, 145; 
Purple five-leaved, 102, Sept. cover 

Oregano, 68 

Origanum majorana, 67, 68; vulgare, 68 

Osborn, Charlotte: Oregano, 68 

Ozarks: Come Back, 1, 129; forest manage- 
ment in, 130; rehabilitation of, 129 

Oryza sativa, 136 


P 

Pennyroyal, 69 

Peppermint, 69 

Pirone’s “What's New in Gardening,” review 
of, 88 

Plant propagation, course in, 142; the lippa- 
gator method of, 142 

Polygonatum canaliculatum, 37 

Pomander, from an old woodcut, 80 

Pomanders, 77 

Poos, Kenneth A.: How to Use a River, 81 

Pot pourri, flowers for a fragrant, 75 

Publications, for sale at the Missouri Botanical 
Garden, April back-cover 

Purple Five-leaved Orchid, 102, 103; Sept. 
cover 

Putzel, Henry, 152 

R 

Rao, Dr. A. S., 153 

Rare Plants, in Missouri, 102, 106 

Recreational value of Meramec River, 85 

Rhododendron calendulacem, 60; mucronatum, 
59, 60; cuttings, 50, var. ripense, 60; mu- 
cronulatum (Korean), 52, 53, 59; nudi- 
florum, 60; obtusum amoenum, 59; roseum, 
60; Schlippenbachii, 59; Vaseyi, 60 

Rice, cultivation of in Missouri, 136 

River, how to use a, 81 

Rose Pink, 42 

Rosemary, 71 

Rosendahl’s “Trees and Shrubs of the Upper 
Midwest, review of, 123 


S 
Sabatia angularis, 42 
St. Francois range, granite and porphyry on 
the, 6 
St. Louis: climate, 49; gardens, azaleas for, 49 


St. Louis Herb Society, Herbs and their uses, 
67-80, 93-96 

Saintpaulia, 137 

Salad Burnet, 65, 06 

Satureia hortensis, 73; montana, 73 

Savories, 75 

Savory, 79 

Schemm, Emilie: Chervil, 75 

Schreiber, Virginia: Sweet Marjoram, 67 

Scott, W. F., review of Watkins’ ‘ABC of 
Orchid Growing,” 127 

Sewage in Meramec River, 84, 84 

Shaw, Henry, personal memories of, 146 

Snowdrops, notes on, 43 

Soil, for azaleas, 51 

Solomon’s Seal, 37 

Spearmint, 69 

Spring Garden Tour, 47 

Steyermark, Dr. Julian A.: Eastern) Witch 
Hazel, 99; Late October Flowers in Missouri, 
116; Missouri’s crop of wild annuals and 
biennials, 41; Rare Missouri Plants, 102, 106; 
Rice, Northward Ho!, 136 

Synandra hispidula, 36 

Systematics, Third Annual Symposium on, 140 


4 

Tarragon, 70 

Taxodium distichum, 109; mucronatum, 20, 
23 

Tetzcotzingo, gardens at, 27, 28 

Thyme, 78, 93 

Tour for the benefit of the Garden, 47 

Tretter, Adele: An African Violet Society is 
Born—The African Violet Society of Amer- 
ica, Inc., 137; the Metropolitan St. Louis 
Council of African Violet Clubs, 138 

Tryon, Dr. Alice F., 153; A Matter of the 
Mints, 69; Review of Jones and Fuller’s 
“Vascular Plants of Illinois,’ 90; review of 
Muenscher’s “Weeds,” 47; review of Rosen- 
dahl’s “Trees and shrubs of the Upper Mid- 
west,” 123 

Tryon, Dr. Rolla, 153 

Tutass, Helmut, 142 

U 
Umbrella Plant, 106, 107 


Vv 
Villa Aldobrandina Tusculana, 752 
Vinegars, herb, 72; Lemon Thyme, 93 


WwW 
Walking Fern, March back-cover 
Watkins, “ABC of Orchid Growing,” 127 
Wells’ “Plant Propagation Practices,” review 
of, 15 
Whorled Pogonia, 102 
Wild flowers, in Missouri, 41: annuals and bi- 
ennials, 41; in Giant City State Park, 33 
Witch Hazel, Eastern, 99; Vernal or Ozark, 
100 
xX 
Xolocotzi, Efriam Hernandez, 151 


Z 
Zizaniopsis miliacea, 136; aquatica, 137 


BOARD OF TRUSTEES 


JoHN S. LEHMANN, President Henry HitTcHcock 
DANIEL K. CaTLIn, Vice-President RicHarp J. Lockwoop 
EUGENE Pettus, Second Vice-President Henry B. PFLAGER 
LeicesTER B. Faust A. WEssEL SHAPLEIGH 
DuDLEY FRENCH ROBERT BROOKINGS SMITH 


EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 


ETHAN A. H. SHEPLEY, JaMeEs F. MorrELL, 
Chancellor of Washington University President _of the Board of Education 


f St. L 
ARTHUR C. LICHTENBERGER, i 


Bishop of the Diocese of Missouri SrraTFoRD LEE MORTON 
’ 


RayMonp R. Tucker, President of the Academy of Science 
Mayor of the City of St. Louis of St. Louis 


Secretary 
Oscar E. GLAESSNER 


THE HORTICULTURAL COUNCIL 


Clifford W. Benson, E. G. Cherbonnier, Robert E. Goetz, Paul Hale, Mrs. W. 
Warren Kirkbride, Mrs. Hazel Knapp, Emmet J. Layton, Francis McMath, 
D. O’Gorman, Robert W. Otto, Robert Walm, Harold E. Wolfe, John S. 
Lehmann, Edgar Anderson, G. W. Pennewill, Chairman. 


STAFF 
vcd praraneAtmn Le Sc fatale 2 8 i eee ....Director 
| rar ¥ 4 nV Gra @r0 ho (paneer RON OnE eee eee Associate Director 
Pele ING yu UN eee) CLE Wy) So Since Smee ern Ie nena eo ee Paleobotanist 
EOUISaGry Bren e ties ele eine ee eee Arborist and Grounds Superintendent 
Madislausm@utak-. + 5-2-1. ee Horticulturist and Greenhouse Superintendent 
Vea TY 4 vib GH Gi ha (35 Rune tae i PO seas Reet) cn ieee eet Curator of the Museum 
aro We 1D dd 2a so 2 per ce ae SE ee we SL Mycologist 
John’ D. Dwyer. ...--...2.<....... Se eae ea occ ett eee es Research Associate 
ROD e teas) pg Gat LOS 99 1a has) Sag ee ene eee encanto In charge of Orchids 
Os Cats dG) teserie ine eee ee eae etapa ete er Nee eee, Business Manager 
1 URC Cage io (oo 01 ee ene emery re Weer meen mk Pane e VO Recs UTC SS WR Librarian and Editor 
L-31 By = aes) 0) Dze ame nr ae SE apa aE Pe a0. IC En SOTO Floriculturist 
| OFreFur (erst [ed CENA Te) ee greene Mee ah 2, een es SES Pr ROIS By Ce Landscape Architect 
BredertckysG. dMicyie races et kate eeee eter cere eee sae ne ee ee Dendrologist 
Waltons Muehlenbach siti... ssrssa seers es tee ee Research Associate 
Sl TaS eI gs lowe A Wat Ame aegeeers es eee ge a res A ee ee a en Superintendent 
RCS Tarn eh Ary So aA fe ees eee nee eee Engineer 
Malia merAcy SO Cey.e Gina Tecate eee ee a ee eee eee ees Honorary Research Associate 
licecs) Giy ons cae. tacen ae ee ee EN ee re PO ee ee Research Associate 
IRCeh EWI UF oh ige se fem eeyr ey pre ee aren, Onan Assistant Curator of Herbarium 
Georges Baa Vian Schaerer se or ete eee Acting Curator of Herbarium 
RROD Er tee Eco OO SON nese gree ee Senior Taxonomist 


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 Galesburg, Illinois, 
under Act of March 3, 1879. 


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. (spring 
to fall) and until six (in the winter time) though the green- 
houses close at five. Tower Grove, itself, Mr. Shaw’s old 
country home, is open from one until four, admission twenty- 
five cents, with special guides. The Garden is nearly a mile long 
and has several entrances. The Main Entrance, the one most 
used by the general public, is at Tower Grove and Flora Place 
on the Sarah bus line (No. 42). The Park Southhampton 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 
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The step-in gate (more or less 
concealed by the big Cleveland Ave. gate, 2221 Tower Grove) 
is nearly always open, and 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.