Curtis's Botanical Magazine/Volume 63/3500

[ 3500 ]

Class and Order.

(Nat. Ord. - )

Generic Character.

Perianthium quadripartitum vel quadrifidum. Stamina apicibus concavis laciniarum immersa. Squamulæ hypo- gonæ 4. Ovarium uniloculare biovulatum. Ovula post fæcundationem cohærentia. Folliculus ligneus.Disepimentum ligneum semibifidum frûctus maturi omninò simile. Receptaculum commune planum, floribus indeterminatim confertis; paleis angustis, rarò nullis. Involucrum commune imbricatum.-Frutices plerumque humiles. Rami dum adsint sparsi vel umbellati. Folia sparsa, pinnatifida v. incisa, plantæ juvenilis conformia. Involucra solitaria, ter- minalia, rarò lateralia, sessilia, foliis confertis, interioribus quandoque nanis obvallata, hemisphærica, bracteis adpressis, in quibusdam apice appendiculatis. Stylus sæpè perianthio vix longior. Br.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

( �§. )

pteridifolia; foliis pinnatifidis caule abbreviato erectiusculo, vel propensè decumbente tomentoso lon- gioribus : lobis elongato-linearibus acutis, s. oblongo- linearibus obtusis mucronatis, margine revolutis, peri- anthii laminis colorato-lanatis apice penicillatis, invo- lucri squamis exterioribus lato-ovatis spadiceo-tomen- tosis. (α) lobis foliorum obsoletè nervosis basi dilatatis, caule erectiusculo. (Tab. nostr. 3500.)
 * DRYANDRA

VOL. X.     H --

Dryandra pteridifolia. Brown in Linn. trans. v. 10. p. 215. Ejusd. Prodr. v. 1. p. 399. Röm. et Schult. Syst. Veget. v. 3. p. 447. (β.) lobis foliorum manifestè trinervibus, basi simplici, caule perquam humili, ramis floriferis præsertim pros- tratis. DRYANDRA blechnifolia. Br. in Linn. trans. et Prodr. necnon. Röm. et Schult. Syst. Veget. in locis citatis.



When Mr. published the first volume of his invaluable Pro- dromus, the plant here figured, which was discovered by that very eminent Botanist on rocky hills, at King George's Sound, was regarded by him as possibly a distinct species from another named D. blechni- folia, of which specimens without fructification, and originally gathered also on the shores of the Sound, by our highly respected and venerable friend Mr, in his voyage with , were preserved Banksian Herbarium. A subsequent examination however, of more perfect specimens, has proved them to be but varieties of one spe- cies differing from each other chiefly in habit, and in some measure in the figure of the lobes of the leaves, although in some native specimens examined, there is manifestly a disposition to produce the two shapes of leaves upon the same plant.

The present remarkable and variable subject was raised from seeds, collected by the late very indefatigable botanic-voyager, Mr.W. , during his first visit to the South-western shores of Australia, in 1823; and the specimens transmitted us from Kew, by the liberality of Mr., last spring, were taken from a plant, which we understand, is not only the first that has produced flowers in Britain, but is the only example of the species at this time alive in Europe. It may here be added at for its presence at all in our collections, as indeed for the introduction to England, of many others of the rarer and more beauteous of Australian vegetables, cultivators of ornamental exotic plants are en- tirely indebted to the disinterested liberality of F., Esq.

Our plant in cultivation exhibits the contour of a dwarf, bushy shrub, with short, flexuose branches, clothed with a whitish wool. Leaves exceedingly rigid, crowded, and pinnatifid; lobes alternate, for the most part linear, an inch and a half to two inches long, terminated by a sharp, rigid mucro, the margins revolute, base dilated, covered on the under side with a ferruginous tomentum and nerved, the nerves even- tually obsolete; upper paginæ of a very dark green and glossy. Flowers in terminal heads, surrounded by coloured leaves, of a faint honey-scent. Involucre closely imbricated, clothed with a very dense reddish-brown tomentum, having the outer bractes elliptical, acuminate, very smooth within, and the inner scales linear, covered with orange-coloured appress- ed, rigid hairs, pencilled at the apex. Perianth deeply divided into four equal segments, invested with a pink-coloured, curled wool, barer towards the base : lamina linear, much longer than the unguis, tipped with a pencil-like tuft of soft, spreading hars. Stamens four, inserted in the long, concave extremities of the laminæ. Anthers linear, apicu-
 * lated

--

lated, bursting longitudinally. Style terete, obscurely sulcated, exserted, longer than the perianth, very smooth, slighttly subulate, thickened towards the base. Stigma simple. Hypogynous glands four, oblong, bilobed.

The eager avidity with which spirited, liberal-minded gentlemen in this country, have, at various periods in the course of the last forty years, sought to possess and maintain in their collections living examples of the many Genera of, affords an abundant proof of the great interest they have excited, and of the high estimation in which plants of a family, possessing forms no less extraordinary than numerous, whether indigenous to the Cape of Good Hope, or to the arid shores of Australia, have been held.

At one period, within, doubtless the recollection of some of our readers, not only the King's gardens at Kew, and the rich Conservatories of, Esq. at Clapham, but the gardens of other gentlemen,and espe cially the sale-collections of the more eminent nurserymen around London, could boast of many choice specimens of Cape Proteaceous plants, which in the present day, are nowhere to be seen; for having been urged by cuture to put forth their showy flowers, they immediately afterwards, in many in- stances, exhibited, from some mistreatment, debility and sickness, and eventually dying, have ever since been lost to Britain. Since an ignorance at the time, of the proper mode of managing the plants of this family, whether natives of the Cape or of New Holland, doubtless led to the mortality that prevailed at periods not many years subsequent to their having been raised from the imported seeds, perhaps it may not be out of place in this work, to give our readers the substance of a few practical observations offered us, on the successful treatment of certain of the Order, as pursued at Kew by the principal very able cultivator in that garden, Mr., to whose horticultural knowledge is superadded a critical botanical discriminiation of plants generally, and especially of that numerous and beautiful tribe, the , and to whose talents in these particulars, we are happy, in common with other Botanists in Britain and on the continent, especially attached to the study of Cryptogamic vegetation, to bear ample testimony.

Adverting to the interesting pamphlet of Mr., the excellent Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, on the propaga- tion and culture of Cape Heaths, which appeared in 1831, Mr. observes, that he had pursued with success for some time antecedent to that date, the same mode of treatment of under his care, that is re- commended in that publication, with respect to the culture of Heaths, viz. in regard to shifting the plants into fresh and larger pots; in the process of which, it is very important to afford, by means of potsherds, or fragments of half-baked pottery, a good drainage below, and especially to avoid deep pot- ting, by placing the plant, with its ball of earth round the roots quite entire, so as to be some two or three inches above the surface of the soil at the edge of the pot, which will have the effect of carrying off any superabundant moisture from the roots to the circumference, and thus prevent the chance of water becoming stagnant round the base of the stem; by inattention to this latter circumstance, many a and  in other collections have been killed; whilst a steady regard to free drainage, to an abundant circulation of air, and a low temperature, he has succeeded in preserving many fine proteaceous plants longer than is generally effected in other gar- dens in the neighbourhood of London.

"Even in the present day," he observes, "there may be some few gardeners, who may object to the mode of potting certain plants here insisted on, on the ground that, by being thus raised in their pots above the soil at the edge, they have not a handsome look; and this practice, now adopted and
 * recommended

--

recommended by Mr. with regard to Cape Heaths, &c., had its prejudice on his mind for years, for no other reason, as he himself tells us, "than that I fancied the plant looked as if it were ill potted, and, to my view, unsightly." " But we now see, how much other and more judicious management, founded on physiological principles, has overcome the preju- dices of former days, and the difficulties attendant on the culture of not simply these, but the plants of other tribes:-witness our orchideous Epi- phytes.

"The soil," continues this intelligent cultivator, "which I use in the cul- tre of most of the, is a good fresh loam, with which, if stiff, I mix a portion of sand, so as not to admit of its being retentive of water. In time, after being potted as already directed, the main roots next the stem of the plant will become uncovered: this circumstance I regard as favour- able to the health of the plant: there will be no danger of its dying suddenly, as I have known many to do, that have been buried alive,–in other words, been deeply potted!"

"In the winter months, care should be taken not to saturate the earth with water, nor wet the leaves or stem more, than can be avoided. In dry weather however, during the summer season, water may be freely given to the plants about sunset, and a very essential point to be observed is, that, when they are placed out in the open air in groups, the sun's rays should not be allowd to fall directly on the sides of the pots, for if they are, all the feeding spongioles of the tender roots round the inner side of the pot, will assuredly be destroyed, and the life of the plant greatly endangered. Repeatedly have I known a to have been killed by the solar ray having been thus allowed to act on the side of the pot, which six months' afterwards retained so much of a life-like look–being kept yet in its pot–as to appear to the eye of a superficial observer, to be still alive, and in perfect vigour. The lowest greenhouse-temperature that can judiciously be allowed, to prevent the effects of frost, is sufficient for the generality of the family now in culti- vation in Britain, and no artificial heat is required for their preservation, excepting in severe frosty weather." He adds, with reference to pruning, that "as the rapid upright-growing species are, if left to themselves, shorter- lived, than others naturally more robust, the free use of the knife is recom- mended the growth of the plants checked, by keeping the luxuriant shoots cut back. This remark is especially applicable to those beautiful plants of the Order, with simple, straight, wand-like stems, such for example as Brownii and  Serra, Br., the former of which has been lost to several collections that could once have boasted of it, by its having been suffered to shoot up into exuberant growth, far beyond what the slender, tapering, thinly-fibred root could at all furnish sustenance. By heading these down somewhat, and thus reducing the ascending axis, or column of circulation, a more robust habit is induced, a growth of roots in their pots takes place, lateral branches are thrown out, and the plants thus treated at Kew, are now in the best possible health, with every indicative of being fully established in that garden". To the above observations of an intelligent and practical man, may be added a few very brief remarks on the habits, economy, and indispensable treat- ment, in cultivation, of a division of Australian, growing natu- rally on the sea coasts, or upon barren tracts within the influence of the sea air, in the tropical regions of that continent. The Genera hitherto observed on the equinoctial shores of New Holland are and , and these comprise a group collec- tively of thirty-three species, of peculiar constitution entirely governed in their growth, and general development, by the circumstances and modifica- tions of the climate in which they exist.

It is a well-known fact, that what constitutes the change of season in
 * intertropical

--

intertropical regions is not any approach to the winter of countries within the temperate sones, much less of those of the higher latitudes, in respect to any material difference of atmospheric temperature at opposite periods of the year, but (we are speaking of the climate of the sea coast) is due to that periodical, well-defined break-up, from great drought to extreme humidity, commonly called the dry and rainy seasons. With such perfect regula- rity do these changes of season take place on the N. W. coast, that our friend Capt. P. R. N., who was employed, during nearly five on its survey, could l forward almost to the very day when the break-up easterly monsoon, and with it the period of drought, would obige him peremptorily to stand off shore, and immediately to quit the coast. It was during the existence of that monsoon, which prevals between May and October, when the wind blows steadily off shore, that portions of that survey were annually conducted, and the Botanist of the voyage, although he landed almost daily from the vessel to pursue his researches, 'twas oftentimes but to behold vegetable life in a state of extreme langour, by the aridity of the atmosphere, and its uniformly high fervid temperature. The, and, indeed, herbaceous plants generally, had suffered in the early part of the season : these were all burnt up, and the more woody vegetables, the shrubs, arbusculæ, and stunted timber trees bore the marked evidences of participation in the general distress. None were detected in a flowering state, whilst all were laden with their ripened fruits. The , of which every sandy beach and rocky islet furnished some species, bore their clustered pods on branches, in many species incrusted with a brittle concrete matter, that had exuded through the cuticle, which ap- peared by thus covering the bark, the phyllodia, and buds, to suspend for a time, the operation of their respective functions, and thus lull vegetable life into a state of quiescence. All nature wore an air of desolation, and the vegetable world assumed an aspect unusually gray and gloomy. But it was its season of rest-that period of repose which appears essential to vegetation generally in tropical countries, to enable it upon the return of the rains, to burst forth with a renovated strength into fresh life, and undergo with vigour that sudden and prodigious development of leaves and flowers, which con- stitutes the beauty and grandeur of the vegetables of warm countries.

During the surveys of Capt. just noticed, the seeds of no less than twelve species of Proteaceous plants, (and chiefly of Mr. last section of the Genus ,) were received at Kew. Plants of each were readily raised, which afterwards, with the treatment they received, grew to the stature of large shrubs, and some eventually flowered, to the admira- tion of all visitors.. But these goodly plants were not destined to long life in the Kng'sgardens, for, inattentive to the conditions under which alone, those lovelier forms of Australian vegetation exist on their native coasts, they were urged immediately after flowering, into a new and unnatural vigorous growth. In vain they looked for some short season of rest, by perhaps a dryer warmth, with but the slightest possible watering afforded, to sustain life–a treatment, to which their constitutions, inherited from their parents, ap- peared so fully adapted. They found none; but debility resulting from forced culture, was followed by extreme exhaustion, and death closed the scene! But we have yet to discover, in our future endeavours to cultivate the shrubby vegetables of the sands of the intertropical shores of that vast country, by what mode of treatment, plants delighting in a high atmospheric temperature, and subject to the extremes of drought and humidity at oppo- site periods of the year, can possibly be cultivated in Britain. It is to be hoped that our government may, ere long, be induced to re-establish settle- ments on the northern coasts of New Holland, whence the seeds of those beautiful plants, to which we have particularly referred, may be again obtained, and other methods of culture tried, in which their native habits
 * should

--

should be more consulted, than they were, some few years since, when one or two collections only, about London, could, for a short period, boast of pos- sessing living specimens. We will just observe, that these are considerations of vegetable life well worthy of the attention of the intelligent botanic gar- dener : it should ever be his business to imitate nature in the care and treat- ment of her vegetable subjects, by affording them, as far as practicable, the soil, the temperature, and situation in which they flourish in their native re- gions, when these can be ascertained; and it should be no less the duty of the botanic-traveller to communicate these and other circumstances, in re- spect to the seasons of growth and cessation from it of plants of equinoctial countries, in which he may have extended his labours, as all such will greatly aid the skill of the intelligent cultivator.