JOURNAL of the AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, INC. * January 1963
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JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, INC. * January 1963 AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY A union of the A merican Horticultural Society and the American Ho'rticultural Council 1600 BLADENSBURG ROAD, NORTHEAST . WASHINGTON 2, D. C. For United Horticulture *** to accumulate, increase, and disseminate horticultural information B. Y. MORRISON, Editor Directors JAMES R. HARLOW, Managing Editor Terms Expiring 1963 MARY W. I'vL HAKES Maryland Editorial Committee GRETCHEN HARSHBARGER Iowa JOHN CREECH, L. Chainnan FREDERIC HEUTTE W. H. HODCE Virginia W. H. HODCE FREDERIC P. LEE CONRAD B. LINK ALBERT J. IRVING New Y01'k CURTIS MAY Tenns Exph'ing 1964 FREDERICK G . MEYER R. C. ALLEN WILBUR H. YOUNGMAN Ohio P. H. BRYDON Officers California CARL W. FENNINGER PRESIDENT Pennsylvania JOHN E. GRAF HENRY T. SKINNER District of Columbia Washington, D. C. GRACE P. "VILSON Maryland FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT RAY C . ALLEN T erms Expiring 1965 Mansfield, Ohio HAROLD EpSTEIN New York SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT FRED C. GALLE FRiTS W. WENT Georgia FRED J. N ISBET St. Louis, Missouri No-rth Carolina J. FRANKLIN STYER ACTING SECRETARY-TREASURER Pennsylvania GRACE P. WILSON Bladensburg, Maryland Massachusetts The American Horticultural Magazine is the official publication of the American Horticultural Society and is issued four times a year during the quarters commencing with January, April, Jllly and October. It is devoted to the dissemination of knowledge in the science and art of growing ornamental plants, fruits, vegetables, and related subjects. Original papers increasing the historical, varietal, and cultural knowledges of plant materials of economic and aesthetic importance are welcomed and will be published as early as possible. The Chairman of the Editorial Committee should be consulted for manuscript specifications. Reprints will be furnished in accordance with the following schedule of prices, plus post age, and should be ordered at the time the galley proof is returned by the author: One hundred copies-2 pp $6.60; 4 pp $12.10; 8 pp $25.30; 12 pp $36.30; Covers $12.10. Entered as second class matter in the post office at Baltimore, Maryland, in accordance wilh the Act of August 24. 1912. Additional entry for Washington, D.C., was authorized July 15, 1955. in accordance with the pro visions of Section 132.122. Postal Manual. A subscription to The American H07ticultllTai Magazine is included as a benefit of membership in the American Horticultural Society, Individual Membership dues being $6.00 a year. W . H . HODGE Tibouchina sellowiana A hands(lme specimen flowering at the Botanical Institute Sao Paulo, Brazil [See page 59] The Lil yturfs In Gardens H. HAROLD HUMEl and B. Y. MORRISON2 Common names or garden names of of this country and their possibilities ex plants usually have been given by those ploited to any extent. Much remains to who lived with them as native plants or be done to prove the ultimate limits of have grown them in their gardens. Some their cold hardiness and still more for names have been in use for many years their uses in garden designing, since they but Lily turf is an exception. There was need not always be written off merely as no name commonly used for these ground covers. plants in the United States, so in 1929 In the genus Ophiopogon, there are L. H. Bailey proposed that they be only two bona fid e species now generally called Lily turfs. This is a very appro cultivated in the United States, (0. ja priate name, since they belong to the buran and O. japonicus) with an addi Lily Family and they form a turf of sorts tional plant masquerading under the or cover the ground with their grass-like invalid name of O. arabicus. This last leaves. is a distinct plant, with more or less the The Lilyturfs as wild plants are native stature of O. japonicus, but differs mark of China and Japan, mostly in the latter edly in that the new leaves, though country and have been known in west green on appearing soon turn black, ern botanical and garden literature at and that unlike its presumptive kin, it is least since 1712. In that year, Engelbert slower than slow to increase. Kaempfer, a German doctor with the In the genus Liriope, there are several Dutch East India Company in his book species and many cultivars that have Amoenitatum Exoticarum, illustrated originated mostly from seed of one spe and described one of them, now known cies, L. muscari. These have been prop to botanists as Ophiopogon japonicus. agated to some extent, particularly for He cited the Japanese names mondo and use in the South (south of Washington, riuno fige for it, which he translated D. C.), though it appears that this area into Latin as Barba serpentina (Snake'S is not necessarily their proper climatic Beard) . This species has come to be limit. These species include: L. exili widely known through much propaganda /lora, L. spicata, L. muscari, L. gramini as Mondo Grass, a not too inept name folia, and L. gigantea, the last mentioned as the plant in great masses does sug is a new species described in Baileya gest a grassy surface or lawn. Vol. 9, No. 4 (1961). The gardener who In spite of the fact that they have long is curious about the technical distinc been known in the literature, both tech tions between the genera and the spe nical and popular, the individual plant cies is referred to the above-mentioned longest known and grown is probably the work. species now known as Ophiopogon jabu In brief, it may be said that the Lily ran. Many readers will doubtless recall turfs (Liriope and Ophiopogon) are this name in old lists, such as Dreer's, much alike in general appearances, with where the plant was offered for use in the best distinctions to be found in the pots forty years or more ago. growth habit, in the structure of the The greater number of plants included flowers, and in the kinds of inflores under the common name of Lily turf be cence. long to the related genus Liriope (pro Although any generalization is dan nounced Lid-o-pe), and it is probable gerous, it may be said that all species in that only within the last decade or so, the two genera are evergreen-herbaceous they have come into general use in parts plants, either forming caespitose clumps or spreading by underground stolons or 1 Dean Emeritus, College of Agriculture, University rhizomes, some at alarming rates. The of Florida, Cainsville, Florida. 2 Pass Christian, Mississippi. leaves though evergreen are at their best (1] JANUARY • 1963 FORMERLY THE NATIONAL HORTICU LTURAL MAGAZINE VOLUME 42 • NUMBER 1 Contents The Lily turfs in Gardens H. HAROLD HUME and B. Y. MORRISON __ ______________ ______ ___ __ _______________________ _ Some Horticultural Centers of the Riviera FREDERICK G. MEYER .____________________________ ____ ____ _________ ____ __ _____ _________ ___ _______ _____ 12 Yucca-A Lily Surrounded by Daggers R 0 BERT A. VINES __________________ ____________________________________ ______ __ __ ______ ____ _______ ____ ___ ___ _ 29 Evergreen Viburnums Donald R. Egolf __________________________________________________________ ._________ _____ ______ __ __ ________ 38 A Book or Two _____________________________________________________ ___ _______________ __________________ _____ _______ 52 The Gardeners' Pocketbook N eodypsis decaryi. N IXON SMILEY________________________ ___________________ ___________ ____ __ 55 Hypericum rhodopeum 'Sunspot.' RICHARD W. LIGHTY. __ _____________________ 55 Kaempferia decom. B. Y. MORRISON ________________________________________________ ___ ___ ____ 57 Lachenalias in California. MRS. R. G. STAPLETON_________________________________ 59 The Tibouchinas of Brazil. W. H. HODGE ______ __________ _____________ _________ ______ .__ 59 Chonemorpha and Beaumontia. G. A. C. HERKLOTS _______________________ _______ 62 Toneya taxifolia. R. K. GODFREY and HERMAN KURZ ___________________________ 65 J ANUARY COVER ILLUSTRATION [c. HAMPFLER, LO NGWOOD GARDENS] H ypericlLm rhodo peum 'Sunspot' [See Page 55] Copyright, © 1963 by T he A merican H oriticultural Society. Inc_ 2 THE AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE for a little more than one year, save in species. The former is more widely O. japonicus which seems to be a little used, because it is more readily avail more resistant to cold and sun. The able, not because it is a particularly bet leaves vary in length and width. Among ter plant, though its lower stature does the cultivars of O. jaburan and L. mus appeal to some. If either of them is cari, garden cultivars exist that show planted 6" x 6" qr 8" x 8" apart, good various types of leaf variegation, some coverage can be had in two growing sea of which are of great value in bringing sons. Elsewhere it is indicated that the a new color range into any mass plant best time for planting is either late au ing. In the South where gray is rare tumn in the South or early spring far and gaudy colored leaves are common. ther north. After they have covered the These plants make a welcome addition ground they require no more attention for even the variegated forms carry than turnips or beans to keep them look through as green from a distance. ing well! It has been found, particu larly with L. spicata, that it is best in Garden Values and Uses spring to cut back the plants in all areas Ophiopogon and Lil'iope, strange as it where used as ground covers to within may seem, have been neglected plants. an inch or so of the ground. This is ad They are now gaining favor as their visable because the winter season some values are recognized and the uses to times makes them appear ragged by which they may be put in garden mak spring. The new leaf growth quickly ing have become better known.