FKUITING OF WISTARIA SINENSIS. 331 



fruiting of the Wistaria is a rare occurrence, but that in 1874 his ' 

 gardener raised a plant from one of two seeds in a pod produced by 

 a Glycine trained on his orangery. It may, he says, have fruited 

 at other times ; but his attention had not been drawn to the fact. 

 He also sent in his letter a pod gathered recently in a neighbour's 

 garden from a trained plant. 



M. Barbey states that the Wistaria fruits frequently at Lyons 

 and in the Rhone valley from Villeneuve to Bex. 



Wistaria sinensis, it may be remarked, is not adapted to a very 

 rigorous climate. Mr- Hemsley states, " In the south of England 

 it attains great perfection on a trellis or pillar; but in the north 

 it requires the protection of a wall." * It is, as is well known, a 

 native of China ; and the Kew Museum possesses fine pods from 

 Shanghae, the gift of the late Daniel Hanbury. Flowering, as it 

 does, in May, before the appearance of the leaves, it appears to 

 nie probable that a temperature warmer than is sufficient for the 

 production of flowers is necessary for the setting and early deve- 

 lopment of the fruit. The climate of the Ehone valley and the 

 eastern end of the Lake of Geneva is well known to be milder 

 than that of the western end. The mean spring temperature at 

 Montreux and Villeneuve is higher than at Geneva ; and to this 

 circumstance I attribute the greater frequency w r ith which the 

 Wistaria fruits, as pointed out by M. C. De Candolle, proceeding 

 towards the head of the lake. The same explanation applies to 

 this country, where, however, the Wistaria has been known to 

 fruit occasionally. Sir Joseph Hooker informs me that he has 

 observed pods on an old plant trained against his house at Kew 

 on more than one occasion. 



It is a circumstance which is tolerably well known to horticul- 

 turists that flowers subjected to too cold a temperature while still 

 in the hud may have their sexual organs so much injured that, 

 though the flowers are still able to expand and reach their full 

 development, they are nevertheless absolutely sterile. This is the 

 case with the Pear and, I believe, the Apple, in which, as Dr. Hogg 

 has demonstrated to me, the flowers examined superficially some- 

 times appear to have escaped all damage from frost, the petals, 

 which might more particularly have been expected to show injury, 

 being perfectly intact. And yet, on making a vertical section 

 through the flower, the carpels (the most thoroughly protected ia 



Trees 



