240 WILSON EXPEDITION TO CHINA 



Western Hupeh: Hsing-shan Hsien, thickets, alt. 1600 m., June 

 1907 and October 1907 (No. 3325; bush 1.5 m., fruit black); without 

 locality, A. Henry (No. 5915°, type). 



The branch with very young fruits of Wilson's number differs from the type 

 only in its more pilose leaves. The branch with ripe fruits shows the differences 

 described above. The species may be most nearly related to R. virgatus Rox- 

 burgh. 



Rhamnus utilis Decaisne in Compt Rend. Acad. Set. Paris, XLIV. 

 1141 (1857). — Rondot, Vert de Chine, 141, t. 1 (1857). — Koehne, 

 Deutsche Dendr. 394 (1893). — Schneider, III Handb. Laubholzk. II. 

 289, fig. 197 t-w, 199 1 (1909). 



Western Hupeh: north and south of Ichang, roadsides, alt. 30- 

 1300 m., abundant, April and October 1907 (No. 3333^; bush 0.6-2 m. 

 tall, fruit black, leaves used in making a green dye); Fang Hsien, 

 ravines, alt. 1000-1600 m., May 24, Jime and September 1907 (Nos. 

 623, in part, 3331; bush 1-2.5 m. tall, fruit black); Changyang Hsien, 

 thickets, alt. 1000-1600 m., May 1907 (No. 3332; bush 1-2.5 m., 

 flowers greenish-yellow); Hsing-shan Hsien, thickets, alt. 300-1300 

 m., abundant, May, November 1907 (Nos. 3333, 623, in part; bush 

 0.6-1.5 m. tall, flowers greenish, fruit black); same locality, October 

 1907 (No. 432; foha ad 15:6 cm. magna); Nanto, April 28, 1900 

 (Veitch Exped. No. 394); Ichang and neighbourhood, A. Henry (No. 

 3606, 6018; without precise locality, April 1900 (Veitch Exped. No. 

 217^). Chekiang: vicinity of Ningpo, 1908, D. Macgregor. 



The original description of Decaisne is too short to make it possible to recognize 

 the species meant by the author, and I have not yet seen the plate given in Rondot's 

 book, but after all I think that the interpretation given by Koehne, Deutsche 

 Dendr. 394 (1893), and by me, I, c, may be correct.* Hemsley unites the species 

 with R. davuricus Pallas to which it is certainly nearly related, but the large 

 leaves with short petioles, which become yellow-green in drying, distinguish it at 

 once from R. davuricus Pallas, R. catharticus Linnaeus and R. japonicus Maximo- 

 wicz. The rather large yellow flowers and the fruits are very numerous and densely 

 crowded at the base of the short branchlets. I have not yet seen a fully ripe seed, 

 but they seem to have a distinct but closed furrow. 



There are some forms, which I cannot yet determine with sufficient certainty, 

 viz. Wilson's Veitch Exped, No. 649 from Eastern Szech'uan, Wushan Hsien, 

 May 1900, shrub 1 m. tall. Some of the young leaves resemble those of i?. 

 WiUonii Schneider, but I thi nk the No. 649 may belong to R. utilis, 



Rhamnus Wilsonii Schneider, n. sp. 



Frutex ad 1.5 m, altus, ut videtur paullo spinosus; ramuli alterni, 



1 We have compared Rondot's plate with the specimens referred by Schnei- 

 der to R. utUis and believe that his determination is correct. 



A. R. and E. H. W. 



