Tas. 4897. 
ARALIA papyRireRA. 
Rice-paper Plant. 
Nat. Ord. ARALIACEZ.—PENTANDRIA PENTAGYNIA. 
en. Char. Calyx tubo cum ovario connato, limbo supero, brevissimo, integro 
Vv. quinquedentato. Corolle petala (4—) 5, disci epigyni margini inserta, libera, 
expansa. Stamina 5, cum petalis inserta, iisdem alterna; jilamenta brevia; an- 
there incumbentes, biloculares. Ovarivm inferum, quinque-decemloculare. Ovula 
in loculis solitaria, pendula. Sfyli (2—-) 5, divaricato-patentes; stigmata sim- 
plicia. Drupa baccata, costata, calycis limbo stylisque coronata, penta-decapy- 
rena, pyrenis chartaceis, monospermis. Semina inversa. Hmbryo in apice albu- 
minis dense carnosi brevis, orthotropus, radicula supera.—Arbores, frutices 2. 
herbee, ix America imprimis boreali, Japonica et Nova-Zelandia crescentes ; foliis 
alternis, simplicibus, integris v. lobatis, digitatis, pinnatis, biternatis, bipinnatis su- 
pradecompositisve, foliolis integerrimis v. serratis, petiolis basi vaginantibus ; flori- 
bus wmbeilatis, umbellis sepe paniculatis. Endl. 
ARALIA papyrifera ; caule inermi erecto subsimplici fruticoso intus copiose albo- 
medulloso, foliis praecipue ad apicem caulis longe petiolatis amplis 5-lobis 
subtus preecipue (junioribus totis) petiolisque stellato-subferrugineo-tomen- 
tosis, lobis lateralibus bilobis terminali trilobo omnibus acutis serratis, stipulis 
longissimis subulatis basi cum petiolo adnatis, umbellis subglobosis nume- 
rosis sessilibus bracteatis in paniculam amplam ramosam totam. stellato- 
tomentosam dispositis, floribus tetrameris, calycis margine truncato integro, 
stylis 2 demum divaricatis. 
Aralia papyrifera. Hook. Journ. of Bot. 1852. p. 53. ¢. 1, 2. 
In the ‘ Journal of Botany’ just referred to,—vols. n. (1850), 
p- 27 and p. 250 (tabs. VIII. and IX.), vol. iv. (1852), p. 50 
(tabs. I. and IT.), and p. 347, vol. v. (1853), p. 79, and vol. vu. 
(1855), p. 92 and p. 281,—we have traced the progress of our 
knowledge respecting the origin, and the history, of the well- 
known “ice-paper” of the Chinese, and mentioned the gentle- 
men through whom we obtained the needful information : which 
we have no space to repeat here. It is however to the kindness of 
the talented Governor of Hongkong, Sir John Bowring, and his 
son, J. C. Bowring, Esq., that we owe a more intimate acquaint- 
ance with the plant itself, and finally to the possession of the 
living and flowering plant. Our largest specimen, about five feet 
FEBRUARY Ist, 1856. 
A 
