Tas. 80388. 
SKIMMIA JAPONICA. 
Japan. 
Ruracexz.—Tribe TopDALIEz. 
Sximmia, Thunb. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant..vol. i. p. 302; Engl. in Engl. 
& Prantl, Pflanzenf. vol. iii. 4, p. 181. 
Skimmia japonica, Thunb. Fl. Jap. p. 62; Kempfer, Ic. Sel. Plant. t. 5; 
Sieb. et Zucc. Fl. Jap. vol. i. p. 127, t. 68; M. T. M. in Gard. Chron. 1889, 
vol. 1. p. 520, ff. 89 et 90; Honzo Zufu, vol. xxiv. f. 5, non Lindl. et Pazt. 
Fl. Gard. ii. p. 56, £. 163, nee Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 4719; species japonica 
foliis pallide viridibus floribus polygamis drupis globosis vel depresso- 
globosis coccineo-rubris. : 
Frutex sempervirens, dumosus, nanus, omnibus partibus aromaticus, inflores- 
centia minute puberula excepta, glaberrimus. Folia alterna, seepe pseudo- 
verticillata, breviter petiolata, coriacea, nitida, pallide viridia, obovato- 
oblonga, oblonga vel lanceolata, 2-5- (seepe 3-4-) poll. longa, 4-1? poll. 
lata, acuta, acuminata vel obtusa, basi attenuata, integerrima, pel- 
lucide glanduloso-punctata; petioli crassi, szpissime rubescentes. 
Flores polygami, suaveolentes, parvi, in paniculas thyrsoideas ter- 
minales 2-3-poll. longas dispositi; pedicelli crassi, breves, bracteolis 
parvis oppositis instructi. Calyx breviter 4—5-lobatus. Petala 4-5, 
oblonga, alba, circiter 2 lin. longa et 13 lin. lata. Stamina 4-5, 
petalis zquilonga. Ovariwm globosum, plerumque 4-loculare loculis 
1-ovulatis; rndimentum in floribus masculinis depresso-globosum, calyce 
multo brevius. Stylus simplex, crassus, brevis, stigmate incrassato 
3- vel 4-Jobato. Drupa globosa vel depresso-globosa vel obsolete 3-4- 
sulcata, interdum apice concava, circiter 4 lin. diam., coccineo-rubra, 
2-4-pyrena. Pyrenze subtrigone, dorso convexw, 24-24 lin. longe.— 
S. oblata, T. Moore in Gard. Chron. 1864, p. 962; 8. fragrans, Carriére in 
Rev. Hort. 1869, p. 258; 1880, p. 56, f. 11. S&S. fragrantissima, Hort. ex 
T,. Moore in Proc. Linn. Soc. 1866-67, p. 7. 
The Skimmia here figured is a very familiar inhabitant 
of our gardens. As long ago as 1838 it had a place in 
the living collections at Kew, though its introduction into 
general cultivation did not follow till the early sixties, 
when Standish, of Bagshot, received it from Robert 
Fortune, who obtained it during his visit to Japan in 
1860-61. Thomas Moore, in 1864, gave it the name of 
S. oblata. 
Fortune had in 1849 sent home a Skimmia from China, 
which Lindley at first thought to be S. Laureola. After- 
wards it was generally accepted as the true 8. japonica, 
and under that name was figured and described in this 
Magazine in 1853 (t. 4719). Fortune’s Chinese plant is 
Octoper Ist, 1905. 
