Taurus. It is perfectly hardy at Kew, and flowers in the 
month of June. The garden synonyms of R. imeretie and 
&. castaneifolia I have taken on the authority of Lavallée’s 
valuable ‘* Hortus Segrezianus,” confirmed as to the former 
by the fact that the Kew specimens (here figured) came 
from Messrs. Booth of Hamburg in 1876 as R. imeretie. 
It is a female plant, now in bud, nearly six feet high, and 
has in late autumn a very handsome appearance. 
Descr. A ramous bush, four to six feet high; branches 
erect or spreading, or the lower procumbent, stout, leafy, 
young shoots puberulous. Leaves two to nine inches long, 
shortly stoutly petioled, oblong ovate or almost orbicular, 
bright green above, bronzed beneath, acute or suddenly 
contracted at the tip into a short blunt point, coriaceous; 
base rounded or subcordate; margin finely denticulate ; 
nerves twelve to fifteen pair, stout, slightly curved; young 
leaves softly pubescent on both surfaces ; petiole one-fourth 
to one-third of an inch long. Flowers in small axillary 
cymes, dicecious ; branches of cymes and calyces puberulous. 
Mate FLower broadly funnel-shaped. Calyz-lobes ovate, 
acute. Petals bifid, irregularly toothed, rather shorter than 
the stamens. Ferman FLoweR more campanulate than the 
male, apetalous. Calyz-lobes as in the male. Staminodes 
subulate. Ovary globose ; stigmas exserted.—J. D. H. 
Fig, 1, Male flower (from Herbarium s ecimens); 2, petal and stamen of ditto; 
3, female flower; 4, the same laid open pul sable. . : 
