for Kew from Messrs. Veitch in 1913. At Kew it is not 
a very leafy or free-growing shrub, and although it is 
apparently hardy enough to withstand frosts as severe 
as those experienced during the winter of 1916-17, it 
thrives much better in the south-western counties. 
Blossoming as it does in April, its flowers are liable to 
damage by late frosts, a disadvantage which it shares 
with many other Chinese species of the genus. When 
seen at its best R. Fargesii is very pleasing in the soft 
colouring of its blossoms which, according to Wilson, 
vary in their native woods from deep rosy red to nearly 
or quite white. Its nearest ally is &. erubescens, Hutchin- 
son, figured at t. 8463 of this work, but it is readily 
distinguished from that species by its perfectly glabrous 
filaments. The nearest Himalayan species is /. campylo- 
carpum, Hook. f., a denizen of high altitudes in Sikkim, 
figured at t. 4968 of this work, which differs in having 
yellow flowers and slightly pulverulent leaves. 
Description.— Shrub, branching freely ; branches glabrous, polished ; young 
twigs very short, purple, sparsely clothed with glandular scales. Leaves few, 
oblong or elliptic-oblong, rounded and finely mucronulate at the tip, rounded or 
slightly cordate at the base, 2-43 in. long, 1-1} in. wide, thinly leathery, 
glabrous, finely reticulate and rather paler beneath ; lateral nerves numerous, 
very slender, branching and becoming obsolete near the margin; petiole up to 
= in. long, purplish. Flowers in umbellate 6-7-flowered trusses; bud-scales 
wide ovate, ciliate, glabrous externally; pedicels short, about 3 in. long, 
densely clothed with short gland-tipped hairs. Calyx very short, glandular- 
pubescent outside; its margin wavy. Corolla pink in bud, at length rose- 
coloured, wide funnel-shaped, 6-7 ‘lobed ; tube 11-12 in, long, glabrous outside ; 
lobes nearly orbicular, slightly spreading, 2-3 in. wide. Stamens about 14, 
slightly exserted ; filaments glabrous ; anthers purplish, 1 in. long. Ovary 
about 8-celled, usually with a few glandular hairs ; style rather longer than the 
stamens, pink, glabrous ; stigma lobulate, Capsule unknown. 
sri 
Tas, 8736.—Fig. 1, portion of a leaf, showing the venation ; 2, calyx and 
pistil; 3 and 4, stamens; 5, anther; 6, transverse section of ovary :—all 
enlarged, 
