54 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



39636 to 39660— Continued. 



39644. Hypericum patulum Thunberg. Hypericacese. 



St.-John's-wort. 



See S. P. I. Nos. 1710 and 39118 for previous introductions and 

 description. 



A dwarf shrub in England, but said to grow as high as 6 feet high 

 In Japan and the Himalayas. Leaves 1 to 1\ inches long, ovate, deep 

 green above, glaucous beneath. Flowers 2 inches across, borne in a cyme 

 at the end of the shoot; petals bright golden yellow, overlapping, round- 

 ish; sepals broadly ovate, one-third inch long. Stamens in 5 bundles. 

 Introduced to Kew from Japan by Oldham in 1862; a native also of 

 China and the Himalayas. It is not absolutely hardy in England (at 

 Kew) and almost always has its stems cut back to ground level during 

 the winter. These spring up again the following season from 1 to 2 feet 

 high and flower from July to October. After a few years the shoots are 

 apt to become more and more weakly and it becomes necessary to 

 renew the stock from cuttings. The only species with which it can be 

 confounded are H. hookerianum, from which it differs in the branch- 

 lets being 2-edged, especially just beneath the flowers ; H. lysimachioides, 

 which has narrow, linear-lanceolate sepals; and H. uralum, with flowers 

 half the size. (Adapted from W. J. Bean, Trees and Shrubs Hardy in 

 the British Isles, vol. 1, p. 639.) 



39645. Laurocerasus acuminata (Wall.) Roemer. Amygdalacese. 

 (Prunus acuminata Hook, f.) 



See S. P. I. No. 39121 for previous introduction. 



39646. Leucosceptrum canum J. E. Smith. Menthacese. 



"A tree 30 feet tall with short trunk, found in the temperate Himala- 

 yas from Kumaon to Bhutan at altitudes between 2,000 and 8,000 feet 

 Also in the Khasi Hills between 4,000 and 5,000 feet. The branches are 

 very stout, nearly terete, densely or laxly tomentose or woolly, rarely 

 glabrate. The elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate leaves are 6 to 12 inches 

 long, glabrous above, silvery white, with buff or brown tomentum be- 

 neath, mostly variable in thickness, rarely green and glabrate. The 

 corolla is of a whitish or pinkish color." (Hooker, Flora of British 

 India. ) 



39647. Lindenbergia hookeri C. B. Clarke. Scrophulariaceae. 



39648. Lobelia rosea Wallich. Campanulaceae. 



"A species occurring in the subtropical Himalayas from Kumaon to 

 Bhutan and the Khasi Hills at altitudes of 4,000 feet. It is also 

 abundant in the Terai of North Bengal and Assam. The stem is 4 to 12 

 feet high, suberect with short horizontal branches with drooping tips. 

 The leaves are rather long, about 6 inches, narrow at both ends and 

 about 1 inch wide in the middle. The corolla is three-fourths inch wide 

 and of a rose or white color. The fruit is subglobose in form and one- 

 third inch in diameter. The seeds are ellipsoid in shape, compressed, 

 and not margined." (Hooker, Flora of British Jndia.) 



39649. Memecylon edule Roxb. Melastomacese. Ironwood. 

 "An exceedingly common shrub met with in the east and south of 



India and in Ceylon, Tenasserim, and the Andaman Islands. The leaves 



