Addisonia 13 



(Plate 231) 



STYRAX JAPONICA 

 Japanese Storax 



Native of China and Japan 

 Family Styracaceae Storax Family 



Styrax japonica Sieb. & Zucc. Fl. Jap. 1 : 53. 1838. 



The Japanese storax resembles in many respects its near rela- 

 tive in America, the snowdrop tree, Halesia, having many bell- 

 shaped, nodding white flowers. In cultivation it makes a shrub or 

 small tree about fifteen feet high. It was introduced into England 

 in 1862, and later into this country. By 1891 plants of blooming 

 size were recorded by Thomas Meehan. Although of small size as 

 a tree, the smooth, dark gray bark and the white bell-like flowers 

 make it a worth-while ornamental. In the Fruticetum of the New 

 York Botanical Garden several specimens have thrived since 1895, 

 and from one of these our illustration was taken. 



The Japanese storax is a small spreading tree with an open head ; 

 the bark is dark gray and smooth on the trunk and reddish on the 

 young branches. The leaves are alternately placed, on slender short 

 stalks; they are wedge-shaped at their bases and taper-pointed at 

 their apices; they have sharply saw-toothed margins and many 

 veins in a fine network. The flowers are drooping in threes or 

 fours from the upper leaf -axils. Each flower has a long slender 

 stalk, which enlarges into a bell-shaped, shallowly five-lobed calyx, 

 pale green in color and thick in texture, which is persistent until it 

 partially surrounds the ripe fruit. The corolla is of fine downy- 

 white ovate petals, united at the bases of their short claws. Ten 

 short stamens are attached to the united base of the petals, sur- 

 rounding the style which is slender and exserted. The fruit is pale 

 green, hard, bony, and persistent. 



Kenneth R. Boynton. 



Explanation op Plate. Fig. 1. — Flowering branch. Fig. 2. — Corolla 

 split open. Fig. 3. — Fruiting branch. 



