192 



NEW BEREY.BEARINa SHRUBS. 



C \LLICARPA PrKPUEEA. 



AucuBA Himalaica 



Eespecting our old gavden 

 friend, the Aucuba Jnpo- 

 nica, or SpottedLaurel, there 

 are several interesting points 

 not generally known. In 

 the first place, it is a true 

 variegated plant, that is to 

 say, in its natural form, it 

 lias green leaves, and our 

 blotched leaved kind is a 

 garden variety obtained from 

 Japan. On the 11th of June 

 last, plants of the original, 

 or green-leaved form, were 

 ! exhibited before the Floral 

 ' Committee of the Horticnl- 

 I tural Society, and this brings 

 us to another point, viz., that 

 when these green - leaved 

 plants v/ere shown, the fe- 

 male plants liad berries on 

 them which our garden Au- 

 cubiis never produce. The 

 reason of this barrenness is, 

 that we possess only male 

 plants, female plants have 

 never been imported until 

 Mr. Standish, of Bag'.hot, se- 

 cui-ed it in 1861, through the 

 good ofiSces of Mr. Fortune. 



Tlie plants exhibited bore 

 oblong-ovatc berries, about 

 the size of tin pomes of the 

 large-fruited species of Cra- 

 tajgus, and of a bright orange 

 colour. These remarks occur 

 to us in introducing a new 

 species, Aucuba Hiraalaica, 

 which is here figured. Heri 

 we have the female form of 

 an Aucub.T, quite distinct 

 from our old Japonica ; biit 

 .Taponica will, probably, be 

 iiseful to fertilize its blos- 

 soms, for it flowers freely in 

 early spring, in all our gar- 

 dens, and fe-w people ever 

 take notice of its blossoms. 

 Aucuba Himalaica may for 

 the present be considered a 

 cool greenhouse slirub. It 

 will, probably, prove liardy, 

 for our old "spotted laurel" 

 (iihich is no laurel) was at 

 first grown in the stove, then 

 in the greenhouse, and at 

 last proved capable of en- 

 during all the changes of our 

 climntt-. Ti lis new plant is 



ALtVBA aniALAICA. 



