THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



vided, its place in the natural system 

 remained for some time undetermined, 

 but it was eventually placed in the 

 order Cornacesc. As we only pos- 

 sessed one sex of the tree in Europe, 

 and that the female, it prevented its 

 being accurately examined, although 

 it appears to have been well known, 

 both by Siebold and Zuccarini, who 

 have given excellent figures of both 

 Bexes in their Flora of Japan. 



With us, Aucuba Japonica has 

 invariably light green leaves, beauti- 

 fully mottled with yellow ; but Thun- 

 berg says, that in Japan the leaves 

 are sometimes green, without any 

 yellow; and he describes it as grow- 

 ing to the height of a man, or higher, 

 and common in various places in 

 Japan, both wild and cultivated. In 

 Britain it is sometimes called Varie- 

 gated Laurel, although Aucuba is the 

 name by which it is known in Japan. 

 When first introduced into this 

 country, it was grown in stoves and 

 greenhouses, but as soon as it was 

 discovered that it was quite hardy, 

 and that, moreover, it was not particu- 

 lar as to soil or situation, it speedily 

 found its way into gardens all over 

 the kingdom, and is at the present 

 time such a general favourite, that 

 there is scarcely a garden of any 

 pretensions in which it is not to be 

 found, forming, by its beautiful 

 foliage and noble habit, at all times a 

 charming object, while in the winter 

 it is the principal ornament. 



The fruit is a red drupe, of the 

 size and shape of a laurel berry, and 

 contains a single stone, which has a 

 bitter, nauseo\is kernel; the pulp is 

 whitish, and rather sweet. These 

 berries have never yet been produced 

 in this country, although the plants 

 bear every season a profusion of 

 flowers ; not because the climate is 

 incapable of ripening them, as we are 

 told in some books on botany, but 

 because we had only the plants which 

 bear the female or pistilliferous 

 flowers ; and, consequently, as there 

 was no pollen to fructify them, they 

 have hitherto been incapable of pro- 

 ducing fruit. However, Mr. Standish, 

 of Bagshot, at length succeeded in 

 procuring from Japan the male plant, 

 which is now generally distributed, 



and is known at the nurseries as 

 Aucuba Japonica mascula. This plant 

 was discovered by Mr. B. Fortune, 

 in a garden near Yeddo, the capital 

 of Japan, and sent home by him in a 

 Ward's case. The flowers are of the 

 same size and shape as those of the 

 plants we already possess, the only 

 apparent difference being that they 

 bear four stamens instead of a style. 

 We may therefore safely predict 

 that we shall shortly have the plea- 

 sure of seeing in our gardens the 

 Aucuba, bearing its clusters of beau- 

 tiful red berries, which will add a 

 very great additional charm to those 

 which it already possesses. 



The mildness of the winter of 

 1862-3 had a singular effect upon 

 Aucubas growing in various parts of 

 the country. Some of the larger 

 specimens produced a number of red 

 berries resembling the ordinary fruit, 

 but very much smaller, and, of course, 

 not containing seed, as its production 

 would be impossible without the 

 assistance of the male flowers. These 

 abortive berries have been mostly 

 produced by plants which grow in 

 the shade, and generally damp situa- 

 tions, where they catch the drip from 

 trees. We are told by those in whose 

 gardens they have grown, that the 

 plants in open situations have not 

 produced any. 



For many years only one species 

 of Aucuba was known to botanists ; 

 but a few years since another species 

 was discovered on the Himalayan 

 Mountains, from whence it was sent 

 to this country, and was described by 

 Mr. D. Hooker, and figured in the 

 " Bot. Mag.," t. 1197, and in the 

 " Illustrations of Himalayan Plants," 

 pi. xii. It is called Aucuba Himalaiea, 

 and in all its important characteristics 

 very greatly resembles the Aucuba 

 of Japan — the only difference be- 

 tween them being that with the former 

 the leaves are longer and straighter, 

 and the petals longer, straighter, and 

 more acuminated. These characters, 

 as well as the immense geographical 

 distances between the native localities 

 of the two plants, have led botanists 

 to regard the two as distinct species. 

 It should not be forgotten, however, 

 that these differences are very slight; 



