THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 135 



position as one of the best of exhibition plants has been duly noted 

 in the Floral "World, and reference to past issues will show that 

 not a single fact respecting it has escaped our chronicling pen — a 

 good test, we will venture to say, of the comprehensiveness of this 

 humble and by no means voluminous work. We have not time to 

 hunt up references to the subject, but we find, at page 79 of the 

 seventh volume, a record of the first exhibition, by Mr. Standish, of 

 the first English-grown specimen bearing ripe berries ; and in the 

 issue for April, 1865, will be found a resume of the facts which con- 

 tribute so directly to render the aucuba one of the most interesting 

 plants in cultivation. If some few of these particulars are now 

 repeated, it is not for the sake of repetition, but because it is 

 unavoidable ; and we are anxious that all the readers of the Floral 

 "World should understand the aucuba, and derive the fullest advan- 

 tage from its capabilities. 



The Aucuba Japonica belongs to the natural order Cornacece, or 

 Cornels, and is therefore allied to the common dogwood of our 

 English wastes ; but the relationship is rather remote, for it appears 

 that the pollen of the dogwood will not fertilize the aucuba. The 

 plant is in no way related to any of the laurels, though it is some- 

 times called " spotted laurel," on account of its large, leathery, 

 laurel-like leaves ; but it is more nearly related to the ash and the 

 alaternus than to any laurel. The introduction of this shrub to 

 England took place in 1783, and for many years thereafter it was 

 grown in the stove ; the rule of subjecting all exotic plants to a high 

 temperature being then in full force. In the course of time it 

 was found capable of bearing a greenhouse temperature, and to be 

 healthier there than in the stove. In the next stage of observation 

 it was found hardy enough to survive the winter out-of-doors, and at 

 last it became a common garden shrub, thriving far better when 

 exposed to all weathers than when coddled under glass, and treated 

 as a tender subject. To trace the course of its popularity is quite 

 unnecessary, for our readers are all aware that for the last thirty 

 years it has been planted more extensively than any other hardy 

 shrub, and especially in the neighbourhood of towns, one of its par- 

 ticularly good qualities being that it bears smoke well. 



On some few occasions the common aucubas have borne what 

 appeared to be red berries, but which proved to be only the outer 

 envelopes of apocryphal berries, or, we may say, abortive berries, 

 destitute of pulp and of a vital germ. But these abortive berries 

 reminded cultivators thatin its native country this fine tree bears 

 berries abundantly, and that it would be desirable to render it fruit- 

 ful here ; for we can enjoy the beauty of red berries in the winter 

 as fully as the Japanese. The great interest of the subject turns 

 upon this point. Some plants bear flowers that contain both male 

 and female organs — that is to say, both pistils and stamens ; as for 

 example, the apple, pear, plum, etc. Others bear flowers of two kinds; 

 in one kind we find the male organs, and in the other the female ; 

 but both kinds of flowers are on the same plants. Examples of this 

 occur in the cucumber and the maize. In the cucumber the male 

 flower contains one prominent stamen, and the female flower one 



