February 19, 1910 



HORTICULTURE 



Plant Novelties From China 



If there is one plant more generally planted than 

 another in this neighborhood it is Berberis Thunbergii, 

 a native of Japan, and for all round general usefulness 

 a plant hard to beat. Whether any of the new Chinese 

 Barberries will excel this favorite is difficult to say, but 

 in any case there is room for a little more variety. This 

 family is very rich in species in eastern Asia and in 

 China alone some 40 species occur. A goodly number 

 of these are now in cultivation and the near future 

 should see several added to the list of useful, ornamental 

 slirubs. Among the deciduous species one of the very 

 best in the whole family is undoubtedly B. Wilsonae. 

 This novelty is an elegant, dwarf-growing shrub 3 to 3 

 ft. tall, with decumbent, very spiney branches and nar- 

 row, wedge-shaped leaves, i/o to % ii^ch long. The 

 flowers are golden-yellow produced in dense, axillary 

 clusters in late July and early August and are speedily 

 followed by masses of bright coral-red, globose berries. 

 The autumnal tints in this plant are very iine excelling 

 in brilliance those of any other Chinese Barberry known 

 to the writer. B. Wilsonae is very free-growing and 

 fruits freely in a small state. It is eminently suitable 

 for rockeries, edges of borders, etc., etc., and is fond of 

 sun. 



As a flowering shrub in particular the most remark- 

 able of all the Chinese Barberries is B. polyantha, a 

 new species not yet in commerce. This plant grows 5 

 to 10 ft. tall, erect and much branched in habit ; the 

 leaves are about an inch long, stout, obovate with 

 cuneate base, the flowers are rich, clear yellow, freely 

 produced in pendulous, lax panicles 6 to 9 inches long; 

 the fruits are oblong, dull salmon-red with pale glaucous 

 bloom. With its large panicles of golden flowers this 

 plant is wonderfully attractive and very unlike in ap- 

 pearance any other known species. 



Botli the above Barberries are native of the uplands 

 of the Chino-Tliibetan borderland at elevations between 

 6,000 and 10,000 ft. and there is scarcely a question of 

 their complete hardiness in and around Boston or indeed 

 any other place where B. Thunbergii can be grown. 



One of the most strikingly ornamental plants in 

 central China above 4,000 ft. altitude is Staphylea holo- 

 carpa. This species forms a sparsely branched bush 10 



Berberis Wilsons 



Schizophragma integhifolium 



to 20 ft. tall or more rarely a small tree 20 ft. or more 

 high. The flowers are white or pale rose-pink, deli- 

 cately fragrant, borne in large, pendulous, cymose pan- 

 icles which are produced in profusion in May before the 

 leaves. The leaves are large, glaucous-green, usually 

 3, very rarely 5, foliolate. This plant frequents the 

 margins of moist woods and thickets and from a dis- 

 tance when in flower suggests a cherry bush. In size 

 and color of flowers and in its ornamental character 

 generally this new species is very superior to the other 

 members of its family and from its behavior under cul- 

 tivation to date bids fair to be quite as hardy as our 

 native S. trifolia. The writer regards S. holocarpa as 

 one of the very finest plants he has been privileged to 

 introduce into cultivation. 



In Celastrus latifolius we have a plant very different 

 in habit and general appearance to the well-known C. 

 articulatus. This new-comer is a strong growing plant, 

 forming bushes 10 to 15 ft. tall and as much through 

 with arching branches and large, more or less ovate 

 leaves ; the fruits are produced in pyramidal panicles, 6 

 to 9 inches long, at the ends of the branches of the 

 current season's growth. The fruits are larger than 

 those of C. articulatus with deep, golden-yellow valves 

 and a ricli, orange-red aril enclosing the seeds. Like 

 other members of this family the plants are of one sex 

 only and care must be taken in planting to secure both 

 sexes. 



Schizophragma hydrangeoides, though an old plant, is 

 rarely seen in cultivation the plant usually grown under 

 this name being Hydrangea petiolaris. In growth these 

 two plants are almost identical, hence the confusion, 

 but in flower Schizophragma is readily distinguished 



