/ 



282 NEW PLANTS, ETC., 



There is no doubt about its being the H. Jlavescens of the 

 Botanical Cabinet ; but I should have thought it to be also 

 H. villosum of Dr. Wallich, if that plant had not been described 

 as having 5 linear petals, whereas here 3 only are linear and 2 

 broad spathulate-lanceolate. 



19. ViNCETOXicuM jAPONicuM. Morv. and Decaisne, i?i Hull. 



Acad. Brux. 1836, p. 17. 



Received from Dr. Siebold, in August, 1850, under the 

 name of Cynanchum flavescens. 



A herbaceous plant, with a slight tendency to climb. The 

 whole surface soft with down. Leaves roundish, oblong, mucro- 

 nate, nearly sessile. Flowers few, pale greenish-yellow, in 

 nearly sessile cymes, with slender pubescent flower-stalks. 



A perennial, supposed to be hardy or half-hardy, growing 

 best in the peat border, and increased by division of the roots 

 when in a dormant state. It is, however, of no kind of horticul- 

 tural interest. It flowers in July and August. 



20. Myrica californica. Chamisso and Schlechtendahl^ in 

 Linncea, vi. p. 535 ; Hooker, FL Bor. Am., 2, 169; Botany 

 of Beechey, p. 391. 



Raised from seeds collected by Hartweg, in California ; 

 received at the Garden June 5th, 1848, and said to be 

 collected in woods near Monterey, growing 12 feet 

 high. 



This was originally gathered by Menzies on the north-west 

 coast of America. Douglas found it at Puget Sound. It forms 

 an evergreen bush, with dense narrowly lanceolate, slightly ser- 

 rated leaves, covered, especially on the under side, with transpa- 

 rent, glossy, saucer-shaped sunken scales, of microscopical dimen- 

 sions, consisting of a layer of wedge-shaped cells, placed obliquely 

 round a common centre. The flowers are green and inconspi- 

 cuous, in short axillary spikes, which eventually bear from 1 

 to 3 small globular fruits, whose surface is closely studded with 

 fleshy, oblong, obtuse grains of a dull I'ed colour, and astringent 

 flavour. 



It is a hardy evergreen, growing freely in any good garden 

 soil, increased by seeds or by layers, in the usual way. It flowers 

 in July, and produces in September an abundance of its little 

 granular fruits. In gardens it is an acquisition, being a hardy 

 shrub, with fragrant lea\ es. and well suited for rock-work or for 

 the front of a slu'ubbery. 



