AT TACNA. 109 



other climates are still observable ; these immense plains, 

 hundreds of miles in breadth, are but the base for other moun- 

 tains as high above their surface as they themselves are above 

 the sea ! and along the side of which is distinctly visible that 

 definite and unerring line where all vegetation ceases ! a narrow 

 barren zone is then observable ; and this is succeeded by eternal 

 snow, the inferior limit of which, in this latitude, seems to be 

 about 15,000 feet above the level of the ocean. 



VIII. — Notice of a new Chinese Spik^a (S. Reevesiana, 

 FL. PL. ?) otscoyered AT Foo-cHOW-FOO. By R. Fortune. 



During my last visit to China I discovered in a garden at 

 Foo-chow, on the river Min, a very beautiful double Spiraea, which 

 1 think will prove a great acquisition to our gardens in Europe 

 and America. I had no opportunity of seeing it in flower at 

 Foo-chow, but I took a plant north to Shaughae, and presented 

 it to Mr. Beale, in whose garden it flowered in 1850. It was 

 from this my specimens were taken, which are amongst my last 

 collections of dried plants. When these were gathered I had no 

 idea of the beauty of this variety when in good health and in full 

 flower, but I have seen it again this spring under more favourable 

 circumstances. In the month of April it was loaded with daisy- 

 like blossoms of the purest white, each as large and as double as 

 the Spiraea prunifolia introduced by the Society through me some 

 years ago. (The accompanying drawing kindly made for me by 

 Mrs. J. C. Smith of Shanghae will give a good idea of the beauty 

 of this fine shrub, and I also enclose a portion of a dried 

 specimen for your inspection. '••) 



The winter of 185'2-53 at Shanghae was a severe one — more 

 severe than had been experienced for some years — but this Spiraea 

 has not been affected in the slightest degree, and seems quite as 

 hai'dy as Spiraea Reevesiana, or perhaps more so. Although found 

 in cultivation at Foo-chow, it has evidently a more northern 

 origin, and as it is not met with in the gardens of Ningpo or 

 Shanghae, it is probably one of those Japan plants introduced to 

 China by the Loo-chow trading junks which visit Foo-chow every 

 year. In 1845 I boarded two of these junks at the mouth of the 



* These illustrations were received, and confirm Mr. Fortune's statements. 



