190 MT. FORTUNE'S ACCOUNT OF WEIGELA ROSEA. 



In the north of China, where the plant is found, the thermo- 

 meter sometimes sinks within a few degrees of zero, and the 

 country is frequently covered with snow, and yet in these cir- 

 cumstances it sustains" no injury. 



As this shrub has been liberally distributed amongst the Fel- 

 lows of the Horticultural Society, some remarks upon its habits 

 and cultivation will probably be acceptable. It forms a neat, 

 middle-sized bush, not unlike a Philadelphus in habit, deciduous 

 in winter, and flowers in the months of April and May. One 

 great recommendation to it is that it is a plant of the easiest cul- 

 tivation. Cuttings strike readily any time during the spring or 

 summer months, with ordinary attention ; and the plant itself 

 grows well in any common garden-soil. It should be grown in 

 this country as it is in China, not lied up in that formal un- 

 natural way in which we frequently see plants which are brought 

 to our exhibitions, but a main stem or two chosen for leaders, 

 which in their turn throw out branches from their sides, and 

 then, when the plant comes into bloom, the branches, which are 

 loaded with beautiful flowers, hang down in graceful and natural 

 festoons. It was a plant of this kind which I have already no- 

 ticed as growing in the grotto-garden on the Island of Chusan ; 

 and I doubt not that plants of equal beauty will soon be pro- 

 duced in our gardens in England. 



The possessors of Weigela rosea had better give it some slight 

 protection during the next winter, by keeping it either in a 

 greenhouse or frame until duplicates are made, when these can 

 be planted out in the open air. The main object should be to 

 enable the plant to ripen its wood well, for when this is done it 

 will not only be more hardy, but it will also flower better in the 

 following season. 



Its capability of standing out our English winters will be 

 shown in the Garden of the Horticultural Society next winter ; 

 but whether it prove itself a hardy or a greenhouse plant, it is 

 without doubt one of the finest shrubs which have been intro- 

 duced to this country of late years. 



Robert Fortune. 



An opportunity has occurred of comparing fresh specimens 

 of both Weigela and Diervilla ; and the result of that com- 

 parison confirms the propriety of regarding them as distinct 

 genera. Both are remarkable among Caprifoils for their one- 

 celled ovary, cut into four false cells by the projection of a pair 

 of double placentae which do not unite in their axis (fig. 2), and 

 both have a double capitate stigma (fig. 3) and a remarkable 

 epigynous gland (fig. 1 a). But while in Weigela that gland is 



