230 NEW PLANTS, ETC., 



Stems cylindrical, 2 to 3 feet high, erect, light green, with a 

 green succulent pith, which is the part used. Leaves denticulate, 

 or slightly serrated ; the lowest oblong and tapering to the base, 

 the uppermost stem-clasping, somewhat lanceolate, and taper 

 pointed without being acute. The flowers are small, yellow, in 

 panicles slightly drooping. The plant is tolerably hardy, and 

 may be cultivated in the manner of lettuces. Mr. Fortune 

 recommends it to be planted " in rows thinly, say 1^ foot between 

 each plant. It is fit for use when the stem has grown to its full 

 size, which is early in the spring at Shanghai." He also states 

 that it is a vegetable much esteemed by the Chinese, and refers 

 to the following 



" Mode of dressing the Hoo-Sung. — Pare off the outer skin, 

 cut oflT the leaves, and take the stalk ; either simply boil it with 

 salt, and eat it with pepper ; or stew it with a few spoonfuls of 

 soup, or with a little soy, salt, and pepper. The last is the pre- 

 ferable way of dressing this vegetable." 



It would probably form a good preserve, similar to that made 

 of the stems of lettuces when running up and before they be- 

 come hollow. 



36. PiTTOSPORUM GLABRATUM.* 



China, Mr. Fortune, from Hong Kong, May 1, 1845, where 

 it was found growing on the top of the hills, forming a 

 dwarf shrub, and flowering during the early spring 

 months. 



This is an evergreen greenhouse shrub, with deep-green rather 

 blistered convex leaves, which shine, as if varnished, when young, 

 and are somewhat glaucous underneath. The flowers appear in 

 terminal sessile umbels, are smaller and more slender than in 

 P. Tobira, of a pale-greenish white colour, and very sweet- 

 scented. The form of its leaves and the slenderness of the 

 corolla clearly separate it from that species. There is also a 

 singular tendency on the part of the leaves to assume a whorled 

 arrangement, as in P. cornifolium and its allies, especially a 

 Macao species named P. pauciflorum, by Messrs. Hooker and 

 Arnott, but the calyx of that species is nearly as long as the 

 corolla, and the petals are represented as spreading away from 

 each other instead of being so rolled up as to resemble a mono- 

 petalous corolla. 



As yet this species has been treated as a greenhouse plant, but 



* P. ylahratum ; foliis subverticillatis obovatis convexis acutis nitidissimis 

 quasi vernice obductis integerrimis subtus glaucis, umbella terminali sessili 

 pauciflora, sepalis ovatis acutis ciliatis corolla cylindracea angusta pluries 

 brevioribus. — J. L. 



