GLEANINGS AND ORIGINAL MEMORANDA 
415. Abeliauniplora, R.Brown. A small 
hardy (?) evergreen slirub from the North of 
China, belonging to the Order of Caprifoils. 
Flowers whitish, produced in July. Introduced 
by Messrs. Standish and Noble. (Fig. 208.) 
Our first knowledge of this shrub was derived from 
Mr. Reeves, who sent dried specimens from Cliina about 
the year 18*24. It was upon one of these, communicated 
to Dr. Brown, that the species was established in Dr. 
Wallich's Plantce asiaticce rarim-eSy when the peculiarity 
of the solitary flowers, each subtended by three bracts 
(not eight, as is stated in De CandoUe's Prodromus) was 
pointed out. The specimens in question had been collected 
in the province of Fokien, near Ngan-ke-hyen, in the 
Black Tea Country, lat. 25^ N., long. 1 16"* E. The plants 
in cultivation were procured by ^Ir. Fortune, and sent to 
Messrs. Standish and Noble, who consider the shrub to 
be hardy. 
It forms a small erect, nearly smooth busli, with oppo- 
site or ternate leaves, ovate, and slightly toothed or entire, 
rather more coriaceous in our wild specimens than in those 
which we received from Bagshot. Tlie flowers grow singly 
in the axils of the upper leaves ; their calyx usually con- 
sists of a pair of large obovate membranous sepals slightly 
toothed at the end ; occasionally three sepals are present. 
The corolla is rather longer, white, with a slight violet 
stain on the upper side ; it is remarkable for the great 
quantity of its spiral vessels, which are unusually tough ; 
there are four stamens, a filifoi'm style, and a three- 
cornered stigma. The ovary, which is long, narrow, and 
rather pubescent, contains three cells, one of which con- 
tains a single pendulous ovule, while the other two are 
many-seeded ; at its base are three sharp triangular 
minute scales. It is probable that the Ahelia serrata of 
Siehold and Zuccarini, is not distinct from this. In its 
hairiness it resembles the garden state of the plant now 
described, but the sepals in the specimen before us are 
shorter. 
LJ 
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