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ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW. 



BULLETIN 



OP 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



No. 



[1914 



I.— THE WOOD-OIL TREES OF CHINA AND JAPAN. 



W. BOTTING HeMSLEY. 



The Kew Bulletin, 1906, pp. 119-121, contains a *' Revision 

 of the Synonymy of the Species of Alearites,^' the main feature 

 of which is the definition and separation of A. Fordii^ HemsL, 

 from A. cordata, R. Br. This was followed by figures of yl. 

 Fordii in Hooker's Icones Piantarum, xxix., tt* 2801 and 2802, 

 Dec, 1906. Previously the very distinct A. Fordii had heen 

 confused with A. cordata^ and the writer assumed that there 

 were only these two species concerned. The incomplete 

 herbarium and museum specimens at Kew were easily classified 

 in this manner, both as to those from China and from 

 Japan. But the material from the latter country was 

 very imperfect and included no ripe fruit. Now Mr, 

 E. H. Wilson, in a most interesting and instructive illus- 

 trated article, bearing the above title in the Bulletin of 

 the Imperial Institute, voL xi (1913), pp. 441-461, main- 

 tains that there are three species, relying mainly on the 

 fruit for distinctive characters. ''In China/' he states, ''two 

 distinct species of Aleurites (A. montana, Wils., and A, Fordii, 

 Hemsl.), each occupying for the most part distinct geographical 

 areas, yield the wood-oils of commerce. In Southern Japan a 

 third species [A, cordata, R. Br.) occurs, but the oil does not 

 figure as an article of export to Western countries. These three 

 ^pecies_from very early times have been almost hopelessly con- 

 fused." " As will be shown later,'' he continues, "these three 

 species possess very distinctive characteristics, especially in the 

 fruit, yet in the absence of complete material it is easy to 

 confuse them." He then proceeds to explain the differences he 

 finds, but does not finish with differential diagnoses and complete 

 descriptions. Indeed, apart from the fruit and seed, he gives 

 no definite constant differences. Concerning the Japanese tree, 



which he considers the true A. cordata, R. Br., Wil 



ledge is 



specimens 



descriptions and figures. His comparison may be 



as follows: — 



In ^general appearance the Japanese species is 



(5528.) Wt. 212-780. 1,125. 2/14. XT.&S, (J. 11 



(im 



