50 



grey, minutelj pubescent, armed with simple, stiff, slightly 

 deciirved, sharp spines i to | in* long; Leaves 1| to 2^ ins, wide, 

 scarcely so long, deeply three- (or sometimes five-) lohed, the 

 sinuses reaching often half-way to the midrib, the lobes coarsely 

 dentate, the teeth often gland-tipped as in R. nigrum; sparsely 

 covered with short hairs on both surfaces; petiole variable in 

 length, sometimes half as long as, sometimes longer than, the 

 blade, pubescent. The leaves, although similar to those of the 

 gooseberry in shape, have scattered glands beneath, and have, to a 

 slight extent, the characteristic odour of the black currant. 

 Flowers borne in two- or three-flowered drooping corymbs; their 

 arrangement therefore is intermediate between the solitary flowers 

 of R. Grossvlaria and the sis- or eight-flowered raceme of R. 

 nigrum. The style is clothed with white hairs at the base as in 

 the gooseberry. Fruit glabrous, shining black when ripe, globose, 

 f in. in diameter, crowned with the shrivelled remains of the 

 flower nearly or quite as long as itself. ^ The taste is acid, like that 

 of the gooseberry, but with a flavour also of black currant. 



Xy. — Two jSTew Hoese-Citestnuts. 



M 



Aesculus chinensis, Bunge [Sapindaceae] . 



For many years a liorse-cliestnut has been grown on the Conti- 

 nent under this name, "but the true A. chinensis oi Bunge does not 

 appear really to ha\e reached cultivation in Europe until intro- 

 duced by W. Purdom from North China two years ago. It is 

 possible that a single tree may have existed in the Segrez Arbo- 

 retum in France, but what was usually grown under the name was 

 in reality the Japanese A. turhinata (see Gard. Chron. June 8, 



1889, p. 717). ■ 



A, chinensis is a large tree of rounded form and up to 80 or 

 90 ft. high. Its young shoots are glabrous or minutely downy, 

 and its leaves five- to se^en-foliolate. Leaflets narrowly obovate to 

 narrowly o^.al,^ up to 7| ins. long by 1\ ins. wide, with fifteen 

 to eighteen pairs of veins; thejr are thinly pilose on the veins 

 beneath. Panicles up to 14 ins. long and 3^ ins. wide at the 

 base, tapered upwards. The flowers have not been seen on culti- 

 vated plants, but they are described as white, f to | in. wide, 

 the stamens rather longer than the petals. Fruit subglobose, 

 truncate or slightly depressed at the top, 2 ins. in diameter, rough. 



Like A. indica, the species belongs to K, Koch's section Calo- 

 thyrsus, and should prove hardier than is that species. 



A. Wilsonii, Rehder [Sapindaceae] . In 1900, Wilson collected 

 in West Hupeh specimens of a horse-chestnut which was at first 

 considered to be identical with the North Chinese tree just 

 described. ^ He introduced it by seeds to the Arnold Arboretum in 

 1908 and it has since been presented to Kew by Prof. Sargent. 

 Besides occupying a distinct natural area, it differs from Bunge's 

 A. chinensis in a number of particulars sufficient to justify Mr. 

 Eehder in keeping it separate under the above name. Its distinc- 

 tions are as follows: — Leaflets longer-stalked, not generally so 

 markedly cuneate at the base but rounded or even subcordate 

 there; more downy or even villose at first beneath (but becoming 



