814 OBSERVATIONS ON THE RICE-PAPER TREE. 
of flowers; in all the trees the flowering spikes were generally from 
3 to 4 feet in length. This tree was 7 feet high, and the extent 
of the foliage 18 feet. The usual length of the leaves, including the 
long foot-stalk, was 4 feet 10 inches to 5 feet; the foot-stalk of the 
leaves clasps the trunk in a similar manner to the fronds of the Palm, 
and on droppihg off when decayed, leave a mark on the trunk. The 
soil in which the Rice-paper trees were planted was a sandy loam. 
Most of the trees are rather straight and handsome in growth, but 
others are irregular and crooked. The tree flowers annually, and after 
each time of flowering, forms two new branches. As this tree increases 
in size and age, after five years it loses all its value for the pith as an 
object of commercial value, and can only then be regarded as an orna- 
mental tree for the garden or shrubbery. I examined a young tree 
which was cut down on the 4th of May, 1863, it was two years old, 
and the trunk, free of foliage, was 3 feet 8 inches high, with a cireum- 
ference of 43 inches; the extent of foliage measured 18 feet. I found 
the pith developed through the whole length of the stem, and no wood 
had been yet formed at any part, but the pith was not of that firm con- 
sistence as in the first tree which was cut down when four years old ; the 
diameter of the pith when removed was 1 inch. On June 10th, 1864, 
I again measured the trees before mentioned, the first had attained the 
height of 13 feet, with an extent of foliage of 26 feet; the trunk near 
the base measured 15 inches in circumference, and at the centre 1 foot. 
The second tree was 12 feet high, with an extent of foliage of 22 fect ; 
circumference of the trunk near the base 13 inches, in the centre 10 
inches. The third tree was 10 feet in height, with an extent of foliage 
of 26 feet, the circumference of the trunk at the base was 10 inches, 
and the centre 10 inches. The fourth tree measured in the former ac- 
count had been cut down. 
In the Pharm. Journ. vol. vi. (1864), p. 52, there is the following 
interesting notice of the plant in question from the pen of Mr. Robert 
Swinhoe, H.B.M. Consul at Formosa :— 
“ This plant has as yet only been procured from the northern end of Formosa, 
where it grows wild in great abundance on the hills. It is of very quick growth, 
and the trunk and branches, which are lopped for use, are not unlike those of 
an old Elder in appearance. The cellular tissue or pith attains its full size the 
first year. The trunks and branches are mostly procured from the aborigines 
of the inner mountains, in barter for Chinese produce. They are rarely straight 
throughout their length, and are usually cut into pieces of about nine inches 
