295 
NOTE ON SAMBUCUS CHINENSIS, Lindl. 
By H. F. Hance, PH.D., etc. 
I pointed out in my * Adversaria in Stirpes Criticas’ (Ann. Se. Nat. 
sér. 5, v. 217), that the character assigned to this species by De Can- 
dolle is erroneous,—the flowers being all hermaphrodite, and what 
Lindley took for females being merely abortive flowers, in the shape of 
fleshy, grandular, yellow, cup-shaped bodies, without a trace of either 
stamens or ovary, which increase somewhat in size, turn green, v 
then wither. I have since found that Professor Miquel (Fl. Ind. 
vol. alt. 124) had previously suspected the error; and he has, as g 
think, without sufficient reason, availed himself of the presence of these 
bodies, which are of no structural value, to found thereon his subgenus 
Scyphidanthe. He remarks on the closeness of S. Chinensis to S. Ja- 
vanica, Reinw., which latter, again, Drs. Hooker and Thomson, in the 
* Preecursores,' note as a native of China, without, however, adducing 
Lindley's name as a synonym. I have little doubt that the two are 
identical, for there is nothing in Miquel's character to show a difference. 
Junghuhn deseribes the fruit of the Java plant as yellow, Hooker and 
Thomson as black, whilst about Canton it is certainly red when ripe. 
A plant gathered by Maximowicz, at Yokohama, Japan, in 1862, and 
sent me from the herbarium of the St. Petersburg garden, under the 
name of S. Thunbergiana, Reinw. (which I cannot find published), is 
absolutely ‘eaten! with the south Chinese one ; but Professor Miquel, 
failing to recognize this identity, has, in his ‘ Prolusio Flore Japo- 
nice,’ described this as distinct, giving the name, however, as a manu- 
script one of Blume’s, and not noticing the abortive flowers ; he sug- 
gests a possible affinity with S. Wightiana, Wall, a species which, 
though described by Wight and Arnott, is omitted by Hooker and 
Thomson, probably through oversight, as no explanation is given. 
Though I believe Reinwardt’s name of S. Javanica is the oldest, as he 
has possibly given two to the same plant, it seems preferable to fall 
back on that of Lindley. — S. ebuloides, Desv., recorded from the neigh- 
bourhood of Canton, I have never seen. 
I may here note that Dr. Williams informs me that my S. WVilliamsii 
is planted in the country around Peking to mark the boundaries of 
fields, and is known by the curious name, ** kung tau lau "rb," literally, 
“the old fellow that shows high-roads." He adds that it is very 
rarely met with in flower, being eut down for fuel. 
