SKIMMIA JAP0XICA. 



The Skimmia japonica was first discovered by Thunberg in Japan, but it is found 

 also in China and the Himalaya. The plant from the region last named, has been 

 long known to Botanists under the name of Limonia laureola; but recent 

 investigation has shewn it to be one and the same with the Japanese plant. 

 According to M.M. Siebold and Zuccarini, it grows throughout Japan among 

 the mountain forests, but always in scattered specimens ; from which circumstance 

 it is comparatively rare. It was found by Siebold near the port of Nangasaki, 

 about 1200 feet above the level of the sea. In our notice of this shrub at page 142 

 of our previous volume, this height is, by a misprint, given as 12,000 feet. In 

 the wild state it scarcely exceeds four feet, but the cultivated plants are said to 

 attain a greater height. The largest specimen in this country is not, however, 

 at present more than eighteen inches high. It is of very compact growth, the 

 lower branches being somewhat procumbent. The foliage is thick and fleshy, of a 

 rich deep green colour, five or six inches long by one and a half broad, pointed and 

 tapering at both ends, smooth on both sides, and disposed in tufts of three or four 

 each. They are said to remain attached to the plant three or four years, and their 

 age may be distinguished by the length of the interval between the different 

 groups. In the wild plant, the leaves are more acute than in the cultivated one. 



The flowers which appear in April and May, are of a pale greenish yellow tint, 

 and are disposed in dense terminal panicles; occasionally the buds have a pale 

 tinge of rose just before expansion. They are deliciously fragrant, especially in 

 the evening, the odour resembling that of the Daphne indica. The same plant 

 produces both perfect and imperfect flowers, that is to say, flowers containing both 

 stamens and pistil ; others producing stamens only ; and a few in which these are 

 abortive, the pistil alone being perfect. The calyx is divided into five persistent 

 segments ; the corolla into five deciduous petals. Ovary superior, four-celled, each 

 cell containing a single pendulous ovule, and surrounding the base of the ovary, 

 is a four-lobed fleshy disk. Style very short, with a thick four-lobed stigma. 

 The berry is at first fleshy, but afterwards becomes a dry four -celled fruit, with 

 • ai-lilaginous cells, each containing one pendulous seed. The berries are ripened 

 in October, and remain attached to the plant during the greater part of the winter ; 

 at the moment we write, those on Messrs Standish and Noble's plant appear more 

 beautiful than ever. 



Although it is at present scarce, the abundance with which they are produced 

 will soon enable it to be increased a thousand-fold ; it will, therefore, in the course 

 of one or two seasons, be, we hope, within the reach of most cultivators. It is ako 

 multiplied by cuttings, and succeeds well in a mixture of peat and loam. 



In our previous notice of this plant, we stated that it was said to produce 

 flowers when only two or three inches high, and fruit at six inches; and although at 

 the time we imagined this to be an error, it appears to be perfectly correct, its 



