JASMINUM NUDIFLOEUH. 163- 



in mid- winter, in defiance of frost and snow, when the number of plants in 

 bloom is so few that they may be reckoned in units, it will be evident that 

 the compensation for the absence of odour, as well as for the deciduous nature 

 of the leaves, is of the amplest character. The tenuity and flexibility of its 

 shoots allow them to be so closely arranged upon a wall, that when in bloom, they 

 present to the eye a sheet of yeUow of the richest tint ; and, if associated with 

 the scarlet-flowered Pyrus Japonica, which in most situations blooms about the 

 same period, the effect is very striking. 



Though sometimes spoken of as a dwarf shrub, it soon attains the height 

 of six or eight feet, but may be trained horizontally, so as to accommodate itself 

 to almost any situation. The shoots are distinctly four-sided, with the angles 

 somewhat winged, of a rich dark green colour, and very flexible. The leaves 

 are divided into three rather small oval-pointed leaflets, which are smooth on 

 their surfaces, but fringed at their edges with short hairs. Tbe flowers are 

 produced along tbe sboots of the previous season, their buds being formed in 

 the axils of the foliage, as in the case of the Forsythia viridissima ; and, like 

 the blossoms of that handsome shrub, they are enveloped, prior to their expan- 

 sion, by several brown scales, which, in the severe climate of Northern China, 

 may be more necessary as a protection against excessive cold than in this country. 

 Tbe calyx is divided into six narrow pointed segments, and the corolla into 

 the same number of lobes of a broad- oval, or almost inversely heart-shaped form ; 

 the tube of the flower is wider than in most species, and includes the two short 

 stamens peculiar to tbe genus Jasminum. The style is longer than usual, pro- 

 truding its globose stigma from the mouth of the flower. We may observe 

 that the number of the corolla segments is very inconstant in this genus, 

 varying from four, which is the number present in officinale to five in revolutum, 

 six in the present species, seven in multiflorum, eight in J. sambac, and from 

 eight to ten in J. any ust i folium. 



The foliage of nudiflorum is, as already hinted, of a deciduous character ; and 

 although this is to be regretted, it should be remembered that the flowers being 

 produced on veiy short stalks close to the branches, would be almost, if not 

 quite, concealed were the foliage persistant; so tbat, even here, we find the 

 compensatory principle displayed. Where the absence of the foliage at the 

 period of flowering may be considered an objection, it may be, to some extent, 

 remedied by training the plant over a closely-clipped ivied surface; better, 

 however, by associating it with the evergreen J. revolutum, though the task of 

 training the two species on the same surface might not be accomplished 

 without some trouble. None of the species are of easier cultivation ; it succeeds 

 in any ordinary friable soil, but, in common with the other Jasmines, likes a 

 warm exposure. Although usually treated as a wall plant, it may be grown 



