1026 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART 111. 



Genus II. 



AU'CUBA Thui\b. The Auclba. iiw. %/. Dioe'cia Tetrandiia. 



hlentificatiuH. Thunb. Fl. Jap., p. 4. ; Dec. Prod., 4. p. 274. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 433. 

 Hi/nont/mcs. Aukuba Ka;mpf. Amoen., 5. p. 775. ; Eiibasis Salisb Prod., p. 68. 



Description, <.^c. An evergreen shrub or tree; a native of Japan. Branches 

 dichotomous or verticillate, in the manner of those of Lorauthus and riscuni. 

 The male blossom unknown. Only the female state of this plant is in British 

 gardens. 



• 1. A. japo'nica Thunb. The Japan Aucuba. 



Identiftcation. Thunb. Fl. Jap., p. 64. ; Dec. Prod., 4. p. 274. ; Don's Mill, 3. 433. 

 Synoitymes. Eiibasis dich6toinu8 Salish. Frod., p. 68. ; spottctl-lcaved Laurel, Japan I-aurc). 

 Engravin^^s. Banks; Icon. Ka;nipl'., t. 6. ; Thunb. Icon. Fl. Jap., t. I'J. and, 13. ; Bot. Mag., t. ll!)?. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Native of Japan, where it is common both in a wild and 

 cultivated state, producing its red berries in March. The aucuba, in British 

 gardens, is a well-known laurel-like evergreen shrub, having the leaves 

 mottled with yellow ; but in Japan the leaves are said, by Thunberg, to be 

 sometimes green. According to Kicmpfcr, it forms, in its native country, 

 a tree, with the fruit a red oblong drupe, like a laurel berry, with a white 

 sweetish pulp; and a kernel with a bitter taste. It was introduced in 1783, 

 and, at first, treated like a stove plant, as was customary, in those days, 

 with plants from Japan and China ; it was afterwards found to stand in the 

 green-house, and, in a short time, in the open air. It is now considered as 

 hardy as, or hardier than, the common laurel; and, what is a very valuable 

 property in England, it will endure coal smoke better than almost any 

 other evergreen. It is readily propagatcil by cuttings ; and grows freely in 

 any soil tolerably dry, advancing steadily by shoots of from Oin. to 1 ft. 

 long every season. 



App. I. Loranthdcece not hitrodnccd. 



J., ruroptv'vs. {Lin. Sp., 1672. ; Jar(). Fl. Austr., t 30. ; Dec. Prod., 4. p. 671. ; Don's Mill., S. 

 p. 409. ; Schkuhr Handb., t. i4. ; PIcnck Icon., t 248.) The European I.oranthus. Plant gla- 

 brous, much branched. ISranchcs terete. Leaves opposite, pctiolatc, oval-oblong, obtuse, some- 

 what attenuated at the base. Racemes tcnninal, simi)le. Flowers dioecious, of 6 petals. Anthers 

 adnate in the male flowers. (Don's Mill., iii. p. 4(J9.) A parasitical shrub, with the habit of /'iscum 

 Album, and, like it, having greenish flowers, and yellowish berries. It is a native of Austria, Hun- 

 gary, Italy, and Upper Siberia, where it grows on the oak, the sweet chestnut, and other trees, as the 

 mistletoe does in England. It has not yet been introduced into Britain, though it might easily be 

 so, by procuring a box of the berries from Vienna, and treating them as directed for those of the 

 mistletoe, p. 1023. 



L. odor&lus Wall, is a native of Nepal, with leaves from 4—6 in. long, and many-flowered spikes, 

 of small, white, very sweet-scented flowers. 



L. Lambert&nus Schultes is a native of Nepal, with the habit of L. europse'us ; and is, probably, the 

 same species. 



f'ario?ts other species are described by botanists as natives of difTerent parts of Asia. Hoyle re- 

 marks that the genus Lor'inthus " is found in considerable numbers on trees, in every part of the 

 plains of India ; not less than !X) being found in that country, in the Malayan peninsula ; though L. 

 bicolor is the most common species. Some few ascend the mountains ; and several occur in Nepal. 

 Of these, /,. pnlvcnildnlu.s and L. vcst'ilusure found as high as Mussouree; and L. \igustrinus and 

 r,. cordifulius lower down on the mountain side." {Royle Illust., p. 235.) 



CHAP. LXIII. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER CAPRIFOLIA'CE^. 



This order includes several genera of hardy ligneous plants, chief)} shrubs. 

 They are commonly arranged in two sections, i'ambiiceaB and Lonicer^'^r; and 

 the following distinctive characters of the section and genera, taken from Don's 

 Miller, will give an idea of the characteristics of the order : — 



