30 LINDERA 



LINDERA. LAURACE^E. 



The Linderas are spicily aromatic shrubs or small trees allied to the 

 bay laurel. There is in cultivation one hardy American species, and 

 several, scarcely so hardy, from Japan and China. None of them is 

 showy in flower, and they do not bear fruit freely, if at all in this 

 country. The genus is not represented in th'e European flora; but in 

 Japan, Sargent remarks that the Linderas make a notable feature in the 

 shrubby. growth of the hillsides and on the borders of streams and lakes. 

 Leaves alternate, flowers unisexual, small, yellowish. Fruit a drupe. 

 Besides the species mentioned below, another, L. SERICEA, Blume, is 

 occasionally grown. Its leaves are covered with silky hairs when they 

 unfold, which mostly fall away as the season advances. It flowers freely 

 at Coombe Wood in March and April, bearing its blossoms in small 

 umbels ; stalks short, very silky. I have not heard that it develops fruit. 

 On the low levels of Kew it is so injured by spring frosts that it never 

 lives long out-of-doors. 



L. BENZOIN, Blume. SPICE BUSH. 



(Laurus Benzoin, Linn CPUS ; Benzoin aestivale, Nees.") 



A spicily aromatic, deciduous shrub, 6 to 12 ft. high, forming a rounded 

 bush as -much in diameter ; young shoots smooth or slightly downy. Leaves 

 obovate, 2 to 5 ins. long, i to 2^ ins. wide ; tapered towards both ends, but 

 more gradually towards the stalk ; not toothed, thin, smooth above, smooth 

 or slightly downy and glaucous beneath, margins ciliate ; stalk J to J in. long. 

 Flowers greenish yellow, small, and not showy ; produced in tiny clusters during 

 April from the joints of last year's naked shoots ; the sexes are on separate 

 plants ; corolla none ; calyx with six lobes. Fruit dark red or purple, oval, 

 % in. long, juicy. 



Native of the eastern United States ; introduced in 1683. When crushed 

 the leaf emits a pungent spicy odour too strong to be quite pleasant. This 

 species is perfectly hardy at Kew, where it makes a neat bush of no particular 

 merit or distinction. 



L. MEGAPHYLLA, Hemsley: 



An evergreen shrub or tree ; young shoots darkish purple, marked with a 

 few pale lenticels ; terminal bud woolly. Leaves oblong to oblanceolate, 

 v entire, pointed, tapered to a wedge-shaped or rounded base ; 4 to 9 ins. long, 

 i to 2^ ins. wide ; brilliantly glossy and dark green above ; dull, pale and 

 glaucous beneath, perfectly smooth ; midrib yellow ; stalk -| to i in. long. 

 Flowers (not yet seen in cultivation) produced numerously in short-stalked, 

 axillary umbels. Fruit black, egg-shaped, about f in. long. 



Native of Central China ; introduced by Wilson about 1900. The above 

 description is based on the plants raised in the Coombe Wood nursery, where 

 it forms a very handsome evergreen and has hitherto proved quite hardy, 

 remaining, however, a shrub. The leaves rather suggest, in their sheen and 

 size, those of a cinnamon ; they are aromatic when crushed. 



L. OBTUSILOBA, Blume. 



(Benzoin obtusilobum, Kuntze?) \ 



A deciduous shrub or small tree, 20 to 25 ft. high, the brown branchlets not 

 downy, but marked with pale, narrow lenticels. Leaves variable in shape ; 



