MICHELIA MOLTKIA 83 



least 40 ft. high, with a trunk i ft. or more in diameter, and a compact, 

 rounded head of branches. Leaves 3 ins. in average length, oblong or 

 obovate, tapering at the base to a slender stalk -J to i in. long ; smooth, 

 leathery, and glossy green. Flowers (not yet seen in this counry) ij to 

 2 ins. across when fully expanded, Magnolia-like, fragrant; sepals and 

 petals pale yellow. Fruits on a cone 2 ins. long, each containing usually 

 three seeds. 



Native of Japan, and confined in a wild state to that country ; 

 introduced to England in 1894. It has proved hardy at Kew, although 

 slow-growing, increasing in height about 3 or 4 ins. annually. Still 

 rare. 



MICROGLOSSA ALBESCENS, C. B. Clarke. COMPOSITE. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 6672 ; Aster cabulicus, Lindley ; Amphiraphis albescens, De Candolle.} 



A plant with semi-woody, erect stems, growing in tufts about 3 ft. 

 high, very pithy, and clothed with a grey down. Leaves alternate, lance- 

 shaped, 2 to 5 ins. long, J to i in. wide ; tapered to both ends, the margins 

 entire or with minute teeth; grey and downy beneath. Flower-heads 

 J in. diameter, produced during July, in compound corymbs 3 to 6 ins. 

 across, terminating the current season's growth. Ray florets about four- 

 teen, narrow ; pale lilac-blue or bluish white ; centre flowers yellow. 



Native of the Himalaya, up to 12,000 ft. ; introduced to the Chiswick 

 gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society about 1840. It is nearly allied 

 to the Aster. The shoots made during the summer die back consider- 

 ably during the winter, almost to the ground in severe seasons. The 

 flowers are of a rather indeterminate blue, and the plant has no particular 

 merit except in flowering in late summer. Propagated by cuttings of the 

 young growths in heat, or by dividing old plants. 



MOLTKIA PETR^A, Reichenbach. BORAGINACE^E. 



(^ithospermum petraeum, De Candolle, Bot. Mag., t. 5492.) 



A small semi-evergreen, bushy shrub, i to 2 ft. high ; stems erect, and 

 covered with grey hairs pointing upwards. Leaves alternate, narrow- 

 linear, \ to ij ins. long, about \ in. wide; covered like the stems with 

 appressed, forward-pointing hairs on both surfaces. Flowers produced 

 during June, in small crowded clusters terminating the young shoots, the 

 whole inflorescence i to ij ins. across. Corolla pinkish purple in bud, 

 becoming violet-blue on opening, tubular, \ in. long, with five short, 

 erect, rounded lobes. 



Native of Dalmatia, Albania, etc. ; first introduced about 1840, and 

 treated as a cool greenhouse plant. It was afterwards lost to cultivation, 

 but was reintroduced by Messrs Backhouse of York, thirty years later. 

 It is not a robust plant and is certainly not adapted for shrubberies, but 

 on a well-drained ledge in the rock garden at Kew it has lived for thirty 

 years. Probably damp is more detrimental to its welfare than cold. 



