OSMANTHUS OSTEOMELES 113 



country appears Jo be known only in the male state. It is quite hardy at 

 Kew, and has only once been seriously injured in my recollection, which was 

 in the great frosts of February 1895, when the temperature fell to nearly zero 

 on three successive nights. It does not flower profusely except in such places 

 as Cornwall. It is easily distinguished from O. Aquifolium by its larger, 

 broader leaves, less glossy on the upper surface, and with more numerous 

 (eight to ten) teeth on either margin. For the history of this shrub and the 

 elucidation of its confused naming, see Kew Bulletin, 1911, p. 177. 



OSTEOMELES. ROSACES. 



A genus of trees and shrubs found in the Andes of S. America, and 

 in various parts of Asia from the west of China to New Zealand. Two 

 Asiatic species are in cultivation, both rather tender evergreen shrubs 

 of very distinct appearance, with unequally pinnate leaves, white flowers, 

 and hawlike fruits containing five seeds. From other genera of the 

 pomaceous group of Rosaceae with pinnate leaves, they are distinguished 

 by the entire-margined, bristle-tipped leaflets of small size. They need 

 wall treatment, and grow well in loam. 



Wilson, in 1908, introduced an Osteomeles from W. China which is 

 allied to O. Schwerinae but promises to be a distinct species. It is 

 distinguished at present by its dainty foliage and dwarf habit, and 

 appears to be hardier. (No. 1016, Wilson.) 



O. SCHWERIN^E, C. K. Schneider. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 7354 (as O. anthyllidifolia).) 



An evergreen shrub, growing probably 6 to 8 ft. high in the open, consider- 

 ably more against a wall ; the long, slender, flexible branchlets covered with 

 short grey hairs. Leaves pinnate, 2 to 4 ins. long, composed of eight and a 

 half to fifteen and a half pairs of leaflets, covered, more especially beneath, 

 with grey down ; main-stalk hairy, channelled above. Leaflets oblong-oval 

 or obovate, with a short abrupt point, stalkless ; \ to f in. long, about one- 

 third as wide. Flowers white, \ to f in. diameter, produced in June in 

 branching corymbs i^ to 3 ins. across, terminating lateral twigs ; calyx-lobes 

 ovate-lanceolate, hairy outside, smooth within. Fruit egg-shaped, \ to in. 

 long, at first dark red, blue-black when ripe, smooth, crowned by the persistent 

 calyx ; five-seeded. 



Native of Yunnan and other parts of W. China, originally raised in the 

 Jardin des Plantes at Paris from seed which had been sent from Yunnan by 

 the Abbe Delavay in 1888 ; introduced to Kew in 1892. Forms nearly allied 

 to this Chinese plant occur through the south-east Pacific region as far as the 

 Sandwich Islands and New Zealand. The whole were at first included under 

 O. ANTHYLLIDIFOLIA, Lindley, but the west Chinese plant has been separated 

 on the strength of its smooth fruit, less hairy calyx-lobes, and usually but not 

 always narrower leaves, thus leaving Lindley's name for the tropical and 

 subtropical woolly-fruited plants. They are extremely closely allied, but 

 perhaps the latter could not be grown out-of-doors with us. 



O. Schwerinae is a shrub of distinct appearance, its foliage very suggestive 

 of some of the Leguminosas ; it is also very elegant in habit and attractive 

 in blossom. But we do not find it hardy in the open, although it survives 



