PLATYCRATER PODOCARPUS 205 



made of the plant ; this was to make an infusion of the leaves with which 

 the images of Buddha were washed or baptized. But that was in 1835. 

 The plant is easily increased by rather soft cuttings. 



PLATYOSPRION PLATYCARPUM, Maximowicz. LEGUMINOS^. 



(Sophora platycarpa, Maximowicz Cladrastis platycarpa, Makino.") 



A deciduous tree, similar in habit and general appearance to Sophora 

 japonica; branchlets smooth, dark brown. Leaves pinnate, 8 to 10 ins. 

 long ; leaflets in five and a half to seven and a half pairs, obliquely ovate, 

 pointed; ij to 4 ins. long, i to i^ ins. wide; bright green above, downy 

 on the midrib and stalk, otherwise smooth at maturity. Flowers white, 

 pea-flower-shaped, f in. long, produced on slender, downy stalks about 

 -j in. long, in panicles 4 to 6 ins. high, 2^ to 4 ins. wide. Pod flat, 2 ins. 

 long, \ in. wide, tapered to a point at both ends and winged on the 

 seams ; seeds three or four, often only one developing. 



Native of Japan. This interesting tree was first placed in Sophora, from 

 which its' flat (not necklace-shaped) fruit distinguishes it. A Japanese 

 botanist has placed it in Cladrastis, which it certainly resembles in the 

 fruit. It is not common in cultivation, although offered by several 

 continental dealers ; Maackia amurensis is sometimes supplied for it. 

 It has not yet flowered in this country, but will no doubt thrive 

 wherever Sophora japonica does. In N. America it is said to have 

 proved hardier. 



PODOCARPUS. TAXACE^. 



There are some forty or fifty species of Podocarpus known, which are 

 found in Australasia, S. America, and E. Asia, only two or three of which 

 can be regarded as hardy in our average climate, although a considerably 

 larger number will thrive in Ireland, in Cornwall, and other mild counties. 

 They are allied to the yews, and have rounded, or egg-shaped, plum-like 

 fruits consisting of a single seed or nut with a fleshy covering. They 

 require in cultivation a sheltered spot and a well-drained, loamy, or 

 peaty soil. 



P. ALPINA, R. Brown. 



A low evergreen shrub, forming a neat, dense, almost hemispherical 

 mass of drooping branches at present 3 to 4 ft. high with us ; branchlets 

 produced in whorls, very slender and interlacing, smooth and green when 

 young. Leaves \ to \ in. long, ^ to -^ in. wide ; linear, tapered at the 

 base and either rounded at the apex or terminated by a small fine point ; 

 dark dull green above; slightly pale, with rows of stomata beneath. Fruit 

 a small, bright red, plum-like body J in. across, containing one seed. 



Native of Tasmania and the mountains of Victoria, but quite hardy at 

 Kew, where it has withstood 30 of frost without injury. It is a distinct shrub, 

 and although quite healthy has only attained 4 ft. in height in thirty years, 

 or perhaps longer. A plant occasionally bears female flowers at Kew, 



