SINOWILSONIA SKIMMIA 513 



the margins set with bristle-like teeth. Flowers greenish, in slender, 

 terminal, pendulous racemes 9 ins. long. Fruits very downy, egg-shaped 

 capsules, to J in. long, stalkless, and arranged on long slender spikes. 



Native of the province of Hupeh, China, where it inhabits the banks 

 of mountain streams at 3000 to 4000 ft. ; introduced in 1908, for Harvard 

 University, U.S.A., by Wilson. It is in honour of that famous collector 

 that the genus is named. As a type new to cultivation, belonging to a 

 group of great distinction the witch-hazel family it has considerable 

 scientific interest. We shall have to wait some years, no doubt, for its 

 flowering, but, apparently, it has no great beauty. 



Messrs Rehder and Wilson have recently (Plants Wilsoniana, i., 427) 

 made a new genus of a shrub nearly allied to Sinowilsonia and Corylopsis. 

 Since 1908 it has been cultivated under Wilson's number, 565. It is 

 now called FORTUNEARIA SINENSIS. 



SKIMMIA. RUTACE^. 



A group of three low, evergreen shrubs, native of China, Japan, and the 

 Himalaya, with alternate, entire, aromatic leaves, terminal flower panicles, 

 and handsome red fruits. Owing to the male and female flowers being 

 frequently confined to separate plants in S. japonica and S. Laureola, it 

 is necessary with them to grow the two sexes together in order that fruit 

 may be obtained, and the fruit constitutes the most attractive feature of 

 the genus. They are of easy cultivation and like a moist loamy soil, and 

 will thrive in a moderately shady spot. Those who make a speciality of 

 growing Skimmias for their fruits assist fertilisation by artificial means 

 (see und^r S. japonica.) 



The generic name is derived from "skimmi," a Japanese name for 

 S. japonica. It was given by Thunberg in 1784. 



S. FORTUNEI, Masters. 



(S. japonica, Bot. Mag., t. 4719 (not of Thunberg).} 



A low evergreen shrub, usually not more than 2 ft. high, with dark green, 

 narrow elliptical leaves, averaging 2^ to 4 ins. long, and from | to I in. wide; 

 tapering gradually and equally towards both ends. Flowers white, always 

 bisexual, i in. across, produced in a terminal panicle 2 to 3 ins. long. 'Fruits 

 dull crimson, distinctly oval or pear-shaped, \ in. long. Seeds pointed at 

 both ends. 



Native of China, whence it was first imported to England by Fortune in 

 1849. He had found the plant during the previous year in a nursery garden 

 near Shanghai. It was first exhibited in England at the Horticultural 

 Society's Rooms, 21 Regent Street, 23rd October 1852, and was awarded a 

 Knightian medal. Then, and until 1889, when the late Dr Masters cleared 

 up the confusion, it was wrongly known as S. japonica. Being herma- 

 phrodite every plant bears fruit and there is no bother about the sexes, 

 but artificial fertilisation is useful in securing good crops of fruit. Its 

 flowers are abundant and charmingly fragrant. Easily distinguished from 

 the true japonica by the darker, egg--shaped fruits. 



Var. ARGENTEA, Masters, Leaves with white margins. 



