SPIR.EA -STACHYURUS 545 



frosts. In more elevated gardens, or where the plant is not forced into 

 premature activity by unseasonable warmth, there is no more desirable shrub, 

 for it is very hardy. Its stems, at first erect, afterwards arching outwards at 

 the top, bear the extraordinarily profuse blossoms on the upper side of the 

 branches. It is one of the Spiraeas which should have the older wood 

 thinned out after flowering to allow light and air to enter and help in the 

 development of the younger growths. It is very valuable for forcing early 

 into bloom for indoor decoration, and is often exhibited in this state at the 

 spring shows under the erroneous name of S. confusa, a synonym of S. media 

 a less vigorous shrub with longer stamens, and the calyx-lobes ultimately 

 reflexed. 



S. VEITCHII, Hemsley. 

 (Bot Mag., t. 8383.) 



A strong-growing shrub, probably 10 or 12 ft. high eventually, producing 

 gracefully arching shoots, 2 to 6 ft. long in a season; young branches reddish, 

 slightly downy. Leaves f to 2 ins. long, \ to f in. wide; oblong or obovate, 

 not toothed, smooth on both surfaces or very slightly downy beneath. Flowers 

 white, small, crowded in dense corymbs, \\ to 2\ ins. across ; calyx and 

 flower-stalks covered with a fine down ; fruits smooth when ripe. 



Native of Central China; discovered by Wilson in W. Hupeh in 1900, and 

 introduced by him for Messrs Veitch. It is a fine species (Mr Wilson has 

 told me he considers it the best of Chinese Spiraeas), somewhat similar in 

 general aspect and in producing its flowers on short leafy twigs from the 

 growths of the previous summer, to the well-known S. canescens (flagelliformis). 

 It is readily distinguished from that species, however, by its smooth, entire 

 leaves and smooth fruit. Its entire leaves also distinguish it from two other 

 allies S. Henryi and S. Wilsoni. I saw the plants first introduced in their 

 young state in the Coombe Wood nursery, when they were making shoots as 

 much as 8 ft. long in a season; when these, the following June, were wreathed 

 from end to end with clusters of pure white blossom, they made a picture of 

 remarkable beauty. 



STACHYURUS PR^COX, Siebold. TERNSTRCEMIACE^E. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 6631.) 



A deciduous shrub, said to become as much as 10 ft. high in Japan, 

 but rarely more than half as high in England. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, 

 smooth, 3 to 7 ins. long, with a long slender apex; toothed at the margin. 

 Flowers twelve to twenty together, in stiff drooping racemes 2 to 3 ins. 

 long, each flower ~ in. across, pale yellow. 



Native of Japan, and quite hardy. Its greatest merit in the garden 

 is its early-flowering nature. In favourable years it will be in full flower 

 by the middle of February, and ordinarily, not more than a month later. 

 The flower-spikes are formed in the axils of the leaves and attain their 

 full length in autumn, and, although exposed to whatever inclemencies 

 the winter may bring, remain unscathed. Unseasonable warmth in the 

 early part of the year, followed by a rough cold spell, will sometimes injure 

 the flowers. But on the whole they are very hardy, and when the reddish 

 leafless branches are hung with yellow racemes i in. or less apart, there 

 are few things in the garden more pleasing at that early season. 



