STYRAX 557 



S. AMERICANUM, Lamarck. AMERICAN STORAX. 



A deciduous shrub, 3 to 8 ft. high; young shoots nearly smooth. Leaves 

 narrowly oval, or obovate, \\ to 3^ ins. long, | to i| ins. wide; the base 

 wedge-shaped, the apex mostly pointed; minutely toothed, dark green above, 

 paler beneath, almost or quite smooth on both sides; stalk \ in. or less long. 

 Flowers white, pendulous, f to ij ins. across, produced fa June and July one 

 to four near and at the end of short leafy twigs; each flower on a slender 

 stalk j to -5- in. long. Petals ^ to ^ in. wide, pointed; calyx triangular- 

 lobed; stamens erect, in. long. Fruit roundish oval, J in. wide, covered 

 with fine grey down, and supported at the base by the persistent five-lobed 

 calyx. 



Native of the south-eastern United States; introduced in 1765. This 

 shrub has long been cultivated at Kew, but grows slowly, really needing a 

 warmer climate. It was killed to the ground by the frosts of February 1895, 

 but sprang up again later. It is better adapted for our south-west counties, 

 where it is a pretty shrub; yet neither as hardy nor as beautiful as S. 

 japonicam, to which in its pendulous blossoms it bears some resemblance 

 but is easily distinguished by its narrower petals. 



S. DASYANTHUM, Perkins. 



A deciduous shrub or small tree, the young branchlets furnished at first 

 with reddish brown down, becoming smooth. Leaves obovate to broadly 

 oval, 2 to 4 ins. long, i^ to 3 ins. wide; tapered more or less at the base, 

 pointed, the upper part minutely toothed; the lower surface when young 

 is covered with tufted hairs, which mostly fall away before the end of the 

 season. Flowers white, \ to-f in. long, produced in July in slender terminal 

 racemes 2 to 4 ins. long, augmented by clusters of two to four flowers in the 

 uppermost leaf-axils. Corolla segments lanceolate, covered outside with 

 tufted, yellowish white down. Calyx cup-shaped, felted outside, | in. long, 

 with several short but unequal, pointed teeth. 



Native of Hupeh, China ; discovered by Henry, and again by Wilson in 

 1900. The best plant I know of is at Aldenham, where it has succeeded 

 against a wall, and flowered several times in recent years. 



S. HEMSLEYANUM, Diets. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 8339.) 



A deciduous tree, 20 ft. or more high, young shoots covered at first with 

 tufted down. Leaves obovate or unequally ovate, 3 to 5| ins. long, 2 to 

 3^ ins. wide; usually more gradually tapered at the base than at the apex; 

 finely and rather distantly toothed, prominently veined; smooth and pale green 

 above, sparsely furnished beneath with tufted (stellate) down; stalk J to 

 $ in. long. Flowers pure white, produced in June on terminal downy 

 racemes or few-branched panicles, 4 to 6 ins. long, each flower on a stalk 

 \ in. long. Corolla f in. long, about I in. wide, the five lobes narrowly oval, 

 downy outside, joined at the base into a tube J in. long. Calyx bell-shaped, 

 in. long, slender-toothed, covered with reddish brown tufted down. 



Native of Central and W. China; introduced by Wilson in 190x3. It 

 is now cultivated at Caerhays, Cornwall, and is a vigorous small tree, 10 or 

 12 ft. high, of remarkable beauty when in blossom; striking also in size 

 of leaf. It bears a certain resemblance to S. Obassia, but the leaves of 



