StLEDA SYMPHORICARPUS 561 



green, borne at very close intervals on the stem. Flowers small, green, 

 stalkless, one-third as long as the leaves, produced during July in the leaf- 

 axils of the current year's shoots, either singly or two or three together, 

 insignificant. 



Native of the maritime districts of Europe, including some parts of the 

 east and south coasts of Britain. It has rather a heath-like aspect, with 

 its slender, erect stems and closely set, short leaves but the latter are, 

 of course, much more thick and fleshy. The shrub has no beauty of 

 flower, but the habit and foliage are sufficiently interesting and graceful 

 for it to be planted in brackish places, or in positions exposed to salt 

 spray where comparatively few shrubs will thrive. It succeeds well in 

 sandy soil, and can be increased by cuttings placed under a handlight. 

 If it gets too ungainly in form it should be pruned back in spring, but the 

 semi-woody shoots are frequently cut back by winter frost. 



SYCOPSIS SINENSIS, Oliver. HAMAMELIDACE^). 



An evergreen bushy shrub or a small tree, up to 20 ft. high in China; 

 young shoots at first scaly. Leaves rather leathery, strongly nerved, entire 

 or slightly toothed towards the apex, ovate or ovate-lanceolate ; 2 to 4 J 

 ins. long, one-third to half as wide; smooth and dark green above, paler 

 and quite smooth beneath; leaf-stalk and young wood slightly warted. 

 Flowers in short dense clusters less than i in. long, of but little beauty 

 except for the yellowish stamens and the reddish brown bracts that 

 enclose the inflorescence. The flowers are unisexual and without a 

 corolla, both sexes appearing on the same plant. Fruit a dry, woolly, 

 egg-shaped capsule, \ in. long. 



Native of Central China at 4000 ft. altitude ; introduced by Wilson 

 for Messrs Veitch in 1901. It is perfectly hardy at Kew, and can be 

 increased by means of cuttings made of fairly ripened wood and placed 

 in heat. Its neat habit and distinct appearance, combined with its ever- 

 green nature, make it welcome in gardens, although it has little beauty of 

 blossom to commend it. It flowers at Coombe Wood in February and 

 March, and it was from one of the plants there that our figure on p. 562 

 was made in 1910. 



SYMPHORICARPUS. CAPRIFOLIACE^E. 



An unimportant genus of shrubs, of which about half a dozen species 

 are in cultivation. Until recently the genus, as known to botanists, was 

 confined to N. America, but Wilson has recently found a species in 

 W. China. They have no beauty of flower, and with the exception of 

 S. orbiculatus, which has red fruits, and S. sinensis, which has dark blue 

 ones, they are chiefly remarkable for their snow-white berries, well 

 exemplified in most gardens by the common snowberry S. racemosus. 

 Leaves opposite, not toothed, but sometimes with a wavy lobing, 

 deciduous. The genus is allied to Lonicera, but differs in the regular 

 corolla and two-seeded berry. 



