2748 



POLYSCIAS 



POLYSTACHYA 



lows: "This fine and distinct ornamental stove plant 

 is a native of the South Sea Islands. It is of shrubby 

 habit, with an erect stem, copiously dotted with lentic- 

 ular markings, and having pinnate leaves on longish 

 smooth terete petioles, and made up in the case of 

 young plants of from three to seven stalked oblong- 

 elliptic bluntish leaflets which are sometimes obscurely 

 lobed, and irregularly spinose - serrate ; these leaflets 

 vary in size from two to three inches long, and are 

 neatly and evenly margined with creamy white, the 

 surface being in addition occasionally splashed with 

 gray." 



Var. laciniata, Bailey (Panax laciniatum, Hort.), 

 Fig. 3116, has the white margins of the Ifts. deeply cut 

 into very narrow spreading divergent teeth. Var. 

 monstrosa, Bailey (Ardlia monstrosa and Panax 

 monstrosum, Hort.), has the Ifts. irregularly cut and 

 jagged, often very oddly so and of different sizes and 

 shapes, the margins white and deep-toothed : one of the 

 many If.-forms which are named laciniata, monstrosa, 

 etc. R.H. 1891, p. 225. Gn. 39, p. 565. A form with 

 golden green variegation is Panax monstrosum aureum 

 of the lists. Var. Victdriae, Bailey (Panax Vic- 

 torias, Rod. Ardlia Victdrise, Hort. Nothopanax fruticd- 

 sum var. Victorias, Merr.). Fig. 3117. A small close- 

 growing plant (as seen in cult.) with much-divided Ivs., 

 the Ifts. or segms. small and of different sizes and 

 shapes. A good compact form, frequent in green- 

 houses, which constantly sends up new stalks and yields 

 recurving tasselled light green white-margined foliage; 

 recommended as a good table plant. G.C. II. 19:405. 

 I.H. 31:521. 



Balfouriana, Bailey (Ardlia Balfouriana, Sander. 

 Panax Bdlfourii, Sander). Compact and bushy shrub, 

 in cult, well furnished with foliage from base to top: 

 st. bronze-green, speckled with gray: Ivs. with long 

 slender petioles (3-5 in. long) which are more or less 

 marked and lined and dilated-clasping at base; Ifts. 

 usually 3, long-stalked, orbicular or reniform in outline, 

 cordate at base, very obtuse or broad at apex, coarsely 



3117. Polyscias Guilfoylei var. Victorias. 



crenate or crenate-dentate, the teeth apiculate and 

 sometimes with minor spinulose serratures, margined or 

 blotched with white. Intro, from New Caledonia. 

 Thought to be a form of P. pinnata by some. R. Rumph- 

 idna, Harms, is to be studied in this connection. 



filicifolia, Bailey (Ardlia filicifdlia, Moore. Panax 

 filicifolium, Hort. A. spectdbilis, Hort.). Fig. 3118. 

 Strong erect glabrous shrub, with large lenticels 

 and usually with purplish branchlets: Ivs. variable, 

 even on the same plant as it attains age (as in Fig. 

 3118); as commonly seen in cult, young plants, the 

 Ifts. are long-lanceolate or narrowly oblong- lanceolate, 



narrowed at base, and deeply pinnatifid, the narrow 

 acute segms. being spinulose-serrate ; on older shoots or 

 plants, the Ifts. may be much larger and broader, still 

 narrow at the base, and merely spinulose-dentate; as 

 the plant matures it produces also very broad-ovate or 

 broad-oblong thick nearly or quite entire Ifts., with 

 broad or trun- 

 cate or even sub- 

 cordate base, 

 very unlike those 

 already des- 

 cribed. Pacific 

 Ids. I.H. 23: 

 240. J. H. III. 

 48:337. R. H. 

 1891, p. 224. Gn. 

 39, p. 565. 

 Known in some 

 places in tropics 

 as "angelica." 



The above ac- 

 count comprises the 

 cult, aralias that are 

 most likely to be 

 met with and to 

 be referred to this 

 group. Undoubtedly 

 some of the garden 

 names under Panax 

 belong in Pplyscias. 

 The following are 

 names under Panax 

 (not under Poly- 

 scias) which are in 

 doubt or of which 

 combinations ap- 

 pear not to be recog- 

 nized under Poly- 

 scias: Panax coch- 

 leatum DC. (No- 

 thopanax c o c h - 

 lea turn, Merrill). 

 Erect shrub, to 10 

 ft.: Ivs. simple, 2-5 

 in. across, nearly 

 orbicular, cordate, 

 somewhat concave above, remotely spinulose-dentate. Cult, 

 in Pacific tropics. P. crispatum, Bull ( Nothopanax crispa- 

 tum, Merrill). Shrub, to 6 ft.: Ivs. triangular, decompound, the 

 Ifts. deeply incised and toothed, oblong-obovate to broad-ovate, 

 green, the lateral ones overlapping. Probably Brazil, but widely 

 disseminated in tropics. P. Deleauanum, Hort., is properly P. 

 fruticosum var. Deleauanum, N. E. Br. A variation with irreg- 

 ularly pinnate Ivs. and digitately cut segms., the ultimate 

 segms. variable, but cuneate at base, toothed and cut and white- 

 toothed. Polynesia. I.H. 30:492. Known also as Aralia Deleauana. 

 P. diffusum, Bull. Form of P. fruticosum, with bright green, 

 crisped Ifts., which are linear-oblong and spiny-toothed. Polynesia. 

 P. dissectum, Bull. Erect, branching, the 2-pinnate Ivs. drooping, 

 the Ifts. cuneate-obovate and toothed and often 2-lobed. P. divari- 

 catum, Sieb. & Zucc.=Acanthopanax divaricatus, p. 193. P. dumi>- 

 sum. Bull. Short-stemmed: Ivs roundish ovate, pinnately divided, 

 the variable ultimate divisions spiny-toothed. P. fissum. Bull. 

 St. marked with pallid spots: Ivs. 3-pinnate, the Ifts. linear-lanceo- 

 late and whitish toothed. Polynesia. P. lepidum. Bull. Com- 

 pact: Ivs. biternately divided, the end division largest; pinnules or 

 ultimate Ifts. obliquely obovate, the central one in each case small 

 (sometimes almost rudimentary) and more or less covered by its 

 2 lateral ones, the margins spiny-toothed and cut. Brazil. Recent. 

 Scarcely known in cult, in Amer. P. Mastersianum, Sander. Of 

 climbing habit, with long-stalked drooping pinnate Ivs. about 3 ft. 

 long, the petiole greenish, tinged with pink and marked with white, 

 the Ifts. oblong-lanceolate and toothed. Solomon Isls. G.C. III. 

 23:242. P. multifidum, Hort., is properly P. fruticosum var. multif- 

 idum, N. E. Br. Compact plant, with 3-pinnatisect Ivs. and linear 

 or linear-lanceolate segms. l Aiu. or less long, with bristly teeth. 

 P. Murrayi, Muell. (Aralia splendidissima, Hort.). Tree in its 

 native place, with drooping, shining green pinnate Ivs. 3-4 ft. long, 

 and many oblong-lanceolate Ifts. 3-6 in. long: umbels of brownish 

 fls. in long, terminal panicles. S. Sea Isls. Austral. B.M. 6798. 

 Perhaps true Aralia. P. nitidum, Bull. Compact: Ivs. roundish 

 obovate, toothed and somewhat spiny, sometimes with deep incis- 

 ions. Brazil. P. ornatum, Bull (Nothopanax ornatum, Merrill). 

 Slightly branched shrub, to 10 ft.: Ivs. long, pinnate, the 11-17 Ifts. 

 narrow-lanceolate and deeply blunt-toothed, sometimes pinnately 

 lobed, irregular in shape: fls. greenish white, the panicles terminal 

 or in the upper axils: fr. about Kin. long, purple. Probably Brazil, 

 but widely cult, in tropics. P. sessilifldrurn, Rupr. & Max.= 

 Acanthopanax sessiliflorus, p. 192. L H B 



POLYSTACHYA (Greek, referring to the many 

 spikelets). Orchiddcese. Tropical epiphytic orchids, 

 few of which have showy flowers. 



3118. Polyscias filicifolia. All leaflets from 

 the same plant. ( X H) 



