ACCLIMATIZATION, ETC. 277 



From this time the importation of new varieties increased. For 

 example, Chrysanthemum indicum and Gardenia florida were in- 

 troduced into England in 1754, and during the same year the first 

 two out-of-door trees were imported, which have found such a 

 wide extension in Europe, viz., Sophora japonica, and Salisburia 

 adianthifolia. 



During the last two decades of the last century, Sir Joseph 

 Banks, the friend of Solander, and with him the companion of 

 Cook on his first voyage round the world, ranked next to Thunberg 

 in his exertions for the introduction of Eastern Asiatic plants. He 

 brought first into Europe, among others, A. Paeonia Moutan, Nelum- 

 bium speciosum, Pyrus Japonica, Eriobotrya japonica, Hydrangea 

 hortensis, Diospyros Kaki, and Rhus semialata. In this century, 

 P. von Siebold, Fortune, and Veitch are prominent in the introduc- 

 tion of Chinese and Japanese ornamental plants. They brought 

 chiefly Japanese varieties of pot plants with variegated leaves to 

 the Netherlands or to England. And Maximowicz, the thorough 

 investigator and connoisseur of the rich plant-world of Japan and 

 of Eastern Asia in general, successfully exerted himself to import 

 several ornamental Japanese plants into Europe. I refer only to 

 several fine Rhododendron (Azalea) varieties which were brought 

 by him to St. Petersburg, and from there spread towards the 

 west. 



Instead of enumerating the long list of Japanese ornamental 

 plants, which would be without meaning to the novice, and super- 

 fluous to connoisseurs, I will limit myself to a few widely spread and 

 popular species, giving several facts concerning them which may be 

 of interest to lovers of flowers. I begin the with plant which stands 

 first, not only in the order of popularity, but also of the time of 

 introduction.; viz. Camellia japonica, L., the Tsubaki of the Japanese. 

 The considerable size which this shrub attains in Japan, the use 

 and value of its wood, and the oil prepared from its nuts, have 

 been previously mentioned. The wild variety belonging to the 

 forest is called Yama-tsubaki. Its simple red flowers open only in 

 a bell, and not a wheel, form. Kaempfer, Thunberg, and Siebold go 

 too far, when they maintain that Yama-tsubaki is spread over the 

 whole of Japan and forms dense forests. 



As mentioned in vol. i. p. 164, this camellia grows in southern 

 Japan to a tree of considerable size, 10 m. high, and ij m. in 

 circumference, and in the mountain forests of Kiushiu and Shikoku, 

 under favourable circumstances, up to 1,000 m. above sea level, so 

 that here it exceeds the lower limits of the beech. ' I found once 

 in April, to my surprise, in the neighbourhood of Sasagami-toge 

 in Shikoku a large camellia tree 900 m. above the sea level, whose 

 blossoms had fallen and lay on the ground with beech leaves and 

 blooming Asperula odorata. Farther north and more removed 

 from the influences of the Kuro-shiwo, this high limit of the wild 

 growing camellia falls rapidly, and its dimensions decrease also. 



