282 AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES, 



Germany it is known as a pot-plant generally, as it needs protec- 

 tion from our severe winter weather. It thrives well in the ground 

 south of the Alps, and without any special cultivation. Besides its 

 many varieties, we have also lately cultivated — 



Hydrangea paniculata, Sieb., a tall bush known among the 

 Japanese by the names Shiro-utsugi and Nori-no-ki, which with us 

 is quite proof against the winter. At home it grows in the moun- 

 tain forests to an elevation of 1,500 m., and is gathered for its 

 mucilaginous inner bark, which is used in making paper. Its 

 flowering season is in midsummer, like that of Hortensia. 



Macleya cordata, R. Brown, Jap. Chanpagiku and Takeni-gusa. 

 This perennial, herbaceous, ornamental plant from China and 

 Japan, attracts attention by its figure and the form and colour of 

 its leaves. It belongs to the Papaveracese family, is cultivated in 

 gardens and parks from the Mediterranean to England, and lately 

 often seen in Germany also. The perennial roots send out each 

 year a stiff stalk, up to 2 m. in height, which, late in summer, bears 

 on its very end a long flower-spike. The deeply indented leaves 

 and the white down which covers the entire plant are its most 

 noteworthy features. There are few herbaceous plants which are 

 so majestic and ornamental in appearance. 



Polygonum cuspidatunty Sieb., Jap. Itadori. This species is noted, 

 even more than the preceding, for its exceptionally rapid and 

 fine development. Many dozens of strong stalks shoot up, like 

 asparagus, 2 to 3 m. high, early in the spring, from a perennial root 

 having a pad-like appearance and thick, branching rootlets. With 

 their fine foliage they form a close, tall bush of fine effect, es- 

 pecially when standing alone and developing freely on all sides. 



The plant in Japan belongs to the mountain forests and the far 

 north, so that its easy cultivation with us is quite certain. 



Aiicuba japonica^^hwvih., Jap. Ao-ki.^ This well-known orna- 

 mental bush fulfils nearly every condition of a good foliage plant. 

 It is moderately hardy, and combines with this quality rapid 

 growth, thick branches, and an abundance of large, shiny, evergreen 

 leaves. The female tree, in summer, in addition to this beautiful 

 and abundant foliage, bears fine scarlet berries which resemble the 

 larger and kindred cornel cherries, but do not find a use, like 

 them. The brownish dioecious blossoms, whose panicles appear in 

 May on the ends of the twigs, are not at all conspicuous. 



Besides the camellia, there is scarcely another of the numerous 

 Japanese ornamental plants so popular and so widely spread as the 

 Aucuba. Nature, accident, and cultivation have given it in its 

 own home, and even with us, a number of sub-species which are 



1 It takes its Japanese name, Ao-ki, " green tree," from the green colour of the 

 branches. Aucuba may be a corruption of Ao-ba, or "green leaf," or Ao- 

 ki-ba, ie. "green-tree leave," but is not used in Japan. The plant is always 

 bush-like in its own home, so that Thunberg's designation of "Arbor magna" 

 is decidedly erroneous. 



