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ABELIA 



Native of China, where it is widely spread; discovered in 1816-17 by Mr 

 C. Abel. It is usually regarded as a greenhouse plant, but is hardy in the 

 south and west of England. The true plant is rare in cultivation, the shrub 

 usually grown under the name being A. grandiflora a hybrid between it and 

 A. uniflora. 



A. ENGLERIANA, Rehder. 



(Linnsea Engleriana, Graebner.") 



A deciduous shrub of bushy habit, 2 to 4 ft. high, with brown, minutely 

 downy young bark, afterwards smooth and shining, ultimately peeling. Leaves 

 oval-lanceolate, tapered at both ends, but more slenderly at the apex ; f to 

 i^ ins. long, ^ to in. wide ; bright green and smooth above, paler and glossy 

 beneath, with scattered hairs on the midrib and veins ; margins bristly-hairy ; 

 stalk ^ in. or less long. Flowers borne usually in pairs from the end of short 

 lateral twigs ; sepals two, narrowly oval, ^ in. long, minutely ciliated ; corolla 

 in. long, funnel-shaped, curved, minutely downy outside, rose-coloured. 

 Stamens shorter than the corolla. 



Native of Szechuen, China; originally discovered by Henry about 1888; 

 introduced to cultivation twenty years later by Wilson when collecting for 

 Harvard University. Flowered at Kew in 1911. 



A. FLORIBUNDA, Decaisne. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 4316 ; Garden, May 18, 1873.) 



An evergreen shrub 6 to 10 ft. high in a wild state, but rarely seen half as 

 high in this country ; young shoots reddish, downy. Leaves ovate to roundish 

 ovate, f to if ins. long, ?r to I in. broad, shallowly toothed, pointed, firm in 



ABELIA FLORIBUNDA. 



texture ; glossy green and smooth on both surfaces, but paler beneath ; hairy 

 only on the margin ; stalk in. or less long. Flowers pendulous, rosy-red, 

 produced in June at or near the end of short twigs which spring from the year- 

 old wood. Corolla slenderly funnel-shaped, narrowing towards the base, I J to 

 2 ins. long, nearly i in. wide at the mouth, where are five rounded, spreading 

 lobes. Sepals five, green, linear-oval, \ in. long. Stamens hairy. 



Native of Mexico on the Cordilleras ofOaxaca at 10,000 ft.; introduced to 

 Europe in 1841. This is the handsomest of the Abelias that can be grown out- 

 of-doors with us, but it needs the protection of a wall. At Kew, a plant growing 

 against the wall of a greenhouse has flourished for many years and flowers well 



