ABUTILON ACANTHOPANAX 129 



Native of Chile; first raised in Dublin in 1836 by Capt. Cottingham, 

 an amateur gardener of the time, who had obtained seeds from that 

 country. It is not hardy in the open at Kew, and is even uncertain 

 against a wall there, but in the milder parts of the country few shrubs are 

 more lovely during summer when it is in bloom. It is not a long-lived 

 plant, and, as is not uncommon with soft-wooded shrubs that flower and 

 bear seed so profusely, it is apt to die suddenly without apparent cause. 

 Happily, its abundant seeds give a quick and easy means of renewing the 

 stock. It is most fortunately placed in some sheltered corner, such as 

 in the angle of two walls, where it will develop into a loose, graceful 

 shrub. It may also be grown on a wall, but in the milder parts of the 

 country will stand on the open lawn. A fine effect is made by this 

 shrub at Chaddlewood, in Devon, where a walk 200 yards long is 

 bordered with it. 



A. MEGAPOTAMICUM, St Hilaire (A. vexillarium, Bot. Mag., t. 5717), a well- 

 known pretty-foliaged greenhouse plant, is hardy in our warmest counties. 

 The leaves are ovate with a cordate base r 2 to 4 ins. long, charmingly blotched 

 and tessellated with bright yellow. Flowers cup-shaped, yellow, with a red 

 calyx. Native of Brazil. 



ACANTHOPANAX. ARALIACEJE. 



A genus of trees and shrubs, now including ELEUTHEROCOCCUS, allied 

 to Aralia and Fatsia. They have pithy, sometimes prickly or bristly stems ; 

 alternate leaves, consisting of three or five leaflets digitately arranged, 

 or sometimes not completely divided, and only deeply lobed. Flowers 

 in umbels, dull-coloured, followed by clusters of fruit very like those of 

 the common ivy, being crowded in spherical clusters and inky black. 

 In gardens, the members of this genus will be chiefly notable for their 

 distinct and striking foliage of a type very rare in hardy shrubs and for 

 their black fruits. The hardiness of some of the new Chinese species has 

 not yet been put to the supreme test, but they promise to be well adapted 

 for our climate. A light, warm, loamy soil suits them all, and they can 

 be propagated by root-cuttings, sometimes by division or offsets. Some 

 give seed freely. 



The character which was relied on to distinguish Maximowicz's genus 

 of Eleutherococcus from Acanthopanax, viz., the articulated (jointed) 

 flower-stalk, is not really differentiative, and the two are now combined. 



A. HENRYI, Harms. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 8316 ; Eleutherococcus Henryi, Oliver.') 



A sturdy bush, said to become 10 ft. high in a wild state, with rigid, pale 

 brown branchlets, rough with minute bristles, and armed with broad sturdy 

 spines, \ in. long, straight or slightly decurved. Leaves composed of five leaflets 

 on a stalk \\ to 3 ins. long, rough to the touch. Leaflets obovate or oval, \\ to 

 3^ ins. long, f to \\ ins. wide; tapering nearly equally towards both ends, 

 scarcely stalked ; the margins finely and simply toothed ; upper surface harsh, 

 lower one more or less hairy. Flowers in a terminal cluster of umbels borne 



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