ACANTHOPANAX 131 



stiff as that of its near allies, and the large umbels of black fruit are striking. 

 It has been confused with A. Simoni (q.v.\ but differs in being glabrous and in 

 the arrangement and shape of the prickles ; from A. Henryi it differs in the 

 same respects as well as in the toothing of the leaflets. The Chinese obtain a 

 drug from the root. 



A. PENTAPHYLLUM, MarchaL 



(A. spinosum, Hort., not Miguel.') 



A deciduous shrub of loose habit, 8 to 10 ft. high, with erect stems and 

 arching, slender branches, often armed with a spine at the base of each leaf- 

 stalk or leaf-cluster ; the whole plant without down. Leaves composed of three 

 to (normally) five leaflets, borne on a slender common stalk i^ to 3^ ins. long ; 

 leaflets stalkless, obovate, I to 2| ins. long, ^ to I in. wide, toothed except towards 

 the tapering base. Flowers very small, greenish white, produced during June, 

 and later on a spherical umbel f to I in. diameter, terminating a slender stalk 

 2 to 4 ins. long. On the year-old wood the leaves are produced in clusters 

 from the previous year ; s buds ; it is from the centre of this cluster that the 

 inflorescence is borne. 



Native of China and Japan ; introduced in 1874, but for long confined to cool 

 greenhouses. It is quite hardy if given shelter from north and east, and a most 

 elegant, handsome-foliaged shrub, although destitute of flower beauty. Still 

 more pleasing is the 



Var. VARIEGATUM (Panax quinquefolium variegatum, Hort\ whose leaflets 

 are edged with a broad border of creamy white. This is one of the daintiest of 

 variegated shrubs, hardy, but needing a sheltered position. Propagated by 

 cuttings made of short, moderately firm shoots in heat ; or of harder wood 

 under a handlight. 



A. RICINIFOLIUM, Seeman. 



(Aralia Maximowiczii, Van Houtt .) 



A large, deciduous tree, 80 to 90 ft. high in a wild state, with a trunk as much 

 as 4 ft. in diameter. In cultivation it is as yet but a srrall and very elegant 

 tree, the branches armed with stout, broad-based, yellowish prickles. Leaves 

 palmate, measuring in young plants as much as 14 ins. in width, scarcely 

 so much in length, deeply five- or seven-lobed, becoming smaller as the 

 trees increase in age, and then from 7 to 10 ins. wide; the shallow lobes 

 ovate-triangular, long-pointed, toothed, reaching about one-third or less towards 

 the centre ; upper surface dark shining green ; lower one paler and covered 

 with grey down when young, which falls away afterwards except from the vein- 

 axils. Flowers not seen in this country, but described as white, and produced 

 in numerous umbels forming a large, flattish inflorescence up to 2 ft. across. 



Native of Japan ; introduced to Europe by Maximowicz about 1865. It is 

 one of the most remarkable of all cool temperate trees, and a full-grown 

 specimen such as Sargent and others describe as existing in the woods of Japan 

 would make a wonderful addition to the garden flora of Britain, for its foliage 

 is of a type very sparsely represented in the open air, although'plentiful enough 

 in greenhouses and stoves. But I doubt if such trees will ever be seen here, 

 for although it has been in cultivation in Europe for nearly fifty years, I know 

 of no tree that suggests that term of years. It appears to be hardy, inasmuch 

 as it will survive severe winters ; but its shoots often decay back, and frequently 

 the whole plant dies without any ostensible cause. It is most probable that 

 our climate is not sunny enough to sufficiently ripen its wood. Of the two 

 forms, or states, in cultivation, the one with deeply, the other with compara- 

 tively shallow-lobed leaves, the former has been distinguished as var. 

 MAXIMOWICZII. (Flore des Series, t. 2067.) 



