268 



BROUSSONETIA BRUCKENTHALIA 



blade. The leaf has thus a trifoliolate aspect. When in foliage the whole shrub 

 is a tangle of these slender leaf-stalks. I have not seen this variety in flower. 



Both the varieties here mentioned are merely curious freaks, but the type 

 itself makes, a handsome shrub ; the male plant when freely furnished with its 

 yellowish, drooping catkins is striking. 



BRUCKENTHALIA SPICULIFOLIA, Rcichenbach. ERICACE/E. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 8148.) 



A dwarf evergreen shrub, about 6 ins. high, forming dense tufts of 

 erect, very leafy twigs, heath-like in appearance ; branches slender, downy. 



Leaves spreading, much 

 crowded, linear, 

 long, ending 



BRUCKENTHALIA SPICULIFOLIA. 



to 



the 



margns 



n. 



in a bristle; 

 recurved and 



more or less glandular- 

 hairy; lower surface white, 

 but nearly hidden by the 

 recurved margins. Flowers 

 densely packed in a ter- 

 minal, erect raceme i in. 

 or less long. Corolla bell- 

 shaped, \ in. long, with 

 four-rounded lobes, rosy ; 

 calyx similarly coloured 

 but much smaller, and with 

 pointed lobes. Stamens 

 eight ; seed-vessel globular, 

 with the style and calyx 

 persisting ; flower-stalk \ in. 

 long. 



Native of the mountains 

 of E. Europe and Asia 

 Minor, discovered by Sib- 

 thorp in 1802, near Brussa; 

 introduced to Kew in 1888. 

 It differs from hardy Ericas 

 in the open-mouthed co- 

 rolla. Commencing to 

 bloom early in June, it 



continues for about a month. It is a dainty little plant, not particularly 

 showy, but suitable for a nook with peaty soil in the rock garden. At 

 Kew it has proved perfectly hardy, and is used as a dwarf ground- 

 covering beneath other sparse-habited peat-lovers. It may be increased 

 by seed, which it ripens freely, and by cuttings treated as advised 

 for hardy heaths (see ERICA). 



