382 CORIARIA 



one-seeded. The most interesting character of these plants is the 

 persistence of the petals, which, as the fruit ripens, thicken and become 

 juicy and more or less highly coloured; finally enclosing the fruit. It 

 is to them that the plants owe most of their attractiveness. The leaves 

 and fruits are mostly poisonous. 



The Coriarias are scarcely hardy enough to be seen at their best near 

 London, being killed to the ground in severe winters. They are better 

 adapted for more southern and western counties, where they bear fruit 

 with greater certainty. They like a fairly good, loamy soil, and can be 

 propagated by seed (which is preferable), or by cuttings made of half- 

 ripened shoots. 



C. JAPONICA, A. Gray. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 7$090 



A low, deciduous shrub with semi-herbaceous, pithy, four- angled branches, 

 renewing itself by strong shoots from the base ; it is rarely more than 2 ft. 

 high in this country. Leaves of variable size, I to 3^ ins. long on the 

 secondary shoots, but half as large again on the first-year, sucker-like, basal 

 ones ; they are ovate-lanceolate, tapering to a long, fine point, prominently 

 three-nerved, quite smooth and entire, almost stalkless. Racemes produced 

 two or three together from the joints of the year-old branches, i^ to i\ ins. 

 long, the male racemes shorter, more slender and drooping than the female 

 ones, the flowers also smaller and inconspicuous. Petals of female flowers 

 at first green, then thickening and becoming fleshy and turning bright 

 coral red, ultimately purplish black ; they and the fruit they enclose are in. 

 across. 



Native of Japan ; introduced to Kew in 1893, through Professor Sargent. 

 It is hardy at Kew, but not long-lived, and should be renewed occasionally 

 by means of \seeds or even cuttings. It is better adapted for a slightly 

 warmer climate than that of London, and when seen at its best is extremely 

 beautiful. It has been grown with particular success in the Vicarage garden 

 at Bitton. 



C. MYRTIFOLIA, LinncEUS. REDOUL. 



A deciduous shrub, 4 to 6 ft. high, of bushy habit, sending up from the base 

 rather erect, angular, more or less four-sided stems, which the following 

 year carry graceful, slender, twiggy shoots. Leaves opposite, in pairs, 

 occasionally in threes ; quite smooth, entire, ovate, pointed, three-nerved, 

 I to i\ ins. long, very short-stalked, glaucous green. Flowers small, greenish, 

 produced during the summer from the joints of the previous year's growths 

 in racemes about I in. long. The petals, after becoming thick, fleshy, and 

 juicy, turn black and shining ; they and the fruit they enclose, in. across. 

 They have a sweetish and in no way disagreeable taste. 



Native of the Mediterranean region, especially in the south of France, 

 where it is often the first wild plant to reoccupy plots of ground abandoned 

 from cultivation. It is fairly hardy in the London district, but is killed 

 in very hard winters. When in full growth, which is rather late in the 

 season, it is distinctly handsome in the graceful disposition of its glaucous 

 leaves and branches. It flowers freely, but does not set fruit well in this 

 country. 



Both the leaves and fruits are poisonous, the latter especially so, producing, 

 when eaten, convulsions similar to those caused by strychnine. A few years 

 ago three people died from their effects at Carcassone. Various animals, 

 even goats, are sometimes poisoned by the leaves ; the fruits, macerated 



