440 



CRYPTOMERIA CUDRANIA 



wider apart on the branchlet, than those of the type ; they and the young 

 shoots being a glaucous green in the summer, changing in autumn and 

 winter to a bronzy red, very distinct, and remarkable among evergreens at 

 that season. The leaves are reflexed at the tip, rather than incurved as in 

 ordinary C. japonica. The whole tree is more bushy and dense than the 

 type, and often falls over by its own weight ; the trunks are very supple, and 

 allow the crowns of trees 20 ft. high to reach the ground without breaking. 

 This form produces cones (rarely) which do not differ from those of the type. 

 It bears pruning very well, and is often improved by it ; if trees become top- 

 heavy, they may be headed down far enough to become self-supporting. 

 Introduced from Japan in 1861 by Mr J. Gould Veitch. There is a dwarf 

 dense-habited variety of it called ELEGANS NANA. 



CUDRANIA TRILOBA. 



CUDRANIA TRILOBA, Hance. SILKWORM THORN. 



URTICACE^E. 



A deciduous shrub or small tree, 20 ft. high, with a dense, rounded 

 head of thorny branches ; young shoots quite smooth. Leaves alternate, 

 oval, obovate, or ovate ; either entire or with three shallow rounded lobes 

 at the apex; ij to 4 ins. long, f to 2 ins. wide; dark green, smooth; 

 stalk ^ to f in. long, slightly downy. Flowers green, crowded in a little 

 ball about i in. diameter, the sexes on different plants. The balls are 

 produced during July, either singly or (usually) in pairs, from the leaf-axils 

 of the current year's growth, each on a downy stalk \ in. long. The 

 male tree only appears to be in cultivation, and a head of fruit has not 

 yet been produced in this country; but it is an elliptical, hard, shining 

 mass ij ins. broad and i in. long, as seen in wild specimens. 



Native of China, where it is widely spread; introduced to Britain in 

 1872. This tree, which is nearly allied to the Osage orange, but differs 

 in flowering on the current season's growth, in its fewer-veined leaves, and 



