510 ELLIOTTIA EMBOTHRIUM 



improbable that this beautiful and interesting plant may entirely dis- 

 appear, if it has not already, done so, in a wild state, for it appears to 

 have lost the faculty of perfecting seed, and only persists by producing 

 root-suckers. Among deciduous members of the hardy Ericaceae, its 

 four-petalled flowers and elongated racemes distinguish it. It is one of 

 the rarest shrubs in the world, two plants at Kew and some young ones 

 raised from them being probably the only ones in Europe. 



ELSHOLTZIA STAUNTONII, Bentham. LABIATE. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 8460.) 



A semi-woody plant, about 5 ft. high, scarcely shrubby, the growths 

 dying back considerably during winter, sending up each summer erect 

 leafy growths, bearing the flowers in panicles at the top during September 

 and October. Shoots cylindrical, clothed with a very fine down. Leaves 

 opposite, lanceolate, slenderly tapered at both ends, coarsely triangular- 

 toothed except at the ends, 2 to 6 ins. long, \ to i-J ins. wide; dark 

 green above, pale and covered with minute dots beneath ; smooth on both 

 sides, minutely downy on the margins. When crushed the leaf emits 

 an odour like mint. Flower-panicles narrow-cylindrical, grey, woolly, 

 4 to 8 ins. long, about i in. wide, produced at the end of the main 

 and axillary secondary shoots, forming a large branched inflorescence 

 at the top. Flowers small, purplish pink, crowded in short-stalked 

 umbels on the main axis of the panicle. 



Native of China; long known to botanists, but only introduced to 

 cultivation in 1909. It is useful for flowering late in the season, but 

 is of a rather weedy character. Propagated very easily by cuttings of 

 youngish growths. Thrives in rich loamy soil and in full sunshine. The 

 spelling of the generic name is sometimes confused with Eschscholtzia 

 a genus of Californian plants allied to poppies. 



EMBOTHRIUM COCCINEUM, Forster. FIRE BUSH. 



PROTEACE^E. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 4856.) 



This remarkable evergreen, small tree perhaps hardly comes within 

 the scope of this work, for it is only suitable for the mildest parts of 

 our islands, such as- Cornwall, the south-west of Ireland, and similar 

 places. It has dark glossy green, somewhat leathery leaves, ovate-lanceo- 

 late or oval, 2\ to 4^ ins. long, f to i \ ins. wide ; blunt-ended, smooth, 

 and entire. Flowers brilliant crimson-scarlet, produced in wonderful 

 profusion in short axillary and terminal racemes. Each flower is borne 

 on a thin stalk \ to f in. long, and is at first a slender tube i to i \ ins. 

 long; afterwards the four strap-shaped lobes (in the broadest part of 

 which the anthers are enclosed) curl back, exposing the long erect style. 

 Perhaps no tree cultivated in the open air in the British Isles gives 

 so striking and brilliant a display of colour as this does. In some of the 



