FAGUS FALLUGIA 553 



of the varieties of beech. It is not of garden origin, but appears to have 

 been observed growing naturally in at least three places, viz. : in the 

 Hanleiter Forest, near Sonderhausen, in Thuringia ; in the Barney Forest 

 in the Vosges ; and in the village of Buchs, in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. 

 The last is the oldest recorded site of the purple beech, three trees there being 

 mentioned in a work dated 1680. They were the survivors of a group 

 originally of five, which, according to legend, had sprung up on the spot 

 where five brothers had killed each other. Most of the trees in cultivation 

 are considered to have sprung from the Hanleiter tree. The purple beech 

 comes partially true from seed, and some deeper or brighter coloured forms 

 have in this way been obtained, such as nigra, atropurpurea, purpurea major 

 p. nova, " Swat Magret," etc. The majority of the seedlings, however, are 

 either the ordinary green type, or but faintly coloured. 



Var. PURPUREA PENDULA. A weeping purple beech. 



Var. QUERCOIDES. Oak-leaved Beech. Leaves narrowly ovate ; deeply, 

 irregularly, sometimes doubly toothed. I have seen a shoot of var. heterophylla 

 growing on a tree of this variety. 



Var. ROTUNDIFOLIA. Perhaps the daintiest of beech varieties ; leaves 

 round, with a slightly heart-shaped base ; to i ins. diameter, very closely 

 set on the branches. It appears to have originated at Brookwood, Knap 

 Hill, Woking, whence a specimen was sent to Kew by Major McNair in 

 1872. Afterwards it was put in commerce by Messrs Jackman of Woking. 



Var. VARIEGATA. There are several variegated beeches, the commonest 

 being striped with white (argenteo-variegata). A yellow striped one is 

 aureo-variegata. In var. TRICOLOR the leaves are purplish, edged and 

 striped with rose and pinkish white ; this is very pretty when the leaves 

 are young. 



Var. ZLATIA, Spath. Golden Beech. Leaves yellow when young, but 

 of a shade not deep enough to be termed " golden " ; when mature they 

 scarcely differ from those of ordinary beech. 



The timber of beech makes an excellent fuel, but is not highly valued for 

 constructive purposes, especially in the open air. For articles in domestic 

 use and kept under cover it is useful, being hard and close in texture. 

 The most important industry connected with beech timber is that of chair- 

 making in the High Wycombe district of Buckinghamshire. 



Much alarm has in recent years been felt in regard to the effects on 

 British beechwoods of the " Beech Coccus " (Cryptococcus fagi). This insect 

 surrounds itself with a white cottony substance, and sometimes infests trunks 

 and limbs so badly as to resemble drifts of snow. As a result of its attacks 

 the complete doom of the beech in this country has been foretold. These 

 fears are much exaggerated ; and an investigation made at Kew into the 

 matter did not reveal the death of a single tree that could indubitably be 

 traced to this insect. (See Kew Bulletin, 1911, p. 332.) 



FALLUGIA PARADOX A, Endlicher. ROSACE^E. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 6660.) 



A slender shrub, 2 to 4 ft. high, much branched below, more thinly 

 above; branchlets white, covered with down. Leaves produced in 

 clusters closely and alternately along the twigs, \ to f in. long, \ in. wide, 

 cut usually into three or five (occasionally seven) narrow-linear lobes, 

 recurved at the edges and T V in. wide ; dark green above, paler below, 

 and covered all over with pale down. Flowers produced either singly or 



