558 FORSYTHIA 



styled forms belonging to each species. Two or three species are 

 Chinese ; one East European. 



All are very easily cultivated ; they are gross feeders, and like a rich, 

 deep, loamy soil. Propagated very easily by cuttings made of half-ripened 

 shoots. F. viridissima needs no pruning, nor does F. intermedia, but 

 F. suspensa var. Fortunei, may if desired be cut hard back every spring 

 as soon as the flowers are past. There are some worthless variegated 

 Forsythias that need no detailed mention. 



F. EUROP^EA, Degen. ALBANIAN FORSYTHIA. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 8039.) 



A deciduous shrub, of erect habit, from 3 to 6 ft. high ; young wood not 

 downy, but dotted with lenticels. Leaves ovate, 2 to 3 ins. long, f to i^ ins. 

 wide ; of firm texture, smooth, sometimes sharply and unequally toothed, but 

 usually entire ; pointed at the apex, rounded at the base ; stalk \ to \ in. long. 

 Flowers yellow, produced in March from the buds of the previous year's 

 growth, mostly singly, occasionally in pairs. Corolla i \ ins. diameter, with four 

 narrow-oblong divisions. Calyx-lobes ovate, green, \ in. long. 



Native of Albania, discovered by Dr A. Baldacchi in 1897, and first 

 introduced by him to this country by means of seeds sent to Kew in 1899. 

 Some doubt has been expressed as to its being truly native of Europe, as its 

 fellow species are only found in the Far East ; but from the wild nature of the 

 country in which it was found, and the fact that several cases of analogous 

 distribution in other genera exist, this does not seem justified. It is allied to 

 F. viridissima, but differs in the ovate leaves (widest near the base), and by 

 a lanky habit which makes it more ungainly. It is the least ornamental of 

 Forsythias, but of geographical interest. 



F. INTERMEDIA, Zabel. 



This is supposed, and no doubt justly, to be a hybrid between F. suspensa 

 and F. viridissima. It opens its blossoms immediately after F. suspensa, 

 and before the other parent. Its branching, too, is intermediate, and rather 

 like that of the erect form of suspensa. Leaves occasionally trifoliolate, but 

 mostly intermediate between the simple leaves of both parents ; more tapering 

 at the base than in F. suspensa. Flowers as in suspensa, to which this beautiful 

 shrub is in no way inferior in beauty. It is not so good for covering arbours, 

 etc., but is more suitable for grouping on lawns. The three following forms of 

 this hybrid have been named by a German botanist, and distinguished as 

 follows : 



Var. DENSIFLORA, Koehne. Flowers densely crowded on the shoots ; a 

 very distinct form ; style longer than stamens. 



Var. SPECTABILIS, Koehne. A seedling form, with larger, deeper yellow, 

 and more abundant flowers ; style shorter than stamens. In many respects 

 the most beautiful of Forsythias. 



Var. VITELLINA, Koehne. Of erect, strong habit ; flowers rich dark yellow; 

 style longer than stamens. 



F. SUSPENSA, VahL GOLDEN BELL. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 49950 



A deciduous shrub of rambling habit, which, if trained on a wall w r ill grow 

 30 ft. high, but in the open, and unsupported, forms a mass of interlacing, 



