FORSYTHIA FOTHERGILLA 559 



often pendulous branches, 8 or 10 ft. high ; young branches smooth. Leaves 

 mostly simple, 2 to 4 ins. long, I to 2 ins. wide ; but occasionally on strong 

 shoots trifoliolate, three-lobed, or two-lobed ; coarsely toothed, pointed ; the 

 simple leaves are rounded or broadly wedge-shaped at the base ; the leaflets 

 tapering there ; stalk about ^ in. long. Flowers golden yellow, produced one to 

 as many as six in a cluster from the buds of 'last year's wood in late March and 

 early April, lasting a month in beauty ; each flower I to I J ins. across. Calyx- 

 lobes oblong-lanceolate, J in. long. 



Native of China, but introduced from Japanese gardens to Holland in 1833, 

 and thence, nearly twenty years later, to England. It and F. intermedia are 

 the finest of early, yellow-flowering shrubs. In gardens it is represented by 

 two distinct forms, viz., FORTUNEI, a shrub of stiffer growth, with erect or 

 arching (not so pendulous) shoots ; and SlEBOLDII, a form with slender 

 pendent shoots which reach the ground and take root. There are, however, 

 plants in cultivation which it is difficult to assign to either. Forsythia 

 suspensa may be used in a variety of ways ; the slender creeping form 

 (Sieboldii) is useful for covering a steep slope, and for using as a climber on 

 house fronts, arbours, etc. The stiffer one (Fortunei) is the best for 

 massing on a lawn. It may, if desired, be pruned hard back every spring as 

 soon as the flowers are over. Treated in this way, healthy plants will make 

 shoots 6 to 8 ft. long in a season, furnished the following spring from end 

 to end with golden yellow blossom. 



A form with lemon-yellow flowers has recently been introduced from 

 Central China by Wilson. It has shorter and comparatively broader petals. 

 There is another with dark purplish young shoots (var. ATROCAULls, Rehder}. 



F. VIRIDISSIMA, Lindley. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 4587.) 



A deciduous or partially evergreen shrub, 5 to 8 ft. high, with stiff, erect 

 branches, smooth when young. Leaves lance-shaped, 3 to 6 ins. long, | to i^ 

 ins. wide, tapering at both ends, but more slenderly towards the pointed apex, 

 toothed on the upper half, or quite entire ; stalk J to \ in. long. Flowers 

 bright yellow, i| ins. across, the four corolla lobes narrow-oblong, ^ in. long. 

 Calyx-lobes convex, ovate, J in. long. (See Fig. p. 560.) 



Native of China ; introduced by Fortune in 1844. Although this species is 

 not so wonderful a garden shrub as F. suspensa, it is a very handsome and 

 useful one. It flowers one or two weeks later, usually in April, and is sturdy 

 enough to hold its branches erect. It is distinguished from both its fellow 

 species, F. europaea and F. suspensa, by the shape of its leaves. 



FOTHERGILLA. H AM AMELIDACE^E. 



A genus of two or three deciduous shrubs from Eastern N. America, 

 which commem<arates Dr John Fothergill, who in the eighteenth century 

 cultivated in his garden at Stratford-le-Bow, in Essex, one of the earliest 

 and most extensive collections of American plants. They are allies of 

 the witch-hazels, and their flowers appear before the leaves in bottle- 

 brush like spikes terminating short branches. Their sole beauty is in the 

 numerous long stamens. There are no petals, and the seed-vessel is a 

 downy, hard-shelled capsule, opening at the top and containing two 

 seeds. 



