GLEDITSCHIA GRABOWSKIA 597 



with dry pods rattling at every fitful movement of the air, makes rather 

 a weird sound in the dusk. Perhaps the finest tree in the country is 

 at Kew, now 60 ft. high amd 5 ft. 10 ins. in girth of trunk. The popular 

 name refers to the likeness of the tree in foliage to the locust (Robinia), 

 and to the thick, succulent, sweetish pulp in which the seeds are set 



Var. BUJOTII, Rehder, A very elegant, pendulous tree ; branches and 

 branchlets very slender ; leaflets narrower than in the type, often mottled 

 with white. There is a fine tree of this variety at the entrance to the 

 park at Segrez in France. 



Var. INERMIS. Some trees appear never to bear thorns, and have been 

 distinguished by this name ; but unarmed plants are said to occur among 

 batches of seedlings raised from thorn-bearing trees. 



Var. NAN A. A dwarf, sturdy bush or small tree ; leaflets comparatively 

 short and broad. 



GORDONIA PUBESCENS, LHtritier. TERNSTRCEMIACE^E. 



(Gordonia Altamaha, Sargent ; Franklinia Altumaha, Marshall?) 



A deciduous tree,' 15 to 20 ft. high; branchlets covered with a close 

 down. Leaves alternate, obovate-oblong, 4 to 6 ins. long, i J to 2 ins. wide ; 

 tapering gradually at the base to a short stalk, toothed towards the apex ; 

 dark shining green above, paler, and covered with a close down beneath. 

 Flowers 2 to 3 ins. or more across, white, on stout, very short stalks, 

 produced singly from the leaf-axils near the end of the shoots; sepals 

 roundish, \ in. across, downy on the outside ; petals obovate, round- 

 toothed at the end, downy on the outside. Fruit globular. 



Originally found in 1770 by John Bartram, on the banks of the 

 Altamaha River, in Georgia, U.S.A., and introduced to England four 

 years later, this rare and beautiful tree has not, according to Sargent, 

 been seen in a wild state since 1790, and is now only known as a 

 cultivated plant. It appears to be too tender to thrive anywhere except 

 in our mildest counties. It has on more than one occasion been tried at 

 Kew out-of-doors, but has only survived a few years. It is well worth 

 trying where the conditions are more favourable, both for the beauty of 

 its flowers during late summer and for the fine scarlet of its dying 

 foliage. The soil and conditions that suit the Himalayan Rhododendrons 

 ought to suit it. 



G. LASIANTHUS. Ellis, the Loblolly bay, is an allied species of great beauty 

 also, but even more tender than the above. It is an evergreen tree sometimes 

 70 ft. high, with white flowers 2| to 3 ins. across, on stalks about as much long. 

 Found in moist situations in the south-eastern United States (Georgia, Florida, 

 etc.). It should be grown as advised for G. pubescens, but with even more 

 regard to shelter and warmth. At Kew it is grown in a cold house. 



The generic name commemorates Alexander Gordon, a nurseryman 

 at Mile End at the time of its introduction. 



GRABOWSKIA BOERHAAVIFOLIA, Schlechtendal. SOLANACE/E. 



(Bot. Reg., t. 1985 ; Lycium boerhaavifolia, Linnceus.') 



A deciduous shrub, 6 to 10 ft. high, of loose, spreading habit; young 

 branches smooth, armed with sharp spines which are J in. long the first 



