622 HOLBOELLI A HUDSONIA 



long, one-third as wide, borne on a main-stalk 2 to 6 ins. long, themselves 

 with stalks i in. or more long. Flowers borne on short corymbs in the 

 leaf-axils, very fragrant, unisexual, with both sexes often on the same 

 corymb. Sepals six, greenish white in the male, narrow-oblong, about 

 i in. long ; in the females larger, purplish ; petals six, minute. Fruit 

 irregular-oblong, sausage-shaped, 2 to 3 ins. long, containing numerous 

 seeds. 



Native of the Himalaya, where the fruits are eaten by the natives. 

 A luxuriant climber, which thrives exceedingly well in the south-western 

 counties, but in cold localities requires greenhouse protection to be seen 

 at its best. The flower should be fertilised by hand. 



H OVEN I A DULCIS, Thunberg. RHAMNACE^:. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 2360.) 



A deciduous tree 30 ft. high (much more in a wild state) ; twigs downy 

 when young. Leaves alternate, oval or heart-shaped ; from 4 to 7 ins. long, 

 3 to 6 ins. wide ; taper-pointed, coarsely and unequally toothed, downy 

 beneath, especially on the veins. Flowers in terminal and axillary 

 forked clusters 2 to 3 ins. across ; the individual flower J in. or so wide, 

 yellow. Flower-stalks swelling unevenly after the decay of the flower 

 into a fleshy, contorted mass, red, and sweet to the taste. They are 

 chewed by the Japanese and Chinese. Fruit about the size of a pea, 

 containing three seeds, and often partially embedded in the fleshy stalks. 



Native of China, but now cultivated extensively in Japan and 

 N. India. This curious tree .is fairly hardy at Kew, where it forms a 

 rather ungainly shrub with erect branches, growing very vigorously in the 

 summer, but cut back more or less in winter. 



HUDSONIA ERICOIDES, Ltnn<zus. BEACH HEATHER. 



CISTACE.E. 



Hudsonia is a genus of three species exclusively North American, and 

 allied to Cistus and Helianthemum, which it resembles in the fleeting 

 nature of its blossom. Its always yellow flowers and three-valved seed- 

 vessel distinguishes it from Cistus, and from both it differs markedly in 

 the heathlike habit. Named in honour of Wm. Hudson, an English 

 botanist of the eighteenth century. 



H. ericoides is a low, bushy, evergreen shrub of heathlike aspect, 

 rarely more than 6 or 8 ins. high. Leaves grey-green, awl-shaped; 

 \ to J in. long, erect and overlapping but not pressed to the stem, hairy. 

 Flowers bright yellow, J in. across, produced during May singly on 

 very slender, silky stalks about J in. long, crowded at the upper parts of 

 the branches ; petals five, soon falling ; sepals three, silky. 



Native of Eastern N. America, in dry sandy soil near the coast, from 

 Newfoundland to N. Carolina; introduced in 1805, but always rare owing 

 to the difficulty in cultivation. Sir John Ross of Bladensburg, who, so 

 far as I know, is the only one who has had any success with it, tells me 



