648 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



in 3 or 4 years, if planted in good soil, and in a favourable exposure it will 

 attain the height of 20 ft. or 30 ft. It is readily propagated by cuttings of 

 the root and by layers. Plants, in the London nurseries, are 1*. 6d. each ; 

 at Bollwyller, 1 franc 15 cents; and at New York 37| cents. 



.$ 2. W. CHINE'NSIS Dec. The Chinese Wistaria. 



Identification. Dec. Prod., 2. p. 390. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 348. 



Synonymes. GIy"cine chinensis Sims Bot. Mag., t. 2083. ; G. sinensis Ker Bot. Reg., t. 650. ; Wistaria 



Consequana Loudon Gnrd. Mag., vol. ii. p. 422., vol. xi. p. 111., and in Hort. Brit. 

 Engravings. Swt. Brit. Fl.-Gard., t. 211. ; Bot. Mag., t. 2083. ; Bot. Reg., t. 650. ; Lodd. Bot. Cab., 



t. 773. ; Gard. Mag., vol. ii. p. 422. ; and our fig. 360. 



Spec. Char., $c. Wings of the corolla each 

 with one auricle. Ovary villose. Flowers 

 larger. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 390.) A vigorous- 

 growing deciduous twiner ; a native of China, 

 introduced in 1816 ; flowering in British gar- 

 dens in May and June, and sometimes pro- 

 ducing a second crop of flowers in August. 

 The flowers are larger than those of W. fru- 

 tescens : they are disposed in longer and 

 looser racemes, and are somewhat paler in 

 colour. On established plants they are pro- 

 duced in great abundance ; but they have not 

 yet been succeeded by seeds in England. 

 This plant may truly be considered the most 

 magnificent of all our hardy deciduous climb- 

 ers. It will grow wherever the common 360 

 laburnum will flourish ; but, as its flowers are somewhat more tender than 

 those of that tree, they are more liable to be injured by frosts in very 

 late springs. It was first brought to England by Capt. Robert Wel- 

 banke, in May, 1816; and in the same month, but a few days later, 

 another plant was introduced by Capt. Richard Rawes. Both were ob- 

 tained from the garden of Consequa, a generous, but unfortunate, mer- 

 chant of Canton, of whom a biography will be found in the Gard. Mag., 

 vol. xi. p. 111. One of the imported plants is in a pit in the garden of 

 Rook's Nest, near Godstone in Surrey ; but it is small when compared 

 with one raised from it, which every one, who has ever entered the garden 

 of the London Horticultural Society in May or June, for some years past, 

 must have been struck with seeing against the wall. That plant has now 

 (March, 1835) a stem the height of the wall (1 1 ft.), from which branches 

 proceed on one side to the distance of 90 ft., and on the other to the 

 distance of 70 ft. So vigorous is this plant, that there is no reason to 

 suppose it will not, if allowed, extend to double or treble that distance. 

 There can be no doubt but it is the most vigorous-growing, and abundant- 

 flowering climber in British gardens. Plants, which were originally sold at 

 six guineas, now cost, in the London nurseries, from 1,?. 6d. to 2s. 6d. each ; 

 at Bollwyller, they are 3 francs ; and at New York, 3 dollars. 



App. i. Other Species of Wistaria. 



W. fioribunda Dec. Prod., 2. p. 390. ; Dolichos polystachyus Thun. Jap., 281. ; llontt. Pfi. Sysf., 8. 

 p. 563. t. 64. fig. 2. ; Glycine fioribunda Willd. ; Dolichos japonicus Sprcns. ; Fi'idsi Kiempf. ; has the 

 steins and leaves glabrous, the racemes of flowers very long, and the corolla purple and white mixed. 

 This species has not been introduced, though it was conjectured by Mr. Sweet that the shoots from 

 the roots of an imported plant in the Fulham Nursery might be of this species, because the leaves 

 were quite different from those of the upper part of the plant, being hairy, while the others were 

 smooth. Mr. Sweet thought it likely that one species had been grafted on another ; but it has since 

 been observed, that all the root-shoots from vigorous plants have hairy leaves. On these grounds it 

 was that W. floribCmda was recorded into our Hortus Britannicus as having been introduced in 

 1820, and described there as a trailer, with shoots 10 ft. in length. On similarly slight foundations, 

 we have no doubt, many species have been recorded both at home and abroad. In the year 1829, we 

 brought over some plants, and a packet of seeds, from Carlsruhe, the produce of a plant growing there 

 against the end of a hot-house, flowering freely, and producing seeds every year. This plant had 

 been received by M. Hartweg, the director of the garden, as the Glf cine chinensis of Bot. Mag., 

 t. 2083.; and, as when we saw it in November, 1828, it was without leaves, it appeared to us uncertain 

 whether it was correctly named or not. Some of the plants raised from the seeds which we brought 

 over, and gave to the Clapton Nursery, have since flowered and ripened seeds in the garden of F. Ber- 

 nasconi, Esq., near Pinner ( See Gard. Mag., vol. xii. p. 75. and p. 215.) : but we received this in. 



