Mexican Orange and Skimmia 



them. The ball easily falls into its five component 

 pieces, and each contains two seeds and has a valve 

 which, at the right moment, opens to permit of their 

 escape. 



This is a quick-growing shrub and hardy, given 

 fairly sheltered quarters and rich soil, and in an 

 ordinary way will grow to a bush about six feet high, 

 with the same diameter, but it can do better than this 

 even in this country. In a certain Falmouth garden 

 three small shrubs, planted only a few years ago, some 

 little distance apart, are now a solid mass many yards 

 in diameter and fully ten feet high, and a most 

 glorious sight in April when covered with the white 

 blossom. In fact, as the owner said, it " grows like a 

 weed." 



The Mexican Orange and its relatives the Skim- 

 mias belong to the family Rutacece, a family largely 

 represented in the tropics, but without a single member 

 indigenous to Great Britain. The rue has, however, 

 long been found in our gardens. The orange and the 

 lemon are closely allied to these shrubs. 



The Mexican Orange, as its name implies, is a 

 native of Mexico, and it is stated that it was first 

 brought to this country in 1825, but it does not appear 

 to have made much headway here for, though it is 

 referred to in Loudon's "Hortus Britannicus" of 1832, it 



is not mentioned in the same writer's " Encyclopaedia 



119 



