268 GENERAL REVIEW. 



THE AUCUBA AND DOGWOOD FAMILY (Cornacece). 



A group of plants, principally natives of temperate parts of 

 Asia, America, and Europe, and represented in our gardens by 

 Aucubas and Cornels. Benthamiafragifera also belongs to this 

 group, and is one of the choicest of hardy shrubs in sheltered 

 localities. Some of the plants in this group are dioecious, as in 

 Aucuba, and many species bear ornamental fruits. Benthamia 

 may be propagated either by cuttings of the young and partly 

 hardened wood or by layers, and sometimes by seed. The 

 choice Cornels may be grafted on the common kinds or propa- 

 gated by seeds. By far the most attractive and variable species 

 in this group is the Aucuba, one of the most effective of all- 

 hardy shrubs. 



Aucuba. A genus of Japanese and Indian evergreens 

 bearing dioecious flowers and bright scarlet berries among their 

 deep glossy green or yellow blotched leaves. A. japonica, 

 A. himalaica, and others, are commonly met with in our 

 gardens. All the species and varieties may be readily pro- 

 pagated either by cuttings of the young growth or by layers. 

 Cuttings of the young wood with a heel root freely in water 

 in an airy situation. Berries grow freely, but rarely germinate 

 until the second year after sowing. Sometimes a few plants 

 make their appearance the first year, and the berries keep on 

 germinating one after another for two or three years if undis- 

 turbed. The fine old Aucubas in the Royal Botanic Garden, 

 Regent's Park, are in one or two cases 8 to 10 feet high, and 

 10 to 12 feet in diameter, and these fruit freely, a male plant 

 in a pot being supported in the centre of each when in flower. 

 Hundreds of seedlings are raised, about half of which are male 

 plants and half females. The seedlings vary much in habit, size 

 of leaf, colour, and markings. The male and female organs 

 being borne on different plants, it follows that artificial fertilisa- 

 tion is necessary in order to enable them to produce fertile 

 seeds. In favourable localities, placing the male plant in a 

 pot in close proximity to the female shrub is sufficient to in- 

 duce fruitfulness, the pollen being conveyed by either winds or 

 insects. Some graft branches of the male plant upon the 

 female, while others fertilise the flowers artificially, either with 

 a camel's-hair pencil or by plucking the male flowers and 

 shaking the pollen over the female organs. The last-named 

 method is surest, as often the male and female plants do not 

 flower synchronously in cultivation. Pollen may be kept 

 several weeks in dry silk -paper or tinfoil. The male plants 



