332 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



foliage of the old T. capensis, but smaller and neater, pro- 

 ducing dense terminal racemes of brilliant flowers, yellow 

 on the under side and scarlet on the upper. It is a Peruvian 

 plant, growing in various parts of that country, from whence 

 it was received by Messrs. Veitch of the Exeter nurseries. 

 It will undoubtedly prove a most valuable acquisition. 

 (Bot. Mag., Feb.) 



317. Ara^lia papyri'fera Hook. Rice Paper Plant. 



(Araliaceae.) Island of Formosa. 



a stove plant; growing five to seven feet high; with greenish white flowers; appeariiig in win- 

 ter. Bot. Mag. 1S56, pi. 4897. 



This is the plant from which the well known " rice paper" 

 of the Chinese is manufactured, and which now for the first 

 time, through the exertions of the Governor of Hong Kong, 

 Sir John Bowring, and his son J. C. Bowring, has been in- 

 troduced into the Kew Gardens, where it produced its fine 

 panicles of flowers in December last. Besides the interest 

 which attaches to the plant for its commercial value, it is said 

 to be a most beautiful object when in full flower, as seen in 

 Hong Kong, where it attains the height of " seven feet, with 

 a circumference, of its terminal branches, of twenty feet, 

 throwing out twelve to fourteen panicles three feet long, 

 drooping like magnificent plumes, in regular form, over the 

 large, dark, palmate leaves." It seems to be a native exclu- 

 sively of the Island of Formosa, and no botanist has ever 

 seen the plant in its native locality. By the untiring exer- 

 tions of Sir John Bowring he induced the Chinese traders to 

 procure living plants, when on their voyage to that Island for 

 the cargo of stems to make their paper. 



The plants grow from five to seven feet high, branching 

 at the top, with a stem two to three or at most four inches 

 in diameter, forming very little wood, filled with the most 

 exquisitely white pith, of which the famous " rice paper" is 

 made : leaves very large, sometimes a foot long, cordate, five 

 to seven lobed, and covered with a more or less thick and 

 deciduous down : flowers in small umbels, borne on tall 

 nodding panicles one to three feet long. Nothing is said of its 

 cultivation other than that it was grown at Kew, in a damp 



