CHAP. V. ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUBS, ETC. 519 



glossy foliage; leaves lanceolate, pointed, five inches long; 

 bears in February lax corymbs of middle-sized, white, faintly- 

 fragrant flowers. 



14. J. ligustrifolium. A shrub of low growth, ornamental if 

 only for its privet-like decussate foliage ; leaves oval, pointed, 

 deep-green on their upper and pale on their under surface, 

 leathery ; bears in February, in vast profusion, small umbels of 

 middle-sized feebly-fragrant flowers. 



15. J. nudiflorum. A trailing plant of slender habit, native of 

 China. Flowers an inch in diameter, yellow, scentless, borne in 

 great profusion upon the plant when destitute of leaves. Intro- 

 duced by Mr. Fortune from Chusan in 1854 into the Agri- 

 Horticultural Society's Garden, where it gradually died off; 

 seemingly unsuited to the climate. 



16. J. officinale. The old familiar shrub, with light, graceful, 

 pinnate, deep-green foliage, and cheerful sprays of fragrant 

 white flowers, so commonly trained against the sides of houses 

 in England ; hardly, if at all, known here, except that a plant 

 or two may be met with in the Calcutta Botanical Gardens. 

 None were there in Dr. Void's time. 



O 



17. J. pubescens. A moderate-sized branching shrub, with 

 heart-shaped, deep-green, silky leaves, and the young branches 

 very downy ; bears during the Cold season principally, in 

 unlimited profusion, crowded downy umbels of large, pure- white, 

 fragrant flowers, at which time it is exceedingly ornamental ; a 

 very common plant. Dr. Koxburgh says it " is in flower during 

 the Bains chiefly," which does not quite accord with my obser- 

 vation. 



18. J. Sambac ARABIAN JASMINE Bel Beta. A bushy 

 under-shrub, from two to two-and-a-half feet high, with ash- 

 coloured branches, and shining oval leaves from four to six 

 inches long and three inches broad ; in a perfectly sound and 

 healthy condition would undoubtedly be a handsome plant for 

 its foliage alone ; but, from some unassignable cause, scarcely a 

 leaf upon it but is always found either cankered, or partially 

 decayed, or half nibbled away ; insomuch that, although indis- 

 pensable in every garden for the exquisitely fragrant flowers it 

 produces, it is best allotted a place in the background in an 

 unfrequented spot. There are three or four varieties hardly to 

 be distinguished by the leaves, except that they are rounder and 



