vi Proceedings. {October 2nd, igo6. 



tapping the tree, the gutta percha is less valuable as it is mixed 

 with a larger amount of resinous material. 



The special interest in Eucommia lies in the fact that unlike 

 the other gutta yielding plants it is capable of growing in a 

 temperate climate. A native of the mountainous regions of 

 China, its foliage is deciduous, and it can stand a fairly severe 

 winter. Messrs. Vilmorin have grown it in the open for some 

 years near Paris, and at Kew it has been successfully grown in 

 the Botanic Gardens. Its appearance here is more of the nature 

 of a large shrub than a tree. I have now two plants in my garden 

 at Withington, and they are in a very healthy condition. 



Should the methods of extraction of gutta percha become 

 more perfected, and a means be found to counteract the defects 

 of the product so obtained, there seems no reason why some of 

 our waste land should not be made to produce this substance 

 for which there is a growing demand, and the natural sources of 

 which are becoming year by year reduced. 



LITERATURE. 



Barthelat, C. J. (:00). " Les lacticiferes de V Eucommia 



uimoides." Journ. de Botanique, vol. 14, p. 55, 1900. 

 Dybowski and G. Fron ('99). "Sur une plante a gutta-percha, 



susceptible d'etre cultivee sous- un climat tempere." 



Compt. rend., vol. 129, p. 558, 1899. 

 Obach, Eugen. " Die Gutta Percha." 1899. 

 Oliver, D. ('90) in Hooker's " Icones Plantarum," series 3, vol. 



10, t. 1950, 1890. 



('95)- Ibid., series 4, vol. 4, t. 2361, 1895. 



Solereder H. " Zur Morphologie und Systematik der Gattung 



Cercidiphyllum." Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., vol. 17, 



p. 387, 1899. 

 Weiss, F. E. ('92). " On the Caoutchouc containing cells of 



Eucommia uimoides." Trans. Linn. Soc. London, vol. 



3, part 7, 1892. 

 "Gutta Percha from a Chinese Tree." Builetin of Miscellaneous 



Information, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 1901. 



