124 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 284. 



The wood is more esteemed by the Japanese than that of 

 any of their other trees. It is noted for its toughness, elas- 

 ticity, and durability, both under water and when exposed 

 to the air ; it is considered the best building material in 

 Japan, although it has become so scarce and expensive that 

 Iveaki is not now used for this purpose, except in temples 

 where the large round, light brown, highly polished columns 

 which support the roof are always made of this wood. It 

 is still much used in cabinet-making, turnery, and in the 

 manufacture of many small articles, which always com- 

 mand high prices. 



Zelkova Keaki is probably the only Japanese tree which 

 is worth introducing into this country on a large scale as a 

 timber-tree ; that it will thrive here at least as far north as 

 southern New England the plants in Dr. Hall's garden in 

 Warren, Rhode Island, indicate. There are two of these 

 raised from seed sent home by Dr. Hall in 1862 ; they have 

 received no special care, the soil in which they were 

 planted is not exceptionally good, and their growth has 

 been no doubt checked by overcrowding. They are now, 

 however, at least fifty feet high, and have produced trunks 

 a foot in diameter ; they flowered and fruited this year, 

 and the illustration on page 325 of this issue is made from 

 specimens sent by Dr. Hall, with the exception of the 

 large single leaf, which has been drawn from a specimen 

 gathered in Japan. 



The Zelkova, of all Japanese trees, should be better 

 known in eastern America, where it may, perhaps, become 

 an imported timber-tree, and produce wood as strong as 

 our best oak, which it surpasses in compactness, dura- 

 bility and lightness, for keaki, in comparison with its 

 strength, is remarkably light. 



There is little to be said of the other Japanese trees of 

 the Elm family. Celtis Sinensis, with its thick coriaceous 

 leaves and dull red berries, is one of the first trees to greet 

 the traveler landing in Yokohama, where it is common in 

 the groves which cover the shore-bluffs, growing with the 

 Camphor-tree and the evergreen Oaks. It is a southern 

 species of wide range in south-eastern Asia, which we 

 cannot hope to grow in this- country, except in the south- 

 ern states. 



Aphananthe aspera, a Celtis-like tree with ample bright 

 green leaves and black fruit, ranges as far north as central 

 Yezo, and may be expected to give interest and variety to 

 dendrological collections in the United States and Europe, 

 although to the mere lover of trees with peculiar foliage 

 or with showy flowers and fruit it will not appear suffi- 

 ciently distinct from our native Nettle-tree. 



Of the Broussonetias or Paper Mulberries, of which two 

 or three species are included in the flora of Japan, I only 

 saw specimens in the Botanic Garden at Tokyo. They 

 are all trees of the south, or more probably introductions 

 from China. The White Mulberry, Morus alba, however, 

 is certainly a Japanese species, as it grows as a small tree 

 in the remote and primeval forests of Yezo, although the 

 numerous forms cultivated by the Japanese as food for the 

 silk-worm are usually of Chinese origin. Of the Fig-trees 

 which appear in the flora of Japan, I saw nothing at all, 

 with the exception of one or two cultivated shrubby 

 species. They all belong to the extreme south, and in- 

 habit regions we did not visit. 



c. s. s. 



Note on Nomenclature. 



SINCE the publication of my notes on Bladhia panicu- 

 lata (Nutt.) (Ardesia Pickeringia, Nutt.) (Garden and 

 Forest, iv., 239), it has been found that the genus Icacorea 

 of Aublet, published in 1775, antedates the genus Bladhia 

 (1784) by nine years. As there is no good reason for not 

 uniting the two genera, our Florida and West Indian 

 " Marlberry " should be referred to the older genus ; in 

 which case Bladhia paniculata becomes Icacorea panicu- 

 lata. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture. George S. SudwOVth. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



LiLiuM Alexandr^e. — A white-flowered Lily was shown 

 this week at Chiswick by Messrs. Wallace, of Colchester, 

 under this name, and also by Messrs. J. Veitch&Sons under 

 the name of Lilium Ukeyuri, a name which it bears in the 

 catalogue of the Yokohama Gardeners' Association, from 

 whom, presumably, it was obtained by Messrs. Wallace 

 and Veitch. It is nearer L. longiflorum than any other spe- 

 cies, but it also bears some slight resemblance in the form 

 of the flowers and the color of the stamens to L. auratum. 

 It is peculiar in having short-stalked, semi-erect flowers, 

 which open almost as wide as those of L. auratum, and are 

 pure white. The foliage is similar to that of L. longiflorum. 

 Evidently the last-named species is a very variable one, 

 and I see no reason, if the plant called L. longiflorum, var. 

 chloraster, be included among its forms, why L. Alexandres 

 should not be looked upon as another, differing only from 

 the type in its shorter, more expanded flowers and the 

 brownish color of the anthers. It was awarded a first-class 

 certificate. All Lily-growers are delighted with L chloras- 

 ter as represented now by strong-flowering plants at Kew. 



Lilium Lowii. — A plant of this new and very distinct 

 Lily was shown in flower at Chiswick this week by Messrs. 

 Low & Co., of Clapton, who introduced it three years ago, 

 and still hold the stock of it. I noted it in Garden and 

 Forest, vol. iv., p. 352, as a near ally of L. Nepalense with 

 smaller leaves and white flowers with a few purple spots. 

 A figure of it was published in the Botanical Magazine, 

 t. 7232. It has a globose bulb two inches in diameter with 

 lanceolate scales. The stem is three to four feet high, 

 leaves three inches long, Hnear, flowers in an umbel, cam- 

 panulate, three inches across, the segments recurved, each 

 over an inch broad. This species is a native of the Shan 

 hills, in Upper Burma, where it was collected by General 

 Collett about the same time that it was sent home by Messrs. 

 Low & Co.'s collector. It obtained a first-class certificate. 

 We are indebted to the same region and the same firm for 

 three other beautiful Indian Lilies, two of which are new 

 species, namely, L. primulinum and L. sulphureum, the 

 third, L. Nepalense, being new to cultivation, although de- 

 scribed by D. Don many years ago. There are good rea- 

 sons for believing that all these Lilies may be grown out- 

 of-doors in the warmer parts of England. 



Rhododendron Smirnowii and R. Ungernii are two rather 

 new species, which were described by Trautvetter in Acta 

 Horti Petropolitani m 1884 from specimens collected on the 

 Asiatic side of the Caucasian Mountains, where they grow 

 wild under the shade of Picea orientalis in company with 

 R. ponticum, L. Seeds of them were distributed from the 

 Botanical Garden at St. Petersburg in 1886, some of which 

 came to Kew, where there are now sturdy little bushes of 

 both species in the arboretum nursery. They are quite 

 hardy, evergreen, in the way of R. caucasicum, but re- 

 markable in having the stems, petioles and under side of 

 the leaves covered with a thick felt-like tomentum. They 

 differ from each other as follows : R. Smirnowii has leaves 

 four inches long, with revolute margins and blunt tips; the 

 felt is very pale brown ; the flowers are rose-purple, as 

 large as those of R. Caucasicum, and the calyx is small, 

 flat, with five small lobes. This species has lately flow- 

 ered at Kew. R. Ungernii has leaves six inches long, with 

 a distinct cusp at the tip, and the tomentum is white. The 

 calyx has linear erect lobes half an inch long, and the 

 flowers are white, with a green tinge, and a few spots of 

 red. This has not yet flowered at Kew. The most striking 

 characteristic of these two Rhododendrons is the felt-like 

 covering on the leaves and branches. They are distinct in 

 appearance from all other hardy Rhododendrons. 



Spircea Bumalda, var. Anthony Waterer. — One of the 

 most useful of all the shrubby summer-flowering hardy 

 Spiroeas here is S. Bumalda, indeed, we have few hardy 

 shrubs of any kind which surpass this plant, looking at it 

 in all its excellent points of hardiness, good nature and 



