242 CHINESE ECONOMIC TEEES 



small, perfect, yellowish-green, in axillary, rarely terminal cymes; petals 

 5, more or less 2 lobed ; stamens 5; ovary 3 celled; stigmas 3, oblong. 

 Fruit a globose, depressed, woody, 3 celled body entirely surrounded by 

 a flat, circular wing. Seeds 1 in each cell, albuminous. 



Six species, in S. Europe, China and Japan. 



The curious fruit resembling a Chinese cymbal is very distinctive. 

 The shrubby species are suitable for hedges. Propagated by seeds sown 

 in the autumn or stratified until spring, also by layers and root cuttings. 



Paliurus orientalis Hemsley. 



Tree to 16 m. tall with or without thorns. Bark smooth, gray; 

 trunk slender, usually spiny. Leaves dark green, somewhat leathery, 

 glabrous, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, crenate-serrate, 5-10 cm. long. 

 Flowers slender peduncled. Fruit 2.5-4 cm. across, purplish, glabrous. 



Kiangsu, Kiangsi, Hupeh, Szechuan, Shensi, Kwangtung, Yunnan. 

 The wood is hard and tough. 



P. hirsutus Hemsley, 

 Shrub. 



Kwangtung. 



P. ramosissimus Poiret. 

 Shrub. 



Kwangtung, Kiangsi, Hupeh, and Szechuan. 

 Formosa and Japan. 



HOVENIA 



Armed shrub or tree. Leaves deciduous, alternate, 3 nerved at the 

 base, long petioled. Inflorescence in a pedunculated, many flowered, 

 axillary or terminal cyme. Flowers greenish, small and inconspicuous; 

 calyx 5 parted ; petals 5, inserted below the disk, clawed ; stamens 5, a 

 little longer than the petals ; style 3 parted; ovary enclosed in the disk, 

 3 celled. Fruit the size of a pea, indehiscent, 3 celled, 3 seeded, on a 

 thickened, fleshy stalk or peduncle. 



One species in the Himalayas, China and Japan, Hovenia is 

 usually a small round-headed tree with small greenish flowers in 

 cymoae clusters followed by numerous small fruits borne on fleshy, red 

 peduncles which are sweet and edible. 



