TERNSTRGEMIAGE^-TEA FAMILY 



Actinidia. 

 Aktin, ray; referring to the radiate styles. 

 Stem. — Climbing, woody. 



Leaves. — Deciduous, alternate, long-petioled, serrate. 

 Flowers. — Solitary or in corymbs, polygamous, white, cup-shaped, 

 half to three-fourths of an inch across. 

 Sepals and petals. — Both five. 

 Stamens. — Many; stigmas, many. 

 Fruit. — A many-seeded berry, edible. 



The genus Actinidia, woody climbers of the 

 Himalayas and eastern Asia, is represented in 

 our gardens by two Japanese species. The 

 largest and strongest is Actinidia argitta, now 

 fairly well established, which grows with great 

 vigor and rapidity. Its leaves are elliptical, 

 four to five inches long; its fruit about the 

 size of a cherry and highly esteemed in Japan. 



Actinidia polygama is a more slender plant 

 than arguta, with elliptical, slightly serrate, 

 long-petioled leaves three to four inches long, 

 gent, writing from Japan, says of it: "Its stems form great 

 tangles, sometimes twenty feet or more across and fifteen feet high. 

 The most remarkable thing about this plant is that in summer 

 the leaves toward the ends of the branches become pale-yellow, 

 either over their entire surface or only above the middle, not be- 

 cause they are drying up or ripening, but apparently from an in- 

 sufficient supply of chlorophyll. The effect that the plants produce 

 at this time is curious and interesting, and when seen from a dis- 

 tance they look like huge bushes covered with pale-yellow flowers." 



The plant's attraction for cats is also very curious; beds of 

 seedlings must be protected or cats wiU destroy them. 



295 



Actinidia. 

 Actinidia polygama 



Professor Sar- 



