SKIMMIA 



BUE OBDEB 



SKIMMIA 297 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species will grow in ordinary good garden 

 soil, and may be used in shrubberies, 

 although it is scarcely worth planting 

 when so many better trees are now in 

 cultivation. It may be increased by root- 

 ing cuttings of the ripened shoots under a 

 handlight or in a cold frame in sandy soil. 



PTELEA. — A genus containing 6 

 species of unarmed shrubs or small trees 

 with bitter bark. Leaves alternate, 

 rarely opposite, S-foliolate or pinnately 

 5-foliolate ; leaflets ovate or oblong with 

 pellucid dots, entire or serrate. Flowers 

 polygamous, cymose or corymbose. 

 Ualyx short, 4-5-parted, imbricate. 

 Petals 4-5, much longer than the calyx, 

 imbricate. In the male flowers disc incon- 

 spicuous ; stamens 4-5. In the female 

 flowers, stamens effete, disc short. Style 

 short ; stigma 2-3-lobed. Fruit roundish, 

 broadly 2-3-winged, 2-3-celled, indehis- 

 cent. 



P. trifoliata {Hop-tree ; Swamp Bog- 

 wood). — A N. American shrub 4-8 ft. high, 

 with 3-foliolate, yellowish, long-stalked 

 leaves, which suggest Hops when bruised. 

 Flowers in early summer, small, greenish ; 

 filaments densely hairy below the middle, 

 longer than the style in the sterile flowers, 

 shorter in the fertile ones. The variety 

 aurea has beautiful golden-yellow foliage 

 when young. The winged seed vessels 

 are very attractive and bear a superficial 

 resemblance to the fruits of the common 

 Elm, but are much larger, and 3-winged, 

 each wing being handsomely veined 

 with a conspicuous branching network. 



Culture and Propagation. — This orna- 

 mental shrub will floiu^ish in ordinary 

 good garden soil and may be increased by 

 inserting cuttings of the ripened or half- 

 ripened shoots in sandy soil under a hand- 

 light. Seeds are freely produced and new 

 plants may be raised from these if sown 

 as soon as ripe in cold frames. 



SKIMMIA.— A genus of about half- 

 a-dozen species of very smooth evergreen 

 shrubs, with alternate, simple, stalked 

 lance-shaped, entire, leathery leaves, 

 pellucidly dotted. Flowers clustered in 

 branched terminal panicles. Calyx 

 short, 4-5-lobed, imbricate. Petals 4-5, 

 oblong, much longer than the calyx, valvate 

 or slightly imbricate. Disc inoonspieuous. 

 Stamens 4-5, hypogynous, effete in the 

 female flowers. Fruit an ovoid, fleshy, 

 2-4-stoned drupe. 



Culture and Propagation. — Skimmias 

 thrive in a good loam and peat soil, well- 

 drained. They are increased by cuttings 

 in sandy soil under a beU-glass in heat, 

 or from seeds sown as soon as ripe. 

 The branches may be also layered. As 

 border plants or in beds by themselves, 

 they look very effective, especially when 

 covered with bright red berries. For town 

 gardens the Skimmias are excellent plants, 

 as their smooth deep green fohage is un- 

 injured by grime or dirt, while the beauti- 

 ful coloured berries peeping out here and 

 there render them extremely ornamental 

 in autumn and winter. 



S. Fortunei. — A pretty Japanese 

 species 3-4 ft. high, with its deep glossy 

 green Laurel-like leaves 3-4 in. long, and 

 white or greenish-white flowers, followed 

 by scarlet or dull crimson berries in the 

 autumn. 



This plant has been called S. japonica 

 for many years. As a good deal of con- 

 fusion still exists regarding the names of 

 the cultivated Skimmias, it may be as 

 well to point out that S. Fortunei (of 

 Masters) differs from S. japonica (of 

 Thunberg) in its dwarfer habit, the deep 

 green colour of its lance-shaped leaves, 

 and in having always hermaphrodite 

 flowers, that is blossoms containing sta- 

 mens and pistil. 8. Fortunei also bears 

 its ornamental berries with great freedom, 

 whereas S. japonica does not unless care- 

 fully fertilised. The variety a/rgentea has 

 the leaves margined with white, while 

 rubella is distinguished from the type by 

 the reddish tints of the flower buds. 



Culture dc. as above. 



S. japonica. — Until a few years ago 

 this species went under the name of S. 

 oblata. It is a beautiful Japanese shrub 

 2-3 ft. high, with bright green eUiptic- 

 obovate leaves 3-5 in. long, borne close 

 together on the branches and giving the 

 plant a dense bushy appearance. The 

 flowers are sometimes hermaphrodite and 

 staminate only on the same plant ; but 

 sometimes a plant bears female flowers 

 (pistils) only, and sometimes male flowers 

 (stamens) only. Plants with male flowers 

 only never bear any berries, while female 

 flowers must be fertilised with pollen, or 

 they will be equally barren. 



There are many forms of S. japonica 

 in gardens, and they were at one time re- 

 garded more or less as distinct species. 

 The best known are S. fragrans, S. fra- 



