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PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GARDEN PLANTS jasminum 



LXXI. OLEACEiE— Lilac and Olive Order 



This order consists of erect or climbing, smooth or rarely downy, unarmed 

 shrubs or trees, very rarely herbs. Leaves opposite, rarely alternate or 

 whorled, simple or pinnately 3 or few foliolate, entire or toothed, without 

 stipules. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite, rarely dicecious or polygamous, in 

 loose or clustered forked cymes or trichotomous panicles. Calyx free, bell- 

 shaped, usually 4-toothed or lobed, rarely more or none. Corolla gamo- 

 petalous, salver-shaped, funnel-like or bell-shaped ; lobes or petals 4, rarely 5-6. 

 Stamens 2, rarely 4, ovary superior 2-celled. Fruit a capsule, berry, or drupe. 



JASMINUM (Jasmine ; Jessamine). 

 A genus of erect or climbing branched 

 shrubs with opposite, rarely alternate, 

 leaves, simply 3-foliolate or oddly pinnate. 

 Flowers from the tips of the branches, 

 or in forked cymes, or solitary from a pair 

 of scales, often showy, white, yellow, or 

 reddish outside. Calyx 4-9-toothed, 

 lobed or parted. CoroUa salver-shaped 

 with a cylindrical tube sometimes 

 widened above, 4-5- or more lobed. Sta- 

 mens 2, inserted upon and enclosed with- 

 in the corolla-tube. Ovary 2-celled. 

 Fruit a somewhat 2-lobed succulent berry 

 with 1 or few seeds. 



Culture and Propagation. — Although 

 120 species have been described, only a 

 few are hardy enough for outdoor cultiva- 

 tion in the British Islands, many of the 

 others being beautiful greenhouse or stove 

 chmbers. The hardy varieties may be 

 used in a number of ways, such as cover- 

 ing the sides of buildings, trained over 

 arches or trellises, &c., to all of which 

 they give a bright appearance when iu 

 bloom. They flourish in any fairly good 

 garden soil, and some like the Winter 

 Jasmine (/. nudiflorum) flower profusely 

 in any poor soil. Jasmines may be in- 

 creased by cuttings of the ripened wood 

 in summer and early autumn inserted in 

 sandy soil in a cold frame or under hand- 

 lights, and kept shaded for some time 

 from the sun. Where convenient, layers 

 may also be made during the summer 

 and autiunn. Seeds may be sown as soon 

 as ripe, and the young plants wintered in 

 a cold frame imtil the following spring. 



J. floridum. — An ornamental Chinese 

 and Japanese shrub with alternate and 

 pinnately 8-foliolate leaves. Flowers in 

 summer, about i in. across, yellow, in 

 loose cymes. 



Culture dc. as above. 



J. fruticans. — A beautiful evergreen 

 10-12 ft. high, native of S. Europe, with 

 angular branches and simple ternate 

 leaves composed of obovate, wedge-shaped, 

 blunt leaflets. Flowers in summer, 

 yellow, with oblong-blunt petals. 



Culture dc. as above. This species 

 may be grown as a bush supported by a 

 stout stake or old tree stump in the 

 centre. 



J. humile. — A deciduous Indian shrub 

 3-4 ft. high, with angular branches, and 

 acute trifoholate or pimiate alternate leaves. 

 Flowers in suiimier, yeUow, with oblong 

 blunt petals. Peduncles from the ends of 

 the branches in twos or threes, each with 

 3 flowers. 



Culture d-c. as above. 



J. nudiflorum {Winter Jasmine). — A 

 free-growmg and popular Chinese climber 

 with green flexible stems, and small ter- 

 nate leaves. Flowers from December to 

 March or April, yellow, about 1 in. across, 

 in opposite pairs along the stems. 



Culture dc. as above. The great value 

 of this beautiful climber consists in its 

 winter flowering when the branches are 

 quite free or naked from the absence of 

 leaves. It is extremely hardy, and al- 

 though severe frosts tarnish the yellow 

 blossoms somewhat, fresh ones soon ap- 

 pear. The beauty of this plant is often 

 marred by being primed in autumn 

 when the flowering shoots are almost 

 fully developed to their full lengtli. If 

 cut back at this season the flower buds are 

 destroyed and a scanty supply of blossom 

 only obtained. The proper time to prune 

 this species is just after the flowers have 

 withered in March and April. The old 

 wood should be cut away, leaving the 

 younger shoots to develop twigs for flower- 

 ing the following season. 



