1026 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



Genus II. 



AU'CUBA Thunb. The Aucuba. Lin. Syst. Dice'cia Tetrandria. 



Idcntiflcatiun. Thunb. Fl. Jap., p. 4. ; Dec. Prod., 4. p. 274. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 433. 

 Si/iivrit/nirs. Aukuba Kiempf. Amcen., 5. p. 775. ; Eubasis Salisb Prod., p. 68. 



Description, §c. An evergreen shrub or tree; a native of Japan. Branches 

 dichotomous or verticillate, in the manner of those of Loranthus and Fiscum. 

 The male blossom unknown. Only the female state of this plant is in British 

 gardens. 



* 1. A. japo'nica Thunb. The Japan Aucuba. 



Identification. Thunb, Fl. Jap., p. 64. ; Dec. Prod., 4. p. 274. ; Don's Mill., 3. 433. 

 Synonymes. Eilbasis dich6tomus Salisb. Prod., p. 68. ; spotted-leaved Laurel, Japan Laurel. 

 Engravings. Banks; Icon. Kasmpf., t. 6. ; Thunb. Icon. Fl. Jap., t. 12. and 13.; Bot. Mag., t. 1197. 



Spec. Char. y Sec. Native of Japan, where it is common both in a wild and 

 cultivated state, producing its red berries in March. The aucuba, in British 

 gardens, is a well-known laurel-like evergreen shrub, having the leaves 

 •mottled with yellow ; but in Japan the leaves are said, by Thunberg, to be 

 sometimes green. According to Kaempfer, it forms, in its native country, 

 a tree, with the fruit a red oblong drupe, like a laurel berry, with a white 

 sweetish pulp; and a kernel with a bitter taste. It was introduced in 1783, 

 and, at first, treated like a stove plant, as was customary, in those days, 

 with plants from Japan and China; it was afterwards found to stand in the 

 green-house, and, in a short time, in the open air. It is now considered as 

 hardy as, or hardier than, the common laurel ; and, what is a very valuable 

 property in England, it will endure coal smoke better than almost any 

 other evergreen. It is readily propagated by cuttings ; and grows freely in 

 any soil tolerably dry, advancing steadily by shoots of from 9 in. to 1ft. 

 long every season. 



App. I. LoranihdcecE not introduced. 



L. europa?-us. (Lin. Sp., 1672. ; Jacq. Fl. Austr., t. 30. ; Bee. Prod., 4. p. 671. ; Bon's Mill., S. 

 p. 409. ; Schkuhr Handb., t. 94. ; Plenck Icon., t. 248.) The European Loranthus. Plant gla- 

 brous, much branched. Branches terete. Leaves opposite, petiolate, oval-oblong, obtuse, some- 

 what attenuated at the base. Racemes terminal, simple. Flowers dioecious, of 6 petals. Anthers 

 adnate in the male flowers. {Bon's Mill., iii. p. 409.) A parasitical shrub, with the habit of Fiscum 

 album, and, like it, having greenish flowers, and yellowish berries. It is a native of Austria, Hun- 

 gary, Italy, and Upper Siberia,'where it grows on the oak, the sweet chestnut, and other trees, as the 

 mistletoe does in England. It has not yet been introduced into Britain, though it might easily be 

 so, by procuring a box of the berries from Vienna, and treating them as directed for those of the 

 mistletoe, p. 1023. 



L. odordtus Wall, is a native of Nepal, with leaves from 4 — 6 in. long, and many-flowered 6pikes, 

 of small, white, very sweet-scented flowers. 



L. Lamberfihnus Schulles is a native of Nepal, with the habit of L. europa^us ; and is, probably, the 

 same species. 



Various other species are described by botanists as natives of different parts of Asia. Royle re- 

 marks that the genus Loranthus " is found in considerable numbers on trees, in every part of the 

 plains of India ; not less than 90 being found in that country, in the Malayan peninsula ; though L. 

 tricolor is the most common species. Some few ascend the mountains ; and several occur in Nepal. 

 Of these, L. pulvrruldntus and L. vestitus are found as high as Mussoureej and L. Mgustrinus and 

 L. oordifolius lower down on the mountain side." {Royle Must., p. 235.) 



CHAP. LXIII. 



Of THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER CAPRIFOLIA v CEJE. 



Tins order includes several genera of hardy ligneous plants, chiefly shrubs. 

 They are commonly arranged in two sections, tfambuceac and Lonicem*' ; and 

 the following distinctive: characters of the section and genera, taken from Don's 

 Miller, will give an idea of the characteristics of the order : — 



