178 



DIELYTRA SPECTABILIS. 



XXV. — Dielytra spectabilis, a new Plant introduced 

 from China. By Mr. Fortune (with a coloured Plate). 



(Communicated May 20, 1847.) 



A short notice of this plant has already appeared in the Journal 

 (vol. i. p. 233), where it is stated that the species was first known 

 to European botanists by a specimen sent by the Russo-Siberian 

 De Karamyschew, who, studying at Upsal, communicated it to 

 Linnaeus. Since this notice, the species has flowered for the 

 first time in England in the garden of the Horticultural Society 

 at Chiswick, where the accompanying drawing was made. 



It is one of those plants of which the Chinese mandarins in the 

 north of China are so fond, and which they cultivate with so 

 much pride in their little fairy gardens. I found it first in the 

 " Grotto Garden," on the island of Chusan, growing amongst 

 artificial rocks near the beautiful Weigela rosea already figured 

 in this Journal. Its Chinese name is Hong-pak-Moutan JVha, 

 or the " Red and White Moutan Flower." The Chinese bo- 

 tanists do not take the characters of their genera from the flowers 

 as we do, but from the general habits and appearances of the 

 plants. In this instance the leaves are not unlike those of the 

 Moutan Paeony ; the flowers are red and white, and hence the 

 Chinese call it the " Red and White Moutan Flower." 



In China it grows from a foot to two feet in height, and forms 

 fine racemes of rose-coloured flowers, which have been well re- 

 presented by Miss Drake in the accompanying plate. It is cer- 

 tainly the most handsome of all the known species of Fume- 

 worts, to which family it belongs. 



The plant is yet too rare to trust in the open ground, and, 

 therefore, its capability of living unprotected during our English 

 winters has not been proved ; but I think there can be no doubt 

 of its being as hardy as any of its race. I never met with it in 

 the southern parts of China, and, from the authority above 

 named, it seems to be found even on the borders of Siberia. As 

 a pot-plant for rooms it is extremely graceful, and remains for a 

 long time in flower. I have had it for three weeks on my table 

 in Chusan after being dug up out of the garden, and it remained 

 in great beauty all the time. 



Its habits are the same as the well-known D. formosa, a 

 plant common in all gardens where showy herbaceous plants 

 are grown. The stems die down in autumn, and the roots re- 

 main in a dormant state until the following spring, when the 

 plant again appears above ground, and flowers in the months of 

 May and June. The Chinese increase it readily by dividing 

 the roots in spring when it begins to grow. In this country it 



