A TREE SAVIN, 



The other best known members of 

 the group are T.coronopifo/ium, a low- 

 growing perennial with yellow flower- 

 heads ; and T. trilobata, a similar plant 

 of like habit. 



[To the Editor of Flora and Sylva.] Sir, — 

 A few weeks back I received from Vilmorin of Paris 

 a few rooted cuttings of Eucommia ulmoides, but I 

 cannot find the name of this apparently new plant 

 in any of my books on Botany. If this plant fulfils 

 Vilmorin's description of it, it might be worth grow- 

 ing in this country. He says that it contains a notable 

 quantity of good gutta-percha. Treated with toluene 

 the seeds have produced the large proportion of 

 27-34 of their weight of gutta and dried leaves 2*2 5 

 percent. He adds, the first plant introducedwintered 

 in the open without any protection — trained against 

 a wall; the cold having fallen to 8 Cent. =17*6 Fahr. 

 or 14*4 degrees of frost. The plant may be of suffi- 

 cient interest to merit a notice in Flora and Sylva, 

 and any information as to its successful cultivation 

 might be interesting and useful. — Yours, etc., Wh i n- 

 Hurst. 



Eucommia ulmoides. — A shrub from 

 Northern China, of botanical interest but not 

 likely to prove much more than a curiosity in 

 our climate. The seeds are the only part of the 

 plant which produce any quantity of gutta- 

 percha, and besides being very light in weight 

 it is uncertain whether the plant flowers with 

 freedom in Europe, the one adult plant pos- 

 sessed by Messrs. Vilmorin having been so hard 

 cut for propagation as to prevent flowering. 

 Otherwise it is hardy enough to grow in many 

 parts of the country without any special pro- 

 tection, having stood at Paris uninjured by 1 6 

 degrees of frost when growing on a warm dry 

 soil. Botanically it is related to the Euphorbias, 

 with small inconspicuous flowers and their 

 milky juiciness of tissue; its name is due to the 

 likeness between its leaves and those of the 

 Common Elm, and the light-winged seed- 

 vessels of reddish-brown strengthen the re- 

 semblance. Its culture is of the simplest in 

 any warm light soil, and it is easily increased 

 from cuttings of ripened wood taken with a 

 heel in early spring before the leaves appear. 

 It has been distributed for experiment by 

 the French authorities in Annam, Tonkin, 

 and their African colonies, but its culture is 

 not likely to be of any practical value in this 

 country. 



73 



A TREE SAVIN. 

 The Savin is variable in growth and 

 habit, several forms being grown in gar- 

 dens, such as the Horizontal, Prostrate, 

 and Tamarisk-leaved varieties. There 

 exists, however, another form, which of 

 late years has caused discussion among 

 botanists. This shrub has for many years 

 been grown by M. Jordan, under the 

 name of J. Sabina Villarsi, and it is thus 

 mentioned by Villars in his " Histoire 

 des Plantes de Dauphine (1789)": — 

 "We have a tree-like form at Saint- 

 Clement, near Embrun ; " the plant 

 still exists in the same neighbourhood. 

 This Tree Savin is also found around 

 Grenoble, at Mount Saint-Eynard, the 

 Casque deNeron, and the rocks ofCom- 

 boire. In the department of Hautes 

 Alpes it occurs as stated, at Saint-Cle- 

 ment, and probably elsewhere in the 

 district. This tree should be of value to 

 growers of pyramidal Junipers. It is rare 

 in gardens, growing rather slowly, and 

 bearing berries of deep bluish-black. 



VIVIAND MOREL, Lyon Horticole. 



THE VIOLET WILLOW [Salix 

 daphnoides) . 

 Mr. T. Smith, of Newry, sends a branch of 

 this early-flowering tree, laden (in January) 

 with its silky buds, silvery upon the dark twigs. 

 It is not a common tree and is rarely spoken of 

 in garden books; it flowers in February, and 

 in mild seasons such as this its buds develop 

 very early, being already nearly an inch long 

 and of fine effect. The tree is widely spread 

 over a great part of Europe, and though natu- 

 ralised in Britain is not native. It is a robust 

 grower with stout stems of a dark purplish 

 colour — whence its name of Violet Willow 

 — but often covered with a white wax-like 

 bloom. It is of somewhat bushy habit, bearing 

 long narrow leaves, silvery beneath and shining 

 above ; Mr. T. Smith claims to have used it 

 with success for street planting. 



