1 68 



There are worthless va- I 

 V sjn" rietiesoftheBaldCy- 

 press which we reject as 

 of no garden value and often offered 

 under false names (i.e., Glyptostrobus) 

 which serve only to throw pseudo-bo- 

 tanical dust in people's eyes. These dis- 

 tortions should be avoided by all who 

 wish to realise the beauty and dignity of 

 the tree. The true way to a fine result is 

 to grow it from seed of the wild tree, 

 which germinate readily in a few weeks, 

 and growing it in the best natural condi- 

 tions. Like most trees of the Pine order 

 it has a tendency to vary in its branch- 

 lets, and for nurserymen to seize such 

 bits, and increase and name them, is to 

 do much harm to the interest of good 

 planting, especially to those beginners 

 to whom a ponderous Latin name may 

 seem to represent a real tree and not a 

 wretched sport. 



Taxodium distichum. — Richard, in Annales du Museum, 

 vol. xvi., p. 258. Loudon's Arboretum, vol. iv., p. 2481. 

 Carriere, Traite General des Coniferes. Veitch, Manual of 

 the Coniferse. Sargent's Silva of North America, vol. x., 



P- I 5 I - 



Syn. Cupressus disticha, Linnaeus. Michaux fils, Histoire 

 des Arbres Forestiers de l'Amerique Septentrionale, tome 

 iii., p. 4, tab. 1 (1 8 13). North American Silva, vol. ii., 

 p. 329 (1819). Cupvespinnata disticha, Nelson. Senilis, Pina- 

 ceae, 61 ; Schuhertia disticha, of Mirbel and Spach ; Cupressus 

 Americana, of Romans. 



JASMINUM PRIMULINUM 

 (HEMSLEY) * 

 This beautiful shrub was first disco- 

 vered by Mr. Hancock at Mengtse in 

 Yunnan, and specimens sent by him 

 to Kew enabled Mr. Hemsley to de- 

 scribe the plant as a new species, though 

 he had some doubts at the time as to 

 whether it was not, botanically, simply 

 a variety of the older and well-known 

 y. nudiflorum. Other specimens were 



collected by me both at Mengtse and 

 at Szemao further west, and these are 

 now in the Kew Herbarium. The 

 credit of the introduction of the plant 

 is due to Mr. Wilson, who procured 

 some live plants at Mengtse, when he 

 was on a visit to me in Yunnan, just 

 before he started on his fruitful explo- 

 ration of Central China. These living 

 plants were sent to the Botanic Garden 

 at Hong Kong, were nursed there for 

 a time, and ultimately reached Messrs. 

 Veitch's nursery at Coombe Wood. 

 Mr. Hemsley, atthe moment of his pub- 

 lication of the species, was of opinion 

 that the specimens he was dealing with 

 were those of a wild plant. After a care- 

 ful consideration of all the localities 

 where I witnessed the plant growing 

 in Yunnan, I am now of opinion that 

 it always occurs there cultivated or as 

 an escape from cultivation. In support 

 of this opinion I adduce the following 

 facts. The shrubs were always seen 

 growing in gardens or more frequently 

 in hedges or amidst shrubbery in the 

 vicinity of villages; and never were met 

 with in woods or forests. It never set 

 any fruit, propagating itself, however, 

 freely by abundant suckers. The flowers 

 were often seen semi-double and varied 

 much in size, sometimes being quite as 

 small as those oiy.nudiflorum. Several 

 other species of Jasmine were common 

 in the woods and forests of South Yun- 

 nan; and these always produced fruit in 

 abundance and never showed any varia- 

 tion in the size of their flowers or any 

 tendency to doubling. 



I have consulted the " Chi-Wu- 



* With coloured plate from a drawing by H. G. Moon, at Coombe Wood. 



