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FLORA AND SYLVA, 



THE PERSIMMON IN ENGLAND {Drospyros kaki). 



It is very seldom that we see this handsome shrub 

 in English gardens ; but I think it so well worth 

 growing that I wish to say a few words in its favour. 



The chief objection raised to it is that it is sup- 

 posed to be too tender for any but the most favoured 

 places in England. This is certainly a mistake. It 

 must be quite twenty years since my plant was given 

 to me by my old friend, Ewbank, and during that 

 time we have had many very severe winters ; yet the 

 plant has never been seriously injured, and even the 

 spring frosts have seldom done it any real harm. 

 Then it is said that the tree requires room and does 

 not repay in foliage, flower, or fruit. I think differ- 

 ently. Even as a fine foliaged shrub I think it worth 

 growing ; the leaves are large and handsome, and 

 often put on very rich colours in the autumn. The 

 flowers have little beauty, but the fruit is all that a 

 good fruit should be. The Japanese consider it to 

 be the best of all fruits, and grow many varieties, 

 some suiting one position in the country and others 

 being better for different positions. They say that 

 the flavour is a mixture of Peach, Apricot, and Nec- 

 tarine ; I cannot say that I have been able to detect 

 these different flavours, but should liken it to very 

 good Apricot jam. I only know of one variety, but 

 that, when ripe, is of a rich Apricot-red colour, and 

 makes a very handsome dish for dessert. To get 

 all these excellences some care is required, but not 

 more than is necessary for growing and ripening a 

 good Peach. 



The tree belongs to the Ebenaceae, and is bota- 

 nically allied to the Date Plum of the United States ; 

 and, like many other Japanese plants, I think it pro- 

 bable that it would grow well in the shade, but to 

 ripen the fruit all the sun that it can get is wanted, 

 so I grow it on a south wall, and keep it pruned in 

 rather close. The flowers do not come out till the 

 leaves are well formed, and then they have the habit 

 of hiding themselves under the leaves. As soon as 

 the fruit is set it is well to pick off all the leaves 

 that shade it, so as to admit the full sun to the 

 fruit. The fruits swell rapidly and look handsome 

 on the tree, but they keep quite green till towards 



the end of summer, when they begin to turn colour. 

 They will stay on the tree long after the leaves are 

 fallen, and I think it well to leave them on till there 

 is a threatening of frost. Then I should pick them 

 at once, and put them in the sunniest place in the 

 greenhouse. They ripen very gradually, and are 

 not fit to eat as long as any part of them is hard ; 

 but as soon as they are quite soft, as soft as a ripe 

 peach, they may be eaten, and they will keep good 

 when quite ripe for many days. Last year I had 

 good dishes on my table till the second week in 

 December, and they were much appreciated. 



With this experience of the tree and fruit I 

 wonder it is not more grown ; yet outside my own 

 garden I have only seen it out of doors at Tort- 

 worth Court, in Gloucestershire ; there it grows 

 beautifully in a sheltered corner of the house, but 

 does not ripen its fruit as well as it does with me. 

 The late G. F. Wilson tried it in the orchard- 

 house ; he had ripe fruit but did not attach much 

 value to it ; and all the fruit that is seen in the shops 

 in November and December comes, I am told, from 

 the South of France. With me the fruit is often 

 over 3 inches through, and compares very favourably 

 with the French in size, colour, and flavour. I may 

 say that ever since the shrub was of fruiting age — 

 and it produces fruit quite as early as a Peach — I 

 have never been without a crop of some sort, and 

 in some seasons I have had six or seven dozen fruits 

 from the tree. I am now trying one in the open 

 ground away from the wall, I scarcely expect that it 

 will produce good fruit ; but I am hopeful, for at 

 the present time (April) the foliage is as forward on 

 the one as on the other. I have little doubt that the 

 day is not far distant when the fruit will become 

 popular, and there may be a good demand for it, 

 making it worth while for our nurserymen to grow 

 it for the market. At present it is not popular be- 

 cause it is very little known, as little known as the 

 Banana was a few years ago ; but I see no reason why 

 it should not gradually make its way and become as 

 popular as the Banana. 



Henry L. Ellacombe. 



Reviving Obsolete Names of Trees. — "Some 

 botanists seem to consider it a meritorious act to 

 rescue a forgotten name from oblivion, and look 

 upon such discovery as being of almost as much 

 benefit to science as the detection of some over- 

 looked specific character. Such authors appear to 

 forget that names are merely arbitrary terms to re- 

 present the plants to which they belong. The rule 

 that, when a species is already known by two or more 

 names, the earliest given of these is to be adopted, 

 is agreed to solely as a means of attaining unanimity 

 in nomenclature ; but the revival of an obsolete 



appellation by which no one knows the plant is only 

 producing, instead of avoiding, confusion, and should 

 be discouraged to the utmost." These words of the 

 late Mr. B. B. Syme are worth quoting in face of 

 the number of needless changes of old names chiefly 

 by American botanists. It is, we fear, often prompted 

 by the vanity of attaching their own names to the new 

 ones. Among the instances of this kind is a change 

 of the name of the beautiful evergreen Magnolia 

 and the generic name of the Snowdrop tree {Halesia), 

 changes which we hope no European writers will 

 accept, as they were needless and can but confuse. 



