94 



EOTAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



improved. I often cut out two-thirds and sometimes a very much 

 larger proportion. 



I have not given the sizes of plums or cherries ; but they are 

 quite as large in proportion. 



March 19, 1864. 



XIX. On Podophyllum Umodi. By Mr. Thomas Shortt. 



Podophyllum JEmodi, "Wallh.* (P. liexandrum, Royle), is found in 

 Sikkim, Kumaon, and Cashmir, at an altitude varying from 6000 to 

 14,000 ft., and is one of the earliest spring flowers of the Himalayas. 

 Particular interest is attached to this plant from it3 first appear- 

 ance above the ground to its decay. The first growth of the plant is 

 very curious, the centre of the leaf appearing first ; the leaflets or 

 segments of the leaf are plicate and folded downwards on the 

 petiole in bud, and the whole plant has much the habit of Eran- 

 this hyemalis-f. After two or three leaves are developed, the 

 flower appears in the axil of the upper leaf, and, to a casual ob- 

 server, is much like that of Helleborus niger, though smaller. 

 "When first opened it is of a delicate blush, and when fully deve- 

 loped is of a pure white. 



The flowers are rather fugitive and, if fruit (which is both inte- 

 resting and ornamental) is required, must be carefully watched 

 and artificially impregnated as soon as the pollen is exposed. This 

 generally takes place on the morning of the first day. A very 

 few days will show when the fruit is set, as rapid increase of size 

 indicates success. The fruit remains green to within a few days 

 of ripening, when it is suffused with a delicate pink, which gradu- 

 ally changes to a deep scarlet, covered with a delicate bloom. A 

 well-matured fruit is drooping, egg-shaped, and flattened, 3^- inches 

 long and 1| inch thick, the stalk being inserted at the broad end. 

 It is pulpy, tasteless, filled with numerous seeds about the size 

 of wheat when in a milky state, and of somewhat the same form, 

 which are attached to a broad fleshy lateral placenta which occupies 

 the centre of the fruit. 



The fruit is eatable, like that of JP. peltatum, whose leaves, how- 

 ever, are poisonous and the root a drastic purge ; it will hang 



* Beautiful specimens of this plant in fruit were exhibited at one of the scien- 

 tific meetings by Mr. Shortt. 



t This and one or two other sentences are borrowed from Hooker and Thom- 

 son's ' Flora Indica.' 



