THE CHINESE FLORA. 



397 



came from the neighbourhood of Canton and Macao, but Fortune explored 

 new country to the north, in the neighbourhood of Shanghai and Ningpo, 

 and, further, pushed his explorations into Japan. His diary shows that 

 the gardens and nurseries of the Chinese contained a wealth of new and 

 interesting plants, and from these sources he obtained the great majority 

 of his plants. 



Fortune visited China four times. The first journey (1843-1845) 

 was only in the interests of our Society. His next two journeys were on 

 behalf of the Honourable East India Company, and had for their object 

 the introduction of the tea plant from China into India. His fourth and 

 last journey was mainly on his own responsibility. Fortune was ex- 

 tremely successful, and we owe many of the commonest and most valued 

 Chinese and Japanese plants in our gardens to-day to his labours. 



Among the more important of Fortune's introductions the following 

 may be mentioned : — Anemone japonica, Dicentra spectabilis, Prumis 

 triloba, Skimmia japonica, Spiraea japonica, Saxifraga sarmentosa, 

 Viburnum furcatum, Aucuba japonica (male), Dier villa rosea, Platy- 

 codon grandiflorum, Rhododendron Fortunei, Jasminum nudiflorum, 

 Forsythia viridissima, Trachelospermum jasminoides, and, in addition to 

 all these treasures, the double-flowered Peach and many varieties of 

 Chrysanthemum, Camellia, Azalea, and Faeonia Moutan. 



In each of its ventures into China our Society appears to have been 

 most successful. 



Stretching as China does through 20° of latitude, with its southern 

 part just within the tropics and its northern part lying within a very 

 cold region, having a rainfall varying from 30 inches per annum in the 

 north to over 100 inches in the south, and possessing a great diversity of 

 surface, we might expect the country to be a very rich one from a 

 botanical point of view. 



One feature of the Chinese flora which makes it of peculiar interest 

 to all garden lovers is that it includes the original type of many of our 

 most familiar garden plants. Ichang, standing just at the beginning 

 of the mountains and at the head of the navigable portion of the river, 

 over 1,000 miles from the sea, is the home of many of these. 



The flower of the season — the Chrysanthemum — the Queen of Autumn, 

 is, as you all well know, one of them. It has been cultivated in China 

 and Japan from time immemorial, and up to the middle of the last 

 century (1860) the introduction of new varieties from these countries 

 to Europe was considered of great importance. Now all is changed, for 

 China and Japan are acquiring new varieties raised in this country. It 

 may interest some to know that grafting the Chrysanthemum on a 

 species of Artemisia is frequently practised in China. The plants are 

 more vigorous, it is said, but the real reason is, that the purchaser, 

 unaware of the grafting, having cut down his plant after flowering in 

 the usual way, is unable to perpetuate the stock, and in consequence has 

 to buy afresh from the nurseryman the following year. Chrysanthemum 

 sinensis was first cultivated in Europe in the flower gardens of Holland, 

 and we may therefore presume that it had been imported in Dutch 

 ships. As early as 1689, no less than six varieties were to be found in 

 the Dutch gardens ; but they were subsequently lost, and when the plant 



