60 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



only grows about 2 feet high, and at Kew succeeds perfectly in 

 the open. Some of the garden forms or hybrids derived from 

 C. azureus make fine bushes, and flower profusely in the open. 

 Gloire de Versailles and Marie Simon are two of the best. 

 Bhamnus libanoticus is conspicuous by reason of its handsome 

 foliage, which assumes a rich bronzy colour in autumn. 



The Vine family is well known as supplying us with some of 

 the most beautiful hardy climbers. Vitis Coignetia is the only 

 species which I have space to mention here. The flowers are 

 sweet-scented, and the colours assumed by the decaying leaves 

 in autumn are brilliant in the extreme. Those who have seen 

 this Japanese climber in Mr. Anthony Waterer's nursery at 

 Knap Hill, rambling over the trees in its neighbourhood, are not 

 likely to require any persuasion to make them endeavour to pro- 

 cure it for their own gardens. 



The Horse Chestnut family (Sapindaccce) is an important 

 one from a garden point of view. Kolreuteria paniculata, from 

 North China, is not nearly so much grown as it deserves to be ; 

 its pinnate leaves, erect panicles of yellowish flowers, followed — 

 in favourable seasons — by large bladder-like fruits, make it a 

 conspicuous object in the shrubbery or park, and the decaying 

 leaves in autumn assume a rich red-brown tint. Very recently 

 a new species has been discovered and introduced from South 

 China through the agency of the French missionaries ; but it is 

 too early yet to speak of its value in hardy out-door gardening 

 in this country. The Chestnuts deserve special mention — one in 

 particular, JEsculus rubicundavar. Brioti, a form having flowers 

 about three shades deeper in colour than the ordinary Red 

 Chestnut. M. indica, figured as long ago as the year 1858 in 

 the Bot. Mag. t. 5,117, from specimens from Mildenhall in 

 Suffolk, is scarcely known in gardens, although it is a hand- 

 some species. The Japanese M. turbinated is also almost 

 unknown in British gardens. M. califomica makes a small 

 compact tree ; it has glossy leaves and dense panicles of rather 

 small yellowish-white or flesh-coloured flowers. Xanthoceras 

 sorbifolia — generally grown against a wall, and still rare in 

 gardens — is quite hardy in the open, although it does not grow 

 so fast as when trained against a wall. It is a Chinese tree, and 

 likes a sunny, open place. The finest tree I have seen is in 

 the famous arboretum at Segrez formed by the late Mons. 

 Alphonse Lavallee. 



