16 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



cannot avoid feeling astonished at the wonderful development of 

 the genus in that part of the world, nor can we help looking 

 forward with confidence, strongly supported by our own experi- 

 ence, that these Maples are destined to impart to our landscape 

 and gardens some of the most pleasing and distinct features yet 

 obtained from any group of exotic trees and shrubs. 



A remarkable tree in many respects is Meliosma myriantha, 

 which, although at present practically unknown in the gar- 

 dens and parks of this country, can scarcely fail to become 

 popular. It belongs to a small family of tropical trees and 

 shrubs, chiefly Asiatic, but which is also represented in Tropical 

 America by a very few species. In Japan, the Flora of which 

 is so remarkable for the number of tropical genera represented 

 in it, Meliosma myriantha is a rare tree. I saw it in limited 

 numbers in the Nikko district and in a small grove on the 

 eastern slopes of the thickly wooded base of Mount Chokaizan, 

 on the extreme north-west coast. It is an exceedingly graceful 

 tree, of somewhat low stature, rarely exceeding from 25 to 30 

 feet in height, with a slender trunk, wide-spreading branches, 

 and large thin leaves, 8 inches long and 3 inches broad, of a 

 most pleasing tint. Under cultivation at Tokyo, its somewhat 

 loose drooping habit becomes modified into a more rigid, close, 

 and pyramidal outline. 



Among the Ehus family, B. vcrnicifera, the Japanese Lacquer- 

 tree, but really an introduced plant from China, has played a 

 conspicuous part in the development of the mechanical arts in 

 China and Japan. B. semi-alata is remarkable for its brilliant 

 autumn tints, but surpassed in this respect perhaps by B. 

 trichocarpa, whose orange and scarlet foliage always attracts 

 notice in the autumn, even amidst such exceptional surroundings 

 as those I have attempted to describe. B. succcdanca is an 

 economic curiosity, as the source from which the Japanese obtained 

 their principal supply of artificial light before the introduction of 

 Russian and American petroleum. 



It has often been remarked that Japan is peculiarly poor in 

 leguminous trees and shrubs, a remark, of course, equally 

 applicable to our own country. One of the handsomest repre- 

 sentatives of the order is Gleditschia japonica, a tree 60 to 

 70 feet high, whose branches are armed with spines 3 inches 

 long. As seen on the mountains of Central Japan, and under 



