158 



THE RUELLIA INDIGOTICA. 



Chap. Vlll. 



indigoticd) wliich is cultivated extensively in the 

 level country a few miles to the westward of 

 Shanghae. The kind which attracted my attention 

 in Chekiang is equally valuable, if not more so. 

 It is made from a species of ruellia, which, until it 

 gets a better name, may be called Ruellia indigotica. 

 It is a curious circumstance that the same plant, 

 apparently, has lately been discovered in the 

 Assam country in India, where it is also cultivated 

 for the blue dye it affords. I had an opportunity 

 of examining it in the garden of the Agricultural 

 and Horticultural Society at Calcutta, by whom it 

 had been introduced, and where it was standing 

 alongside of the Chinese kind, to which it certainly 

 bears a most striking resemblance : the point of 

 identity will easily be determined when the plants 

 come into flower. Strange it will be if it is ulti- " 

 mately found that this species, which produces a 

 dye unknown to commerce, is in cultivation all the 

 way across from the eastern shores of China to the 

 borders of Bengal, and this is far from being 

 improbable. 



This ruellia seems to be easily cultivated ; it 

 grows most luxuriantly, and is no doubt very pro- 

 ductive. Having evidently been found indigenous 

 a little farther to the south, in a warmer latitude, 

 it is not hardy in the province of Chekiang any 

 more than cotton is about Shanghae ; but neverthe- 

 less it succeeds admirably as a summer crop. It is 

 planted in the end of April or beginning of May, 

 after the spring frosts are over, and is cleared 



