8o JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



has never observed acorns on this specimen, despite its size; but 

 whether innate individual steriHty or effects of frost are accountable 

 for this deficiency, only closer observation can decide. 



On the Continent this Oak is as rare as it is here, for Elwes and 

 Henry have only recognized a small tree in M. Allard's Arboretum 

 at Angers, which had been mistaken for Quercus crassifoUa ; prior 

 to that it was cultivated in Leroy's nursery at the same town in 1847. 



EUPHORBIA HISLOPII. 



By R. A. DuMMER, F.R.H.S. 



This acquisition to the succulent Euphorbias of Enghsh collections 

 is due to the enterprise of Mr. A. Hislop, who presented Kew in 191 1 

 with cuttings brought from the Botanic Gardens of Durban, Natal. 



The species' origin, however, is unknown, but is surmised by 

 Mr. N. E. Brown, the author of the above name, to be Madagascar, 

 or one of the neighbouring isles, as its nearest ally, E. splendens, is of 

 Mascarene origin. Though the floral bracts of E. Hislopii partake 

 of the vivid vermilion tint of those of its congener, and thus merit 

 its cultivation, nevertheless the stems of the former, which are double 

 the thickness of E. Bozeri, its sessile basally rounded leaves, and shorter 

 peduncles render its recognition fairly easy. 



A succulent, spinous, glabrous shrub. Stems eight-angled, olive- 

 green, or greyish olive-green with a touch of madder brown, f to i inch in 

 thickness exclusive of the spines, the angles rounded and markedly 

 spinously toothed, the spines -|- to -f inch long, patent or directed 

 downwards, and with the colour of the axis. Leaves decidu- 

 ous, terminal, sessile, ascending or spreading with age, narrowly 

 oblong or oblong-lanceolate, acute and apiculate, rounded basally, 

 2 to 2\ inches long, f to -f-^ inch broad, thin, fresh green, the margin 

 entire and with a suspicion of a crimson tint. The cymes are 

 borne at the apices of the twigs, usually solitary or in pairs, and 

 erect, the stout greenish peduncles averaging i inch long, wdth 

 scale-like membranous oblong or almost quadrate and very blunt 

 bracts scarcely exceeding inch long. The floral bracts are trans- 

 versely elliptic, rounded and minutely apiculate, -J inch long and -f-^ inch 

 broad, and of a beautiful vermihon colour. The bell-shaped involucre 

 is also furnished with five transversely elliptic reddish glands. The 

 included ovary is shortly stalked and is terminated by the equally 

 reddish thread-like styles, which are club-shaped and dark brow^n at 

 their apices. 



