2l8 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



forests of it in Western China, and collected seeds from trees at such 

 high altitudes as to lead him to believe that they represent a hardier 

 form. We have had no winters in recent years to put new plants 

 to the supreme test, but certainly these newly introduced Cunning- 

 hamias seem much hardier than the older ones. 



Liquidambar formosana is one of a group of trees remarkable 

 for the richness of their autumn tints. They are curiously scattered 

 over the northern hemisphere. One species, L. orientalis, is a native 

 of Asia Minor ; the better known L. styraciflua is from eastern North 

 America. L. formosana comes from China, where it is widely spread. 

 Tea-chests are made of its timber. Wilson found a mountain form 

 which will no doubt prove hardier than the previously introduced 

 one which at Kew needs wall protection. 



Another instance of Wilson's finding a hardier variety than the 

 one previously in cultivation is furnished by his plants of the Varnish- 

 tree — Rhus vernicifera. They grow twice as fast as, and are already 

 much bigger than, Japanese trees introduced twenty years before 

 they were. 



The Ginkgo or Salishuria is still unknown in a wild state. 

 Possibly it may yet exist in Nature somewhere in the vast tract 

 of South- West China still unexplored by plant collectors. It reaches 

 its finest development in Western China, where trees 90 feet high and 

 over 7 feet in diameter of trunk are to be found. 



Wilson has discovered some three or four new species of Paulownia, 

 none of which, so far as I know, has flowered under cultivation. A 

 new variety of Paulownia imperialis, distinguished as var. lanata, is 

 among them. The difliculty with Paulo wnias in our climate is that 

 they set their flowers in autumn. Although the flower-buds are 

 perfectly capable of withstanding our severest frosts, they expand 

 under the warmth of early spring, only to be cut off by later frosts. 



Whilst I am doubtful as to the garden value of many of the Chinese 

 Brambles and Raspberries, they represent as a whole one of the most 

 remarkable groups of Wilson's introductions. The distinctness of 

 a large proportion of them from the species v/e had in cultivation 

 previously is astonishing, and they have given the genus a quite new 

 aspect in our eyes. There are the creeping R. irenaeus, for instance, 

 with leaves recalhng those of a Coltsfoot in shape and size ; Rubus 

 Playfairianus, with leaves like an Ampelopsis ; and the very distinct 

 R. polytrichus or tricolor, which I recently saw forming a dense dwarf 

 cover over great patches of ground at Caerhays. 



A very interesting series among them are the new forms with 

 white stems. Opinions may differ as to their beauty, but not as to 

 their striking character. For many years there have been in cultiva- 

 tion two Brambles with this character well marked — namely, R. hiflorus 

 from the Himalaya, and R. leucodermis from western North America- 

 They are surpassed in effectiveness by the new Rubus Giraldianus, 

 whose stems grow about 7 feet high, then arch over in fountain-like 

 manner so that their tips touch the ground, where they take root 



