CHINESE TREES AND SHRUBS. 



223 



is evergreen, and has striking foliage and large white flowers. There 

 are, however, two forms of it in cultivation ; one, with narrow sepals, 

 is scarcely worth cultivation, but the other, with broad, thick sepals, 

 possesses a beauty rivalling that of Clematis indivisa from New Zealand. 

 It appears to be quite hardy on a wall, flowers in April, and has a 

 pleasing fragrance. I recently saw it, very beautiful, on a house 

 in the Cotswold country. Clematis Spooneri, an ally of C. montana 

 but very much more downy, is also full of promise. 



Of Wilson's vines the most remarkable is Vitis megalophylla, 

 with doubly pinnate leaves up to 2 feet long, and absolutely unlike 

 anything we had before among hardy vines. Of greater value in 

 gardens, however, are V. Henryi, with its Virginia Creeper-like leaves 

 variegated with silvery white and pink ; V. Thomsoni, with claret- 

 purple leaves ; V. armata and armata Veitchii, magnificent in size 

 of leaf and autumn colouring. 



A wonderful privet is Ligustrum lucidum, 60 feet high, with a trunk 

 nearly 4 feet through. It is sometimes seen in tree-like form in the 

 warmer part of the British Isles, and two years ago I saw it, about 

 40 feet high, in the public garden at Spalato, in Dalmatia. 



Dipelta floribunda is an ally of the Diervillas, remarkable for two 

 shield-like bracts beneath the fruits (Fig. 54). 



The Roses of Western China consist very largely of forms or allies of 

 three species — namely, Rosa moschata, R. macrophylla, and R. sericea — 

 all of them long ago introduced to our gardens from the north of 

 India. One of the greatest difficulties we have encountered in deahng 

 with many new Chinese trees and shrubs is to disentangle them from 

 the well-known Himalayan types. Whilst many are not exactly 

 the same as their North Indian prototypes, they differ in such small 

 particulars that botanists have been chary of making new species 

 of them. That, however, is being found the simplest way of dealing 

 with the new Roses. Miss Willmott has given pictures and descrip- 

 tions of a goodly number — all, I believe, published up to date — in 

 her new work on Roses. On the whole I think the most remarkable of 

 Wilson's Roses is R. Moyesii — an ally of R. macrophylla, but bringing 

 a quite new shade of colour into garden Roses, and striking also for 

 its enormous fruits. 



A very promising shrub is Cercis racemosa, an ally of the Judas- 

 tree, but bearing its flowers in short racemes, instead of in the close 

 clusters seen on the Judas-tree. Unfortunately, it is very rare at 

 present. We have it at Kew, but not on its own roots; indeed, I 

 know of only three or four plants raised from seed. It can be 

 distinguished from all other species of Cercis, even when out of flower, 

 by the very downy leaves and young shoots. 



After Rhododendron, no genus of shrubs has been more enhanced 

 in garden value by Wilson's work than Berheris. The first species 

 to make its mark in gardens was the one named after the collector's 

 wife, Berheris Wilsonae. It has proved to be the type and forerunner 



