AKEBIA 
A. quinata. — This is not showy, but in the 
grace of its leaf and long hanging wreaths, its 
freedom from pests and disease, and its easy 
culture, there are few finer hardy climbers for 
the country south of the Thames, and few 
more useful for the cool greenhouse in districts 
further north. It is oneof those semi-evergreen 
shrubs which remain green almost constantly 
in a warm climate or under glass, and its pretty 
way of growth fits it for use against pillars or 
archways. The outline of a graceful pillar is 
often hidden by heavy plants, but this gives 
a thin veil of pale green leaves, cut into five 
narrow leaflets and trembling on long stalks. 
Their colour varies from a pale purplish on 
first unfolding to a lively green when fully 
expanded, which deepens gradually until the 
Akeeia Quinata in Flower. 
leaves fall — often not till well into December. 
For light screens, or a glass roof where filtered 
sunlight is better than deep shade, there is 
nothing more useful than the Akebia. The 
flowers are in loose clusters of deep chocolate 
colour, in which the sexes are apart and of 
different sizes, the small pollen-flowers hang- 
ing in the upper part of each raceme, while 
the seed-flowers gathered in the lower part of 
the bunch are i to inches across (or about 
three times larger than the male flowers) deeper 
in colour, and of a waxen texture. Though 
they mostly open from April to June upon 
plants in the open air, in mild seasons they 
often appear in March, or even in February 
under glass, filling theair withfragrancewhich 
is specially marked towards evening. There 
is sometimes a second crop of flowers later in 
the summer. The sprays are pretty for cutting 
and of that firm texture which lasts well in 
water. The Akebia fruits frequently upon the 
continent but more rarely with us, though in 
a warm summer the fact is often reported here 
and there, especially along the south coast. The 
seed-pods are about the size of a large oval 
plum with a thick outer rind, filled with white 
flesh in which the dark-brown seeds are em- 
bedded. The colour of the fruit varies with 
different plants and with the degree of ripe- 
ness, passing from greenish or brown to pale 
grey, violet, or deep purple with a delicate 
bloom. When fully ripe the flesh becomes 
soft and pulpy and of pleasant flavour, but 
this stage is seldom reached in this country. 
Culture. — Of the easiest culture in warm 
gardens of light soil, the Akebia is less happy 
where the ground is cold and heavy. In the 
first case it will grow well facing east, 
a but where conditions are less favour- 
able it must have a well-drained spot 
in the full sun, for if the wood fails 
to ripen there are few flowers. These 
'^^^^ come on side-spurs of the old wood, 
^^^^ so that what pruning is needed should 
^^^^ be done in summer, in the cutting 
away of unruly shoots which should 
n be so thinned and shortened as to 
allow air and sunlight to reach every 
part of the plant, which, having no 
tendrils, climbs by twining and will 
twine round and round itself if ne- 
glected. Though often trained upon walls or 
a similar flat surface, a better way is to find 
a place amongst hardy evergreen shrubs or 
low trees through which it will thread its 
way, hanging in graceful festoons from the 
upper branches where its beauty is seen to 
the full, and where it is better protected than 
on a bare wall. It is in this way that it roams 
about in the hedges and wayside trees of China 
and Japan, where it is so fragrant that its 
sweetness first led Fortune to the spot where 
it was growing. The best-used plant I have 
seen was trained lightly over the rail of a 
bridge, spreading thence into the low trees 
which overhung the water, to fall again in 
fragrant, gently-swaying trails. This old plant 
had run a long distance in this way, for though 
the books give lo to 12 feet as the normal 
growth, 30 feet or more is not uncommon 
under good conditions. A tasteful way in which 
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