FLORA AND SYLVA 
to use it is with one of the early white Clematis, 
for though the flowers will not always come 
at the same time, the two mingle prettily and 
when they do open together the effect is charm- 
ing. The plant is readily increased from cut- 
tings, layers, root-cuttings, and division. The 
first way is most used, the best cuttings being 
the wiry half-ripened side-shoots, taken in 
spring and rooted in gentle heat. Suckers often 
come from the base of strong old plants, and 
if taken with a few roots soon make good 
plants. Old plants should have an annual dress- 
ing of good soil or decayed manure. The 
fragrance of the Akebia is not easy to define ; 
the description "cinnamon-scented," perhaps, 
comes nearest the truth. 
A. lobata. — Introduced only ten years ago 
this kind is still rare but bids fair to become 
fully as useful as qu'mata. It differs from it 
mainly in its leaves composed of only three 
leaflets which drop earlier in the autumn, 
though this is atoned for by their pretty purple 
tint before falling. They are pale green in 
colour with a bluish tinge underneath and are 
borne upon long slender stalks, while the oval 
leaflets are again divided by short footstalks. 
Beside being frankly deciduous, the growths 
are stouter, more woody, and less graceful than 
the old kind, though fully as hardy and even 
more vigorous in growth. The flowers also 
are smaller and gathered into long slender 
racemes of 3 to 6 inches, in which the tiny 
male flowers are far more numerous and pale 
purple ; the seed-flowers are few, and as in 
the other kind are much larger and deeper in 
colour. They come at the same time of the 
year and very freely, indeed this kind will be 
covered with bloom when qu 'mata fails com- 
pletely at its side. It also fruits more readily, 
numerous instances having occurred in various 
parts of the country since 1900, when it first 
bore fruit in the houses at Kew. While in 
the older kind even the single fruits are un- 
common, in this they often come in clusters 
of three together, arranged roughly at right- 
angles to one another and about 3 inches long 
by \\ wide. Their colour is a pretty pale 
violet, and when borne freely the effect is 
very pleasing. When fully ripe the pods split 
open along the underside, showing the rows 
of black seed in the white pulp. B. 
THE MOTHER-PLANTS OF 
THE GARDEN RANUNCULUS 
The origin of the beautiful forms of Ranun- 
culus so long grown in Dutch and English 
gardens as the Turban, Persian, or other races, 
is not commonly known, but they spring from 
the beautiful wild Buttercups of Palestine and 
North Africa, where we have seen both yellow 
and red forms in great beauty and in many 
places as common as the Poppy Anemone. The 
point of interest for us is that these single 
flowers are often more beautiful than the 
popular double forms, though they have never 
been brought into cultivation. We found that 
a few we brought over perished in our heavy 
soil, but better results might follow in hot, 
sandy, and valley soils. In this connection the 
following notes by Mr. Arthur Sutton are 
interesting : — 
The whole way from Jaffa to Jerusalem 
(except on the mountains of Judea) and thence 
northward through Samaria and Galilee as far 
as the foot of Mount Hermon, this Ranun- 
culus is one of the commonest wild flowers. 
I have occasionally seen copper-coloured and 
yellow forms, but these are not nearly so com- 
mon as those of the rich red colour which I 
had at the Hall. "VW^ Anemone coronaria flowers 
two or three weeks earlier than the Ranun- 
culus asiaticus^ and the plains which are in 
places crimson with the Anemones, become 
equally beautiful when the Anemones go over, 
with the Ranunculus which follows. Both 
seem to be equally at home in the same spots. 
The English tourists have seldom if ever seen 
the single Ranunculus, and therefore both 
plants are generally called " Anemone " by 
travellers. The Anemones of Palestine are 
mostly of deep scarlet or crimson colour, but 
in certain localities (when riding through the 
country from Jerusalem to Damascus) we 
frequently met with patches where every shade 
of colour from white to purple could be found. 
The average height of the Ranunculus in 
Palestine is 9 to 14 inches, and of the Anemone 
10 to 15 inches, and the flowers of both are 
always single. 
This single-flowered Ranunculus is figured 
in Sibthorp's Flora Grceca and in the Theatrum 
Flora, where three forms, the white, yellow, 
1 and scarlet, are shown. 
