226 
FLORA AND SVLVA 
When more plentiful however it was tried in 
the open, and has resisted the severest frosts 
and the roughest gales. It comes from New 
Zealand, and the largest plants in the garden 
here are about lo feet in height and 30 feet 
in circumference. 
P. undulatum is the most vigorous of all the 
kinds that I know, with leaves of a bright 
glossy green and easily distinguished by their 
wavy outline. It bloomed with us for the 
first time last spring, when the flowers proved 
to be of a light purple colour and arranged in 
clusters of three. It is a good shrub for exposed 
situations or as a shelter for more delicate 
things, and deserves to be far more widely 
known. The largest plants here were planted 
fourteen years ago and are over 16 feet in 
height and 40 feet in circumference. 
P. nigrescenssctms to come between P. Mayii 
and P. Colensoi. The leaves are of medium 
size and bright glossy green upon black stems. 
It is a fast-growing plant, requiring some 
shelter even at Castlewellan, for it grows late 
into the winter and the tips of the shoots are 
sometimes caught in severe frost. 
P. eugenioides^ like the last kind, also needs 
some shelter, though only once have I known 
it to be killed, and that was during the severe 
cold of 1 89 5. It was then in a low damp part 
of the grounds and grew with such vigour 
that the wood was not well ripened; on higher 
ground it has passed through most winters 
uninjured. The leaves are large, 5 inches long 
and an inch wide, and a light yellowish or 
grey-green colour. The flowers, borne in 
clusters, are a creamy white and fragrant, and 
although the plant blooms regularly it has 
never ripened seed. It comes from New Zea- 
land where the Maoris are said to use the bruised 
leaves and flowers, mixed with fat, to anoint 
their bodies. The largest plant at Castlewellan 
is 1 2 feet in height and 2 3 feet in circumference. 
P. eugenioides variegatum is much hardier 
than the type and one of the best and hand- 
somest of variegated shrubs. It is of compact 
growth, needing but a small space and little 
pruning. The leaves are large and their white 
centre beautiful in contrast with the dark stems. 
The largest plant is 8 feet in height and 20 
feet in circumference. 
•p. Tobira, unlike the others — which come 
from Australia and New Zealand — is a native 
of Japan, and the best known of all. Along 
the south and west coasts of Britain it is 
hardy almost everywhere, resisting anything 
under 20° of frost and flowering freely during 
summer and autumn. The leaves are deep green, 
thick, glossy, and evenly rounded, and the 
flowers creamy-white about an inch across, 
come as clusters at the tips of the shoots and 
with a strong scent of orange-blossom. It be- 
gins to flower while quite small, and grown 
as a pot-plant under glass is often in bloom in 
February. It is a stiffer grower than the rest, 
rarely exceeding 10 to 12 feet unless against 
a wall, where it may reach 20 feet or more. 
The following kinds are also growing at 
Castlewellan, and do well: — P. Buchanant^ P. 
coriaceum, P. crassifolium^ P. lucidum^ P. macro- 
phyllum variegatum^ P. Ralphii, and P. rigidum. 
T. RYAN. 
The Gardens, Castlewellan. 
THE LOQUAT [Photinia japonicd). 
By a strange coincidence our article on 
theLoquat was in type when from Lady 
Rosamond Christie we received perfect 
fruits of fair size and excellent flavour, 
ripened in the open air atTapeley Park, 
Instow, North Devon. Lady Christie 
writes : — " The Loquat flowers every 
year but has never fruited here before. 
The tree is 16 years old and 10 feet 
high, planted against a south wall in 
the kitchen garden, and the ripe sprays 
came upon a part of the plant which 
is screened from the west by a hothouse. 
It is a warm nook, but the garden lies 
high and gets a good deal of buffeting, 
for we are close to the sea. The plant 
was raised as a cutting from one brought 
direct from China." Mr. Fitzherbert 
has been able to tell us of another in- 
stance in which a tree, since dead, fruited 
in the gardens at Mt. Edgcumbe, Ply- 
mouth, but these seem the only cases 
of the kind that have occurred and, 
