264 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
in growth, the flowers of S. virginica 
with their contrast of white and crimson, 
are very beautiful, and S. pentagyna has 
charms of its own and is profuse in flow- 
er. Most of the books recommend 
peat-soil for these, but this is not neces- 
sary in gardens of good free loam or 
alluvial grit, and we have even seen them 
flowering well in very indifferent soil. 
Adampplaceandconditionswhichcon- 
serve moisture are far more necessary, 
as is proved by the fine growth of Stu- 
artias in a wet season, and the fact that 
they invariably choose stream-sides and 
moist places in their own land. The 
propagation of the Stuartia is diflicult 
and the young plants of slow growth in 
their early stages. Increase may be by 
layers of the lower branches, by cuttings, 
and by seeds, which when imported 
generally arrive in good condition 
though they rarely ripen (especially 
with the American kinds) in this coun- 
try. With S. Pseudo-cameUia they 
ripen more often, and Messrs. Veitch 
inform us that they have frequently in- 
creased this kind from seed gathered in 
the nursery, though this takes about a 
year to germinate. Where seed is not 
available, cuttings of the nearly ripened 
wood, taken with a heel towards the 
end of summer or early in autumn, and 
plunged in sandy soil under a bell-glass, 
are the most likely to succeed, rooting 
slowly and with difficulty. 
There are five species of Stuartia, two 
from North America and three from 
Japan, but only three kinds are in culti- 
vation, two of the Japanese plants — S, 
mo?iadelpha and S. serrata — being less 
known. In growth, habit, and general 
! appearance the group is related to that 
of Camellia, making part of the great 
I Tea-tribe of the far East. ThenameStu- 
artia — sometimes rendered Stewartia 
— was given in honour of John Stuart, 
Earl of Bute, an early patron of Botany. 
S. monadelpha. — One of the Japanese kinds 
not yet in cultivation, and described as some- 
what tender. It is a tall shrub or small tree, 
with light-green ovalleaves which taper sharp- 
ly at each end and with a downy under side. 
Flowers smaller than in the other kinds, white 
with violet anthers, and spreading flatly instead 
of keeping half-open as in 6*. Pseudo-camellia. 
S. pentagyna. — A beautiful summer-flower- 
ing shrub and long known in Britain though 
not common, it is the hardier and more vigor- 
ous of the American kinds, of sturdy growth 
and free and constant in its flowers, which 
mostly come a little later than in S. virgi/n'ca. 
It is of erect growth and freely branched from 
the base, reaching 15 to 20 feet high massed 
in dense thickets beside the streamsand smaller 
rivers flov/ing from the Apalachian Moun- 
tains in North Carolina and Tennessee. The 
flowers are fragrant, 3 to 4 inches across, and 
creamy-white with yellow anthers, coming 
from theleaf-axilsin July and August for about 
three weeks. In all stages the flowers are beau- 
tiful, tinged with pink upon the outside while 
in bud, and the edges of the petals finely fringed 
and of such purity as to suggest the name of 
I Shell Flower by their translucent texture. 
There are usually five or six petals but often 
more, through the change of some of the many 
stamens into petal-like organs. The leaves are 
oval, 5 to 6 inches long, rounded at the base, 
and finely toothed upon the edges. The plant 
blooms very freely every year when well- 
established, and thrives in sandy loam. 
S. Pseudo-camellia. — A lovely flowering tree 
from Japan, where it reaches a height of 50 
feet with a girth of 6 feet on the mountains 
of Hakona and Nikko, at elevations of 2,000 
to 3,000 feet. The white flowers are 2 to 3 
inches across with a tuft of yellow anthers, 
but they appear smaller than this from the 
fact that they remain half-closed like an Abuti- 
lon and never open flat as in other kinds of 
Stuartia. The leaves are thick like those of a 
