THE HEAVENLY BAMBOO 
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pods are only half the length, very much 
thickened, and but slightly compressed 
laterally, with a short point at the apex. 
These pods are horny and the inner 
layers become soapy if steeped in water. 
From this property it derives its Chinese 
name of "Ju tsao chio " — The Good 
Soap Tree — and the pods are used 
so generally for washing as to be 
on sale in the shops throughout 
the Yangtsze Valley. For cleansing 
their hair and for washing delicate 
fabrics, the people consider them 
superior to European soaps. The 
fruits of four other trees, Gleditschia 
sinensis^ Gleditschia Delavayi^ Pa7i~ 
covia Delavayi^ and Sapindus Mii- 
korossi^ are also used in this way by 
the Chinese, but these are all con- 
sidered inferior to the Gymnocla- 
dus. The seeds are very hard and 
black, about the size of a small mar- 
ble, and average 2 to 4 in each pod; 
they are used for making rosaries, 
and, when split in halves, for mak- 
ing thread smooth and glossy. As 
far as my observation goes this tree 
is nowhere common, though fre- 
quently cultivated on account of 
the value of its pods. 
E. H. WILSON. 
THE HEAVENLY BAMBOO 
[Nandina domesticd). 
So valued is this little evergreen in Japan 
that there is hardly a garden without 
its clump of "Nandin," and in many 
parts of China (now supposed to be its 
true home) its beauty is quite as much 
esteemed, as is shown by its name of 
" Heavenly Bamboo" among the com- 
mon people. And certainly at its best 
the Nandina is full of charm, with its 
leaves cut into almostfern-like segments 
and showing fine variety of colour, with 
its graceful tufted growth and spikes of 
white flowers, and the clusters of rose- 
red fruits too rarely seen in this country. 
For many years kept almost entirely in 
Fruiting Spray of Nandina. 
our greenhouses it has of late been used 
more freely in the garden, and in the 
open soils of the south and south-west 
has proved hardy save in severe winters, 
when the upper shoots are sometimes 
injured. The doubt as to hardiness has 
certainly hindered its wider use, and 
its precise degree of resistance is best 
