336 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
white. It bears a general resemblance to B. 
variabilis but is inferior to its better forms ; 
hence, although hardy, it will be more valued 
by collectors than the ordinary gardener. A 
plant of fine growth, erect and spreading, it 
will make shoots 6 to 8 feet long in a season. 
The stems are dark-coloured near their tips, 
with tapering lance-shaped leaves, dark-green 
above and silvery-grey beneath from their 
dense coating of hairs. Flowers small and 
fragrant, lilac-coloured with an orange throat 
which is closed by the stamens and a ring of 
hairs. These flowers are densely crowded into 
spike-like clusters measuring as much as i8 
to 24 inches long. Even the side-shoots carry 
lesser panicles of flower, so that, from the last 
week in July into September, the plant is a 
mass of bloom. It is fairly common on the 
shrub-clad mountains of Central China, at 
from 3,000 to 6,000 feet, and was sent to 
Messrs. Veitch by the writer in 1900, bloom- 
ing in their nurseries two years later. A form 
with serrate leaves has been named albifora 
var. serrulata by Hemsley. 
B. asiatica. — It seems strange that this neat 
and pretty plant, so common in the gardens 
of the far East, should be almost unknown with 
us. It flowers in winter, and cuttings struck 
in spring, potted on and grown outside in the 
sunniest place possible,should make good plants 
in 8-inch pots by the autumn. They should 
then be stood in a light greenhouse with genial 
warmth and abundant feeding. Such is its 
treatment in the far East, where it is a beau- 
tiful sight throughout January and February, 
and I see no reason why it should not succeed 
in this country. In our most favoured gar- 
dens it might even thrive out of doors on a 
warm wall. The flowers are white, very fra- 
grant, and arranged in narrow racemes clus- 
tered into panicles at the ends of the branches. 
Leaves narrowly tapering, toothed at the edges, 
and otherwise like those of albijiora ; stems 
round and covered with a white felt while 
young. The plant isfound throughout eastern 
Asia, and in Java. In China it is fairly com- 
mon in the Yangtsze Valley, Yunnan, and 
South China generally. It is not in the Kew 
Hand-list, and was probably lost prior to its 
re-introduction by the writer in 1902. 
B. auriculata. — A tender species from South 
Africa, sometimes seen under glass as a strag- 
gling shrub. The flowers, borne at the tips 
of the shoots, are violet-scented and cream or 
pale lilac in colour with an orange throat. 
Leaves broadly lance-shaped and covered with 
greyish white hairs on the underside. It flow- 
ered in this country for the first time in the 
garden of Sir Geo. Macleay in 1881. 
B. brasiliensis. — An American shrub, flow- 
ered many years ago in a stove at the Edin- 
burgh Botanic Gardens, having come from 
Russia. Since no mention of it is made in the 
Kew list, it has probably disappeared, but 
judging from dried material the loss is not 
great. The plant is of coarse growth, with 
oblong leaves becoming angular when mature, 
carried upon winged stalks. Flowers small 
and dull yellow, crowded into erect spikes. 
Mexico, south to Brazil. 
B. Cohilei. — The most beautiful plant of 
the group, unfortunately is tender and shy of 
flower in this country. Anyone who has seen 
its exquisite clusters can well believe Sir 
Joseph Hooker, that " a bush or small tree 
30 feet high and as far through, when covered 
with pendulous masses of rose-purple or crim- 
son flowers relieved by the dark green foliage, 
presents a sight that it is difficult to exagger- 
ate." So far however it has only prospered 
here and there in this country. The first to 
flower it in Europe was Mr. Gumbleton of 
Belgrove, Cork ; it has since bloomed in other 
gardens, but nowhere freely. A plant in the 
Himalayan house at Kew is now some 25 to 
30 feet high, with a trunk as thick as a man's 
thigh. This plant flowered for the first time 
in 1900, and has since flowered annually, 
though never very freely. The leaves and 
flowers are finely shown in the engraving, 
the former being 6 to 10 inches long, dark 
green above, grey beneath, hairyon both sides. 
The strong shoots are at first winged and 
square, becoming rounded later ; the weaker 
side-shootsareroundfromthefirst. Theflowers 
are rose-purple of varying intensity, shading 
to pale pink in the mouth and throat. Sir 
Joseph Hooker, who was the first to discover 
this plant in 1849, found it on the margins 
of forests on the Sikkim Himalaya, at from 
10,000 to 12,000 feet. Coming from such 
an elevation one would have expected it to 
