HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY S GARDEN. 
379 
A bush with a very rich green colour, and hand- 
some foliage, looking something like a Vibur- 
num, was received from Mr. Fortune some time 
before he returned from his mission; but in the 
absence of flowers it could not be determined. 
Dried specimens have now supplied the defi- 
ciency, and proved it to be a new species of the 
genus Forsythia,of which one only,theForsythia 
suspensa, had been previously known to botan- 
ists. The species obtained by Mr. Fortune is 
very distinct from the original Forsythia. Its 
leaves do not appear even to be pinnated, and in- 
stead of having an ovate form, they are strictly 
oblong, or oblong lanceolate. The branches 
are four-cornered instead of being terete, and 
are perfectly erect. The calyx is shorter and 
more membranous, and the flowers are smaller. 
It is no doubt a very different plant, and may 
be expected to become a great favourite when 
the specimens in the garden are old enough 
to flower ; for then the branches will be found 
to be loaded, before the leaves, with yellow 
flowers as large as those of Chimonanthus 
grandiflorus. In its present state it forms a 
compact deep green bush, with oblong opposite 
leaves serrated near the point, but perfectly 
free from indentations below the middle. 
They emit a slight balsamic odour, and from 
their smoothness, want of lustre, and deep rich 
tint, are very handsome. Hitherto the shrub 
has been treated as a green-house plant ; but 
it looks as if it might be hardy, at least in 
situations where the wood can be made to 
ripen. The following are Mr. Fortune's ob- 
servations on this species : — " Tbis is a deci- 
duous shrub with very dark green leaves, 
which are prettily serrated at the margin. It 
grows about eight or ten feet high in the 
north of China, and sheds its leaves in autumn. 
It then remains dormant, like any of the 
deciduous shrubs of Europe, but is remark- 
able for the number of large prominent buds 
which are scattered along the young stems 
produced the summer before. Early in spring 
these buds, which are flower-buds, gradually 
unfold themselves, and present a profusion of 
bright yellow blossoms all over the shrub, 
which is highly ornamental. I first discovered 
it growing in the same garden with Wiegela 
rosea. Like the Wiegela it is a great favourite 
with the Chinese, and is generally grown in 
all the gardens of the rich in the north of 
China. I afterwards found it wild amongst 
the mountains of the interior in the pro- 
vince of Chekiang, where I thought it even 
more ornamental in its natural state among 
the hedges than when cultivated in the fairy 
gardens of the mandarins. In England it is 
probable that it will be nearly hardy, but I 
advise the possessors of it in the first place to 
keep it in the green-house, and to plant it on 
the conservative wall, until its constitution is 
proved in the garden of the Society next 
winter. It is a free growing bush, and is 
easily increased by cuttings or layers." — 
North of China, Mr. Fortune. 
Fortuncta chinensis, (Chinese Fortunrea.) — 
An empty cone of this singular plant was 
received some years ago from Dr. Cantor, 
by favour of Lord Auckland, then Governor- 
General of India ; and it was at that time 
supposed to belong to some unknown conifer. 
Mr. Fortune rediscovered it, and sent home 
good seeds and dried specimens, and it now 
proves to be a plant like a Rhus in aspect, 
but in reality a most curious genus of the 
natural order of Juglands. If, indeed, we 
could suppose a walnut to be pressed flat, re- 
duced to the size and texture of a seed of the 
Alder tree, and then many such to be col- 
lected into a small cone, composed of hard, 
brittle, sharp-pointed scales, we should form 
artificially what nature has produced in this 
plant. This shrub or tree, for it is uncertain 
which it is, is perfectly distinct from all the 
other genera of Juglands in having its male 
flowers in catkins, like those of a willow, 
composed of narrow scales, hairy, and appa- 
rently white inside, with four small stamens 
at their base. The young nuts are small len- 
ticular bodies with a wing on each side, a 
minute superior four-toothed calyx, and a 
pair of short-spreading stigmas. As the most 
remarkable genus found by Mr. Fortune 
during his Chinese expedition, it is proposed 
to give it the name of its indefatigable dis- 
coverer. Whether or not it will be hardy is 
uncertain ; at present the seedlings have been 
kept in the green-house ; but the climate of 
the Chusan Hills and Ningpo leads to the 
hope that it may prove an arboretum plant, 
at least in the South of England. The Chinese 
use the fruit of this to dye the black colour 
of their clothes. — Hills of Ningpo and China, 
Mr. Fortune. 
Gardenia florida, var. Fortmiiana, (Mr. 
Fortune's Gardenia.) — The common single 
and double varieties of this plant are known 
to every one. That which is now noticed 
differs merely in the extraordinary size of the 
flowers, which are nearly four inches in 
diameter, and in having fine broad leaves, 
sometimes as much as six inches long. The 
flowers are pure white, changing to light 
buff as they go off, and not unlike a very 
large double camellia. Their calyx has the 
long broad lobes of the original species, 
instead of the narrow lobes, at least twice 
as short as the tube of the corolla, of G. 
radicans, by which that species is techni- 
cally known. It is one of the very finest 
shrubs in cultivation, and ranks on a level 
with the double white camellia, which it equals 
in the beauty of the flowers and leaves, and 
