January 31, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
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ARALIAS. 
NTIL within the last fifteen or twenty years the 
Aralias cultivated in gardens in this country 
were limited to several shrubby ornamental 
species of North America, of which A. spinosa 
and A. racemosa were perhaps the most popular; 
one or two from Japan, and about the same 
number from the Old World tropics. Since that 
time, however, improved means of intercourse 
with British possessions in Polynesia have offered 
facilities for the introduction of many of the beautiful plants 
with which these regions apparently abound, and, along 
with scores of richly coloured Dracienas, Crotons, and other 
plants, a number of distinct and handsome Aralias have 
found their way into English gardens. Graceful in habit, 
free in growth, and easily multiplied, these tropical Aralias 
have found general favour ; and the many uses for which 
their distinct beauty and robustness of constitution make 
them specially fitted have been readily appreciated in all 
gardens where their requirements as tropical plants can be 
supplied. No doubt an improved and more comprehensive 
taste in horticulture has led to the more frequent employment 
of the hardy species in the formation of shrubberies, and 
also to a more general use of the greenhouse sorts for 
purposes of decoration, so that we have now between twenty 
and thirty distinct and handsome Aralias, comprising both 
hardy, greenhouse, and stove decorative plants. 
Of the first of these, the hardy species, the most generally 
known is perhaps A. spinosa, a native of Virginia, the intro¬ 
duction of which dates back some two hundred years. It is 
called by the North Americans the Angelica Tree, from the 
resemblance of its foliage to the Angelica. As a low, and, 
on good soil, compact-growing shrub, it is one of the best 
and most distinct plants for the outdoor garden, its large 
twice or thrice-pinnate dark green leaves, which are borne 
on stout spine-covered stems, contrasting with fine effect 
with other leafage. A moist loamy soil in an open position 
causes it to produce leaves from 2 to 3 feet in length and 
almost the same in width, and in the summer to bear large 
bunches of white Ivy-like flowers. It may be propagated 
either by means of portions of the stem or by cutting the 
stoutest of its roots into lengths of 3 inches. 
A. hispida, another North American species, and A. race¬ 
mosa, from the same country, are somewhat similar to the 
above, though not so tall-growing. The former has a spiny 
stem and bipinnate leaves, and bears in July large long- 
stalked umbels of white flowers. A. racemosa is almost 
herbaceous-stemmed, has leaves of about half a dozen ovate 
segments, and does not bear spines upon its stem. 
A. japonica, generally known as A. Sieboldii, is almost 
if not quite as useful a plant as Ficus elastica. In pots it is 
of great service for furnishing purposes ; for window gardening 
it has very few equals, and for summer bedding out of doors 
it is now largely employed as a specimen or for grouping 
with dwarf flowering plants, as ground upon which its bright 
green hand-shaped leaves are effectively displayed. In 
No. 188.— Yon. YIII,, Third Series. 
Regent’s Park last year some very striking beds were 
arranged with this Aralia as the principal object. Thousands 
of plants of this species pass through Covent Garden Market 
almost weekly ; it is, in fact, now one of the most popular of 
market growers’ plants. In the south of England plants of 
this Aralia have stood out of doors for several years ; in fact, 
it may be said that, with a sheltered position, such, for 
instance, as is necessary for some of the Magnolias, 
A. japonica is a hardy plant. For its propagation seeds— 
which are now to be had from most seedsmen—small pieces 
of root, or the stem cut into lengths similar to what is done 
in the case of Vines, are all equally reliable methods. A 
tampsrature of G5° to 70° will cause the stem or root-cuttings 
to strike in about a month. By growing the young plants 
in a moist intermediate house they soon form useful 
specimens, which may be hardened off and employed in 
many ways without suffering much either from gaslight or 
exposure. 
A. reticulata is a yellow-veined variety of great beauty, 
the rich reticulation of bright yellow upon a ground 
of bright shining green giving the foliage of this plant 
an unusually ornamental character. A. variegata is another 
handsomely marked form of A. japonica, the foliage of 
which is margined and patched with yellowish white. These 
variegated forms are not quite as hardy as the type, but in a 
cool greenhouse they are quite at home. A. dactylifera is a 
long-lobed form of garden origin. This may or may not 
prove to be a variety of A. japonica ; it has the appearance 
of a variety at present. 
A. papyrifera, the Rice-paper tree of the Chinese, is a 
tall-growing, large, woolly-leaved species, suitable for planting 
out in a cool conservatory or for a sheltered position out of 
doors in the warmer parts of this country. The whitish 
wool which covers the leafstalk and almost hides the green 
of the palmate blade is not an unattractive characteristic of 
this plant. In winter, and sometimes again in summer, the 
large panicles of sweet-scented flowers are borne in great 
profusion, and last upon the plant for several weeks. It may 
be propagated m the same way as advised for Siebold’s 
Aralia. 
A. crassifolia and its variety punctata are both tall 
straight-stemmed greenhouse plants, with long narrow leaves, 
along the margins of which is a row of spine-tipped teeth, 
which give the foliage a fish-bone appearance. The orange 
midrib, dark olive-green surface, and stiff straight arrange¬ 
ment of the foliage, are singularly striking in these plants. 
They are both natives of New Zealand. I have not tried 
propagating them by means of roots, though it is likely that 
it might succeed. The top may be taken off and rooted, and 
the laterals, which will be pushed after its removal, form 
suitable pieces for cutting. The stem, if laid on cocoa-nut 
fibre heated to 80° and kept moist, will push up a number of 
lateral shoots, which may be removed and placed in the 
propagating frame to strike, or be left upon the parent stem 
until they have formed roots. A. pentaphylla and A. trifo- 
liata have digitate 3 to 5-foliate leaves, are both tall-growing 
greenhouse plants, but have not any particular characters to 
recommend them for garden purposes. 
The stove species of Aralia take rank among the first of 
ornamental-foliage plants. The most graceful of all are 
A. Yeitchii, with its variety gracillima. Nothing can surpass 
the elegance of habit and the delicacy of foliage of these two 
plants, the variety being especially beautiful when young. 
For the decoration of the dinner table we have no better 
plant than this, and perhaps there is no plant in greater 
demand for such a purpose. The fine line-like, dark olive 
green, undulated leaflets, which are arranged in sixes or 
eights on the apex of the thin petiole, and the erect habit of 
the plant, are precisely those characters which are most 
effective in table decoration. 
A. elegantissima is almost as beautiful, lacking a little of 
the grace of A. Yeitchii, but distinct in its broader-toothed 
No. 1844 .—Vol. LXX. Old Series. 
