XAN 
XAN 
in a few years becomes of considerable 
size : it is copiously clothed with medium- 
sized leaves in summer, which fall off in 
autumn, the plant being deciduous; they 
reappear in spring among the earliest, and 
are speedily followed by the specious 
blossoms, which are in their highest 
beauty in April; they are campanulate, 
with a broad-spreading limb of five 
rounded acute petals, upwards of an inch 
across, deep rich pink when first ex¬ 
panded, changing to a faint blush in age; 
they are copiously produced, in clusters 
of five to seven or eight, from the axils 
of the leaves, near the summit of the 
preceding year’s shoots ; their beauty con¬ 
tinues in perfection for three weeks or 
longer, and then the plant puts on its 
summer verdure; but before this has 
proceeded far, it will be well to prune 
back the branches, in order to keep it 
bushy, and increase the number and density 
of flowers in the following season; this 
pruning need not be severe, but just suf¬ 
ficient to restrain a straggling appearance, 
to which nearly all caprifoliaceous plants 
are subject, and it should be done im¬ 
mediately after blooming, or much of the 
plant’s strength will be wasted in the 
production of useless branches, and the 
subsequent growth will be too weak to 
flower well. Increase is easy by means 
of cuttings or layers; the first should be 
formed of the earlier shoots, taken off 
when about three inches long, and placed 
in a pot of sandy loam, covered with a 
glass, and plunged in gentle heat; they 
strike quickly, and if attended through 
the summer, receiving the necessary re¬ 
potting, and a regular supply of water 
form nice little plants fit for the final 
remove in the following spring : layers 
may be put down either in spring or 
autumn, and in a year make considerable 
progress. The plant will probably be 
found of much assistance in the produc¬ 
tion of early spring flowers in the con¬ 
servatory ; it seems impatient of much 
heat, but a temperature somewhat short 
of actual forcing will be most likely to 
bring out its flowers some weeks before 
the natural season. 
XANTHORHIZA (Maesh). Nat. Or. 
Ranunculacece. The only known species, 
X. apiifolia, is a singular dwarf shrub, 
attaining three or four feet in height, and 
equally remarkable for its foliage and 
Towers. It has rough ash-coloured stems 
and branches, the younger ones partially 
clothed with compound leaves, very 
deeply and irregularly cut, of an olive 
green, on rather long footstalks. The 
flowers are individually small, but are 
numerously produced on rather large 
lax panicles; their colour is a singular 
mixture of purple and green, the latter 
predominates in the earlier stages of their 
development, but after a few days they 
become darker, and for a considerable 
time are very remarkable, especially if 
seen among other plants of a brighter 
tint; the large parsley-like leaves sur¬ 
mounted by what may not inaptly be 
compared to plumes of lurid purple 
feathers, offer a contrast too bold to be 
overlooked. The plant thrives in light 
loam, and will succeed in a shaded posi¬ 
tion, though it enjoys pure air quite as 
much as any other shrub. It is generally 
propagated by layers, though cuttings of 
the half-ripened wood strike slowly under 
a handglass. North America is stated to 
be its native country, and it has been 
known in our gardens for a considerable 
time, but is yet scarce. The roots are 
of a deep rich yellow colour, a circum¬ 
stance referred to in the name of the 
genus; and from the wood both a gum 
and a resin is obtained, the most remark¬ 
able qualities of which are an intense 
bitter. The introduction of a few such 
singular and uncommon plants as this, 
even in gardens of limited extent, is 
certainly very desirable, as they would 
impart an interest entirely overlooked in 
the present monotony of forms, for though 
of less beauty themselves, their quaint 
forms or uncommon colours would serve 
as a counterfoil to their more specious 
neighbours, and the charm of variety 
would thus be judiciously extended. 
XANTHOXYLUM, Tooth-ache tree 
(Linn.) Nat. Order, Xanthoxylacece. 
Three species of Xanthoxylum are suffi¬ 
ciently hardy to bear a full exposure to 
our climate; the most common, fraxuieum, 
is a rather tall shrub, with pinnate leaves, 
of from three to five pairs, and a terminal 
leaflet, ovate, and slightly serrulate. The 
