Trees and shrubs, hardy in the British isles . wn out into a long finepoint; margins set with coarse triangular teeth; upper surface furnishedwith silky hairs, the lower one felted with a thick grey down; stalksslender, to 3 ins. long. About eight pairs of nearly parallel veinsproceed from the midrib at an angle of 45. Flowers produced in Maywith the strongly scented young leaves from the buds of the previous yearsshoots; they are crowded in a rounded head about | in. diameter,borne at the end of a drooping stalk about 3 ins. long; their onlyconspicuous features are the long red or white s
Trees and shrubs, hardy in the British isles . wn out into a long finepoint; margins set with coarse triangular teeth; upper surface furnishedwith silky hairs, the lower one felted with a thick grey down; stalksslender, to 3 ins. long. About eight pairs of nearly parallel veinsproceed from the midrib at an angle of 45. Flowers produced in Maywith the strongly scented young leaves from the buds of the previous yearsshoots; they are crowded in a rounded head about | in. diameter,borne at the end of a drooping stalk about 3 ins. long; their onlyconspicuous features are the long red or white stamens forming a brush-like mass, and an egg-shaped ovary, with a short six-rayed style anda ring of abortive stamens at the top. It is not, however, in the flowersthemselves where the remarkable beauty of the Davidia lies, but in two(rarely three) enormous bracts by which each flower-head is bracts are white or creamy white, hooded, oblong, long-pointed, andof unequal size, the lower one being the larger, and sometimes nearly. Davidia involdcrata. 6 ins. long and half as wide; the upper bract is about half the size, andstands above the flower-head like a canopy. Fruit solitary, pear-shaped,about IJ ins. long and i in. wide, green with a purplish bloom, containingone hard, ridged nut. Native of Central and W. China; first discovered near Moupine in1869, by the Abbe David, after whom the genus is named, but notintroduced to Europe until 1897, when a parcel of thirty-seven seeds wassent to Mr Maurice de Vilmorin by Pere Farges. Of this sending onlyone seed germinated, and that not until June 1899. The plant grew andflourished, flowering for the first time at Les Barres in May 1906. Thisplant and a few cuttings from it were the only representatives of Davidiain ICurope until Wilsons first journey in China for Messrs Veitch, 1899-1902, during which several thousands of seeds were sent home. Thesegerminated well, and the abundant representation of Davidia in European
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidtreesshrubshardy01bean
