Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch
RASHKB and author
Vol. 1 (1961)
ISSN 1991-7295
27
FLOWERS OF HONG KONG
Synopsis of a lecture delivered on November 2, 1960, based on Mr. F. A. Nixon's collection of colour transparencies.
B. T. CHIU, B.Sc.
The flora of Hong Kong is of a mixed nature; partly tropical, partly subtropical, and partly temperate; and is famous for its exotic flowering trees and shrubs. The majority of us know little about it, because literature on the flora is scarce and hardly accessible to the layman. Bentham's "Flora hongkongensis" (1861), Dunn and Tutcher's "Flora of Kwangtung and Hong Kong" (1912), and most of Herklots' work of the thirties and 'forties are out of print. We are privileged in being given this opportunity in viewing examples of Hong Kong flowers at their best selected from each month of the year: some familiar, others rare; some native, others introduced; and a few very special ones, indigenous to Hong Kong. Special tribute is due to Mr. Nixon for his magnificent achievement as a photographer, and for his pursuit of the flora through the years into every corner, however perilous, of the countryside.
The following transparencies were projected:
TREES
Delonix regia (Flame of the Forest)
Bauhinia blakeana (orchid-like Bauhinia)
B. variegata (deciduous Bauhinia)
Cassia fistula (Golden shower)
C. nodosa (Pink and white shower)
Erythrina indica (Coral Tree)
Crataeva religiosa (Spider Tree)
Aleurites montana (Wood or Tung Oil Tree)
Camellia japonica (Camellia)
C. hongkongensis (Crimson Hong Kong Camellia)
C. granthamiana (White Hongkong Camellia)
Jacaranda ovalifolia (Jacaranda)
Spathodea campanulata (African Tulip Tree)
Paulownia tomentosa (Paulownia)
Rhodoleia championi (King of Hanging Bells)
SHRUBS
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Rose of China)
H. schizopetalus (Fringed hibiscus)
H. mutabilis (Cotton rose)
Rhododendron simsii (Red Rhododendron)
R. pulcherrimum (Purple Rhododendron)
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