116
98
G. A. C. HERKLOTS
pale pink or sometimes almost to white. In August the fruit (a berry) swells and ripens, it contains a succulent mass of pulp saturated with red juice and surrounding a multitude of small seeds, the whole is enclosed within a deep purple or black velvetty skin. The taste of the pulp is somewhat akin to that of raspberry jam and the fruit known locally by the Chinese as IS Kong Nim and by Europeans as Barley Bues are collected by Chinese children and eaten raw or cooked. Excellent jelly can be made from these fruits somewhat similar to that prepared from fruits of its close reative the Guava.
DISTRIBUTION. Southern India to China and Japan.
NAMES.—McClure (5) p. 29, gives the name * Shan' Nim1 Shuc mountain pick up tree, Groff (3) p. 76, quotes the name * Nim' Tsai' Pick up son.
The local name is Kong Nim' and the English name for the fruit, Barley Bue. ILLUSTRATION.-Plate 20 is from a photograph of a flowering shoot. FLOWERING PERIOD.-End April to end Junc; the fruits ripen in August. LOCALITIES.-Common everywhere from sea level to the tops of the hills. REFERENCES. (1) Bentham, (2) D. and T., (3) Groff, (4) Hutchinson, (5) McClure, (6) Rendle.
REFERENCES.
(1) Bentham, G. B. Flora Hongkongensis, 1861.—out of print, (2) Dunn, S. T. and Tutcher, W. J. Flora of Kwangtung and Hong Kong, 1912, Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, additional series X, His Majesty's Stationary Office, London, price 4/6.
(3) Groff, G. W. Plants of Lung T'au shan, Lingnan University Science
Bulletin No. 2, 1930.
(4) Hutchinson, J. The Families of Flowering Plants. Vol. I, 1926,
Macmillan and Co., Ltd., London.
(5) McClure, F. A. Plants of Lan T'au Island. Lingnan University
Science Bulletin No. 3, 1931.
(6) Rendle, A. B. The Classification of Flowering Plants.
Cambridge, The University Press.
Vol. II, 1925.
(7) Watson, J. G. Mangrove Forests of the Malay Peninsula. Malayan
Forest Records No. 6, 1928.
[ 99 ]
THE PROTECTION OF WILD PLANTS
IN HONG KONG.
V. H. C. JARRETT.
It has occurred to the writer that few residents of this Colony who take an interest in the native species of plants, and admire their many varieties of flowers in the course of the year, can be aware of the number which are protected, or the precise species affected. From conversations with a number of people here, it is gathered that this information is possessed by very few most persons think some of the protected plants are not on the list, and others speak of a species being under the ban when it is not so. Indeed, the list is likely to be a surprise to most of us.
It is buried away in a Government Gazette of 1925, and a little research into the history of the matter may not be out of place,
Judging by the records, no Ordinance to protect specific plants was introduced until the end of 1920, as the first Order in Council on the subject is dated in December, and the Plants Ordinance (No. 11 of 1920) was passed in the latter part of that year. It seems, however, that this was not the first awakening to the necessity for a definite ban on the destruction of wild plants. Actually, the writer learns from Mr. H. Green, the Super- intendent of the Botanical and Forestry Department (to whom, incidentally, must be attributed a great deal of the action towards protecting native flora) that Sir Henry May, former Governor of the Colony, at one time brought in a special Order prohibiting the cutting of the Chinese New Year flower, Enkianthus quinqueflorus, after witnessing the effects of indiscriminate gathering of this beautiful shrub, a day or two before the Chinese New Year. It is not until 1925, however, that we find Enkianthus in a permanent list of protected plants.
The earlier effort took the form of an addition to the hawkers' licence issued under the Licensing Ordinance (of 1887). It was evidently felt that by restricting the hawking of wild plants-obviously directed largely to protection of Enkianthus-the evil could be tackled at its main source. In the Government Gazette of July 11, 1913, are regulations made by the Governor-in-Council under Section 3 of the Licensing Ordinance, whereby : No licensee shall hawk or have in his possession with a view to hawk any of the following flowers or plants, or any flower or plant the hawking or possession of which is hereafter prohibited in the Gazette :-
*
"1. Cypripedium purpuratum, 2. All azaleas, 3. Enkianthus quinqueflorus, 4. Ixora chinensis, 5. Lilium Brownii, 6. Litsea citrata, 7. Bauhinia Blakeana, 8. Manglietia Fordiana, 9. Pavetta indica." It is interesting to note how this list has persisted. In the case of Lilium Brownii it was provided that there would be no offence if the hawker could prove he was selling a cultivated and not a wild plant.
To revert to the Ordinance of 1920, we have it followed by a notifica- tion in the Government Gazette of December 10, 1920, of a regulation made
May 1932.
The Hong Kong Naturalist.
117