ENG-1961 — Page 391

NATURAL HISTORY

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Hong Kong is famous for its great variety of flowering plants, many of which are exceptional for the beauty or fragrance of their blossoms. As might be expected, the months of spring and early summer are when most of the species come into flower. Some are easy to place in their correct families; for example, the common wild Gordonia looks like, and is related to, the camellia, and the wild roses are unmistakably roses. But most are not so easy to name. They include a Magnolia, a Michelia with large white flowers, a Rhodoleia with groups of rose-madder coloured petals surrounded by golden bracts, an Illicium with cherry pink flowers and star-shape fruits, and a Tutcheria with large camellia-like flowers, white tinged with gold bearing masses of tangerine orange stamens. This latter is a tall tree with glossy foliage, described as a distinct genus in 1908 in honour of W. J. Tutcher, former Superintendent of the Botanical and Forestry Department. A local Styrax with fragrant flowers is reminiscent of the Halesia, the American snowdrop tree. Six species of Rhododendron grow wild in the Colony; of these the red one is extremely abundant; another with large pale pink flowers, is so rare that it is only known to exist on one shoulder of Victoria Peak. The heather family is represented by a very lovely Enkianthus which bears beautiful pink bells in early spring at the time of the Chinese New Year. Flowering at the same time is a Litsea with small creamy white and exceedingly fragrant flowers borne on the leafless branches in profusion.

The Bauhinia blakeana, named after a former Governor, Sir Henry Blake, and discovered in 1908 by the Fathers of the French Foreign Missions at Pok Fu Lam, is among the finest of the Bauhinia genus anywhere in the world. Its origin is unknown; it is a sterile hybrid, never producing seed. Another related species is Bauhinia gluaca, climbing by means of tendrils, with bunches of pink flowers of sufficient beauty to merit cultivation as a covering for trellises and porches.

There are several species of Camellia growing wild on the island and the mainland. All but one, have white flowers; the one with red flowers is only known from Hong Kong Island and grows in the Peak district. It is Camellia hongkongensis, a small tree up to 40 feet in height which comes into flower in November and continues until the middle of March. A new and distinct