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Firmiana simplex (L.) W. F. Wight

Modern name

Firmiana simplex (L.) W.Wight

Synonyms

Hibiscus simplex L.; Sterculia platanifolia L.f.; Firmiana platanifolia (L.f.) Marsigli

A tree up to 60 ft high, with noble foliage and a trunk smooth even in age. Leaves variable in size, but averaging 6 to 8 in. long and as much or more wide; on vigorous young plants they are over 1 ft long. Ordinarily, the leaves have three rather shallow, pointed lobes towards the end, but often they are five-lobed, with the general outline of a maple-leaf, the base heart-shaped; they are either furnished with stellate down beneath, especially in the vein-axils, or are glabrous. The leaf-stalk is two-thirds to quite the length of the blade. Flowers small, yellow, produced on a branching panicle as much as 18 in. long, and 9 in. wide. For fruits see introduction above.

Native of S. China, Formosa, and the Ryukyus, but introduced in 1757 from Japan, where it is much cultivated. It was long treated as a greenhouse plant, and is, indeed, better suited in Cornwall and such-like localities than in the London districts, where, to be safe, it needs wall protection. Its beauty, however, is only fully shown in a spot where it can develop freely on all sides. It is very fine on the Riviera, especially in the Casino Gardens at Monte Carlo.


Genus

Firmiana

Other species in the genus

[No species article available]