Alseuosmia
(from alsos, a grove, and euosmia, a grateful odour; the powerful fragrance of the flowers scents the woods in their native haunts). ORD. Caprifoliaceae. A small genus (four species) of highly glabrous, polymorphous, greenhouse shrubs, confined to New Zealand. Flowers greenish or reddish, axillary, solitary or fascicled, sweetly scented; calyx tube ovoid, the limb four or five-lobed; corolla tubular or funnel-shaped, the tube elongated, the limb of four or five equal, spreading lobes; stamens four or five; pedicels bracteolate at base. Fruit a purple, ovoid, many-seeded berry. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, petiolate, membranous, linear-lanceolate, ovate, or rhomboid, entire or toothed, with minute tufts of hairs in the axils of the nerves beneath. A macrophylla is the only species introduced to cultivation. It thrives in well drained, peaty soil, and likes plenty of air and light. Propagated by cuttings of half-ripened growths, inserted under a bell glass. A. macrophylla (large-leaved).* fl. in small, axillary cluster, drooping; corolla dull red, or creamy-white with dull red streaks, the tube cylindric, funnel-shaped above, the lobes ovate, recurved, toothed. February, l. 3in. to 6in. long, elliptic-lanceolate or oblanceolate, acute, entire or serrated, narrowed into petioles 1/4in. to 1/3in. long. h. 6ft. to 10ft. 1884. Plant glabrous. (B.M. 6951.)