Skimmia
(from skimmi, a Japanese word, signifying a hurtful fruit). ORD. Rutaceae. A genus comprising about half-a dozen species of pretty, hardy, evergreen, highly glabrous shrubs, with green branchlets, natives of the Himalayas and Japan. Flowers whitish, clustered; calyx short, four or five-lobed; petals four or five, oblong, much longer than the calyx, valvate or loosely imbricated; disk inconspicuous; panicles terminal, branched. Drupes ovoid, fleshy, two to four-stoned. Leaves alternate, simple, petiolate, lanceolate, entire, coriaceous, pellucid-dotted. The species thrive in a compost of peat and loam. Propagation may be effected by cuttings, inserted in sand, under a bell glass, in gentle heat; and by seeds, sown, when ripe, in sandy loam and peat.
S. fragrans (fragrant). fl. white, fragrant, disposed in terminal panicles. l. elliptic-oblong, thick. h. about 3ft. Of this garden plant only the female is at present known.
S. fragrantissima. See S. oblata.
S. intermedia (intermediate). fl. white, rosy on the outside, scented, disposed in spike-like panicles. Spring. l. narrow-elliptic, coriaceous, deep green. 1870. A much-branched and compact, garden variety, intermediate between S. fragrans and S. japonica.
S. japonica (Japanese).* fl. white, resembling those of some Hollies, deliciously scented; petals spreading; panicles thyrsoid, pedunculate, broadly-oblong, many-flowered. fr. roundish-oval, bright red. March. l. alternate, but here and there crowded, so as to appear sub-verticillate, oblong, acuminated, entire, pellucid-dotted, tapering into short footstalks. h. rarely above 3ft. or 4ft. Japan, 1845. A very handsome shrub when in full berry.(B. M. 4719; G. C. n. s., xxv. p. 244; I. H. 1854, 13; L. & P. F. G. ii. 163; S. Z. F. J. 68.)
S. j. argentea variegata (silvery-variegated). l. oblong, acuminated, broadly and unequally bordered with white. 1875 S. Laureola (Laureola).* fl. pale yellow, very fragrant, densely disposed in terminal, compact corymbs; rachis and peduncle purple-dotted. Spring. fr. ovate, smooth, nearly as large as an olive. l. approximating at the tips of the branches, sub-opposite or ternate, oblong-lanceolate, acute, attenuated at base, entire, 3in. to 5in. long, dark green above, yellowish beneath. h. 4ft. Nepaul. A very pretty, Citron-scented shrub. SYN. Limonia Laureola.
S. oblata (oblate-berried).* fr. very bright vermilion-red, oblate, glossy, borne in panicled clusters. l. firm, smooth, elliptic-obovate, bright green. Japan, 1864. (G. C. n. s., xxv. p. 245.) A remarkably beautiful, dwarf shrub, of dense habit. The male or pollen-bearing plant is known in gardens by the name of S. fragrantissima.
S. o. Veitchii (Veitch's). fl. hermaphrodite or monoecious, in spike-like racemes; petals dirty-white. Spring. fr. spherical, of a beautiful coral-red. l. flat, elliptic, oboval, glossy, narrowed into a thick petiole. h. 3ft.(R. H. 1880, p. 57,)
S. ovata (ovate). This appears to be a garden form of S. japonica, with larger, broader leaves than the type.
S. rubella (reddish).* fl. greenish-white, disposed in thyrses, odorous; buds tinted with red, hence the name. l. lanceolate-elliptic, leathery. China, 1874.(R. H. 1874, 311; 1880, p. 57, p. 189.)