Stachyurus
(from stachys, a spike, and oura, a tail; in allusion to the shape of the catkins). ORD. Ternstromiaceae. A genus consisting of only two species of half-hardy, glabrous shrubs or small trees, one being Japanese, the other Himalayan. Flowers small, disposed in short, lateral or axillary racemes or spikes; sepals four, closely imbricated; petals four, free, imbricated; stamens eight, free. Leaves serrated, membranous. S. praecox is a shrub or small tree, producing its flowers in great profusion before the leaves are unfolded. It thrives in any common garden soil, but except in the south-western counties, requires the shelter of a wall. The plant may be readily propagated by means of cuttings of the half-ripened wood, inserted in sandy soil, under a bell glass, in a greenhouse, and kept shaded until roots are formed.
S. praecox (precocious).* fl. yellowish-green, 1/3in. in diameter, sub-globosely campanulate, sessile or very shortly pedicellate; petals much larger than the sepals; spikes axillary, 2in. to 3in. long, curved, shortly pedunculate, many-flowered. March. l. 4in. to 6in. long, obovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, serrulated, often oblique, thin, bright green. Branches slender, flexible. h. 10ft. Japan, 1864. See Fig. 518, p. 484. (B. M. 6631; R. H. 1869, 200; S. Z. F. J. 18.)