HYDRANGEA hortensis foliis ellipticis serratis glaberrimis staminibus æqualibus. Smith icon. rar. t. 12.
HORTENSIA. Commmers. Jussieu Gen. 214.
PRIMULA mutabilis caule suffruticoso multiplici, foliis ovatis serratis, floribus nudis. Loureir Coch. Chin. v. 1. p. 104.
VIBURNUM tomentosum foliis ovatis acuminatis serratis venosis subtus tomentosis, umbellis lateralibus. Thunb. Jap. p. 123. ?
SAMBUCUS aquatica surculis pinguibus punctatis, &c. Sijo vulgo Adsai et Ansai et Adsiki. Kæmpf. Am. Exot. p. 854. var. fl. albo, pila florida major.
It appears to be a point not yet fully determined, whether the present plant exhibits the appearances belonging to it in a state of nature, or those which are in a certain degree the effect of accident, or of art; in its fructification it certainly is not so completely barren as the Guilder Rose, Viburnum Opulus, cultivated in our gardens, since it has most of its parts perfect; yet as none of the authors who have seen it in China or Japan (where it is said not only to be much cultivated but indigenous[1]) describe its fruit, we are inclined on that account to regard it, in a certain degree, as monstrous.
It will appear by the synonyms, that authors have entertained very different opinions as to what this plant really is; Jussieu following Commerson makes it an Hortensia, Thunberg a Viburnum, Loureiro, ridiculously enough, a Primula, and Dr. Smith an Hydrangea.
In the original description of the characters of the genus Hydrangea by Linnæus, there is no mention made of two different kinds of florets, as in the Viburnum, nor has any author that I am acquainted with described the Hydrangea arbor. as producing such; yet, to my great surprise, in a plant of this sort which flowered in my garden at Brompton in July 1797, three of the Cymæ, and three only, threw out each of them from their circumference a very different flower from those in the centre, smaller indeed, but very similar to the flowers of the Hydrang. hort. see Pl. 437. In 1788, Mr. Walter published his Fl. Carolin. in which he describes a second species of Hydrangea, which he calls radiata,[2] having very distinctly, as in the Viburnum, two different kinds of florets in the same Cyma, this variation in the florets is added by him to the generic character: the similarity which exists between the flowers of Mr. Walter's Hydrangea radiata, and those of the present plant sufficiently justify Dr. Smith in making it an Hydrangea; the appearances observed by Loureiro[3] on dissecting the germen, and our discovery of the existence of two different kinds of flowers in the Hydrangea arborescens, tend still more to confirm its propriety; we may add, that in the very habit of these several plants there exists a considerable similarity; still, however, it is only by ripe seed-vessels of the present plant, that this doubtful matter can be satisfactorily cleared up; but it will not follow, that if it be not an Hydrangea it must be a Viburnum.
This magnificent and highly ornamental plant, according to Dr. Smith, was introduced from China to the royal garden at Kew, by Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. in 1790; it was imported by Mr. Slater about the same time, with whom it is said to have first flowered in this country.