Stachyurus praecox Sieb. & Zucc.

A deciduous shrub, said to become as much as 10 ft high in Japan, but rarely more than half as high in England. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, glabrous, 3 to 7 in. long, with a long slender apex, toothed at the margin. Flowers twelve to twenty together, in stiff drooping racemes 2 to 3 in. long, each flower 1⁄3 in. across, pale yellow. Bot. Mag., t. 6631.

Native of Japan, and quite hardy. Its greatest merit in the garden is its early-flowering nature. In favourable years it will be in full flower by the middle of February, and ordinarily, not more than a month later. The flower-spikes are formed in the axils of the leaves and attain their full length in autumn, and, although exposed to whatever inclemencies the winter may bring, remain unscathed. Unseasonable warmth in the early part of the year, followed by a rough cold spell, will sometimes injure the flowers. But on the whole they are very hardy, and when the reddish leafless branches are hung with yellow racemes 1 in. or less apart there are few things in the garden more pleasing at that early season.