This section is from "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams. Also available from Amazon: Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.
This out-door, winter-blooming plant makes a sensation wherever it is introduced. No garden should be without it. It was introduced from Nankin, only so late as 1844 through Mr. Fortune. It is a shrub with angular deep green trailing branches. Its leaves are shining deep green, and each consists of three sessile leaflets of an ovate form, which fall off early in the autumn, and are succeeded by large yellow scentless flowers, which grow singly from the buds formed in the axils of the leaves which have previously dropped. It was considered at the time of its introduction that it would be an excellent addition to the greenhouse, by reason of its being a free winter bloomer, and continuing in flower for a length of time: and so it has proved, for plants growing in pots, and trained either with long stems and pendent branches, or in pyramidal form, have for years been objects of attraction in many gardens - nor is its beauty less conspicuous when allowed a more extensive range in the conservatory, with its roots growing in the free soil. It is, however, as an open-air plant that we would direct attention to its merits.
On the face of a bleak hill, whether as growing in the common garden soil, trained on a trellis in front of the mansion, or in that part of a colonnade with a considerable roof protection, or rambling at will, the effect produced has been of the most charming and beautiful kind; the flowers, too, have been most useful in bouquets and in the adornment of epergnes, vases, etc.; the large bright yellow flowers contrast admirably with Camelias,Hyacinths,Primulas/and suchlike,and to these they add a peculiar grace when the stems and flowers are allowed to protrude outwards. The time is not distant, when not only every garden, but the sunny side of every cottage, will be enlivened and beautified, during the dull months of winter, with the golden flowers of this charming plant. S.
 
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