The Journal of Horticulture says this pretty plant was raised in America. This we take to be a slip of the pen for " France." The plants in America originally came from France, and, indeed, the Journal says in the same paragraph : " It was obtained by chance by an old hand of the firm of Transon Brothers, named Dubois, from a sowing of the ordinary birch. He very soon observed the unaccustomed appearance of the plant, and after having raised it he took grafts therefrom, and placed them on young stocks of the common variety, and afterwards established them in pots.