Fû-chau. See FOOCHOW.
Fuchsia—named in 1703 by Plumier after Leonhard Fuchs (1501-66), who with Brunfels and Bock (see BOTANY) was one of the founders of German botany—a genus of Onagraceæ containing about fifty species, small shrubs or trees, natives of the Pacific coast of South America, whence a few have ranged northwards to Central America, and others to New Zealand. The usually pendulous flowers are of characteristic appearance and often striking beauty; they are very easily propagated by cuttings and grow freely, especially near the sea- coast. Some, notably F. discolor and F. Riccartoni, are capable of withstanding our winter so well that fuchsia-hedges are a common ornament of gardens on the west coast of Scotland. Others can be treated as herbaceous plants; and most if not indeed all will flower well in the open air during summer. Cultivators recommend keeping back plants, so that when planted out in May they shall only then begin to put out their leaves. The commonest species is usually known as F. coccinea (but is said to be only a variety of F. globosa, and this again of F. macrostemma, while the true F. coccinea, with nearly sessile leaves, is rare); F. conica, corallina, fulgens, gracilis, &c. are also well known, as well as the hardier species above named, while the florists' varieties and hybrids are innumerable. There are also many dwarf species of characteristic habits. The berries of many species are eaten with sugar in their native countries, and when they ripen are occasionally preserved even here. The wood of some species is also employed in South America as a black dye.