THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 357 



highly-polished of all ; hence named lucida, the " shining ivy." 

 Nigra is of small size, extremely neat, and almost black. Dig'itata is a 

 splendid variety for a wall or ruin ; the leaves are "finger like," very 

 dark in colour, with conspicuous grey veius. Pedata, the foot-leaved 

 ivy, has long narrow lobes, the colour a dull dark green ; a great mass 

 of it on a grey wall, has a most elegant appearance. 



Pour variegated-leaved varieties of H. helix may be recommended. 

 Chrysophylla makes but little show while the plants are young ; but 

 old plants, somewhat starved and pot-bound, make an abundance of 

 leaves of a clear deep yellow colour ; it has a most charming appear- 

 ance in autumn, and throughout the winter. Mary inata grandis is 

 a magnificent silver-leaved variety, fit for any purpose, forming a 

 sumptuous edging, and a most welcome pot plant for the parterre or 

 the conservatory. Marginata major is a shade less valuable than the 

 last, though the leaves are more silvery. It is less attractive as a 

 pot plant than the last, but, perhaps, surpasses it when employed as 

 an edging to flower-beds, being whiter in summer and autumn, and 

 in winter having a reddish tone mingled with its glistening of silver. 

 Marginata rubra is a weak grower, with very small leaves. We 

 have valued it much for lighting up groups of ivies in winter beds, 

 both because of its clear creamy variegation and the decided tone 

 of deep red that overspreads the plant from October to March, after 

 which the red colour disappears. It grows very slowly, and the 

 owner of it must have patience. 



All the arborescent varieties of H. helix are valuable, but we 

 will only name a few of the most beautiful. Baccifera lutea, the 

 "yellow-berried" ivy, is an extremely beautiful shrub, branching out 

 into a compact convex form, as if moulded by an artist, and scarcely 

 ever needing the pruning-knife. The leaves are uniformly ovate, 

 without lobes, of a cheerful glossy grass green hue. It bears berries 

 in extravagant profusion ; they are of a dull orange hue, and when 

 ripe the plant is at once a curiosity, and one of the loveliest gems 

 of the winter-garden. You know Skimmia Japonica, perhaps. 

 "Well, this yellow-berried ivy is a handsomer plant, say three times 

 handsomer at the very least, and it grows — the peculiarity of the 

 (Skimmia is that it don't grow ; it stands still from now till then, 

 and vexes you to stretch it by pulling, and that you would do if you 

 could only put leaves on when you had made it taller. (N.B. Our 

 Skimmiasare such a mass of berries this season that it is a comfort 

 they cannot read the foregoing, for to put the yellow-berried ivy 

 above them is a daring deed. But what we have written we have 

 written, and the (Ecumenical Council shall not erase a word.) 

 Argentea major is the finest silver-leaved tree ivy. It is not adapted 

 for an edging ; but as a pot plant to plunge in beds during winter, 

 or to light up a cool conservatory, is worth a guinea a leaf at least. 

 Probably you may buy a plant with fifty leaves for half-a-crown ! 

 Aurea grows freely, and when old shows an abundance of deep clear 

 orange-coloured variegation. (N.B. Yellow isiuvaluable in winter, 

 as you may prove by comparing the yellow-berried with the red- 

 berried holly ; we cannot part with either, but the first is most 

 conspicuous in the landscape.) 



