130 



IRISH GARDENING. 



V. Lavauoina (si:k page IIjN). 



peculiar, and at certain times of the year they 

 are transhicent and yellowish in colour as if 

 made of gum. The specimen in this collection 

 is some 7 to 8 feet high, and while last summer it 

 showed a little bloom, it was only this season that 

 it produced it in profusion. Quite as floriferous 

 as E. pinnatifolia, its blossoms formed of foiu' 

 very dainty petals, are white, about an inch or 

 more in diameter, and each are supphed with a 

 tuft of numerous stamens and painted anthers ; 

 they begin to expand in mid-July. It is a real 

 gem much to be recommended, and if it grows 

 to the size of a large tree, as it does in its native 

 country, it will be a most valuable addition and 

 ornament to the arboretum. All the Eucryphias 

 seem to thrive here in rich, well-drained loam 

 and leaf-mould, without any peat. 



Plagianthus (Gaya) Lyallii is another beautiful 

 July-flowering shrub, or rather small tree from 

 New Zealand , with pale green foliage and bearing 

 abundant clusters of white, small, mallow-like 

 bloom ; and though it differs very much from the 

 various Eucryphias above-mentioned, it may be 

 associated with them on this occasion, if only 

 because each shows that hne contrast of colour 

 which is displayed when the foliage of a large 

 plant is well covered by masses of conspicuous 

 and pure white flowers. Reverting, however, to 

 the magnificent flora of Chile, reference should be 

 made to Desfontaaiea spinosa, evergreen, leaves 

 like a holly, and tubular bright red blossoms 

 tipped with yellow, nearly two inches long ; and 

 to Mi.traria cocc.nea, also evergreen, rather a 

 trailing plant, srated to ramble over rocks, with 

 red mitre-shaped flowers of a similar length. 

 Coming also from the same part of South 

 America should be noted, Myrtus Luma (called 

 sometimes in gardens Eugenia apiculata), a large 

 and handsome shrub ; and the smaller M. Ugni, 

 " Myrtilla," with a less good flowti', but Avhich 



pnxluces edible fruit in autumn. Mutisia 

 decurrens is a climber A\'ith bright orange 

 Gerbera-like bloom, some six inches across, 

 pale grey-green leaves ; and M. ilicifolia, similar 

 to it, but white, another and a more rampant 

 climber, with light green fohage. Berberidopsis 

 coraHina has, end of August, clusters of bright 

 red small blossoms, as if made of wax ; and if 

 planted in a shady place, free from lime, this hne 

 evergreen climber will soon make its way through 

 other plants and become a very ]>Ieasing object. 

 Nierembergia frutescens is a small sub-shrub 

 with large white flowers, delicately suffused with 

 violet at the base and with a yellow centre, a very 

 handsome plant. Most of the Escallonias are 

 also natives of Chile, but as they have been well 

 described in a recent number of Irish Garden- 

 ing, it is not necessary to allude to them at 

 present. 



The flrst of the Buddleias brought to this 

 country (in the 18th century) was B. globosa 

 from Chile and Peru, a hardy and widely culti- 

 vated plant, with a round yellow inflorescence. 

 Since then a large number of other species have 

 been found, principally in China, of which may 

 be noted B. macrostachya, M'ith long, pale blue- 

 nuiuve panicles, and soft grey-green foliage ; B. 

 alternifolia, discovered recently by Purdoui, 

 purple, small leaves and less robust in growth ; 

 B. Davidii, somewhat like B. variabilis, but finer 

 in all its parts, with a more compact and smaller 

 but very neat truss of bright blue jjurple, though 

 sometimes of a more hlac shade ; B. officinalis is 

 grown here, but has not been found quite as 

 hardy as the otheis, and it has not yet flowered ; 

 the rich red-purple form of B. variabihs, called 

 var.ety magnifica, is also to be recommended, it 

 comes into bloom a little later than the type. 

 Some of the species of the genus Hypericum, all 

 of them at their best in summer and gay with 

 their 3'ellow fiowers, deserve a short notice. 

 H. balearicum, evergreen, with small handsome 

 foliage, seldom grows to more than two feet high ; 

 H.segyptiacumis hardly as large; H. galioides is 

 covered with bloom, as is also the dwarfer 

 H. empetrifolium ; H. fragile and H. poly- 

 phyllum are small trailers ; H. reptans forms a 

 carpet ; H. lysimachioid.es makes a dense bush, 

 and is somewhat similar in habit to one recently 

 introduced by Forrest (No. 8626) whose correct 

 name I have not yet ascertained ; H. cernuum, 

 from North Ind'a, is not perhaps quite hardy 

 everywhere ; and the same may be said of 

 H. Leschenaultii (triflorum), held to be a variety 

 of H. Hookerianum, one of the best, clear 

 orange-yellow, very large, and Avith shorter 

 stamens than those that distinguish the group ; 



