IRISH GARDENING. 



^33 



striking are cloucetti, variegata, lineata, Parcii, 

 lighter in colour, and with a hroad, red 

 midrib on the undei'leaf, and lentiginosa atro- 

 purpurea, all dark red — the last-named is the 

 best. C. Banksii is more foliose and shrubby, 

 and has a variety with bright I'ed midribs, called 

 erythroi'achis, which is well worth growing. L\ 

 indivisa is a stately plant, and surpasses them 

 all in magnificence, with immense leaves, some 

 six feet long by seven inches to eight inches 

 broad, pointed at the ends; upperside shining 



fitting companions to the above. I'seudopanax 

 crassifolium and P. ferox (the New Zealand 

 Lance-woods) have long, narrow, very thick, 

 rigid, linear leaves, notched at the edges and 

 painted with patches of colour ; they have a 

 strange, indeed a weird, appearance, and are 

 unlike anything else I have seen. To the same 

 order belong Panax arboreum, P. Colensoi, and 

 Fatsia japonica, all evergreen and desirable; as 

 well as Acanthopanax ricinifolium, a hardy de- 

 ciduous forest tree from Japan, with a rugged, 



Photo by] [W. E. Trevithick. 



Daffodil, Lady Margaret Boscawen, Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. 



light green with wide yellow-brown midrib, 

 underside glaucous, the midrib there being dark 

 and prominent, the whole streaked with numer- 

 ous well-marked veins. There is a fine hybrid 

 raised on the Continent from this species with 

 C. doucetti, and called C. Van Groot. When 

 the true palms are associated with this class of 

 vegetation, the view is still more tropical, but 

 there are not many kinds to be found thriving 

 in the British Isles. Trachycarpus excelsa, the 

 Chusan Palm, is well able to withstand our 

 climate, and Jubsea spectabilis will grow in 

 favoured districts. Phoenix canariensis and 

 some others have been tried at Piostrevor, but 

 hitherto with imperfect results. The Araliacese 

 contain some species that may be considered 



thorny bark and large j^almate leaves of a type 

 seldom seen outside a greenhouse or stove. 

 ^Nlyoporum laetum has green, pellucid leaves, 

 with numerous glands that produce a peculiar 

 effect when the sun shines through them. One 

 or two of the Proteaceae, moreover, display a 

 striking foliage, and may be mentioned here. 

 Dryandra formosa has been described in Irish 

 Gardening of August, 1919. Lomatia ferru- 

 ginea expands compound pinnatifid leaves 

 like the fronds of a fern, twelve inches by eight 

 inches, dark green; young pushes, twigs, and 

 leaf-stalks, rich brown. In L. tinet-oria they 

 are smaller and tinged with a blue shade ; they 

 are also much cut and divided. In Banksia 

 serrata they are long and narrow, light green. 



