FLOWERIXG SHRUBS. 131 



Hard-hack — Rose Coloured Spir^a. — Spiraa toi/ientosa, (L.) 



Of the several pretty shrubs belonging to the Genus Spinea, which 

 have been introduced into cultivation, none deserve a place in our 

 gardens more decidedly than the above. It is a beautiful shrub, 

 growing in wild profusion in swamps and on the rocky shores of our 

 small inland lakes. It is about four feet high, with slender, wand-like 

 stems that rise from a woody root-stock, clothed with dark green, serrated^ 

 leathery leaves, which are smooth above, but very downy underneath. 

 The flowers are of a fine rose-pink, in closely-flowered panicles, a little 

 branching in the larger heads. The l)ark of the stem is red, and covered 

 with whitish down. 



While this elegant shrub is chiefly found near water, it seems to 

 prefer a gravelly or rocky soil for its habitation. 



Purple Flowering Raspberry. — Rubiis odoratus, (L.) 



In English gardens our beautiful sweet-scented Raspberry is deemed 

 worthy of a place in the shrubberies, but in its native country it is passed 

 by and regarded as of little worth. Yet »vhat can be more lovely than 

 its rose-shaped blossoms, from the deep purplish-crimson bud wrapped 

 in its odorous mossy calyx, to the unfolded flower of various shades of 

 deep rose and paler reddish lilac. The flowers derive their pleasant 

 aromatic odour from the closely-set coating of short bristly glandular 

 hairs, each one of which is tipped with a gland of reddish hue, containing 

 a sweet-scented gum, as in the mossy envelope of the Moss-Rose of the 

 garden. These appendages, seen by the aid of a powerful microscope, 

 are objects of exquisite beauty, more admirable than rubies and diamonds^ 

 living gems that fill us with wonder while we gaze into their marvellous 

 parts and glorious colours. 



All through the hot months of June, July and August, a succession 

 of flowers is put forth at the ends of the branches and branchlets of our 

 Sweet Raspberry — 



"An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds." 



The shrub is from two to five feet in height, branching from the 

 woody perennial root-stock ; the leaves are from three to five lobed, the 

 lobes pointed and roughly toothed. The leaves are of a dullish gieen, 

 varying in size from several inches in diameter to mere bracts. The 

 blossoms are often as large as those of the Sweet-Briar and Dog-Rose, 

 but when first unfolded are more compact and cup-like. The fruit, 

 which is popularly known by the name of Wild Mulberry, consists of 

 many small red grains, somewhat dry and acid, scarcely tempting to the 



