WOODBINE TKIBE 101 



Rose a similar plan is adopted. In Guelder Rose the ordinary flowers, that 

 produce honey, stamens, and style, are only one-third of an inch across, but 

 for the sake of advertisement the outer row of flowers are enlarged to three 

 diameters, though to attain this size they have to give up their organs, and 

 become mere banners for the attraction of insect patrons. The perfect 

 flowers secrete honey, but are scarcely fragrant. 



The wood of this shrub is xised for making skewers, and the berries, 

 though not well flavoured in our country, and if crushed emitting a most dis- 

 agreeable odour, yet are eaten in Siberia, mingled with honey and flour. 

 Gerarde calls this plant the Rose Elder and Gelder Rose. He says the Dutch 

 call it Gheldersche Boose. These names probably all came from Guelderland, 

 where the plant is said to grow freely. The French call it Boule de neige and 

 VioTM', and it is also commonly called by the latter name in Holland. In 

 Germany it is termed Schneehall and Schlingbaum, and in Italy and Spain, 

 Vihurno. The Turks call it Gcrmeschek, and the Russians, Gordoivina. Its 

 name of O'pulus is supposed to have been originally popuhts. One of our most 

 ornamental and frequent garden evergreens, the laurustinus, is the Viburnum 

 tiu'us of the south of Europe, and its branches mingle with the bay and sweet 

 myrtle in the rich and fragrant hedges of Italy. 



3. Honeysuckle {Lonicem). 



1. Pale Perfoliate Honeysuckle {L. caprifdliam). — Flowers in sessile 

 terminal whorls ; leaves smooth, blunt, upper ones joined in pairs by their 

 bases (connate), the rest distinct ; root perennial. This is a very rare Honey- 

 suckle, but it is found in some thickets in Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire, 

 as well as in woods near Edinburgh. It thrives among the trees and bushes, 

 producing in May and June its white or purplish flowers, which are succeeded 

 by bright orange-coloured berries. It is not a native species, but one that 

 has been introduced from the Continent and naturalized in places. 



2. Common Honeysuckle, or 'Woodhine{L.periclijmenum). — Flowers 

 in terminal heads ; leaves all distinct, oval, sometimes downy beneath. 

 Perennial. It merits well its old name of Woodbine, or Woodbind. Some- 

 times, indeed, it binds the tree too closely, as we may see from the indenta- 

 tions which it leaves on the bark, and the ridges which rise up between its 

 coils. At first, while its branches are tender, the Honeysuckle does no harm 

 to the stem or bough which it encircles ; but soon that stem or bough in- 

 creases in size, Avhile the twining plant does not lengthen with proportionate 

 rapidity ; till at last the coil becomes closer and tighter, and is as Cowper 

 described it : — 



I' As Woodbine weds the plant within her reach, 

 Rough elm, or smooth-grain'd ash, or glossy beech, 

 In spiral rings ascends the trunk, and lays 

 Her golden tassels on the leafy sprays : 

 But does a mischief while she lends a grace, 

 Slackening its growth by such a strict embrace." 



There is scarcely any plant more prized by the lover of the country than 

 the Honeysuckle, which from June to September is covered with its beauti- 

 ful blossoms of red and yellow, sending sweet odours far and wide, and 

 forming garlands of grace and beauty. 



