218 Landscape Gardening 



about the same treatment. The flowers are fragrant in the 



true species. 



Hercules' Club {Aralia spinosa).— An interesting shrub, 

 with large compound leaves and a heavy panicle of white 

 flowers coming in early August. It has the habit of pro- 

 ducing suckers that, if left to themselves, are not desirable, 

 but by puUing up such as are not wanted those remaining 

 grow luxuriantly and the mass is kept in a satisfactory con- 

 dition. It succeeds best in a somewhat sheltered, warm, 

 but rich soil. Its tendency to produce tall unbranched 

 shoots may be overcome by pinching the ends when 2 or 3 



feet high. 



Japanese Aralia {A. chinensis).— This species resem- 

 bles the last very much, but with rather smaller and finer 

 leaves, requiring the same treatment. 



American Barberry {Berberis vulgaris). — This beauti- 

 ful shrub is common throughout the Eastern and Northern 

 States, and were it less common would be more prized as 

 an ornamental shrub. It grows with Uttle care and no 

 shrub is more beautiful, with its golden drooping clusters 

 of flowers in June and its bright scarlet fruit in autumn 

 and winter. It has the tendency to make a rather strag- 

 gling bush, 4 to 8 feet, but may be forced to take a com- 

 pact bushy form by heading back severely some of the strong 

 new shoots on the inside when they have reached the height of 

 2 or 3 feet. The branches are grooved and gray in color. 

 It makes a very desirable hedge. 



Purple-leaved Barberry {B. vulgaris, var. atro purpurea).^ 

 One of the smallest purple-leaved shrubs and one of the 

 best. It retains its dark purple color through the season 

 better than almost any other tree or shrub, and is especially 

 desirable to plant in the foreground of golden or light-green- 

 leaved trees or shrubs. Its golden flowers are rather more 

 conspicuous on the dark purple background of its leaves 



