Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



terminal or lateral clusters, and the leaf thickish, nearly 

 or quite evergreen, and glossy in L. racemosa, which is 

 perhaps the most widely cultivated. L. axillaris is 

 commendable for its early blossoming, a circumstance 

 not to be forgotten in laying out a lawn or garden. 

 The flowers throughout the genus are of the typical 

 heath form — petals united into a short tube, lobed or 

 toothed at the apex. 



The most conspicuous and brilliant reminder of our 

 Japanese indebtedness is the golden -flowered forsythia, 

 abundant in the Park, to which allusion is elsewhere 

 made. The secret of its profuse flowering is in trim- 

 ming it closely every year as soon as the blossoming 

 period is past ; for next year's flower-buds form chiefly 

 on this year's growth ; and if the stems are severely 

 pruned, the vigor of the plant sends up a multitude of 

 new shoots crowded with buds of the coming spring. 

 Its slender, dark-green leaves, persistent almost till 

 winter, are an added consideration to make this thor- 

 oughly hardy shrub one of the most beautiful attractions 

 in almost any situation. 



Our native elders, though having a shapely leaf of fine 

 color, are of scattering growth, and so characterless as 

 to be unfit for culture. But the European elder — 

 Sambucus nigra — affords some varieties of marked 

 beauty, the finest being the cut-leaved, very ornamental 

 in foliage. Another, the golden elder, has yellow 

 leaves which, massed with surrounding greens, is ot 

 striking effect ; and a third, with variegation of white 

 and green, is an oddity that is more or less pleasing. 



The two species indigenous in this country, the com- 

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