472 DECIDUOUS SHRUBS. 



THE DWARF ALMOND. Amygdalus nana. 



' " Blossoms of the almond trees, 

 , April's gifts to April's bees." 



A small shrub of the nut-bearing almond family, bearing in 

 March or April an abundance of small double rose-like flowers, 

 closely set upon the twigs, before the appearance of the leaf. The 

 latter is similar to the leaf of the peach tree. Height from two to 

 six feet. It is not perfectly hardy, and to grow and bloom to the 

 best advantage at the north, it should have a dry warm soil, the 

 ground around it mulched in the fall, the annual growth partly cut 

 back every summer, and the suckers allowed to renew the bush by 

 fresh wood. It is one of the most common of early flowering spring 

 shrubs, but rarely makes a handsome bush when out of bloom. 



There is a variety, A. pumila alba, with white flowers ; also a 

 Siberian variety described as follows : 



A. n. siberica. "An upright shrub, about six feet high, with 

 wand-like shoots, clothed with fine long, willow-like, glossy, serrate 

 leaves ; on account of which, and its upright habit of growth, dif- 

 ferent from all the other varieties, it is valuable " (Loudon). Flowers 

 rather larger than the common sort. 



The dwarf almonds may be budded on the common peach 

 or plum tree stocks. 



THE AMORPHA, OR BASTARD INDIGO. Amorpha. 



A family of large spreading shrubs, from six to eight feet high, 

 natives of our continent. The leaves are compound, with many 

 pairs of small leaflets, resembling those of the locusts. The flowers 

 are disposed in long spikes or panicles on the tops of the branches, 

 and though " small separately, and imperfect in form, are yet rich 

 from their number, and their colors of purple and violet spangled 

 with a golden yellow. The plants are not of long duration ; and 

 are liable to be broken by wind ; for which reason they ought al- 

 ways to be planted in a sheltered situation. They produce an abun- 



