DECIDUOUS SHRUBS. 493 



northern States improves its size and beauty. It attains a height 

 of from five to eight feet in ten years, if properly taken care of. 

 The two most common varieties are the Chinese double-blush, 

 P. banksii, with pale, rose-colored flowers, from four to six inches 

 in diameter, very double and fragrant, and much the finest of all ; 

 and the poppy-flowered, P. papaveracea, with pale, blush flowers, 

 less double than the preceding. A large number of varieties are 

 produced in the nurseries, some of which may be improvements on 

 the parent species. They range through many colors, from white 

 and variegated, to bright red, violet and purple. The following are 

 a few of the best : 



P. alba variegata, white petals, purplish centre, very double. 



P. gumpperii, " bright rosy pink, very large and full ; plant 

 vigorous ; one of the very best in all respects." (E. & B.) 



P. kochlerii, dark rose-color ; very large and vigorous. 



P. maxima plena, rosy carmine, very double and compact. 



P. rosea superba plena, dark rosy violet. 



P. schultzii, carmine, shaded with rosy lilac; fine form, and 

 fragrant. 



P. incarnata flore plena, pure white, with violet centre ; 

 fragrant. 



THE PRIVET. Ligustrum. 



THE COMMON PRIVET, Ligustrum vulgaris, is one of the com- 

 monest of old garden shrubs, and has been greatly valued for de- 

 ciduous hedges, for which its fastigiate form, ready growth from 

 cuttings, its twiggy and healthy habit, well adapt it. The leaves 

 are small, appear early, and hang so late that in England it is 

 called a sub-evergreen. The flowers are small, white, on terminal 

 spikes, which cover the shrub in June and July. Berries a dark 

 purple. Growing as a shrub, it forms a globular bush of rather 

 dull green color, and from seven to ten feet high. No shrub bears 

 clipping better, or is more easily shaped into hedges, screens, or 

 other desirable forms. Yet, for such purposes, it does not seem to 

 us so desirable as the fine arbor-vitzes and the hemlock. It has, 



