1 82 Ornamental Shrubs. 



The English wayfaring tree, or hobble-bush, V. lan- 

 tana, known also as the rowan tree, is a shrub ten to 

 twenty feet high, with small white flowers, in large, flat 

 cymes, appearing in May or June. The fruit, which re- 

 mains long on the stem, is a bluish-black berry, somewhat 

 flattened and quite sweet to the taste. The leaves are 

 two to four inches in length, rough or crinkled in appear- 

 ance, downy, and often with hairs on the under side. The 

 inner bark is acrid, and both it and the fruit have been 

 much used in medicine. It is indigenous to countries as 

 far north as Scotland and Siberia, and widely distributed. 

 The rowan tree was long supposed to be a protection 

 against witches, and in times when men put faith in gob- 

 lins and spirits intent on mischief its efficacy was seldom 

 doubted ; for that reason it was planted in close proximity 

 to dwellings and stables. 



The American species, V. lantanoides, differs somewhat 

 from the above, as it appears less in tree form and more 

 as a low, bushy shrub. It grows wild in dark, moist, 

 rocky woods as far north as New Brunswick, and thence 

 south through portions of New England to the mountains 

 of North Carolina ; and often makes a beautiful show of 

 flowers in unfrequented and desolate places. The leaves 

 are from four to six inches across, shaped much like the 

 English variety, smooth above but downy along the 

 veins. The flowers are in broad heads of white, and are 

 followed by crimson fruit, afterward turning black. Breck 

 says: "The first time we beheld the crooked, straggling 

 shrub in flower in its native haunts, a dark swamp, we 

 thought it one of the most ornamental shrubs in the 



