210 Ornamental Shrubs. 



The leaves are oval or egg-shaped, about three inches in 

 length, tapering to a long point, and with many smaller 

 ones on the same branch. They are smooth above, and 

 slightly downy below, with somewhat hairy angles. The 

 autumnal coloring is very fine, as the head assumes various 

 shades of orange-brown or russet. The flowers appear 

 with the leaves, and the fruit is in a closed, bladdery-like, 

 oblong bag. These bag-like involucres form a sort of 

 strobile, in size and appearance so like that of the ordinary 

 hop cluster as to justify the use of the common name. It 

 is a handsome tree, especially when in fruit. The wood is 

 of the same general character as that of the carpinus, and 

 is used for the same purposes ; and like that it is some- 

 times called ironwood. 



DESMODIUM. 



THE desmodiums are shrubs comparatively little 

 known, and yet they are easily grown in any 

 good garden soil, and have the especial merit of 

 blooming late in the autumn and continuously until cut 

 down by frost. The branches are numerous, gracefully 

 pendulous, and when covered with flowers the effect is 

 very fine. As a rule, they should be cut back severely, 

 and if every year to the very ground the roots will remain 

 uninjured, and the following spring throw up vigorous 

 shoots productive of the result described. There are two 

 species suitable for cultivation in this country. D.penduli- 

 florum has deep rosy-purple flowers which are very attrac- 

 tive, and by many it is placed among the best of all our 

 ornamental shrubs. The fact that the flowers appear in 



