220 Ornamental Shrubs. 



grance. They do not break forth until near the first of 

 July, thus adding from two to four weeks to the season 

 when these beautiful plants are in bloom. Established 

 singly on the lawn or in the field, this, all things consid- 

 ered, is the most striking and showy of the whole family. 

 It is of fairly rapid growth, but should be given a good, 

 rich soil to make sure of best results. So far as observa- 

 tion in this country has gone, it steadily improves with 

 age, thus affording promise of long-continued usefulness 

 as one of our best large ornamental shrubs. 



, josikcea. The discovery of this species was made 

 by the Baroness Josika on the banks of a rocky river in 

 Transylvania, and so it took that lady's name. It was at 

 one time supposed to have been a mere garden variety, 

 but later information is to the effect that the home of 

 the species is in the depths of a Hungarian forest far away 

 from the haunts of man, where it is said that " for miles 

 and miles where S. josikcea grows neither a house nor 

 a hut is to be seen." And even there it was not freely 

 distributed, and must have been of comparatively recent 

 origin or else has been exceedingly non-aggressive in its 

 character. At its best, it grows about five to seven 

 feet high, and has bluish-purple flowers in comparatively 

 small panicles, blossoming in May among the earliest 

 of its class. The foliage is large, slightly wrinkled, very 

 bright green, and almost glossy on the upper surface 

 while quite light on the under side. The botanists are 

 not quite agreed whether this is an independent species or 

 a slightly varying form of 6 1 . emodi, a member of the family 

 longer known, and which came from the Emodus moun- 



