308 Ornamental Shrubs. 



and hairy on the under surface but smooth above. The 

 flowers are in long, erect spikes resembling in form those 

 of the hyacinth, are mostly white, and in July cover the 

 entire bush, which at that time is one of the most beautiful 

 to be seen on the lawn or in the garden. But it is not to 

 be planted indiscriminately, as it throws up suckers from 

 the roots, forming in a few years larger groups than in 

 many situations might be desired. The proper place for 

 it, therefore, is where there is plenty of room to be devoted 

 to its occupancy, where it may be left to itself in the 

 certainty that it will become a thing of beauty scarcely 

 surpassed in its season by tree or shrub. It has the 

 advantage also of being quite indifferent to soils and 

 ordinary climatic influences, for it will grow in the stiffest 

 clay as freely and as surely as in ordinary garden loam. 



P. rubra, known in some sections as the red buckeye, 

 and in others as the red or scarlet horse-chestnut, has 

 elliptic-oblong leaves, tapering to a point at both ends, the 

 leaflets numbering from five to seven, mostly in fives, 

 smooth and slightly hairy in the axils of the nerves beneath. 

 The flowers are produced in long and rather open panicles 

 at the ends of the stems and branches, and in May or 

 early June, and being red never fail to attract attention. 

 The botanists do not agree whether it should be classed as 

 a pavia or a horse-chestnut, and so it is placed in either 

 section as the judgment of the horticulturist may dictate. 

 For this reason it has several synonyms, among which are 

 ^Esculus pavia, sEsculus rubicunda, and sEsculus carnea. 

 There are several varieties, one a dwarf, another with 

 pendulous branches, and still another with deeply and 



