12 FLOWERS AND GARDENS OF MADEIRA 



white flower is the sweetest flower that grows, and 

 fills the whole air with its delicious fragrance. 

 Diosma ericoides, a well-named plant from dios, 

 divine, and osme, small ought perhaps to have been 

 given the first place, as it will never fail at every 

 season of the year to bring fragrance to the garden. 

 The tender green of its heath-like growth, when 

 crushed, yields a strong aromatic scent, and no 

 Portuguese garden is complete without its bushes 

 of Diosma. If allowed to grow undisturbed, it will 

 make shrubs of considerable size, and in the early 

 spring is covered with little white starry flowers ; 

 but as it bears clipping kindly, it is especially dear 

 to the heart of the Portuguese gardener, who will 

 fashion arm-chairs, or tables, or neat round and 

 square bushes, in the same way as the Dutch clip 

 their yew-trees. Rosemary also ranks high in 

 their affections, not only for its sweet-smelling 

 properties, but also because it can be subjected to 

 the same treatment. Sweet-scented verbenas are 

 also favourites, and in spring the tiny white flower 

 of the small creeping smilax suggests the presence 

 of orange-groves by its almost overpowering scent. 

 Camellias, white and pink, single and double, 

 are favourite flowers, but as a rule the shrubs are 

 subjected to drastic treatment and cut back, so as 



