76 MY SHRUBS 



and sweetest flowers that blow. M, macrophyllay of which I 

 possess a young plant, is a gigantic deciduous species with huge 

 foliage and blossoms ten inches across. But M, Delavayi, another 

 grand plant, for which I thank a valued friend, promises to make 

 a swifter growth than the last-named. It is a superb Chinese 

 evergreen with large white flowers, still too rare in cultivation. 

 The young leaves of a fine specimen are most beautiful. 



Curtis writes of the magnolia that there is " a magnificence 

 about the plants of this genus which renders them unsuitable 

 subjects of representation in a work the size of ours," and if 

 you substitute " garden " for work, the words unfortunately hold 

 true for most of us. But you should obtain half a dozen from 

 the immense variety to be secured, or if that is too many, and 

 you prefer to represent magnolia by a single species, then set 

 M.grandiflora against the south face of your house, or M, conspicua 

 where it will have room to stretch and grow. M. conspicua alba 

 superb a is the variety to choose. To Pierre Magnol, Prefect of 

 the Botanic Garden of Montpellier, nearly two hundred years 

 ago, belongs the name of this notable and fragrant family. I set 

 them near to rhododendron in my regard. 



Malpighia belongs to the greenhouse and stove. I tried the 

 fruits of M. glabra^ the Barbados cherry, when visiting that 

 coral island in the past, and hked them little. Mandevilla suave- 

 olenSy from Buenos Ay res, is a splendid deciduous climber, with 

 flowers like a white jasmine, but three times as large and scarcely 

 less fragrant. The fruit is most curious — twin, round pods above 

 a foot long and joined together at the point. 



Manettia coccinea really will not do out of doors here. It is a 

 gem from French Guinea, and I have seen it flourishing superbly 



