MY SHRUBS III 



This would be a treasure, but I know not if it is in cultivation. 

 There are other varieties of less note, the best perhaps being 

 <S. rosea^ 3. pretty thing with dense, pale pink inflorescence. 



Smilax aspera, the Prickly Ivy of Southern Europe, I have 

 collected about Mentone. It makes a mighty mass on a wall, 

 and the little flower clusters are abundant ; but the shrub has 

 not set its beautiful bunches of berries here. The well-known 

 Sarsaparilla is made from the roots of a Chinese Smilax. S. 

 ornata must be a beautiful foliage plant, but I have only seen 

 Nicholson's figure of it. S, australis differs little from S, aspera, 

 but has more showy spray of white blossoms. 



Of Solanunij the familiar S. crispum, from Chili, makes a large 

 shrub on a wall, and will stand well in a shrubbery. The blue 

 flowers are like those of a potato, the fruits red. S. jasmtnoideSy 

 another South American, will prosper best in half shade, and 

 gladdens an east and west wall in autumn with racemes of pure 

 white blossoms. S, Wendlandii^ from Costa Rica, is the monarch 

 of the species. A cold house is the right place for it ; but in very 

 favoured corners, with winter protection, it may stand out of 

 doors in the south. The flower is a beautiful mauve approaching 

 blue, and is as large again as that of S. crispum. 



Sollya heterophylla is a treasure from Australia — a climbing 

 evergreen for a warm wall — ^which covers itself with innumerable 

 little blue bells in summer time. Far more dainty even than this 

 is Sollya Drummondii, a plant from fairy-land direct. The wee 

 blue flowers tremble among the lace- work of foliage. Give it a 

 wall to climb on, and keep this gem in a cold house. 



Sophora, including Edwardsia, is beautiful in all its manifesta- 

 tions. I have a good specimen of the deciduous Pagoda-tree, S. 



