The Lunatic Asylum 



same mania for leaves curled into rings, but are very dif- 

 ferent in appearance otherwise. A charming little narrow- 

 leaved Laurel, Prunus Laurocerasus angustifolius, has 

 been very sick since its arrival, but is settling down and 

 growing a new crop of its tiny leaves. Several Ivies might 

 be moved here, but are quite harmless and look very happy 

 elsewhere, so Hedera Helix, vars. minima and congesta, 

 remain in the rock garden, but var. Russelliana has gone 

 here. It is the most distinct in appearance of all these 

 curiously, small-leaved Ivies, of which minima is most 

 commonly seen. They are extremely interesting morpholo- 

 gically, for they combine the two-ranked arrangement of 

 leaves of the juvenile, creeping condition with the free 

 woody habit of the fruiting mature state, in which a 

 f phyllotaxy is normal. 



These stiff, free shoots, with the tiny leaves placed very 

 closely one above the other, and in two ranks only, have a 

 very striking appearance. 



Russelliana grows taller towers of leafy shoots than 

 any other of them, and makes a curiously upright, narrow 

 plant if carefully kept from falling out by its own weight. 

 As a contrast I have planted the var. obovata close to it. 

 This makes a round-headed bush, and has remarkably short 

 and rounded leaves. Where it touched a block of stone 

 my bush put out a climbing shoot which has now nearly 

 covered the rock, and it is interesting to have both the 

 creeping and tree form thus on one little plant. 



Two forms of Butcher's Broom make another good 



contrast ; one is Ruscus aculeatus, var. lanceolatus, a very 



elegant form I get from Continental nurseries, but little 



known in England. Its cladodes are very narrow and 



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