SELAGINELLA 117 



RUSCUS 



R. androgynus (Semele androgyna), Climbing Butcher's 

 Broom, a native of the Canary Islands, is very ornamental 

 with its fresh green, pinnate foliage, like gracefully droop- 

 ing branches. It thrives in any rich soil ; but, attaining to 

 very large dimensions, it is unsuitable for an ordinary con- 

 servatory, being seen to great advantage in such exceptional 

 positions as against the circular staircase in the Temperate 

 House at Kew. It does not object to shade. 



SCHIZANDRA 



A small genus of chiefly deciduous, climbing, hardy 

 shrubs from the Far East, allied to Magnolia. The best 

 known is S. chinensis (Maximowiczia chinensis) y which 

 attains to 20 feet, and has rosy-carmine flowers, produced 

 in summer, and succeeded by clusters of scarlet berries, 

 which persist during the greater part of the winter. It 

 needs a sheltered place to do well, but is hardy in most 

 localities if protected in winter. A rich sandy loam with 

 partial shade is best, against a trellis or wall. Propagation 

 by cuttings of the ripened shoots. 



SELAGINELLA 



A very large genus of plants with a superficial resem- 

 blance to ferns, but belonging to a different natural order 

 (Lycopodiacese). Most of the species are tropical, about a 

 hundred being in cultivation ; but many of them are much 

 alike. The only one of note as a climber is 5. Wildenovii, 

 a native of India, whose reddish stems attain as much as 



