344 List of Shrubs 



Shepherdia. 5. argentca, Buffalo Berry. A hardy native, a slender, 

 upright shrub of five to fifteen feet, sometimes in tree form; its silvery- 

 white, delicate foliage and light-colored bark is useful for contrast 

 effects with darker shades. It is rendered still more attractive by its 

 profuse compact clusters of small, yellow flowers (April, May), and its 

 bunches of edible crimson fruit (acid), borne only on female shrubs. 

 The female can be told from the buds, which are longer and more 

 slender, the males being short and blunt. It is a good hedge plant. 



This, and still more its hardier, rusty-colored congener, S. Cana- 

 densis Nutt. (82), which is, however, less showy, with red and yellow 

 berries, are adapted to cover sterile soils, gravelly banks, etc., but they 

 are not quite easily handled. 



Sjrringa. Lilac. A well-known genus, with some fifteen species and 

 very many varieties, from Asia Minor, Persia, Japan, and China, 

 familiar in all gardens. The genus name in this country' is unfortunately 

 used as a common name for PhUadelphus, the mock orange, thus occa- 

 sioning confusion. They are vigorous growers, sometimes assuming 

 tree form, hardy (a number of them to the Canadian Northwest), and 

 frugal, adapting themselves anj'where. They are most ready, early 

 bloomers (April, May), with large clusters of variously colored, fra- 

 grant flowers, which are their chief attraction. They are planted in 

 groups, hedges, borders, and as single specimens. With proper selec- 

 tion, they may afford a continuous flower show from April to June and 

 even July. The foliage of some species is liable to mildew in late sum- 

 mer. Pruning in winter and spring would destroy the summer's bloom- 

 ing, as the flowers are borne in terminal buds, but when bloomed off 

 the inflorescence should be removed, because they suffer much from 

 seed-bearing, which exhausts the reserve materials. 



Six species have served as the basis for the many varieties and hybrids 

 of the horticulturists. 



5. vulgaris Linn. (83), the common Lilac, a small, rather bushy tree 

 (ten to twelve feet), is familiar to ever}'body, having been in cultivation 

 for three hundred years. The foliage comes early, and remains green 

 long into the fall, and the fragrant lilac flowers, which are mostly 

 terminal, appear in May. 



Among the more than one hundred very ornamental varieties arc 

 — alba (83a), with white flowers; alba grandi flora (836), a smaller bush, 

 with large, white flower clusters; Marie Legraye (83c), a dwarf, with an 

 abundance of pearl-white blossoms; Charles X (83(f), a remarkably 



