532 SPIILEA 



S. chamaedrifolia is a rather variable species with a very wide natural 

 distribution; its most westerly habitat is E. Europe, and it reaches thence to 

 Siberia, Dahuria, Manchuria, and Japan. In all its forms it is an attractive 

 and reliable shrub, usually escaping late frosts and flowering during May; 

 var. ulmifolia opening towards the end of the month. It renews itself by 

 sending up every year strong erect sucker growths from the ground, which 

 produce flowers on short twigs the following year; and, to give these their 

 best chance, sufficient of the older shoots should be pruned out after flowering 

 to enable them to develop freely and strongly. 



S. SCHINABECKII, Zabel, is a handsome hybrid between var. ulmifolia and 

 S. trilobata. It is 6 ft. high, a twiggy bush with white flowers in stalked 

 umbels at their best in June. 



S. FLEXUOSA, Fischer (S. chamasdrifolia var. flexuosa, Maximoijuicz}, is 

 closely allied to the above, but is distinguished by the more conspicuously 

 angled (or winged) stems, the dwarfer habit, the smaller narrower leaves 

 simply-toothed on the upper third or half only, sometimes almost entire, and 

 by the flowers .being fewer in the cluster. Native of S. Siberia; probably 

 nothing more than a variety of chamaidrifolia. 



S. CHINENSIS, Maximowicz. 



(S. pubescens, Lin d ley ; Bot. Reg., vol. 33, t. 38.) 



A shrub 3 to 5 ft. high, of dense very leafy habit; young shoots downy. 

 Leaves i to if ins. long, ^ to i^ ins. wide; varying from rhomboidal and 

 tapering at both ends, to broadly ovate with a nearly truncate base, some- 

 times obscurely three-lobed ; the upper part sharply and coarsely toothed, the 

 teeth gland-tipped; upper surface furnished with scattered hairs, under-surface 

 clothed with yellowish felt; stalk j to ^ in. long. Flowers white, nearly ^ in. 

 across, produced during June in stalked umbels or corymbs i to 2 ins. wide; 

 flower-stalks and calyx downy. The leaves remain very late on the branches. 



Native of N. China and allied to S. cantoniensis, but readily distinguished 

 by its downy shoots, flower-stalks, and felted leaves, the last named being 

 considerably broader in proportion to their length than those of cantoniensis. 

 It is not very hardy, and is killed to ground-level in hard winters. 



S. CORYMBOSA, Rafinesque. 



A dwarf shrub, i to 3 ft. high, with smooth, erect, mostly unbranched 

 stems. Leaves of firm texture, oval, ovate or roundish; i^ to 3 ins. long, 

 two-thirds as wide ; coarsely and often doubly toothed in the upper half ; 

 smooth on both surfaces and rather glaucous beneath; stalk \ to J in. long. 

 Flowers white, \ in. wide, borne on the shoots of the year in dense, rounded, 

 branching corymbs 2 to 4 ins. across ; seed-vessels smooth, sepals erect at 

 the fruiting stage ; flower-stalks very downy. 



Native of the United States, from the mountains of Georgia north to 

 New Jersey. A handsome shrub allied to S. BETUL^EFOLIA, Pallas (under 

 which name it is often grown), flowering from June to August. Like that 

 species it renews itself by stems pushed from the base annually, and these 

 should be encouraged by pruning out the older wood. In the true S. 

 betulaefolia the sepals are much reflexed at the fruiting stage. 



S. CRENATA, Linnceus. 



(S. crenifolia, C. A. Meyer.") 



A shrub 3 to 5 ft. high, bushy, with slightly angular stems ; young twigs 

 at first more or less downy, becoming smooth later. Leaves narrowly to 



