574 TAMARIX 



nomenclature is more obscure and involved, many of the species needing 

 microscopical examination for their identification. 



The tamarisks are easily cultivated, and none of them appear to find 

 the peculiar conditions under which they occur wild essential, although 

 perhaps they do not thrive so well in their absence. Although some of 

 them come from hot, dry regions, the saline substances which are absorbed 

 by the plant in such places prevent excessive transpiration. But when 

 these are absent from the soil, and nature's safeguard against too great 

 a loss of moisture no longer exists, a more regular supply of moisture at 

 the root becomes necessary. This simply means that in inland districts 

 they need a fairly good, deep loam. No shrubs are more easily propa- 

 gated than these. It is only necessary to make cuttings of the previous 

 summer's wood about the thickness of a lead pencil and, say, 8 ins. long, 

 and place them in the open ground in early winter, burying about two- 

 thirds of the cutting. On the south coast of England, where hedges are 

 often made of T. anglica, the process consists of simply cutting out pieces 

 the length and thickness of a stout walking-stick, sharpening them at one 

 end, and driving them in the ground where the hedge is to be. 



For exposed seaside places there are few shrubs so beautiful and so 

 conveniently managed as the tamarisks. In gardens the late summer or 

 autumn flowering species may be cut back every February if it be desirable 

 to keep them low. 



T. ANGLICA, Webb. ENGLISH TAMARISK. 



An evergreen shrub, 3 to 10 ft. high, inhabiting maritime districts on the 

 coasts of England and France. In habit it is erect, the young wood reddish 

 brown. Leaves minute, bright green; ovate-lanceolate, narrowed towards 

 the base, smooth. Flowers in slender racemes I to 2 ins. long, white tinged 

 with pink outside, each flower in. across, ovate in bud, and produced in the 

 axil of a narrow bract. Stamens five, the disk on which they are inserted 

 not showing rounded teeth (as in gallica) between the points of attachment. 



Closely allied to T. gallica and by some botanists treated as a form of it, 

 the English tamarisk differs chiefly in the shape of the flower-bud, and in the 

 absence of lobing on the disk on which the stamens are inserted. It may 

 be seen at some of our seaside resorts, especially at Felixstowe and Bognor, 

 where great masses of it, planted and wild, make a charming display in late 

 summer and early autumn. It evidently prefers maritime rather than inland 

 positions. On the coasts of Dorset and Devon it flowers up to Christmas. 



T. GALLICA, Linnczus. 



An evergreen or deciduous shrub or small tree, in this country 10 to 12 

 ft. high, but as much as 30 ft. in more southern localities. Branches erect, 

 the young ones with smooth, purplish bark. Leaves lanceolate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, broad at the base, glaucous. Racemes slender, cylindrical, i to 

 2 ins. long, densely set with flowers, which are pink when open, globose in 

 bud. Stamens five, the disk on which they are attached having ten shallow, 

 rounded lobes. 



The Gallic tamarisk is a species of very uncertain limits, both botanical 

 and geographical. By some writers it is made to include plants growing as 

 far apart as N. Africa and China, and some make it include the English 



