660 VIBURNUM VINCA 



V. VENOSUM, Britton. 



A deciduous shrub, 10 to 12 ft. or even more high ; young branches 

 covered with starlike down. Leaves broadly oval or ovate, often orbicular, 

 \\ to 4 ins. long, I to 3 ins. wide; coarsely toothed, rounded to heart-shaped 

 at the base, dark green above,' paler and covered with starlike down beneath; 

 stalk slender, ^ to i^ ins. long; veins in seven to nine pairs. Flowers all 

 perfect and unfform, white, \ in. wide, on cymes 2 to 3^ ins. across, the main- 

 stalk slender, stellately downy. Fruit blue, \ to \ in. long; roundish oval. 



Native of the eastern United States ; long cultivated in gardens as 

 V. molle. It is allied to that species in its blue fruits and downy leaves, 

 but differs in its close (not peeling) bark, and its downy shoots (see also 

 V. dentatum.) 



Var. CANBYI, Rehaer. A form with thinner, less downy leaves, often 

 downy only on the midrib beneath. Leaves and inflorescence larger, the 

 latter only slightly downy. Superior to the typical V. venosum. 



Var. LONGIFOLIUM, Rehder. A cultivated form with longer leaves than 

 the preceding, downy on both sides, especially beneath. This has been 

 cultivated as V. dentatum longifolium. Apparently not known wild. 



V. SCABRELLUM, Chapman. This species is one of those involved in 

 the confusion with molle and venosum. It is very similar to the latter, but 

 differs in the reddish brown branchlets, the often obovate (sometimes oval 

 or oblong, rarely orbicular) leaves with shorter stalks and only five to seven 

 pairs of veins. The cymes are similar to those of V. venosum, but the 

 individual flower is rather larger. 



Native of the eastern United States from Pennsylvania southwards. It 

 has long been in cultivation under other names, chiefly "molle" and 

 " pubescens." 



V. WRIGHTII, MiqueL 



A deciduous shrub, 6 to 10 ft. high, with erect stems; young branches 

 smooth. Leaves 2 to 5 ins. long, i to i\ ins. wide; mostly ovate and rounded 

 at the base, but sometimes obovate and tapered at the base; slenderly and 

 often abruptly pointed, somewhat distantly toothed ; bright green and 

 almost smooth above, paler beneath with tufts of hairs in the vein-axils; 

 veins in six to ten pairs; stalk \ to f in. long. Flowers all perfect, produced 

 in May on smooth or downy-stalked, five-rayed cymes, 2 to 4 ins. across, the 

 flowers themselves scarcely stalked, white. Fruit round-ovoid, red, ^- in. 

 long. 



Native of Japan and China. This handsome-fruited species is allied to 

 V. dilatatum, but that species is at once distinguished by the extremely 

 downy character of its leaves, young branches, and inflorescence. V. Wrightii 

 is sometimes united to V. PHLEBOTRICHUM, Siebold, with which, indeed, it 

 appears to be connected by forms intermediate in several respects. The 

 typical V. phlebotrichum is, nevertheless, very distinct in the smaller, 

 narrower, ovate to oblong, shorter-stalked leaves, the more numerous, silky, 

 whitish hairs on the veins beneath, the quite smooth and slender-stalked 

 cymes, the purple calyx, and especially the very short stamens. Native 

 of Japan. 



VINCA. PERIWINKLE. APOCYNACE^E. 



Two species of periwinkle are common in gardens, and a third, 

 V. difformis, is occasionally seen. They are evergreen trailing shrubs, 



