Cnapter 27 



ORNAMENTAL PLANTS 



An acquaintance with the native trees, shrubs and flowers 

 described in previous chapters of this book is of Httle value when 

 encountering the exotic ornamental plants found in American 

 homes, gardens and parks. Few of our native trees and shrubs 

 and scarcely aily of our herbaceous flowering plants have been 

 "domesticated" and adapted for ornamental purposes. These are 

 a strange assemblage of foreign plants which have become 

 adapted to our climate and soils; they come from distant homes 

 in China, India and Japan; from Africa and the Mediterranean 

 region; from South America, Central America and Mexico. In 

 some cases related plants of the same family occur in our native 

 flora, but in others there are not even family relatives belonging 

 to the United States. Most of these introduced species are grown 

 for their flowers, but in some cases the fruit, foliage or even the 

 general habit, make the plant of ornamental value. 



Ornamental Trees 



With the exception of the palms, the majority of our common 

 ornamental Angiosperm trees belong to the Dicot group. In 

 temperate portions of the United States broad-leaved trees which 

 are cultivated for their flowers, berries or for their foliage include 

 the magnolia, redbud, dogwood, horsechestnut, hawthorn, 

 mountain ash and varieties of cherry, apricot and almond. In 

 the warmer portions of the United States grow also the acacia, 

 eucalyptus and palms. 



The MAGNOLIA, related to the buttercups, belongs in a family 

 {Magnoliaceae) which has such eastern relatives as the cucumber 

 tree and the tulip tree. Our native species of magnolia or bay 

 tree are found from North Carolina south to Florida and west to 

 Texas (cf. fig. 212). Magnolias have glossy dark green leaves (ever- 



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