ORNAMENTAL PLANTS 



479 



yellow flowers which give rise to the familiar red berries. A 

 related species is native to eastern United States where it has 

 earned a notorious reputation by being the host of the wheat 

 rust fungus. Hydrangea (fig. 294) is a shrubby member of the 

 Saxifrage Family with conspicuous flower clusters. Cultivated 

 varieties come from China and Japan although native species 

 occur in our southern coastal plain states. Each flower of the 

 cluster has four or more sepals and petals which may be white, 



Fig. 293. — Barberry has 

 spiny twigs and rosettes of 

 small leaves. 



Fig. 294. — Hydrangea is a 

 shrubby ornamental of the Saxi- 

 frage Family. 



pink or blue in color. The azaleas and rhododendrons are 

 among the few native shrubs which are grown for ornamental 

 purposes. The flame azalea, with yellow or orange colored 

 flowers, belongs to our southeastern woodlands. Some of the 

 more brilliantly colored varieties have been evolved from Chinese 

 or Japanese species. 



The Olive Family, which includes our native ashes as well 

 as the introduced olive trees, furnishes our gardens with privet, 

 lilac and Forsythia (fig. 295). Privet is an Eurasian shrub with 

 small opposite leaves and white or green flowers with funnel- 

 shaped corollas; due to the dense production of branches and 



