480 PLANTS AND MAN 



foliage, privet serves admirably as a hedge plant. Forsythia is a 

 favorite flowering shrub of early spring which produces masses 

 of golden yellow flowers each with a deeply four-parted corolla. 

 Most of the species come from China and Japan. Lilac, a native 

 of Eurasia, has long been a familiar and favorite shrub of eastern 

 gardens; the white or purple flowers, each with a funnel-shaped 

 and four-lobed corolla, are grouped in large pyramidal clusters. 



r A 



Fig. 295. — The Olive Family includes such ornamental shrubs as Forsythia (A) 



and lilac (B). 



Scotch broom is an Old World member of the Pea Family 

 cultivated as a shrub in the warmer portions of the country. The 

 leaves are inconspicuous and transitory, while the stems are green 

 and carry on photosynthesis. During the flowering season the 

 stiff' stems are covered with yellow pea-like blossoms. Oleanders, 

 members of the Dogbane Family, come from the Mediterranean 

 and Asiatic regions; they are warm-climate shrubs bearing large 

 clusters of red, white or yellow flowers. 



Ornamental Vines 



A few vine-like plants are common as ornamentals. Familiar 

 to inhabitants of temperate United States are clematis, wistaria. 



