DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERING SHRUBS. 473 



is found in almost every garden ; the Avhite is more scarce. 

 Grown together, they are very beautiful ; and, notwith- 

 standing they are old-fashioned, common, and vulgar, 

 with some people, we esteem them as some of our most 

 valuable and ornamental shrubs of the season. 



S. Persica. — Persian Lilac. — This species is " far more 

 delicate and pretty than the common Lilacs, both in leaf 

 and blossom. The bunches of flowers are frequently a 

 foot long, and weigh down the tender terminal slender 

 shoots so as to give the plant a very graceful appearance. 

 The white and purple^ both beautiful ; the Cut-leaved 

 Lilac has interesting and delicate foliage." The Persian 

 Lilac grows about four or five feet high. All the species 

 bloom the last of May and the first of June. 



The common Lilacs are suitable for the back of the 

 shrubbery. " This was one of the first plants introduced 

 by our forefathers, and is universally found ; often in the 

 front of ancient houses, growing almost to the size of a 

 tree." To make a small tree of it, care must be taken to 

 destroy all the suckers and keep a clean stem. The Persian 

 varieties are suitable for planting in clumps, or in the front 

 of the shrubbery. Some beautiful new varieties have 

 been imported within a few years, producing immense 

 clusters of flowers. There is one variety with double 

 flowers, but it is not an improvement. 



T AM ARIX. —Tamarisk. 



[From Tamarisci, a people who inhabited the Sp-dnish side of the Pyrenees, 

 wliere one species grows abundantly.] 



Tamarix Gallica.— French Tamarisk. — An elegant, de- 

 ciduous, hardy shrub, which, for some reason, has not re- 

 ceived much attention in New England. The foliage is 

 very graceful, and has some resemblance to that of the 

 Heath. The pink flowers are produced in lateral spikes, 



