FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS 103 



shrub, with box-like leaves, and bunches of small white 

 flowers with pinky tips in early summer. For using as a 

 rock plant, and in sandy peat, it is an excellent subject, 

 and should find a place in every collection. 



Lespedeza (Leguminosae). 



LESPEDEZA BICOLOR (syn Desmodium penduliflorum). 

 North China and Japan. A little-known but beautiful small- 

 growing shrub of slender, elegant growth, and reaching, 

 under favourable culture, a height of about 6 feet. The 

 leaves are trifoliate, small, and neat, and the abundant 

 racemes of individually small, pea-shaped flowers are of 

 the richest and showiest reddish- or rosy-purple. Being 

 only semi-hardy will probably account for the scarcity of 

 this beautiful Japanese shrub. It has, however, stood un- 

 injured in all but the coldest parts of these islands, which 

 should induce lovers of flowering shrubs to give it a fair 

 trial. L. bicolor flore alba (1893) is a white-flowered 

 variety. 



Leucothoe (Ericaceae). 



LEUCOTHOE AXILLARIS (syn Andromeda axillaris). North 

 America, 1765. This is of small growth, from 2 feet to 

 3 feet high, with oval-pointed leaves and white flowers in 

 short racemes produced in May and June. It is not a very 

 satisfactory species for cultivation in this country. 



L. CATESB^EI (syn Andromeda Catesbcei and .4. axillaris). 

 North America. This has white flowers with an unpleasant 

 odour like that of Chestnut blossoms, but is worthy of 

 cultivation, and succeeds best in cool sandy peat or friable 

 yellow loam. 



L. DAVISI/E, from California (1853), is a very handsome 

 evergreen shrub, of small, neat growth, and will be found 

 an acquisition where compact growing specimens are in 



