THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. PLAGIANTHUS. 755 



found 1 , 500 ft. high on the eastern side of the 

 Rocky Mountains, this answering for its hardi- 

 ness. 



P. PYRENAICA (Pyrenean Pine). A fine, 

 rapid-growing tree, with bright green foliage. 

 A native of the Pyrenees and Spanish moun- 

 tains, and also in the south of France ; 60 ft. 

 to 80 ft. high. P. Brutia is supposed to be 

 a form of this. 



P. RESINOSA (Red Pine}. A tall Pine, loo 

 ft. to 150 ft. high, Newfoundland to Manitoba, 

 and southwards through the New England 

 States. From its northern area of habitation 

 this should be a hardy and thriving Pine in 

 Britain. 



P. RIGIDA (Torch Pine}. A forest Pine 

 reaching a height of 80 ft. on sandy and rocky 

 places in Canada, Kentucky, Virginia, and the 



Old tree, Scotch Fir. 



Eastern states. This Pine is hardy and a rapid 

 grower in Britain, growing in moist places less 

 likely to suit the greater Pines. 



P. SABINIANA (Grey-leaved Pine}. A very 

 interesting Californian Pine, inhabiting the dry 

 and warm hills and the coast ranges and foot 

 hills of Sierra Nevada ; not often a very high 

 mountain tree. The grey foliage gives the 

 wild trees the appearance of clouds in the 

 distance. 



P. STROBUS ( White Pine : Weymotith Pine}. 

 One of the noblest forest trees of the northern 

 world, sometimes reaching a height of over 170 

 ft. , with a girth of trunk of 30 ft. , though often 

 found much smaller. Owing to the cutting of 

 the woods in Canada and Northern America, 

 it is seldom seen in its native dignity in the 

 settled parts. It forms dense forests in New- 

 foundland and Canada, and westwards and 

 southwards along the mountains. Certain 

 varieties are catalogued, but they are of little 

 use beside the parent tree. 



P. SYLVESTRIS (Scotch Pine}. Our native 

 Pine and, in its old state, one of the most beau- 

 tiful and useful we can ever have. It is of 

 very wide distribution in Northern, Arctic, 

 and mountain regions, and also on the moun- 

 tains of Italy and Greece. The Russian 

 variety is considered a more erect and stronger 

 grower. A great number of varieties is men- 

 tioned in books and catalogues, and some 

 hybrids, compact and dwarf varieties, including 

 variegated ones, none of any value com- 

 pared to the wild tree. This Pine sows 

 itself freely in rough heaths and sandy ground, 

 and thrives there. 



PIPTANTHUS (Nepaul Laburnum}. 

 P. nepalensis is a Pea-flowered shrub, 

 with large deep-green leaves like those 

 of the Laburnum. It is hardy enough for 

 walls, and in southern and warm localities 

 withstands our winters without even this 

 protection, but is not the most desirable 

 of plants. It has evergreen foliage, and 

 in early summer long dense clusters of 

 large bright yellow flowers similar to 

 those of the Laburnum, but larger. It 

 succeeds best in light soils, and is easily 

 increased by seeds, layers, or cuttings of 

 the ripened shoots in autumn. Hima- 

 layan Region. 



PITTOSPORUM. Evergreen shrubs, 

 natives of New Zealand, Australia, and 

 China, few of them in cultivation and 

 those usually only seen in southern gar- 

 dens or else in sheltered places near the 

 sea, where they form evergreen bushes 

 and trees of some beauty and distinctness 

 of form. P. tobira is a good white 

 flowering shrub in some southern gardens, 

 and is among the plants worth growing 

 in tubs or vases for placing out in the 

 summer. P. undulatum is a graceful 

 evergreen, and P. Mayi and P. Colensoi 

 are also very pretty at Castlewellan and 

 other gardens in districts with a climate 

 allowing of the cultivation of the half 

 hardy evergreens. 



PLAGIANTHUS. Handsome 

 flowering shrubs of the Mallow order, 

 most of which belong to Australia, and 

 are tender, but three kinds come from 

 the mountains of New Zealand, and suc- 

 ceed against walls in the milder parts of 

 Britain. The best is P. Lyalli, with 

 leaves of a long heart-shape and large 

 pure white flowers with a bunch of golden 

 stamens, drooping gracefully in clusters 

 upon long stems from the tips of the 

 previous season's growth. They open in 

 June, when the plant resembles nothing 

 so much as a beautiful large-flowered 

 cherry. After flowering, the stems should 

 be cut back and trained, and free growth 

 encouraged, which lasts far into autumn ; 

 in fact, the leaves often hang nearly all 



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