THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



RIBES. 807 



nurserymen sent it out with a new name as 

 Ampelopsis Hoggi, under which it has been 

 distributed in many gardens. It is a most 

 poisonous in plant its own country and also 

 in ours, accidents taking place from it in 

 gardens, and the cause of the illness is not 



and must not be brought much into gardens. 

 The leaves are glossy and smooth, and turn a 

 fine colour in autumn. 



R. VERNICIFERA is the famous Lacquer 

 Tree of Japan, and a graceful shrub in the 



The Venetian Sumach (Rhus cotinus). 



always known. If kept at all in the garden it 

 should be in rough places where it would not 

 have to be handled or pruned. Syn. R. toxi- 

 codendron. 



R. TYPHINA (Stag's Horn Sumach}. In its 

 own country often a small tree or shrub, in 

 ours generally a loose shrub common in gardens. 

 The leaves (and stems) are densely covered 

 with long soft hairs, and often take a fine 

 colour in autumn, which is increased by the 

 persistent crimson seed-clusters. As the plant is 

 common, it may be grown as a fine-leaved plant 

 by cutting hard back every spring, and con- 

 fining the growth to one or two shoots. It is 

 a native of sandy or rocky soil from Nova 

 Scotia and Canada southwards. There is a 

 lace-leaved form of this species also, in which 

 the segments are very fine. 



R. VERNIX {Poison Sumach). This is a 

 shrub or, in its own country, a small tree with 

 pinnate leaves, and growing in swamps in 

 southern Ontario and the coast district of the 

 Eastern States. It is a very poisonous plant, 



Rhus typhina. 



milder parts of Britain, but it is said to be very 

 poisonous. 



EIBES (Currant}. The favourite old 

 Crimson-flowering Currant (R. sangui- 

 neuni) is typical of the few species that 

 can be called ornamental shrubs. This 

 shrub is so common that I need only 

 allude to the fine varieties of it that 

 are to be obtained from the best nurseries. 

 Perhaps the best form is that named 

 King Edward VII., with very large 

 flowers of intense colour. Deep and 

 rich in colour is the variety atro-rnbens 

 (called also splendens), though the flow- 

 ers and racemes are smaller. The 

 crimson-red of its blooms forms a striking 

 contrast to the variety named albidtim, 

 whose flowers are almost white, though 

 slightly suffused with pink. The double 

 sort (flore-pleno) is an admirable shrub, 

 with very double flowers, which last a long 

 time in perfection, and, as they expand 

 later than the common kind, prolong the 

 season. The variety glutinosum is dis- 

 tinguished by clammy foliage and large 

 pale rosy-pink flowers. A new form with 

 golden leaves has recently come to light, 

 but is not yet generally obtainable. 



The Yellow-flowering, or Buffalo Cur- 

 rant (R. aureuni), deserves to be more 

 commonly grown. It is a different shrub 

 from R. sanguineum, having larger 

 flowers of a rich yellow, which appear 

 about the end of April or beginning of 

 May ; the leaves also are smaller, more 

 deeply lobed, and of a paler green. The 

 variety prcecox is so named because it 

 flowers earlier than R. aureum, and is 

 most desirable on that account, and the 

 variety serotinum, because it flowers late. 

 Serotinum is even finer than the type. 



R. Gordonianum, a hybrid between R. 



