STYLOPHORUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. SYMPHORICARPUS. 879 



river banks, and in shady places. At its best 

 it is one of the most beautiful of flowering 

 shrubs, though more sensitive to cold and 

 never so vigorous as the other kinds, rarely 

 exceeding 10 ft. in height and with a looser 

 habit of growth. In this kind the flowers are 

 finest of all but less abundant, measuring 4 ins. 

 across, with pure white shell-like petals, some- 

 times more or less streaked with crimson 

 towards the base, and with red-stamens in the 

 centre. Their season is variable, for while in 

 warm places the first flowers open in May, 

 elsewhere they wait for June or July. 



STYLOPHORUM. 5. diphyllum is a 

 handsome Poppywort, which somewhat re- 

 sembles Celandine (Chelidonium majus\ 

 but is a much finer plant. Its foliage is 

 grayish, and its large bright yellow flowers 

 are freely produced in early summer. It 

 is best in moist places and in partial shade, 

 where its roots can ramble in good loose 

 soil. Its height varies from 6 in. in a dry 

 place to nearly 2 ft. in moist and shady 

 places. N. America. 



STYRAX. Ornamental trees and 

 shrubs belonging mostly to warm coun- 

 tries, but a few of the hardier kinds 

 succeed fairly well with us, especially 

 against warm walls and in light moist 

 soils. They are summer-leafing, of neat 

 habit, and with abundant flowers like little 

 white bells depending from the under-side 

 of the branches, after the manner of the 

 Snowdrop Tree, to which they are related. 

 The commonest and best kind is S.japoni- 

 cum, but there are others worth growing 

 though seldom planted. Increase by 

 layers, seed, and cuttings of the softwood 

 in heat, or of partly-ripened shoots under 

 a handlight in the open air, later in sum- 

 mer. Peat is not necessary for these 

 plants where the natural soil is good and 

 free, but heavy soils are against them and 

 they dislike chalk and much lime. The 

 following kinds are in cultivation : 



S. AMERICANUM. Though long known 

 among us, the American species have not been 

 a great success in Britain, however good where 

 they do well. Even in America the Japanese 

 species are now preferred, as being more easily 

 grown. S. americamtm, a shrub of 6 to 8 ft., 

 grows in wet places in South Carolina and Vir- 

 ginia, with nodding white flowers from April 

 into June. S. californicum, a shrub of 5 to 8 

 ft. from the mountains of California, bears 

 larger flowers, but is tender with us. S. pul- 

 verulentum from the southern states, is a little 

 shrub coming very near aniericanutn, but with 

 downy leaves and only about half its height. 



S. GRANDIFOLIUM. A pretty shrub of 8 to 

 10 ft. high and the best of the American kinds 

 for this country. To do well it needs a warm 

 and rather dry place even in our southern gar- 

 dens, to ripen the shoots in autumn, without 

 which the flowers are scanty and the plant 



liable to injury. The leaves are 3 to 6 ins. 

 long, tapering to a point and hairy on the 

 underside, and when freely borne during early 

 summer the fragrant white flowers render this 

 a truly beautiful plant. Mountains of Georgia 

 and Carolina. 



S. JAPONICUM. The most useful and hand- 

 some of the group, hardy almost anywhere in 

 the south, but tender in the midlands unless 

 grown upon a sheltered wall and protected in 

 sharp weather. The habit of the plant is 

 characteristic, the branches spreading flatly 

 into slender much-branched shoots, covered 

 with ovate glossy leaves and myriads of little 

 white bells dangling clear of the leaves upon 

 their long stems, which spring from the under- 

 side of the branches. These are followed so 

 freely by little green seed-pods as to give a 

 quaint appearance far into the autumn. The 

 plant grows slowly at first and does not like 

 moving, but is otherwise of easy culture, and 

 begins to flower when small. In Japan it is a 

 tree 40 ft. high, but so far we have none ap- 

 proaching this height. Another Japanese kind, 

 S. serrulatum, comes very near this, but is 

 less hardy. There is a pretty form of S. 

 japonicnui in which the buds are flushed with 

 rose-colour. 



S. OBASSIA is another Japanese plant, with 

 large broadly-oval leaves sometimes 8 ins. 

 across, and racemes of fragrant white flowers 

 like a Snowdrop and opening a little earlier 

 than in S. japonicum. Being of difficult in- 

 crease it has remained scarce, although hardy 

 in sheltered places, two fine plants having 

 grown for years without injury at Coombe 

 Wood. In Japan it is 30 ft. high, with bold 

 leaf effect even when out of flower. 



S. OFFICINALE. A pretty shrub from the 

 region of the Mediterranean, measuring 12 to 

 15 ft. high, with sweet flowers like the Orange, 

 opening as little clusters of 5 or 6 in May or 

 June. It needs the same care as S. japonicum, 

 flowering and fruiting freely against a sheltered 

 wall, but it is not so showy. 



SWERTIA (Marsh Swertia). S. 

 perennis has slender erect stems, i to 3 ft. 

 high, terminated by erect spikes of 

 flowers, which are grayish-purple spotted 

 with black, and produced in summer. It 

 is not showy, but interesting for the bog- 

 garden, or may be naturalised in damp 

 peaty soil. Seed or division. 



SYMPHORICARPUS (Snowberry). 

 The common Snowberry (S. racemosus] is a 

 familiar shrub, but we would exclude it 

 from a choice selection ; also the Wolf 

 Berry (S. occidentalis) ; and .S'. vulgaris, 

 the Coral Berry, or Indian Currant, which 

 has small purplish berries in clusters. 

 The flowers of these kinds are not showy, 

 their growth is coarse, and they smother 

 choicer things. Their chief value is for 

 undergrowth in woods, or for ornamental 

 covert (as birds eat the berries), and they 

 will flourish anywhere. If admitted to 



