OREODAPHNE. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



SYNTHYRIS. 



957 



glossy green leaves and white flowers. 

 This is a more variable plant, Auerswaldii 

 being a distinct form from Spain, and 

 brevicaulis a Swiss variety needing a 

 moister place if it is to do well. 



OREODAPHNE. See Umbellularia. 



PLANERA (Water Elm). At one 

 time the Zelkowas were classed with 

 Planera, but botanists now recognise only 

 one kind, P. aquatica, a tree of the 

 second size, seldom exceeding 50 ft. in 

 height, and rare even in its own country 

 the southern part of the United States. 

 It is hardy in Britain, thriving best in 

 sandy soils beside water, but it will grow 

 almost anywhere except in hot, dry places. 

 It makes a rounded, much-branched head 

 of slender, dark-grey shoots, bearing 

 small, Elm-like leaves, and inconspicuous, 

 reddish flowers which appear at the same 

 time in early spring. The seeds are 

 leathery and nut-like, not winged as in 

 the Elm. Increase by seeds or layers, 

 and not by grafting on the Elm, as is too 

 often done. For groups beside water 

 there are few more graceful trees than 

 this, but it is far from easy to get it true, 

 other trees such as Zelkowas and forms 

 of the Common Elm being substituted 

 for it even by nurserymen. 

 * POTERIUM. A small group of herbs 

 or shrubby plants of the Rose order, 

 confined to north temperate regions, and 

 worthy of some attention for the rougher 

 parts of pleasure grounds and for the 

 wild garden, their dense spikes of flower 

 being attractive and useful for cutting. 

 P. canadense is a good back-row plant 

 for the border, 4 to 5 ft. high, with 

 deeply-cut grey-green foliage and long 

 spikes of creamy-white flowers from the 

 tip of every shoot during autumn. 

 Several plants should be grouped to 

 make a good bush-like mass. P. sitchense 

 is much shorter, rarely exceeding 2 ft., 

 and bearing purplish flowers ; this grows 

 best in damp ground. P. tenuifolium, 

 with spikes of white flowers, is also worth 

 growing, while P. Sanguisorba or Salad 

 Burnet, is a pretty native plant with 

 green or purple flowers, growing in dry 

 places. 



QUINCE. See Cydonia. 



ROBINIA KELSEYI (Kelsey*s False 

 Acacia]. This is a new kind found by 

 Mr. Kelsey, of Boston, and said to form 

 a compact shrub pretty in flower and 



having its seed-pods covered with red 

 bristles. For some time this plant will 

 doubtless be propagated by grafting on 

 the common -Acacia, but the sooner we 

 get it from seed the better. 



SERRATULA ATRIPLICIFOLIA. 



To gardeners the plants of this genus 

 were previously without interest, but in this 

 new plant from Central China we seem 

 to have a hardy perennial of some value. 

 It is a bold plant, standing rigidly erect 

 to a height of 5 or 6 ft., with large 

 heart-shaped leaves and purple thistle- 

 like flower heads, wrapped in overlapping 

 bracts. They expand in early autumn 

 but are formed long before they open, 

 and a pretty feature of the buds is a fine 

 network of silky-white threads similar to 

 that seen in the Cobweb Houseleek, 

 running from point to point of the bract- 

 covered calyx as an exquisite protective 

 curtain. 



SIMPLOCUS. A group of shrubs or 

 low trees allied to Styrax, only one of 

 which is of any importance in our 

 gardens. This is S. cratcegoides, a com- 

 pact hardy shrub of 10 or 12 ft. found in 

 Asia from the Himalaya to Japan 

 whence all our plants have come. The 

 leaves vary much in form and size, but 

 are mostly ovate, scantily covered with 

 down on the under side, and finely 

 toothed. The small white flowers, com- 

 ing in dense clusters during May, are of 

 no great beauty, but give place to brilliant 

 blue berries of fine appearance ; so far, 

 however, these do not seem to have been 

 produced in this country. 



SYNTHYRIS. A group of hardy 

 little herbs from the Rocky Mountains, 

 allied to Wulfenia, and forming neat tufts 

 of elegant foliage with dense spikes of 

 blue, purple, or white flowers. The best 

 is S. reniformis, with tough, prettily-cut 

 leaves, and spikes of bluish-purple flowers 

 a foot high. These come in early spring 

 or sometimes even in autumn, and the 

 plant does best in a cool, shady place 

 with free soil. There is a good variety 

 with white flowers. S. rotundifolia, from 

 shady pine woods of Oregon, is a much 

 smaller plant, with broad, leathery leaves 

 and few flowers. S. plantaginea is a 

 dwarf kind like the last, with bright blue 

 flowers. S. pinnatifida is not so pretty 

 as reniformis and is a weaker plant, with 

 purple or white spikes of flower 9 in. 

 high. Seed. 



