496 CORIS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



CORNUS. 



flowers crimson-brown tipped with orange- 

 yellow. 



C. grandiflora is a very fine showy 

 plant. It fully deserves its name, as its 

 flowers are very much larger than those 

 of any other Coreopsis grown in gardens. 

 Even if we eventually come to treat it 

 entirely as an annual, this will not de- 

 tract from its value, for it is a graceful 

 flower and worthy of special care. Rais- 

 ing a batch of seedlings once a year is 

 easily done. The seed may be sown at 

 any time in spring, and strong plants be 

 ready to put out into their flowering- 

 quarters in autumn. Its handsome 

 flowers are borne on strong stems 12 

 to 1 8 in. in length. In the garden the 

 flowers are brilliant and long-lasting, 

 and they are also valuable for cutting. 

 A. H. 



^yyKSA(MontpeliT C.)C. monspelien- 

 sis is a pretty dwarf plant of the Primrose 

 order, about 6 in. high, usually biennial in 

 our gardens, thriving on dry sunny parts 

 of the rock-garden, in sandy soil, and 

 among dwarf plants. South of France. 

 Seed. 



CORNUS (Dogwood: CornerMost 

 of the Dogwoods known in .cultivation are 

 shrubs or small trees. Many of the 

 Cornels are pretty shrubs, and useful in 

 the park and pleasure-garden, or along 

 watercourses, and in wild unkept spots, 

 the shoots of some giving fine colour in 

 winter ; and there are two very dwarf 

 species pretty for the bog. 



C. alba, the white-fruited Dogwood, is a 

 native of Asia, growing to a height of from 

 5 to 10 ft., with slender branches clothed 

 with bright-red bark, giving a charming 

 effect all through 

 the year, either 

 in a mass or as a 

 specimen plant 

 on a lawn or in 

 the shrubbery. 

 The flowers, 

 white or cream- 

 coloured, are in 

 crowded cymes, 

 followed by 

 whitefruits. The 

 variety Spathi is 

 one of the finest 

 in our climate, 

 at any rate of 

 shrubs with col- 

 oured leaves. In 



spring the leaves are bronzy, in summer 

 deeply and irregularly margined with gold. 

 The habit of the plant is vigorous, the 

 variegation constant, and the foliage does 

 not scorch in bright sunlight, as is the case 



Cornus alba. 



in not a few plants with golden variegated 

 leaves. 



C. alba sibirica is dwarfer in habit 

 than typical C. alba, but has still brighter- 

 coloured bark. Nothing is definitely 

 known of the origin of this charming 

 shrub. Apparently the first mention of it is 

 in Loddiges' catalogue for 1836. There is 

 a form of this variety with variegated leaves, 

 but it is not so desirable as the type. 



C. canadensis (the dwarf Cornel or 

 Bunchberry) is a pretty little herbaceous 

 plant with creeping underground rhizomes 

 and upright simple stems from 4 to 8 in. 

 high, the leaves in a whorl of four or six near 

 the summit of the stems ; the true flowers 

 are minute, but the four rather large white 

 or cream-coloured bracts conspicuous. 

 The berries are red and show well above 

 the short stems : in taste they are sweet 

 and palatable. This species grows in 

 Japan and Manchuria, and across the 

 continent of N. America, and is one of the 

 prettiest plants for the bog garden or the 

 cool parts of the rock-garden. 



C. capitata (Strawberry-tree). This 

 plant is more widely known under the name 

 of Benthamia fragifera. It is a sub-ever- 

 green tree, a native of N. India and China. 

 Unfortunately, it is not hardy in this coun- 

 try, except in Devon and Cornwall, where 

 some remarkably fine specimens exist. 

 In the gardens of Mr. R. G. Lake, Tre- 

 varrick, St. Austell, some trees are about 

 40 ft. high, and the trunk of one is 5 ft. in 

 diameter at 5 ft. from the ground ; these 

 are believed to be the largest in this 

 country. There are numbers of fine 

 specimens at Trelissick, and also in the 

 gardens of Mr. J. Rashleigh. The large 

 bracts, white tinged with pink or rose, 

 make this one of the most beautiful trees 

 when in flower, and the large clear red 

 fleshy fruits, somewhat resembling a 

 Strawberry in appearance, make it equally 

 attractive when in fruit. 



C. circinata. This is conspicuous by 

 reason of its large round leaves, which 

 are 4 or 5 in. long and 3 in. or more 

 wide, and its clusters of bright-blue 

 fruits, each being about the size of 

 a Pea. It is 3 ft. or more rarely 

 reaching 10 ft. in height, and has rather 

 rigid erect stems covered with warted 

 bark, which is at first pale green, and later 

 becomes light brown or purple. The 

 flowers are small, yellowish white in colour. 

 A native of the Eastern United States. 



C. florida (the Flowering Dogwood) is 

 very showy in flower, scarcely less so in 

 fruit, and very beautiful in autumn when 

 the leaves change colour before falling. 

 Unfortunately, we do not obtain sufficient 



