694 



ORNUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



OS MAN THUS. 



the hardy species important for choice 

 borders and bulb beds, z>.,pyramidale and 

 latifolium. Among other kinds worth 

 growing are nutans (free in grass), narben- 

 nense, sororium, exscapum and uinbella- 

 tum natives mostly of S. Europe, N. 

 Africa, and Asia Minor. The fine, O. 

 arabicum is not to be grown out of doors, 

 save in very warm gardens in the south. 



Ornus. See FRAXINUS. 



OROBUS (Bitter Vetch}. Often pretty 

 plants of the Pea Order, flowering usually 

 in spring. They are suitable for the 

 mixed border, for the rougher parts of 

 the rock-garden, or for naturalising. 

 We mention only the distinct kinds. 



0. aurantius is a handsome plant, 18 

 to 24 in. high, with orange-yellow flowers 

 in early summer. O. tauricus is a nearly- 

 allied species, also with orange flowers. 

 Both require to be well established before 

 they bloom freely, and they are useful for 

 borders in ordinary soil. 



0. lathyroides is a lovely border plant, 

 1 8 to 24 in. high ; its bright blue flowers 

 borne in dense racemes ; increased freely 

 by seeds, and thrives in ordinary 

 soil. 



0. vernus (Spring Bitter Vetch}. One 

 of the most charming of border flowers. 

 From black roots spring healthy tufts 

 of leaves with two or three pairs of shin- 



Spring Bitter Vetch (Orobus vernus). 



ing leaflets ; the flower-buds appearing 

 soon afterwards, almost covering the plant 

 with beautiful purple and blue blooms in 

 April. 



Besides the type there are varieties : 

 tenuifolius, with narrow leaflets and 

 flowers similar, though the habit is more 

 lax ; flaccidus, similar to tenuifolius, but 

 brighter and denser, and with broader 

 leaves ; cyaneus, the most attractive, 

 larger and possessing a strange inter- 

 mixture of colours, some a bright blue, 

 others a greenish-blue. Then there is 

 a double-flowered kind and a pure 



white variety, all thriving in deep warm 

 soils. 



Some other species useful for borders 

 and the rock-garden are O. pubescens, 

 O. canescens, O. varius, and O. Fischeri, 

 but O. vernus and its forms are the 

 handsomest. All are of easy culture in 

 ordinary garden soil, and are increased by 

 seeds or division of the root. 



ORONTIUM (Golden Club\-O. aquati- 

 citm is a handsome aquatic perennial of the 

 Arum family, 12 to 1 8 in. high ; in early 

 summer its narrow spadix is densely 

 covered with yellow flowers, which emit a 

 singular odour. The plant may be grown 

 on the margins of ponds and fountain- 

 basins, or in the wettest part of the bog- 

 garden. North America. 



OSMANTHUS. Handsome ever- 

 green shrubs, few hardy in our islands ; 

 but some of these are of value : 



0. aquifolium. In a hardy botanical 

 sense all the Osmanthus in Britain are 

 forms of this species. They can scarcely 

 be called varieties, for it is not unusual to 

 see a plant with two so-called varieties 

 on one branch. For convenience and 

 brevity's sake, however, and especially as 

 they keep true to character in the majority 

 of instances, the common nursery names 

 are here kept up. O. aquifolium is a 

 native of China and Japan. In some of 

 its forms it is curiously like the Holly, 

 and is frequently mistaken for it. It is, 

 however, of looser growth and less thickly 

 furnished with leaves, and is also of 

 dwarfer, more shrubby habit. What is 

 generally accepted as the typical form of 

 this species is the one with the largest 

 and broadest leaves. In this the leaves 

 are 3 in. to 4 in. long, of oblong or oval 

 shape, pointed or toothed, but not so 

 deeply as the smaller-leaved forms known 

 as ilicifolius. They are of a deep green 

 colour and of very firm texture. This 

 plant is, according to my experience, the 

 least hardy of this set. It flowers in 

 autumn, and the blossoms are fragrant. 



0. ilicifolius. This is by far the most 

 common and useful kind, and is, more- 

 over, a valuable shrub for town planting. 

 The leaves are usually much smaller than 

 those of the plant just described and may 

 be easily recognised by their deep lobing. 

 The largest specimen at Kew is 9ft. high, 

 with a spreading base and foliage of the 

 deepest and glossiest green. The leaves 

 average \\ in. to 2 in. in length and are 

 cut half way to the midrib into several 

 sharply pointed lobes. Some of the 

 leaves, however, are quite entire, others 

 lobed on one side only, but most of them 

 have the upper half lobed, tfte lower half 



