CLIMBING PLANTS 199 



scented — these are not often produced, however, unless 

 the plant is grown against a wall ; but it is quite hardy, 

 and was one of Fortune's discoveries in China. 



I have reserved to the last two plants of extreme 

 beauty, but very seldom seen. One is the smilax or 

 sarsaparilla, which I think in all its forms is the most 

 beautiful climber I know. The flowers are small and 

 inconspicuous, and I never saw the berries produced in 

 England, but the foliage of all the species cannot be 

 surpassed, growing, as it does, in long wreaths, bearing 

 leaves of exquisite shape and bright green colour. The 

 South European S. aspera is well known, and in the 

 Riviera the sprays Avith the bright berries form the 

 most useful Christmas decoration ; but there are other 

 species from China, Japan, America, and Australia, of 

 greater beauty and equally hardy. And with the 

 smilax I join the asparagus — not our common edible 

 sort, but some of the many little-known, but most 

 beautiful kinds, of which some can be grown as hardy 

 plants. For the most part, gardeners know only the 

 edible species and two or three grown as greenhouse 

 basket-plants ; but Mr. Baker's list (our latest and best 

 authority) gives ninety-seven distinct species, of which 

 some may rank among our best hardy climbers. I 

 grow three such, and have no doubt there are others 

 equally good and hardy. The three I grow are A. 



