FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS 441 



NAME. 



V. Traversii 



Viburnum 



COUNTRY OR ; COLOUR 



ORIGIN AND AND 



NATURAL ORDER.! SEASON. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



New Zealand 



Caprifoliaceae 



Pale 

 mauve ; 

 June and 



July 



V. dentatum (Arrow- 

 wood) 



I North America. ! 

 I Introduced in 1763 j 



White ; 



June and 



July 



The hardiest of all the shrubby 

 Veronicas ; it is a dense box- 

 like bush, with a profusion 

 of dense spikes of flowers. 

 In the neighbourhood of 

 London this is a thoroughly 

 good shrub of easy cul- 

 ture. 



The Viburnum family includes 

 several beautiful shrubs, and 

 of the thirty or forty species 

 and varieties in cultivation 

 at least six are indispensable, 

 i.e. no good shrub garden is 

 without them. Most of them 

 are vigorous in growth and 

 easily propagated ; they like 

 a fairly rich soil and moisture 

 at the root. Several of the 

 American species grow natu- 

 rally in damp, more or less 

 shady woodlands. Taken 

 collectively the Viburnums 

 possess a variety of attrac- 

 tions. Some species are 

 evergreen, and thus useful 

 Winter plants ; others are 

 amongst the most beauti- 

 ful shrubs for their flowers, 

 others again, like our native 

 Guelder Rose (V. Opulus), 

 have showy fruits ; finally 

 the foliage of several of the 

 deciduous species dies off 

 rich red or yellow tints. 



The American Viburnums are 

 not apparently so valuable in 

 the British Isles as in their 

 native country. Most of 

 them are handsome vigorous 

 bushes, but without the same 

 flower attractions as plica- 

 turn, macrocephalum, and 

 the Guelder Rose (V. Opu- 

 lus var sterile). Many of 

 them, however, bear very 

 showy fruits in their own 

 country, and the leaves turn 

 to beautiful Autumn tints. 

 V. dentatum is deciduous, 

 free-growing, leaves bright 

 green, deeply toothed and 

 strongly veined. The trusses 

 are 3 inches to 4 inches 

 across, the flowers white, and 

 fertile. It is one of the hand- 

 somest as regards flowers of 

 the American Viburnums. 

 The dark -blue fruit ripens 

 neither abundantly nor regu- 

 larly in England. 



