230 AZARA BACCHARIS 



A. MICROPHYLLA, Hooker fil. 



(Gardeners' Chronicle, 1874, i., fig. 21.) 



An evergreen shrub or small tree, the branchlets covered with a very dense 

 dark down, and arranged on the same plane in two opposite rows. Leaves 

 shining dark green, small, and very abundant, produced in pairs, one of 

 each pair being about thrice as large as the other ; the larger ones are 

 obovate, \ to i in. long, usually more or less toothed, sometimes entire ; 

 the smaller ones more rounded. Flowers tiny, numerous, fragrant, borne in 

 clusters at the leaf-axils ; sepals green, the more conspicuous stamens deep 

 yellow. Fruit a small, red, globose berry. 



A delightful small tree, and one of the most elegant of all evergreens, 

 owing to the small leaves and the frond-like arrangement of the branches. 

 In the west of England it has reached nearly 30 ft. in height, and even 

 at Belvoir, in Leicestershire, I have seen it nearly 20 ft. high. The flowers 

 open in February if the weather be mild, later if severe ; and their vanilla-like 

 fragrance is perceptible yards away from the bush. The species, however, 

 is not absolutely hardy. In 1895 it was killed to the ground at Kew, and 

 in 1908-9 all the leaves came off and the smaller branches were destroyed. 

 Still it has never been killed outright, and is decidedly the hardiest of the 

 genus ; introduced from Chile by Richard Pearse for Messrs Veitch, 

 about 1861. 



BACCHARIS. TREE GROUNDSEL. COMPOSITE, 



A large genus of shrubs, small trees, and herbaceous plants, found 

 exclusively in the New World. With the exception of the two species 

 here described, the introduced species are too tender for all but the 

 mildest parts of the kingdom. Leaves alternate. The flower-heads have 

 no ray florets, and flowers of one sex only are found on a plant. The two 

 following are easily accommodated in almost any soil, and are quite easily 

 increased by summer cuttings. Many of the species have resinous 

 secretions on the leaves and young wood, which give them, in the 

 countries where they grow, a special value as firewood. 



B. HALIMIFOLIA, LinncBus. 



A deciduous, unisexual shrub, ultimately 12 ft. high, and as much in 

 diameter ; of somewhat loose habit ; young branches angular, smooth. 

 Leaves grey green, alternate, very variable in shape and size, broadly obovate 

 to narrowly oval, coarsely and unevenly toothed, except those at the flowering 

 portion of the shoot, which are entire ; i to 3 ins. long, to i| ins. wide, 

 tapering at the base to a stalk to J in. long ; both surfaces are freely sprinkled 

 with resin dots, and rather viscid. Flower-heads produced in October in 

 axillary, stalked clusters, about five in a cluster. The shoots of the year 

 branch at the top into numerous short twigs furnished with untoothed leaves, 

 from the axils of which the clusters of flower-heads are produced, so that the 

 whole forms a large rounded or cylindrical leafy panicle 3 to 6 ins. across. 

 The blossom has little beauty, being of a dull white ; but the numerous thistle- 

 like heads of fruit of the female plant, with their silky white pappus, are rather 

 striking. 



Native of Eastern N. America ; introduced in 1683, but not ornamental 



