480 DESFONTAINEA DEUTZIA 



means of increase. Few shrubs produce a more gorgeous display than 

 this when laden with scarlet and yellow flowers. 



DESMODIUM TILLEFOLIUM, Don. LEGUMINOS,E. 



A semi-woody plant, which sends up annually from a woody root-stock 

 a number of erect stems 2 to 4 ft. high, more or less downy. Leaves 

 trifoliolate, with a main-stalk 2 to 3 ins. long. Leaflets nearly smooth on 

 both sides, or very downy beneath, the end one larger than the others, 

 broadly obovate; 2 to 4 ins. long, ij to 3 ins. wide; the side leaflets half 

 to two-thirds as large, and broadly ovate. Panicles terminal, 8 to 12 ins. 

 high, the lower sections borne in the uppermost leaf-axils. Flowers J in. 

 long, varying from pale lilac to dark pink, borne on a slender stalk not 

 quite so long as itself. Calyx y 1 ^- in. wide, hairy, with broad shallow teeth. 

 Pod 2 to 3 ins. long, \ in. wide \ six- to nine-jointed, with the scalloping on 

 the upper side characteristic of the genus. 



Native of the Himalaya at 9000 ft. ; the specimens now at Kew were 

 raised from seed obtained from Kashmir in 1879. I* flowers from 

 August to October, but needs a hot summer to bring out its best qualities. 

 In cold, wet seasons the flowers do not open at all. Propagated by 

 division of the root-stock in spring. The late Sir Henry Collett called 

 this a "protean plant"; the form in cultivation is one whose leaves are 

 not very downy. 



Desmodium is a genus of well over one hundred species, many of which 

 are tropical, others herbaceous. Not one cultivated species that is hardy 

 can be termed a pure shrub, as the stems die back to ground-level every 

 year. The genus is allied to, and has some similarity to, Lespedeza, 

 but the rounded, one-seeded pods of the latter clearly distinguish it from 

 Desmodium. 



DEUTZIA. SAXIFRAGACE^E. 



An Asiatic group of deciduous shrubs allied to Philadelphus, but very 

 distinct from that genus in having ten stamens with winged stalks, often 

 toothed or forked at the top in the starry hairs or scurf with which most 

 parts of the plants are furnished ; and in five (instead of four) petals and 

 calyx-lobes. Leaves opposite. Flowers either in racemes, as in gracilis 

 and scabra, or in corymbose panicles. 



The Deutzias are some of the most beautiful shrubs flowering in June. 

 Nearly all the species mentioned in the following descriptive notes are 

 quite winter-hardy ; but, unfortunately, they are easily excited into growth 

 by unseasonable warmth in the early spring months, and are often, 

 especially in low-lying districts, injured and their crop of flowers ruined 

 by late frosts. In elevated gardens they usually escape. They like a 

 good loamy soil and plenty of moisture. The only pruning required is 

 an occasional (say biennial) thinning out of the old worn-out branches. 

 As they flower on the shoots made the previous year, no shortening back 

 can be done except at the loss of bloom. They are very easily propagated 

 by cuttings of half-ripened wood placed in gentle bottom heat about the 

 end of June or later. 



