HYDRANGEA 627 



Unfortunately it is not very hardy, and is often killed back more or less in 

 winter, the flowers being borne on the new shoots which spring from the base. 

 It thrives well in the west country. 



f 

 H. LONGIPES. 'Franchet. 



A shrub of low, spreading habit, 2 to 3 ft. high ; young shoots more or less 

 covered at first with loose down. Leaves rough to the touch, roundish ovate, 

 with a heart-shaped or rounded base, and an abrupt, slender point ; 3 to 7 ins. 

 long, one-half as much or more wide ; sharply and prominently toothed, both 

 surfaces, but especially the lower one, covered with short flattened bristles ; 

 stalks slender, bristly when young, and from half to fully as long as the blade. 

 Corymbs flattish, 4 to 6 ins. across, the sterile flowers f to i^ ins. across, white. 

 Fertile flowers small, white ; flower-stalks bristly. Seed-vessel roundish, 

 smooth, with the calyx at the top. 



Native of Central and W. China ; introduced by Wilson for Messrs Veitch 

 in 1901. It is a lax-habited shrub, with remarkably long-stalked leaves like 

 those of petiolaris. It was first described by Franchet in 1885, and by a 

 curious coincidence Mr Hemsley described it again as a new species two years 

 later, adopting the same name. 



H. PANICULATA, Siebold. 

 (Flora Japonica, t. 6 1.) 



A deciduous shrub, sometimes tree-like, and 12 or 15 ft. high ; young shoots 

 at first downy, becoming smooth. Leaves mostly in threes, oval or ovate, 

 tapered at both ends, or rounded at the base, toothed ; 3 to 6 ins. long, i^ to 

 3 ins. wide ; with scattered, flat, bristly hairs above, and pale bristles on "the 

 veins beneath ; stalk 75- to i in. long. Panicles pyramidal, varying in size 

 according to the strength of the shoot, usually 6 to 8 ins. long, two-thirds as 

 wide at the base. Outermost flowers sterile, f to i^ ins. wide, white changing 

 to purple-pink ; the small fertile flowers yellowish white ; flower-stalks downy. 

 Blooms in August and September. 



Native of Japan, where it is sometimes a tree 25 ft. high, also of China. 

 From all other cultivated Hydrangeas except H. quercifolia this is distin- 

 guished by the shape of its inflorescence. It is a hardy and very ornamental 

 shrub. 



Var. GRANDIFLORA, Siebold. A form introduced from Japan about 1870, in 

 which all, or nearly all, the flowers are sterile and large, forming a closely 

 packed pyramid of blossom at first white then purplish pink, finally brown. 

 This variety is undoubtedly the most showy of Hydrangeas in localities where 

 H. hortensis cannot be grown. To obtain it at its best it should be planted in 

 good loamy soil, rich, but not too stiff. The shoots should be pruned back in 

 spring before growth recommences, and after the young shoots are a few inches 

 long the weakest should be removed. If very large panicles are desired the 

 shoots may be reduced to six or ten on plants I to 2 ft. high more for larger 

 plants. A mulching of rotted manure should be given when growth is well 

 started. Such treatment will produce panicles 18 ins. high, and 12 ins. thiough 

 at the base. The typical form may be treated in the same way. To many 

 people's taste these monstrous panicles may be objectionable, and to my mind 

 a bush moderately thinned, or not at all, is more elegant and pleasing. Hard 

 pruning and thinning tends to shorten the life of these plants. 



Yar. PR.ECOX, Rehder. This flowers six weeks in advance of the type, at 

 least in the United States, where I have seen it in bloom in the second week 

 in July. 



