220 MY GARDEN 



is one of the finest of the Sumachs. It grows into a tall, 

 full shrub, or small tree, with bright, light-green leaves. 

 The purple flowers in summer are not very conspicuous, 

 but later become what the botanists call "exceedingly 

 plumose," giving the tree the appearance of a huge puff 

 of brown smoke. R. typhina laciniata, the Cut-leaved, 

 Staghorn Sumach, is a beautiful sort, with delicate 

 foliage, which turns magnificently in the fall and bears, 

 besides, great clusters of dark crimson fruit. 



Barberries I have not before mentioned, for while they 

 flower early the pendent fruit that is the chief of their 

 charms does not come until the autumn. The common 

 Barberry B. vulgaris, so intimate a feature of the New 

 England landscape, but not native to it, having been 

 introduced from Europe many years ago, is a good sort, 

 with small yellow flowers in spring and dangling, bril- 

 liantly scarlet berries in the autumn. The purple- 

 leaved Barberry, B. vulgaris var. purpurea, is a tall-grow- 

 ing shrub of splendid colour. Best known of the family 

 is, perhaps, B. Thunbergii, the small, thorny shrub so 

 much used for low hedges. Its foliage colours richly, 

 and in winter the scarlet fruit dances gayly in the wind 

 above the snow-shrouded garden. 



Many of the Elders, Sambucus, are fine in the late 

 months of the year, turning a soft yellow and bearing 

 ornamental fruits. The common Elder, S. canadensis, is 

 a good shrub and bears dark reddish-purple berries. S. 

 nigra var. aurea has yellow leaves and flat clusters of 



