Beautiful Flowering Shrubs 



white flowers are nothing, but the fruit which is borne 

 in great abundance is charming, for the whole shrub is 

 studded with semi-translucent berries of the most 

 beautiful hues, a rich rose-pink being, perhaps, the 

 most noticeable. " The Pernettya," says Mr. Bean, " is 

 about the only shrub that has been cultivated and 

 selected with a view to the beauty and variety of its 

 fruit apart from its edible qualities. In Kew, the fruits 

 are never touched by birds, although in some gardens 

 they are said to be stripped in winter, possibly by 

 pheasants." This shrub's name was given to it by 

 M. Gaudichaud to commemorate a certain Dom Pernetty, 

 a traveller who wrote an account of a voyage to the 

 Falkland Islands, " a work remarkable for its interest 

 as well as for its candour and exactness," said Dr. 

 Lindley. Dom Pernetty noted this shrub specially for 

 its hard-pointed, leathery leaves ; it was " Bruykre a 

 feuilles pointues" to him, and this characteristic is 

 embodied in its specific name, mucronata (mucro a 

 sharp point). Its seeds were first brought to Great 

 Britain in 1823, having been collected at Valdivia by 

 a Mr. Bridges, but little notice was taken of it. About 

 thirty years ago an Irish nurseryman began specially 

 cultivating it, and he produced some beautiful varieties 

 carrying diverse-hued fruit that evolved fresh interest 

 in it. 



Its flower differs from the usual type of Erica 



66 



