The Deutzias 



The flowers are white all the Deutzias have white 

 flowers, though occasionally they may be tinged with 

 pink or purple and they are gathered into clusters. 

 The Deutzias belong to the family of the SaxifragacecB^ 

 and there are five united sepals, five separate petals, 

 ten stamens within the spreading petal bell, and a 

 central seed-case with three club-shaped columns rising 

 from it. The filament of each stamen is white and 

 broad, with a pair of shoulders, and often the shoulders 

 of the ten touch, so that a bell is formed within a 

 bell. In this case the anthers rise each on a short 

 stalk, as a head on a neck, between the shoulders. 

 Round the top of the seed-case glistens a thick ring 

 of orange honey tissue, which gives a central touch of 

 colour when one peeps into the bell and provides a 

 lure for bees, the Deutzias' chief visitors. The fruit is 

 a capsule containing several seeds. A double-flowered 

 variety, Deutzia crenata flore pleno, where each blossom 

 is a little white rosette, is often seen in gardens, 

 sometimes with the edges tinged with purple. " The 

 Pride of Rochester" is also a lovely double-flowered 

 variety botanically known as D. c. candidissima. 



An alternative species, almost as often cultivated, is 

 Deutzia gracilis the Japanese "Snow Flower" where 

 the branches are more slender and graceful and the 

 foliage more finely cut. This, too, came from Japan, 



being sent here in the middle of the nineteenth century 



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