XXIII 

 THE BUDDLEIAS 



Buddleia globosa . . , . Orange-ball Tree 

 variabilis 



var. magnified 

 veitchiana 

 Colvillei 

 lindleyana 

 nivea 

 ,, officinalis 



I 



scent of honey lay heavy on the air, domi- 

 nating the whole atmosphere as it wafted 

 from the long, gorgeous flower spikes on the 

 branches of a tall shrub that was almost a tree such 

 spikes of flowers, too, suggesting a luxuriance tropical, 

 exotic spikes more than a foot long and two or three 

 inches thick in the biggest part, each a revel of tiny 

 mauve flowers with orange-red centre, a thousand, fifteen 

 hundred, two thousand even, going to the making 

 up of each of these glorious clusters. The habit of 

 the shrub, the leaves with their dark green surface 

 and silvery back, even the strong scent proclaimed a 

 Buddleia were they not once known as " Honeycomb 

 Trees " ? But far indeed in appearance are those purple 

 spikes removed from the bright orange balls of the 

 L 165 



