Beautiful Flowering Shrubs 



tall bush, whose stiff, erect branches, clothed with smallish 

 leaves, are crowned by clusters of flowers. Though the 

 flowers are not much larger than a shilling, their attractive- 

 ness is enhanced by the possession of many very long 

 stamens which, massed in their clusters, form areas of 

 brilliancy. The three styles are almost as long as the 

 stamens. The specific name hircinum, is from the Latin 

 kircus, a goat, and refers to the peculiar and rather 

 disagreeable smell that is given off when the leaves 

 are bruised between one's fingers. This goat-like smell 

 is a ready means of identification. This handsome shrub 

 is so well adapted to British conditions that as a 

 garden "escape" it has established itself wild in a few 

 places in England. Really it is a native of the Medi- 

 terranean, and was first recorded in English gardens 

 about 1640. 



A yet handsomer shrub is H. Hookerianum, called 

 after Sir Joseph Hooker, who discovered it on his tour 

 in the Sikkim Himalayas, but actually introduced into 

 Britain from Assam by the collector, Thomas Lobb. 

 The leaves are small, often not much more than an inch 

 long, but the cup-shaped flowers are very large (two 

 inches across) and distinctly beautiful, though the sta- 

 mens, gathered into five bundles, are not so prominent 

 as in some species. As a rule only cue flower is open 

 at a time in each cluster. 



In H. triflorum, a new importation hailing from Java, 



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