230 GENERAL REVIEW. 



several pretty seedling woodbines, and among others Lonicera 

 japonica hybrida, a hybrid its parents being L.japonica and 

 L. flexuosa. L. brachypoda aurea-reticulata produces fruit 

 now and then in our gardens, and by using pollen from this 

 plant to fertilise the evergreen species as Z. sempervirens, 

 &c., a race of golden-variegated varieties might possibly be 

 obtained. The Chamaecerasus group have already been 

 improved by hybridising, and numerous forms of L. 

 (Chamcecerasus) tartarica have been raised in Continental 

 gardens by M. Prevost and others ; and L. alpina, L. 

 xylosteon, and one or two other species, might be used for 

 crossing with these. Many seminal varieties of Lonicera tartar- 

 ica (see ' Revue Hort.,' 1868, p. 392) have been obtained by 

 M. Billiard of Fontenay-aux-Roses, and the following four vari- 

 eties are figured in the work just cited : L. tartarica speciosa, 

 bearing large rosy flowers ; L. tartarica elegans, flesh colour ; 

 L. tartarica bicolor, white and rosy lilac; L. tartarica gracilis , 

 white. In addition to those named, M. Billiard has raised 

 numerous other seedlings scarcely less attractive. 



Viburnum (Gueldres Rose, Laurestinus). A rather ex- 

 tensive group of shrubs, natives of Europe, temperate Asia, 

 and N. America, two species, V, lantana, the " Wayfaring 

 tree," and V. opulus, or " Gueldres Rose," being natives of 

 Britain. V. tinus, or Laurus tinus, as it was formerly called 

 by botanists, whence its now popular name, is one of the most 

 handsome of our winter-flowering shrubs, and is a native of S. 

 Europe, and in Corsica it forms extensive woods. The 

 Gueldres Rose, or " Snowball tree," as it is popularly called, 

 and several other kinds, owe the beauty of their blossoms to 

 an abortive development analogous to that in the conspicuous 

 flowers of Hydrangeas ; and if some inquiring mind can hit on 

 the primary cause of this production of enlarged and infertile 

 florets in these groups, we may possibly be enabled to add 

 numerous other showy plants to our gardens. One of the 

 finest species is V. macrocephalum, which rivals the Hydrangeas 

 in size and beauty. These plants may be propagated by 

 cuttings of the young wood in autumn, or by layers, and by 

 seed when it is produced. Seedlings of V. lantana when a 

 year old form excellent stocks for the other kinds. Graft by 

 splice-grafting or veneering on or below the neck of the stock 

 under glass. V. macrocephalum succeeds well on the Laures- 

 tinus as a stock, cleft-grafting in this case being most suc- 

 cessful. 



