260 BERRIES 



red, like the pyr acanthus, but exactly the hue and 

 quality of rosy coral. Were the spindle a rare exotic 

 we should rave about it; standing in clear sunshine, 

 which turns its leafless boughs to silver, it gleams 

 against a dark background of yew with an effect of 

 marvellous beauty. Yet it is a native British shrub, 

 abundant enough in some English and Irish districts, 

 and establishing itself freely when introduced into 

 Scotland, although it seldom occurs to anybody as 

 worth planting. We cram our woodwalks and shrub- 

 beries with common rhododendrons and so-called 

 laurels, which are not laurels at all, but evergreen 

 plums (Prunus lauro-cerasus), till a wearisome mono- 

 tony makes one place resemble another as nearly as 

 possible. There are plenty of innocent persons who 

 believe this evergreen plum to have furnished the 

 original meed of heroes. Of course, it is not the true 

 triumphal laurel; that is the sweet bay (Laurus 

 nouns'), belonging to a widely distant order the 

 Lauracece the mock laurel being a member of the 

 rose tribe. Japan sends us plenty of evergreen spindles 

 also ; you may see nearly half a mile of seawall at 

 Brighton planted with Euonymus japonicus, which has 

 an advantage over the British species in being ever- 

 green, but vastly inferior to it in producing no lovely 

 fruit. The common spindle rejoices in one notable 

 attribute, that of holding a place in the very limited 

 list of ornamental shrubs that withstand the attacks of 

 rabbits. 



Another British shrub at present very attractive by 



