182 AUTUMNAL COLOUR 



R. typhina laciniata, and R. cotinoides. As regards 

 the first, Mr. Bean remarks that ' it has little autumn 

 beauty with us ' ; * which shows that Kew Gardens, 

 notwithstanding their vast resources of skill and 

 experience, do not afford infallible guidance for all 

 parts of the realm. Both in western Scotland and at 

 MiddJeton Park in the upland of Oxfordshire this 

 Asiatic species stains its broad pinnate foliage with 

 dyes hardly inferior in brilliancy to the deadly Poison 

 Ivy (Rhus toxicodendron). The common Stag's-horn 

 Sumach (R. typhina) puzzled me for many years until 

 I learned from Mr. Bean to distinguish between the male 

 and female plants, the latter being far the finer owing 

 to its richly coloured fruit. In the form laciniata, 

 the pinnate foliage is beautifully subdivided. In the 

 splendid R. cotinoides, also, I met with disappointment 

 at first, from planting it in soil far too rich for its 

 requirements. It comes to its own, however, if treated 

 the reverse of generously. 



The Persian Parrotia flushes into fine shades of 

 orange, red and purple ; but it does not retain its 

 leaves long after the change of colour, and it has a 

 most provoking habit of sprawling growth, which sets 

 all pruning and training at defiance. It is related to 

 the witch hazel and liquidamber, both of which have 

 fine autumnal colouring. 



Of exotic trees that retain their verdure till the later 

 autumn, when our native oaks assume their russet 

 robes and many other trees are quite bare, I may 



1 Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the BrititU Isles, by W. J. Bean, 

 vol. ii. p. 394. 



