486 GARDEN PLANTS. PART II. 



English fields, besides several beautiful cultivated species. We 

 have but two in this country, and these, I believe, by no means 

 among the most ornamental. 



1. S. corymbosa. Native of China ; a small shrub of slender 

 twiggy growth, about two feet high ; very pretty, when in full 

 blossom in the Hot season, with its small white flowers, borne 

 in crowded compact heads on the ends of the twigs. The 

 great detraction from the beauty of the plant is the bareness 

 of leaves on the stems, except at their extremities. 



2. S. nutans. In general character very similar to the pre- 

 ceding; but with somewhat smaller and differently formed leaves ; 

 bears also similar flowers, but is rather shy of blooming. 



SAXIFKAGACE^]. 



Saxifraga. 



1. S. sarmentosa. A pretty herbaceous plant, with small 

 round leaves, variegated above, and of a dark-red colour on 

 their under surface ; usually grown in England in pots sus- 

 pended from the window-frame, whence it lets drop its delicate, 

 thread-like, red runners in such profusion as almost to give the 

 appearance of matted hair. Plants have been introduced into 

 this country from China by Mr. Fortune, but they do not seem 

 to thrive here, nor manifest any tendency to send out the 

 runners, which constitute the principal feature of their beauty. 



2. S. sp. An unnamed herbaceous plant in the Calcutta 

 Botanical Gardens, bearing a strong resemblance to S. crassifolia 

 of the cottage-gardens in England, having large, fleshy leaves, 

 and bearing heads of small rose-coloured flowers ; of not much 

 beauty. 



HYDBANGEACE.E. 

 Hydrangea. 



1. H. mutabilis. This plant, which in the Channel Islands 

 becomes a large, noble, bushy shrub, six or eight feet in height, 

 is not uncommon in Calcutta, but is grown in a pot, and never 

 attains to more than a foot and a half high, nor bears those 

 magnificent trusses of bloom which render it so conspicuous an 



