CHAP. V. ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUBS, ETC. 521 



Nyctanthes. 



N. Arbor-tristis. Ear SingJiar. A tree about ten feet high, 

 of most harsh and disagreeable aspect, common all over India : 

 deserves some situation in the garden where it can be least seen 

 for the boundless profusion of small, star-like, white flowers, 

 with orange centre, which it bears each night from September 

 to November, scenting at that time the atmosphere for a wide 

 distance around with a delightful honey-like fragrance. The 

 flowers all drop off in the morning, and the ground becomes 

 perfectly carpeted with them. It is of very rapid growth, and 

 the great long woody shoots which it bears annually should be 

 cut completely in after flowering. It is propagated by seed. 



EHKETIACE^]. 

 Heliotropium. 



H. Peruvianum HELIOTROPE. In most works upon gardening 

 the Heliotrope is stated to be a shrub two feet or less in height. 

 This gives a very poor and inaccurate notion of what the plant 

 is in localities most congenial to it. At Ootacamund, for in- 

 stance, in the Nilgherries, in some gardens it forms a fine com- 

 pact verdant hedge, three or four feet high ; and in one garden 

 in particular a plant might be seen as much as ten feet in height 

 and forty feet in circumference in the form of a dense bush, 

 loaded in its season with blossoms. In the plains of India, 

 however, it never attains to a large size. It succeeds very well 

 in the open border, but is sometimes apt to perish from excess 

 of wet in the Kains. It blossoms in the latter part of the Cold 

 weather with its trusses of small lilac flowers, so well known for 

 their sweet Vanilla-like fragrance. 



The most successful mode of cultivating this plant I have 

 found to be as follows : Sow the seed in October ; pot the 

 seedlings off singly into large pots in which they are to remain 

 permanently, and treat them in the way directed for producing 

 the Tree mignonette ; that is, nip off the undermost leaves and 

 buds as soon as they appear, and allow the plant to run up 

 with a clean stem to about four feet high, supporting it with a 

 bamboo stake. When arrived at that height allow it to form a 

 head. Thus formed it will require no further trouble, as it will 



