FLOWERING SHRUBS 



WILD RED CURRANT Ribes rubrum (L.). 



This is said to be identical with our cultivated Garden 

 Currant. In its wild state the fruit is small, very acid, and 

 not unpalatable or unwholesome, but has a flavor of the 

 astringent bark. This woody taste is common to many of 

 our fruits in their natural state, but seems to be much 

 reduced by care and cultivation. 



JUNE-BERRY SHADBUSH Amelanchier Canadensis 

 (T. & G.). 



The June-berries are not very ornamental shrubs, but 

 their fruit is quite pleasant and wholesome, especially when 

 mixed with acid berries, such as currants and cherries. 

 The tallest of the genus is the Shadbush, which is so called 

 from the flowers appearing when the shadflies first rise from 

 the water in the month of May. 



The elegant white flowers of this pretty tree (for it rises' 

 to the height of twenty feet) adorn the banks of our rivers 

 and lakes and enliven the surrounding woods, breaking the 

 monotony of their verdure by the contrast of the snow-white 

 pendent buds and blossoms. The branches of the Shadbush 

 are somewhat straggling; the leaves of a bluish -green, ovate.-* 

 and serrated, white underneath; at first they are of a red- 

 dish-bronze, but they take a bright tint of green when 

 more mature. The flowers are on slender footstalks, the - 

 petals narrow and wavy. The calyx remains persistent, as; 

 in the pear and apple. The fruit is of a dark red, sweet 

 and pleasant. This tree loves gravelly banks and may;/ 

 usually be found near rivers. It is the tallest of the June- 

 berries ; it thrives well under garden culture and is a pretty 

 object when in flower, but not so much so as the next 

 variety, Amelanchier Canadensis, var. oblongifolia, which is. 

 a tall, upright, slenderly-branched pyramidal bush, rarely 



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