74 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Snowballs belong to the Honeysuckle 

 family, that family which unites in con- 

 sanguineous bonds the houses ofLinnsea, 

 so charmingly represented by the lovely 

 sweet-scented L. borealis ; of Sympho- 

 oarpus, known to us all by the Coral- 

 berry and the Snowberry ; of Lonicera, 

 that climbing over our arboi's fills them 

 at eventide with delicious perfume, or 

 standing erect upon the lawn brightens 

 it with rosy-pink or golden-yellow 

 flowers ; of Sambucus, that so delights 

 our boys, more by the softness of its 

 white yielding pith, than with its 

 blackish purple berries ; and of Vibur- 

 num so numerously repi'esented in our 

 northern latitudes, to which our gai'den 

 Snowball belongs. 



The following members may be 

 found ^gi'owing within the bounds of 

 our own Dominion : — 



The Sheep-berry ( Viburnum hn- 

 tago), whose black ben-ies are half an 

 inch or more in length, will be well- 

 known to most of our Canadian readers, 

 who doubtless long ago made the dis- 

 covery that the fruit is edible. 



The Arrow-wood [Viburnum den- 

 tatum, is common in wet places in our 

 northern climate, and is readily recog- 

 nized in the fruiting season by its small 

 bright blue berries. 



The Downy Arrow-wood ( Vibur- 

 num pubescens), is also found growing 

 northward, usually in rocky places, as 

 a low straggling shrub, the under side 

 of the leaves, especially of the young 

 Leaves, softly downy, and the fruit of a 

 dark purple color. 



The Maple-leaved Arrow-wood 

 ( Viburnum acerifolium), so called from 

 the striking resemblance which its 

 leaves bear to those of the maple, is 

 found growing in rocky places, and 

 yielding a crimson fruit, that turns to 

 a pin-ple color at full maturity. 



The Cranberry Tree {Viburnum 

 opulus) grows from five to ten feet 

 high in low grounds along the borders 

 of streams. The flowers appear in 

 cymes, of which the marginal ones are 

 destitute of stamens and pistils, but 

 whose corollas are much larger than the 

 others, which gives a singular appear- 

 ance to the cluster. The fruit when 

 ripe is of a bright red, pleasantly acid 

 in flavor, containing a flat, smooth 

 stone. Where cranberries do not 

 abound this fruit has been used as a 

 substitute for those berries, whence the 

 name of High-bush Cranberry applied 

 to this species. Not very long ago it 

 was extensively advertised by some 

 enterprising dealers in fruit-bearing 

 plants, and the value of its fruit for 

 sauces, tarts, jellies, &c., abundantly 

 set forth, especially for the benefit of 

 those who were fond of cranberries but 

 had no suitable place where to grow 

 them. 



Our Snowball, or as it is more usu- 

 ally called in England, the G-uelder 

 Rose, is this viburnum opulus, or cran- 

 berry tree, whose flowers have become 

 all sterile, that is, all the flowers of the 

 cyme have become destitute of stamens 

 and pistils, and have taken on the large 

 corolla, which was at first the peculi- 

 aritv of the marginal flowers. The 



