MY SHRUBS 57 



congeners. I fancy these Australians can easily be drowned in 

 our wet winters, and possibly need as much protection from rain 

 as frost. 



Halesia tetraptera is a familiar North American, but H. hispida 

 seems not so common. This Japanese variety is very beautiful, 

 with pendulous racemes of pure white flowers. H. corymbosa, as 

 seen at Kew on a wall, is a grand subject. Here, however, one 

 passes it without emotion. 



Halimodendron argenteum, the salt tree of Siberia, I have had, 

 grafted on laburnum, for a good many years. It prospers and 

 seems healthy, but its blossoms ought, I understand, to be rosy 

 purple, whereas they come yellow. I have only seen them figured 

 in the " Botanical Magazine " (under Robinia halimodendrori), and 

 they indicate a beautiful flower. I thought the stock must have 

 dominated the scion, but this is not so. What, then, have I got 

 instead of Halimodendron ? 



Of Hamamelis, the witch-hazel, I grow three species, and all 

 are kindly and quick to lighten February with their countless 

 yellow stars on naked boughs. H. mollis, from Japan, a really 

 splendid hardy shrub, with handsome foliage, is the first to flower; 

 and this year sparkled brilliantly through January. The blossoms 

 are like golden spiders with purple bodies. H. zuccariniana is 

 smaller and of paler inflorescence, while H. arborea differs little 

 save in size from the last-named, and flowers before it. These 

 admirable plants are too uncommon. 



Hedera minima is a neat, little upright ivy for the rock- work. 

 It refuses to climb or creep, and its frutescent habit justifies me in 

 naming it here. I have not seen it flower. 



The legions of Helianthemum need only to be named with 



H 



