72 Blossomed Boughs 



scores of miles which intervene. In like manner, 

 both on the limestone and the chalk, we find in the 

 hedges and thickets a characteristic growth of the 

 guelder-rose, or wayfaring tree, the lighter water- 

 guelder, and the wind-loving whitebeam. The 

 wayfaring tree is a prim but strongly individual 

 shrub, recalling more than most other wild species, 

 especially when young and of moderate size, the 

 round-headed bushes in tubs beloved of the Dutch 

 gardener. Its discs of creamy blossom, smaller but 

 denser than those of the elder, and the liberal 

 berries which follow, give the guelder-rose a favourite 

 place among British shrubs. It never grows in a 

 spot where nature is featureless or dull. The water- 

 guelder, which haunts the wet copses and stream- 

 sides, is as straggling a bush as its kindred species 

 is prim. Often the ends of its wiry boughs dip into 

 the surface of the stream ; and there the dabchick 

 may heap her saturated nest of weed, mooring it 

 against the strength of the current under the 

 descending twigs. The flat, loose heads of creamy 

 blossom make a pleasant show in May and June over 

 the thronging verdure of the water-sides ; the outer 

 flowers of the head are blank-eyed and unfertile, 

 though from their large size they give its chief 

 beauty to the bloom. This water-guelder is the 

 original of the guelder-rose, or " box-rose," of old- 

 fashioned gardens. 



In autumn the leaves and berries of both species 

 often produce, on a small scale, one of the most 

 brilliant displays of scarlet and crimson in all the 

 woods. Though the whitebeam much resembles 



