36o FLOWERING SHRUBS 



SMOOTH MENZIESIA 



Menziesia glabella. Heath Family 



Leaves: alternate, obovate, obtuse and glandular-mucronate at the 

 apex, pale glaucous and glabrous beneath, sparingly pubescent above, 

 the margins entire, crenulate, ciliolate. Flowers : one to five in umbels, 

 cream and pink, spreading, becoming erect ; calyx five-lobed ; corolla 

 urn-shaped, four-toothed; stamens eight, included. Fruit: seeds long- 

 appendaged at each end. 



If you wish to be quite certain that the shrub before you is 

 really Menziesia glabella^ just break off a branch and smell 

 it, and you will at once perceive the peculiar pungent odour of 

 the skunk emanating from its stems and foliage. The bush 

 grows erect to the height of six feet and bears abundant foliage. 

 The leaves are small, oval, and pale green, and have even 

 wavy hairy margins. The flowers are little roundish pink 

 and creamy urn-shaped bells, which terminate the long slender 

 stalks, and are four-lobed, having eight stamens within their 

 cups. They grow in umbels at the ends of the twigs, and also 

 encircle the stems just below the topmost clusters of leaves. 

 When in fruit the seeds are characterized by long appendages 

 at each end, 



SILVER-BERRY 



Elaagnus argentea. Oleaster Family 



Stoloniferous, silvery-scaly, much branched. Leaves : alternate, oblong, 

 ovate, densely silvery-scurfy on both sides, acute or obtuse. Flowers : 

 one to three in the axils, pedicelled, fragrant ; perianth silvery without, 

 yellow within, tubular below, the upper part campanulate, four-lobed, 

 the lobes ovate. Fruit : oval, silvery. 



A most extraordinary and attractive shrub, growing from 

 two to twelve feet high and entirely covered with a lovely 

 silver coating. The leaves are small and very crinkled and 

 wavy, and the flowers quite tiny, their bell-shaped four-lobed 

 corollas being silvery on the outside and pale yellow within. 

 The stems, branches, leaves, and fruit are completely silvered 

 over and thus may be readily distinguished. 



