HYDRANGEA FAMILY 



Leaves. — Opposite, simple, two to four inches long, oval or 

 elliptic, rounded or narrowed at base, sparingly denticulate, 

 acute or acuminate at apex, three-nerved, veins depressed above, 

 prominent below. They come out of the bud pale gray green, 

 shining, densely covered with white hairs on the under surface; 

 when full grown are deep dull green above, paler beneath. In 

 autumn they darken purplish or fall with no change of color. 

 Petiole short, grooved. 



Flowers. — May, June. Perfect, cream-white, very fragrant, 

 numerous, racemose at the end of the branches and twigs, one 

 and one-eighth to one and one-half inches across. 



Calyx. — Calyx-tube top-shaped, coherent with the ovary, four- 

 lobed ; lobes ovate, acute, longer than the tube, spreading, per- 

 sistent, valvate in bud. 



Corolla. — Petals four or five, rounded or obovate, white, con- 

 volute in bud. 



Stamens. — Twenty to forty inserted on the disk ; filaments 

 white ; anthers pale yellow. 



Pistil. — Ovary inferior, four-celled; style four-cleft; stigmas 

 oblong. 



Fruit. — A four-valved capsule, many-seeded, surrounded by 

 the persistent calyx and crowned by tlie persistent style. Au- 

 gust, September. 



The Syringa has merits. It withstands the hard 

 conditions of city life ; its blooming season is ex- 

 tended ; the flowers are beautiful and deliciousl}^ fra- 

 grant ; it holds its leaves late into the autumn. Each 

 flower as it opens is a bell, maturing it becomes a 

 star. 



The blooming season is that of the roses, — together 

 they are the last of the procession of spring flowers ; 

 when they have cast their petals to the wind, summer 

 has come. Many shrubs fulfil their flowering duty and 

 relapse into green insignificance to emerge again when 

 autumn clothes them in gold and scarlet. But after 

 June is past the Syringa charms no more ; its fruit is 



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