L eguminosce Wista ria. 125 



May, before the leaves are fully developed. This is the only 

 species common in gardens, and by far the handsomest known. 

 In the South of England it attains great perfection on a trellis 

 or pillar, but in the North it requires the protection of a wall. 

 There is a white-flowered variety, but the ordinary purplish- 

 lilac one is the better of the two. A native of China. 



2. W. frutescens. This is, perhaps, hardier than the pre- 

 ceding, but, although introduced many years previous to that, 

 it is still far less generally cultivated, on account of its in- 

 feriority as an ornamental plant. It is altogether a smaller 

 species, with darker flowers of a violet tinge ; but as it does not 

 blossom till Autumn, both should be grown where there is 

 space. A variety called magnified exceeds the old form in 

 beauty. A native of North America. 



3. W. brachybotrys. A more erect shrub with slender sar- 

 mentose branches and ovate or cordate leaflets, silvery when 

 young. The flowers are larger and of deeper violet, in closer 

 shorter racemes than in the above species, and they are pro- 

 duced in Spring with the leaves. A native of Japan. 



W. multijuga is a native of Japan, of quite recent introduc- 

 tion. 



16. ROBlNIA. 



Deciduous trees or shrubs, often spiny, with imparipinnate 

 leaves and axillary racemes of white, rose, or purple flowers. 

 Standard large and broad, naked within ; wings oblong-falcate, 

 free ; keel incurved, obtuse. Vexillary stamen connected 

 with the others at the middle. Pod linear, the upper suture 

 narrowly winged, valves thin. About five or six species, all 

 North American. Named after M. Robin, a French botanist. 



1. R. hispida (fig. 71). Rose Acacia. A small shrub 

 having the young branches and petioles densely clothed with 

 bristles. Leaflets oblong or oval, entire, midrib terminating 

 in a fine bristle. Flowers larger than in the following, rose or 

 pink. A variable plant with regard to the size of the leaves 

 and colour of the flowers, and in one variety the characteristic 

 bristly hairs are wholly wanting. A native of North America. 



2. R. Pseud-acacia. Thorn or False Acacia. A tall rapid- 

 growing tree with long slender smooth shoots and the stipules 

 usually transformed into strong rigid sharp spines. The ordi- 

 nary form has from 9 to 21 oblong or oval leaflets, and white 

 odoriferous flowers slightly tinged with pink. But there are 

 about a hundred varieties, and the extreme forms are widely 



