October 15, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



503 



instances to have proved a profitable variety last winter, and it 

 will probably continue to be prized — at least for the local trade. 



Holmesburg. Pa. W. H. Tap lift. 



Notes on Shrubs. 



Stephanandra flexuosa, first introduced by Veitch & Sons 

 from Japan, has matured a little fruit at the Arboretum this 

 season, the seed ripening in the latter part of September. 

 Comparatively few of the numerous small blossoms which the 

 plant bears develop into fruit, and a large proportion of this is 

 without good seed. However, seed may be produced more 

 freely as the plants become older. The fruit resembles that 

 of the closely related Nine-Bark {Physocarpus opulifolius), ex- 

 cept that it is a very great deal smaller. Usually only one, or 

 rarely two, seeds are borne in a pod. 



The little white flowers which this plant produces in June are 

 not individually showy, but in the middle of the month, when 



September, and it remains on the plants and keeps its bright- 

 ness for a month or more. The pods are unusually large, 

 and are produced in flatfish clusters of from six to ten or more, 

 suspended on slender stalks two or three inches in length. 

 They are of a deep pinkish red color, and with the bright 

 scarlet arils, which they disclose upon opening, they make a 

 very handsome appearance ; and as the long peduncles allow 

 the clusters to hang much below the branches and foliage they 

 make an effective and little obscured display of color. 



E. latifolia is rarely seen in cultivation here, and when 

 found in gardens usually presents a poor appearance by being 

 stunted and crowded by other trees and shrubs. Under favor- 

 able circumstances it may attain a height of from ten to twenty 

 feet. The leaves are large and broad, smooth and almost 

 shining. The branches are smooth, the young shoots being 

 reddish green in winter ; and in the long, tapering, pointed, 

 green buds we have a character which assists us in determin- 

 ing this species from all others when they are destitute of 

 1 



Jeannette Park, New York. — See page 



they are most abundant, they present a delicate, graceful ap- 

 pearance, mingled with the fine foliage. It is for the sake of 

 the foliage quite as much as for the flowers that this Stephan- 

 andra is of interest and value for ornamental purposes. The 

 deeply cut and serrated, triangular, pointed leaves are about 

 an inch in length ; they are of a dark green color, and are 

 sufficiently abundant to effectually cover the branches and 

 stems. This is a fast-growing shrub, and while it has a some- 

 what close and bushy habit, it maintains a light and graceful 

 appearance not possessed by many hardy, woody plants. 



Although it has not been sufficiently well tested to warrant 

 the statement that it is hardy, it at least promises to be an 

 interesting and valuable addition to the list of plants which 

 will do well in sheltered situations in this latitude. 



While the fruits of nearly all the species of Spindle-trees 

 (Euonymus) are more or less showy when they reach maturity, 

 there are few which, for beautifuland showy qualities, produce 

 fruit equaling that of the Broad-Leaved Spindle-tree {Euony- 

 mus latifolia) in its best condition. The fruit is perfected 

 comparatively early in the season, being fully ripe early in 



flowers, fruit or foliage. In common with nearly all plants, 

 the various species of Euonymus show great differences in 

 the times of maturing of fruits, and even in different plants 

 of the same species there is sometimes as great a varia- 

 tion as a month in the opening of the pods. The 

 common European Spindle-tree (E. Europcpa) sometimes 

 shows this in a very marked degree ; and so does the 

 Japanese Winged Euonymus (E. alata), so called because of 

 the thin, corky excrescences on the branches, which give them 

 a four-angled appearance. These thin excrescences or plates 

 are produced at right angles to each other in the lines of the 

 buds and branchlets which break their continuity at regular 

 interrals. In some plants the corky excrescences are not very 

 prominent, in others they are often a sixth of an inch long. 

 The fruit of this species is small and mostly contains only one 

 developed ovule, and as the stalks are short the pods appear 

 almost sessile on the branches. On different plants the period 

 of ripeningoropening of the pods extends from about the iothof 

 September until near the end of the month or later. Although 

 the arils of this species are of as bright a scarlet color as any in 



