594 



Garden and Forest. 



[Df.cember II, 1889, 



shows'to ad\'antage when compared with the annuals or per- 

 ennials. It is true of our woody plants that the flowers which 

 several Tspecies bear at this season are usually not due to 

 appear before April or May, but a few blossoms are almost 

 invariably produced at the time when the leaves are falling or 

 after a succession of mild days in winter. An exception to this 

 rule is the Witch-Hazel {Hamainelis Virginica), the normal 

 blooming" season of which is in October and November, the 

 time varying greatly, according to situation and exposure, so 

 that flowers may be found in winter or very early spring. 

 This plant, which should be in every shrub-garden, has 



fragrantissitna and L. Standishii, occasionally open before all 

 the leaves have fallen, and they are just as fragrant as they 

 would be if not developed until spring. These two species 

 retain their leaves longer here than any others of the genus 

 except L. Japonica and its varieties, which are almost ever- 

 green. Among other spring blooming shrubs a few yellow 

 flowers of the Forsythia can be found, and in the Ericacece 

 open blossoms of Andromeda Jloribunda and -Erica carnea may 

 be discovered during the late autumn and under the snows of 

 winter, while the last species is one of the first shrubby plants 

 from which bees collect nectar in the spring. Daphne Cneorum 



I. Flowering Branch. 2. 



Fruiting Branch. 

 6. Fruit, enlarged. 



'ig. 150. — Croton Alabamensis. — See page 592. 

 3. Male Flower, enlarged. 4. Female Flower, enlarged. 



Ventral view of a Coccus, enlarged. 8. Seed, enlarged. 



5. Pistil cut across, enlarged. 



an added interest from the fact that it well illustrates one 

 of Nature's many beautiful ways of scattering seeds. The 

 fruit ripens as the plant comes into bloom and the woody cap- 

 sules open and disclose the oblong shining black seeds. As 

 the capsule dries the lower edges contract and press against 

 the sides of the tapering seed, which, suddenly breaking loose 

 from its attachment at the base, is thrown with the velocity of 

 a bullet for a distance of ten or twenty feet or more from the 

 parent plant. 



Against sheltering walls flowers in considerable numbers 

 may still be found on Hall's variety of Lonicera Japonica, and 

 a very few blossoms of the spring flowering bushy species, L. 



bears a second crop of small clusters of blossoms during the 

 autumn, and, if with Vinca minor it is somewhat protected 

 from severe early frosts by sheltering trees or buildings, a 

 bunch of the purple flowers of the Vinca and of its white 

 variety, may be made fragrant by stray sprigs of the Daphne. 



Spircea Thunbergii is the last of its genus to lose its bright 

 autumn foliage and its early spring flowering habit is often in- 

 dicated by a profusion of small white blossoms during mild 

 periods in November. 



But it is those species of shrubs which, having lost their 

 foliage, retain their fruit in its original plump and bright con- 

 dition, that give the most satisfaction at this season. 



