38 MY SHRUBS 
naked wood in March, and the white variety sets handsome, 
orange-coloured berries, that make the plant striking when autumn 
comes. D. ponticais hardy, and handsome and sweet ; D. laureola 
Phillipit has a particularly attractive arrangement of foliage from 
which the green flowers peep in January. OD. oleoides is a very 
neat and trim dwarf Daphne, with pink flowers and an excellent 
constitution. 
Daphniphyllum never interested me. It suggests a rhododen- 
dron without blossoms, for the blossom is nought. D. glaucescens, 
however, has beautiful foliage, and I should admit this shrub were 
space available. 
The delightful Darwinias, named after Dr. Darwin who wrote 
“The Botanic Garden,” a poem of ancient repute, I do not find in 
catalogues. Doubtless these fine things from Australia will not 
dwell out of doors with us; but one would like to learn where 
they may be seen under glass. 
Over Datura I draw a veil. We do not get on, and are therefore 
better apart. 
Decaisnea Fargesii, from Sutchuen, is still an infant, but makes 
good growth, and will some day give me yellow flowers and blue 
fruits. A Berberis can do as much, and indeed Decaisnea belongs 
to that race. It is deciduous, and the species D. insignis, from 
the Sikkim Himalayas, is honoured with a star by Nicholson and 
credited with edible fruits. Most fruits are edible for that matter, 
but when the lord of creation uses the word he means, of course, 
his own palate and stomach. After all, ‘‘ edible ”’ is quite a relative 
term. A schoolboy will assimilate what the middle-aged man of 
letters would shudder to approach. Curiously enough, a whole- 
hearted service to art ruins the digestion. Ask any artist worthy 
