MY SHRUBS 39 
of the name, and they will support me. Indeed it is a criterion : 
no really fine artist has a good digestion. I never met the great 
novelist who would, save in a greedy moment, trust his system 
with a gooseberry, or the distinguished painter who could 
look at a mince-pie with kindly eyes. As for musicians of real 
eminence—heaven knows what they can eat. They drink, however, 
and so preserve life. 
Decumaria barbara—from decuma, a tenth, in reference to the 
tenfold structure of some of the flowers—comes from the United 
States, and is almost evergreen on a wall in my garden. As to 
the tenfold structure of the white flowers, I take it on trust. 
But their trusses are fragrant and effective—like a refined elder. 
Dendromecon rigidus is a splendid tree poppy from California, 
hardy enough against a wall. It grows ten feet high, has glaucous 
green foliage, and hangs out its yellow flowers at the point of the 
shoots for nine months in the year. Desfontainea spinosa loves to 
dwell in half shade and peat. It looks like a holly, but has splendid 
trumpet-shaped scarlet and yellow flowers in August. From the 
Andes it comes, and if the bloom tarries, despair not so long as 
the plant is well. It grows slowly, and may take a year or two to 
settle down. My piece demanded three years to reach blooming 
size, but has been generous of blossom ever since. 
Desmodium penduliflorum is a Japanese herbaceous shrub, and 
should be cut down after flowering ; but a nobler thing is D. 
tiiefolium, a big climber with trifoliate leaves and innumerable 
spikes of pale lilac blossom in August. This shrub I rate highly. 
It is a tremendous grower, and to attain perfection should be 
pruned hard after the fall of the leaf. ‘To the race of Desmodium 
belongs D. gyrans, that vegetable wonder from the East Indies, 
