66 MY SHRUBS 
I know of no dwarf Larix, but, if one exists, should dearly 
like to add it to my miniature forest. The only deciduous dwarf 
in that absurd grove is Betula. All larches are exquisite, but so 
swift is their growth that after a few years they occupy far more 
room in a small garden than can be spared. I have always a 
larch growing here, but its activities are called to cease long 
before it reaches maturity. 
Lasiandra macrantha is a noteworthy Brazilian which thrives 
in snug Cornish gardens, but needs a cold house at Kew. 
The shrub has beautiful foliage and brilliant blue flowers in 
late autumn. Few gardeners can count upon success with this 
valuable plant in the open; but all should grow it under 
cover. It is often called Pleroma macranthum, and at Kew 
it manages somehow to prosper as Tibouchina Semidecandra. 
Please tell me where one may procure this noble shrub, for I 
know not. 
Of the laurels I grow but few, and best I like Laurus camphora, 
the camphor laurel. It would seem that this should be referred 
to Cinnamomum, and grown in a cold house; but my specimen 
against a south wall has now ascended to ten feet, and stood some 
harsh weather without faltering as L. camphora. It is a very 
beautiful Japan shrub, saturated with camphor in all its parts. L. 
nobilis is a common weed in this region, and the wild pigeons 
come for the berries during autumn. But many escape them, and 
seedlings of the sweet bay are grubbed up every year in hundreds. 
L. nobilis regalis is a fragrant dwarf variety that promises well. 
L. Sassafras officinale makes a good, but not a showy shrub. The 
leaves take strange shapes sometimes. In Virginia they manu- 
facture beer of the young shoots, and perfumers use an oil ex- 
