80 MY SHRUBS 
Of Muehlenbeckia I have a giant, a dwarf, and a species 
between the two. M. complexa we all know, and how it will 
climb anywhere and creep anywhere. Its trailing masses swiftly 
strangle lesser things. Little M. nana is a carpet plant, and very 
neat, while M. varians would rival M. complexa in its size if long 
neglected. The Muehlenbeckias come from Australia and New 
Zealand, and there is nothing hardier in the garden. 
Mutisia Clematis, from New Granada, and M. decurrens, out 
of the Chilian Andes, would not live with me on a west wall 
in half shade. I suspect the trouble was below ground, and 
that they wanted less moisture at the root. But M. Clematis is 
certainly hardy with us—in reason—and I doubt not rejoices a 
few Devonshire gardens with its large, orange-scarlet, dahlia- 
like flowers. 
Myoporum letum is a huge grower, but tender. This Australian, 
so happy on the Riviera, has bright leaves dotted with transparent 
spots. The flowers are small, in whitish yellow clusters. I have 
lost it once or twice, and, for some curious reason, friends 
continually present me with pieces of it, so it has been renewed. 
But I do not admire it in the least. 
Myrica asplenifoia hung out its fragrant foliage here for 
some years, then the shrub died without visible reason; but 
M. cerifera, the Candleberry Myrtle, still flourishes in damp 
peat. It is not very interesting, and not half so fragrant as our 
own precious wilding, the Sweet Gale. 
Of true myrtles I have four species, but by no means great 
examples of any. Myrtus communis is, of course, an everyday 
shrub in the West, and I prefer the form of this evergreen with 
small leaves. M. bullata, from New Zealand, is not so hardy, 
