120 MY SHRUBS 
green foliage of this Chinese plant is very striking, while V. macro- 
cephalum, also from China, with large trusses of snowy flowers, is 
a treasure I have yet to acquire. I know not if V. odoratissimum, from 
the Khasia Mountains in China, is cultivated to-day. The species 
must be beautiful, though half-hardy. The blossom is said to have 
the scent of Olea fragrans. 
Vinca, or Pervinca, which changes into Periwinkle quite easily, 
is a good and familiar hardy trailer for spare corners in sun and 
shade. There is a pretty variety of V. minor, with gold and green 
leaves and white flowers. I have a great mass of V. media from the 
Mediterranean region which grew wild round about Hyéres, and 
was collected there by me. It is a very pale blue—almost white— 
with dark bright foliage. V.vosea, from South Florida, belongs to 
the stove, and I have not seen it, but it must be a beautiful subject. 
Out of Madagascar the seed of this plant first went to France and 
then came to England—from Mr. Richard, gardener to the King 
at Versailles and Trianon. So Curtis tells usin 1793 ; anda hundred 
years earlier, Mr. Miller, who first cultivated Vinca rosea in England, 
wrote how, “ during the summer they should be kept in an airy 
glass case, and in winter must be removed into the stove.”’ Is this 
good thing still in cultivation? If not let us send to Madagascar 
and regain it. The only Vitex that prospers in England out of doors 
is the deciduous V. Agnus castus, the Chaste Tree, or Monk’s 
Pepper Tree, and even this South European is disappointing. With 
us the shrub is hardy enough on a wall, but its late flowering habit 
usually means that October finds the panicles still in bud, and after 
the first fall of temperature, they make no further effort to open, 
Bignonia grandiflora has the same unfortunate habit. I grow both 
plants in full sun on a snug south wall, but have seldom been repaid 
