Shrubs and Vines 



mon and the red-berried, have conspicuous differences : 

 the former, usually with seven to nine leaflets, has black- 

 ish berries and white or pinkish pith ; the latter, usually 

 with five leaflets, has red berries and brown pith. Both 

 are partial to swampy ground, and may be looked for 

 on the margin of ponds and streams. 



Pre-eminent for its massive flower-clusters stands the 

 Hydrangea ; the foremost in hardiness and wide culti- 

 vation, H. paniculata, has been improved by horticult- 

 ural art, so that its immense clusters produce a superb 

 effect, and justify its pretentious title — Hydrangea fanic- 

 ulata grandiflora. Its catalogue of virtues is a long one 

 — hardy, with ornamental foliage, of prolonged inflo- 

 rescence, and with its gorgeous white pyramids changing 

 at maturity to a beautiful blush that deepens to a rich 

 pink followed by a delicate brown; it is sans pareil in 

 its exceptional character, and, coming into bloom with 

 the opening of September, it nobly crowns the sum- 

 mer's glory, and is probably the most popular of all 

 shrubs. 



Without rivalling this, yet in some wajrs quite as 

 beautiful, especially in its glossy foliage, and with its 

 blossoms similarly overspread with pink or blue, is the 

 half-hardy H. hortensis, with large globular clusters, 

 oftener seen as a potted plant, though more and more 

 left out of doors in winter well protected. Horticultur- 

 ists have, of course, produced varieties of this species, 

 each supposed to exhibit some special excellence, as in 

 tint or arrangement of flowers, or in variegation of foli- 

 age ; but such distinctions are often so minute as to be 

 chiefly valuable as an advertising pretext. 

 157 



