FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS 375 



Name. 



Country or 



Origin and 



Natural Order. 



Colour 



and 

 Season. 



General Remarks. 



Halesias hispida 



China and Japan. 



Introduced about 



1870 



White 



H. parviflora 



H. tetraptera (Com- 

 mon Snowdrop 

 tree) 



South - eastern 

 United States. 

 Introduced in 

 1802 



White ; 

 end of May 



H. t. Meehani 



South United 

 States. Intro- 

 duced by a Lon- 

 don merchant 

 named Ellis in 

 1756 



This originated as 

 a seedling in 

 Meehan's Nur- 

 sery, Germans- 

 town, Philadel- 

 phia 



White ; 

 May 



White 



liarity oftheraceme is that the 

 flowers are arranged on the 

 uppet side only of its branches 

 {a somewhat similar arrange- 

 ment is seen in Freesia 

 flowers). The seed-vessels 

 are covered with bristly hairs. 

 Mr. Bean says, ' ' Whilst per- 

 fectly hardy at Kew in the 

 open, it blossoms more freely 

 on a wall. The finest speci- 

 mens I have seen of this 

 Halesia are growing near a 

 carriage-road leading to Mr. 

 Gumbleton's house and gar- 

 den at Belgrove, Queens- 

 town." It flowers in this 

 country in June. 



This is invariably a shrub. It 

 is represented in the Kew 

 collection by a large bush, 

 which flowers as a rule with 

 great freedom towards the 

 end of May each year. The 

 arrangement of the flowers 

 is more racemose than fasci- 

 culate, and whilst they are 

 very abundant they are not 

 so large as in H. tetraptera 

 or H. diptera. They are 

 white and Snowdi'op - like. 

 The seed-vessels are only 

 slightly and unequally 

 winged. On the whole, 

 therefore, the species is easily 

 distinguished from its two 

 fellow American species. The 

 grace and abundance of its 

 bloom make it well worthy 

 of cultivation wherever a 

 variety of hardy shrubs is 

 desired. 



A beautiful tree. Whilst ac- 

 cording to Prof. Sargent it 

 occasionally attains a height 

 of 80 to 90 feet in its native 

 country, it is seldom more 

 than 20 feet high in the 

 British Isles. Its flowers are 

 like pure white Snowdrops, 

 hence the popular name. 

 The seed-vessels are ij inches 

 to 3 inches long, and have 

 four prominent wings that 

 transverse them lengthwise. 



A very handsome and distinct 

 variety, with shorter flower- 

 stalks, and thicker and more 

 coarsely wrinkled leaves than 

 the type. 



