FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS 401 



Name. 



Country or 



Origin and 



Natural Oeder. 



Colour 



AND 



Season. 



General Remarks. 



Pninus Mabaleb 



P. Padus (the Bird 

 Cherry) 



Europe, and a 

 great part of Asia 



White ; 

 Spring 



Laurocerasus 

 Group. 

 P. ilicifolia 



P. Laurocerasus 

 (Cherry Laurel) 



California 



East Europe 



White 



White 



in groups as it iswhen isolated 

 as a single specimen. The 

 flowers are borne on short 

 racemes, and in such abund- 

 ance as to envelop the tree 

 in a snow-white mantle. 

 Every garden should have at 

 least one weeping Mahaleb. 

 A well-known tree, and fre- 

 quently seen in woodlands, 

 where its strong scent is 

 quickly detected. It is a 

 shapely tree, growing 20 feet 

 to 30 feet high, and has long 

 erect branches, and in Spring 

 drooping racemes of flowers 

 6 inches or more long. The 

 fruits are small and shining 

 black in colour. There are, 

 however, many poor forms, 

 sometimes with almost green- 

 ish flowers. Perhaps the 

 most valuable is the double 

 variety, flore-pleno, which has 

 very long racemes and very 

 pure white. Pendula is a 

 weeping variety which will, 

 no doubt, be an acquisition, 

 but it is of too recent appear- 

 ance here to say much about 

 it. It is curious to note that 

 there is a variety (stricta) 

 with an exactly opposite 

 tendency, branches and ra- 

 cemes being quite erect. P. 

 virginiana, a nearly allied 

 Bird Cherry from North 

 America, is also represented 

 by a pendulous form. P. 

 serotina and its variety 

 pendula, and the other mem- 

 bers of the Padus group, are 

 not important. 



A pretty evergreen with holly- 

 like leaves, but only hardy in 

 warm southern and western 

 countries. It is a small bush, 

 6 feet to 8 feet high, and 

 has short and erect flower ra- 

 cemes and deep-green leaves. 



A well-known evergreen, too 

 freely planted in the past, 

 and so vigorous as to over- 

 run the garden in course of 

 years. The varieties are 

 more planted than the type, 

 as they are handsomer. The 

 most distinct are Bertini 

 (latifolia), caraelliaefolia, cau- 



2 C 



