FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS 443 



Name. 



Country or 



Origin and 



Natural Order. 



Colour 



AND 



Season. 



General Remarks. 



V. Opulus (the Guel- 

 der Rose) It is 

 called in America 

 the Cranberry 

 bush or High 

 Cranberry 



Britain, Europe 



and Northern 



hemisphere 



White ; 



May and 



June 



V. O. sterile 

 (Snowball tree) 



Variety. Origin 

 unknown 



White ; 

 early June 



V. tomentosum 

 Mariesi 



Japan 



Cream 

 white 



Of the two species of Vibur- 

 num this is the better known, 

 and is the more valuable as 

 a garden shrub. It grows to 

 a height of from lo to 15 

 feet, and is easily known by 

 the beautiful lobed Maple- 

 like leaves, which die off 

 brilliant crimson shades. 

 Sterile as well as fertile 

 flowers are produced on each 

 truss, the flowers being white 

 and three-quarters of an inch 

 across. But the wild Guelder 

 Rose is in its fullest beauty 

 in Autumn when the fruits 

 change to brilliant red, and 

 the leaves gradually assume 

 their gorgeous colouring. As 

 this species appreciates mois- 

 ture it is a noble shrub to 

 make groups of in moist 

 places, such as by stream, 

 pond, river, or moist mar- 

 gin. The beauty of the 

 wild Guelder Rose is not 

 realised by many planters 

 of gardens. Its colour- 

 ing is intense. In the 

 ' ' Cyclopedia of American 

 Horticulture" it is mentioned: 

 " Handsome native shrub, 

 very decorative in fruit, which 

 begins to colour by the end 

 of July, remains on the 

 branches, and keeps its 

 bright scarlet colour until 

 the following Spring. The 

 berries are not eaten by 

 birds." 



This is too well known to need 

 description. It is a graceful 

 shrub, its branches bent with 

 the weight of the rounded 

 flower trusses. As in the 

 case of V. macrocephalum 

 and of V. plicatum the small 

 andinsignificantfertileflowers 

 have become transformed by 

 cultivation into large barren 

 ones, and the truss also loses 

 its flattened shape and be- 

 comes rounded or conical. 

 It appreciates a somewhat 

 moist soil, and is best seen 

 by itself, unfettered by neigh- 

 bouring twigs. It is not a 

 shrub to crush into the com- 

 mon shrubbery. 



A very graceful shrub but little 

 known. The sterile flowers 



