412 THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



the foliage turning from a healthy green to a dull brown. 

 S.japonica Anthony Waterer is of recent introduction, and a specially 

 good kind. It is of dwarf, compact, bushy habit, and when its 

 growths are crowned- late in the season with deep crimson flowers 

 it is very effective ; the flowers are not affected by the sun to the 

 same extent as are those of some of the other Spiraeas. S.j. alba 

 grows about i6in. high, and bears an abundance of white flowers 

 about midsummer. S. j. ruberrima is a taller grower, and of 

 looser habit than either of the above - named ; its pink flowers 

 are freely produced, and very attractive. S. j. Bumalda is a 

 profuse blossomer, and a capital subject for an edging to beds 

 and shrubberies, its broad clusters of rose-coloured flowers being 

 very pretty. S. j. glabrata is fine for massing. It is free in 

 growth, and bears very profusely dense corymbs of deep pink 

 flowers on stout growths well above the deep green foliage. 

 The variety is dense in habit and quite hardy. S. Douglasi 

 (Douglas's Spirsea) is very ornamental and useful; its red 

 flowers are borne in terminal panicles. .S. salicifolia blossoms 

 in July and August, and its rose-coloured flowers are 

 arranged in short panicles. 6 1 . arguta (S. multifiora alba) is 

 the best all-round white Spiraea grown ; it is of good habit, 

 hardy, and very free-flowering, and its blossoms are of the 

 purest white. S. hypericifolia (Italian May) is another very fine 

 white-flowered kind ; it grows about 5ft. high, and when its slender 

 arching stems are clothed with clusters of flowers it is very 

 effective. S. cantoniensis (S. Reevesiand) forms an elegant bush 

 about 4ft. high, and produces terminal umbels of white flowers. 

 S. bella is a pretty Himalayan species, with rose-coloured flowers. 

 .S. Van Houttei (S. media x S. trilobatd) is another first-rate kind, 

 and produces a sheet of white blossom in May. »S. tomentosa, 

 a native of the United States, grows 4ft. high, and for the 

 greater part of the summer bears large spikes of red flowers. 

 .S. media (S. confusd) may be readily forced, and on account of 

 its pure white flowers, as well as the ease with which they expand 

 under artificial heat, it has become one of the most useful of 

 Spiraeas. S. discolor (S. arice/olia), a native of North-West 

 America, is a graceful kind, and as distinct in habit as it is beauti- 

 ful in flower; it should be transplanted about every fourth or fifth 

 year, as it then produces a better floral display than when 

 left undisturbed for a longer time ; its cream-white flowers are 

 borne in plume-like panicles (Fig. 266), in July and August. 

 S. Thunbergi, a native of Japan, belongs to the early-flowering 

 group; in fact, it is the earliest to flower in the open air. 

 It forms a low, freely-branched bush, having elegant arching 

 shoots clothed with linear soft green leaves, amongst which 

 nestle its pure white sweet-scented flowers. This is a good 

 plant for forcing, and in some positions is sub-evergreen. 

 5. mongolica should not be overlooked ; it is a vigorous 



