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PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GARDEN PLANTS hydrangea 



and finely toothed ; Belzoni, flowers white 

 or blue with entire sepals, and B. varie- 

 gata, with white blotched leaves ; Otaksa, 

 flowers flesh-coloured, handsome; com- 

 munis, flowers deep rosy-pink ; stellata, 

 all the flowers sterile and double, pink, 

 rose, or pale blue, changing to green with 

 age ; Thomas Hogg, a magnificent pure 

 white variety, grown largely in pots for 

 market work ; nig ra has pretty dark purple - 

 brown stems ; and tricolor has the leaves 

 beautifully marbled with white and pale 

 green, and edged with creamy yellow. 



The variety acuminata has leaves 

 slightly hairy on both surfaces, and 

 bearded in the axils of the veins ; the 

 flowers are blue, but vary a good deal 

 according to the nature of the soil in 

 which the plants are grown. 



Culture d-c. as above. 



H. involucrata. — Ahandsome Japanese 

 shrub 6-10 ft. high with herbaceous stems 

 and very large oval oblong or roundish 

 double-toothed leaves sometimes nearly 

 12 in. long and 6-9 in. broad, which when 

 young are covered on the under surface 

 with a dense white woolly down. The 

 flowers appear in summer in flat-topped 

 or roundish clusters, and the inflorescence 

 is remarkable for having large leafy bracts 

 at the base where the branches are given 

 off. The typical form has but a few large 

 sterile flowers on the outer edge of the 

 trusses, but in many forms which have 

 been cultivated the sterile flowers are 

 more numerous and vary in colour from 

 rose to lilac, rose-pink, and even yellow, 

 some forms having double flowers. 



Culture <ic. as above. This species 

 likes warm, moist, and partially shaded 

 situations. It is fairly hardy as far north 

 as the Thames, but is better acTapted for 

 outdoor cultivation in mild southern and 

 western parts of the kingdom. 



H. paniculata. — This species attains 

 a height of 25 ft. in Japan, its native 

 country, forming a dense round head, and 

 an upright trunk 6 in. in diameter. Leaves 

 opposite or in threes, ovate oblong acute, 

 downy, sometimes 5-6 in. long. Flowers 

 in summer and autumn, pure white, in 

 massive conical or cylindrical clusters 1 ft. 

 long at the end of almost every shoot. 

 There are several forms, the best known 

 heing floribunda, grandiflora and minor. 



Culture £c. as above. To obtain the 

 best results, this plant should be well 



pruned in winter, and the soil well manured 

 or mulched at the same period. 



H. petiolaris. — A tall climbing or 

 trailing shrub native of the Japanese 

 mountains, where it grows in shady woods 

 on the Cryptomeria (see p. 982), clothing 

 the trimks to a great height, in the same 

 way as the Ivy clambers tip trees in this 

 country. It has ovate or elliptic leaves, 

 somewhat heart-shaped at the base, and 

 produces flat corymbs of whitish flowers 

 in June. Only a few of the outer ones 

 are sterile and larger than the others. 

 There are a few forms of this species, such 

 as scandens, which has small heart-shaped 

 or ovate leaves wdth long stalks ; and 

 cordifolia, which has distinctly heart- 

 shaped leaves and entire or toothed sepals 

 of the sterile flowers, rarely notched. 



Culture d-c. as above. Owing to its 

 climbing character this species is best 

 grown against a wall, or in the mildest 

 parts of the kingdom it might be trained 

 over or up old tree trunks in the same 

 way as Ivy, or even over large boulders 

 in partially shaded parts of the rock 

 gai-den. This species is often erroneously 

 called Schisophragma hydrangeoides in 

 gardens. 



H. pubescens. — A pretty Japanese 

 shrub 4-5 ft. high, with deep green ovate 

 serrate leaves tapering to a point and 

 covered with a whitish down beneath. 

 The leaf stalks and midrib are of a 

 reddish-purple colom- and look very pretty. 

 The flowers appear in summer and are 

 borne in a flat cyme with downy branches. 

 Some of the outermost cross-shaped flowers 

 only are showy and sterile, and over an 

 inch across ; they are white slightly 

 veined with green, while the smaller 

 fertile flowers have 3 styles. 



Culture dc. as above. This species 

 is quite hardy in the milder parts of the 

 kingdom, but attains its finest proportions 

 in the South and West. 



H. quercifolia. — A very distinct and 

 ornamental shrub native of Florida, 4-6 ft. 

 high. Leaves large, ovate, about 6 in. 

 long, lobed and toothed like a Plane rather 

 than an Oak leaf, hairy and grey beneatli, 

 stalks and stems covered with a rusty 

 down. Flowers in July, white, changing 

 to greenish-purple and borne in flatfish 

 corymbs, a few of the outer blossoms being 

 large and sterile. 



Culture dc. as above. 



