268 



DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SHRUBS 



them from the woods, where found, care should be taken to secure a 

 large ball of earth. [Divlsiohs.] 



Plumbago. The Plumbagos are generally blue or violet-colored 

 flowering plants hardy only South but often cultivated outdoors North in 



summer. The flowers have a slender 

 tube and broadly spreading 5-lobed 

 border, salver-shaped, growing in 

 terminal clusters. The leaves are 

 simple, entire-edged, smooth, usually 

 in alternate clusters along the stems. 

 This clustering of the leaves and the 

 slender-tubed flowers will separate 



Fig. 463. — Broad-leaved Storax. 



the Plumbagos from other shrubs. 



The different varieties of shrubby 



forms have blue, violet, rose, and 



white flowers blooming continuously 



from spring to fall in the North. All 



the species are more or less climbing 



in habit ; they show this especially 



in the extreme South where they are 



hardy. The fruit is a thin-coated one-seeded .pod. The one species in 



most general cultivation has azure-blue flowers, except in the white 



variety, and blunt-tipped tapering-based leaves, Cape Plumbago (457) — 



Plumbago cap^nsis, — from South Africa. Another species, with red 



flowers, from South Asia, Rosy Plumbago (458) — Plumbago rosfea, — has 



larger leaves somewhat clasping at base. [Twig cuttings.] 



Fig. 464. — Japanese Storax. 



Ardlsia. This is a large genus of tropic trees and shrubs with thick 

 evergreen leaves ; one of these is hardy in the extreme South and another 



