TREES AND SHRUBS. 



347 



Thunderbolt among the Spanish Irises, may be 

 planted anywhere, as they are not at all fastidious. 

 The Netted Iris requires much the same treatment 

 as the others, but as it begins to grow and flower 

 earlier, it ripens its growth in early summer, when 

 the bulbs may be lifted, if needed, and re-planted. 

 AU are propagated by bulblets separated at lifting- 

 time, and these gxow into a flowering size in about 

 two or three years. 



Zephyranthes [Zephyr J'fof»«-).— TheAtamasco 

 Lily {Z. Atamasco, or Amari/Uis Alamasco) is the best- 

 known plant in this genus, the species of which, 

 about a dozen in number, are natives of Me.xico, and 

 other parts of Western North and South America. 

 They have large and showy flowers, varying 

 from white to pink. Z. Atamasco is white ; Candida 

 also ; carinata is a lovely plant with large, delicate, 

 rose-pink flowers ; Treatia has lai-ge, pure white 

 flowers; and tubispatha is white and fragrant. 

 Of these the best for ordinary culture are Atamasco, 

 carinata, and Treaties. None of these are quite 

 haxdj', though Atamasco may be grown unpro- 

 tected in the warmer parts, and, generally speak- 

 ing, aU require either pot-culture or lifting in 

 autumn. The best plan is to keep them through the 

 winter in pots in a frame or gxeen-house, and plant 

 them out in spring, in sandy soil, in full sun. The 

 bulbs, being rather small, may number from four 

 to six in a 6-inch pot. They are all water-lovers, 

 and during growth must always be kept moist, 

 Atamasco especially. They flower from May to the 

 end of summer, and all being attractive in flower, 

 are very desii-able for the gi'een-house. 



TEEES AND SHEUBS. 



Bt Geoebe Nicholson. 



Ribes.— There are about sixty species of Rihcs, 

 and the genus is restricted to northern temperate 

 regions, and the Andes of South America ; a large 

 proportion of those in cultivation are not orna- 

 mental, and only the most desirable are here 

 mentioned. Of course the garden Gooseberiy, and 

 the Black and Red Currants, are not included here, 

 nor the curious varieties of these three species, with 

 variously cut and coloured leaves, which are to be 

 seen in botanical collections. 



R. amrcnm, the Buffalo or Missouri Currant, has 

 smooth, shining, lobed leaves, and is remarkable for 

 the spicy fragrance of its yellow blossoms in early 

 spring. There are several forms, varying a little in 

 the period of flowering, some being without the red 



margin to the petals, which is so conspicuous a 

 feature in the type. 



R. Bridijesii, a Chilian species, has rough leaves, 

 and dense racemes of small, flattish, yellow flowers. 

 It is a pretty plant, widely different in aspect from 

 the last-named species. 



R. sanguincum, the ordinary " flowering Currant " 

 of British gardens, is a North American plant, very 

 widely cultivated for its abundance of red flowers 

 produced in early spring. The best varieties are the 

 following: atrosangubmun , flowers much deeper in 

 colour than those of the type ; alhida, white, faintly 

 tinged with rose ; and splendens, a brightly-coloured 

 form. The one with double flowers is rarely seen in 

 perfection. A hybrid, Gordoninnum, is intermediate in 

 colour and other characters between R. sanguincum 

 and its other parent, R. aureum. 



R. speciosiim is perhaps — except in favoured locali- 

 ties — best grown against a wall. It has dark green, 

 small, Gooseberry-like leaves, spiny branches, and 

 pendulous crimson flowers, remarkable for the 

 length of the exserted stamens, in this respect 

 resembling in a marked manner some of the 

 Fuchsias. A native of North-west America. 



Eobinia. — Of the half-dozen species known to 

 botanists, the following are in cultivation, and are 

 amongst the most ornamental and useful of hardy 

 deciduous trees and shrubs. All are natives of 

 North America. 



R. hispida, the Rose Acacia, has racemes of large, 

 deep rose-coloured, scentless flowers. The variety 

 inermis, or macrophylla, is without the characteristic 

 bristles which densely clothe the young shoots, &c., 

 of the type. This beautiful shrub is generally 

 grafted on the common Locust-tree, R. pseitdo-acacia. 



R. mscosa is a smaller tree than the next, and 

 differs from it in having the branchlets and leaf- 

 stalks glutinous, and the nearly scentless rose-tinted 

 flowers crowded into oblong racemes. 



R. pseudo-acacia has naked branphes, loose slender 

 racemes of white fragrant flowers, and is largelj- 

 cultivated for ornament, and for its valuable timber, 

 A large number of distinct varieties have originated 

 in gardens ; the more striking of these are enu- 

 merated below. 



In crispa some of the leaves are normal, whilst 

 others are curiouslj- curled ; the variety is a vigorous 

 one, and very distinct in appearance from the type ; 

 Dccaisneana has bright rosy-coloured flowers, but 

 otherwise does not differ from the wild tree ; 

 fasti(jiata has upright branches, and exactly re- 

 sembles the Lombardy Poplar in habit ; in inermis 

 the characteristic rigid spines of the ordinary plant 

 are quite wanting, and the habit, too, is widely 

 different; without pruning it makes a small, compact, 



