TBEES AND SHRUBS. 



7 



similar geographical distribution to the last-named 

 species ; it has round-oval or slightly heart-shaped 

 leaves, and is most frequently met with as a shrub 

 from three to eight feet high. All the above are 

 perfectly hardy in this country. 



Amelancliier. — The Amelanchiers are amongst 

 the most useful of early spring- flowering shrubs or 

 trees. A. canadensis, the June Berry of North 

 America, is a very variable species, the extremes 

 ranging by every intermediate gradation between 

 a tree thirty feet in height and a dwarf shrub. The 

 leaves, too, vary much in outline. A. c. Botryapium 

 is the most stately — as far as regards height — of the 

 numerous forms which have received distinctive 

 names, and when laden with its pendulous racemes 

 of snowy flowers in April, is a remarkably handsome 

 object in the park or shrubbery ; the rather sweet 

 purplish fruit — which is much used as an article 

 of food by some of the Indian tribes — ripens 

 in this country in June. Amongst other varieties 

 are ovalis, sanguinea, and abiifolia. The European 

 A. vulgaris is neither so graceful in habit nor at- 

 tains so large a size as the North American A. C. 

 Botryapium ; its branches, too, do not exhibit the 

 spreading or weeping tendency which is often so 

 conspicuous a feature in that plant. Nevertheless, 

 it is a very useful plant, flowering profusely in the 

 middle of April, or in mild seasons even in March. 



Amorpha (A. fruticosa) — the False Indigo of 

 the Northern United States — is a deciduous shrub of 

 the easiest cultivation ; it thrives and flowers freely 

 in dry poor soil, and bears cutting in well. The 

 elegant leaves are unequally pinnate, and its small 

 purplish flowers are produced in dense terminal ra- 

 cemose panicles. The type attains a height of from 

 six to nine feet, but there is a dwarf form, nana, 

 about half that size or even less. A large number 

 of names occur in some catalogues, but practically 

 the only really distinct variety is the one just 

 named. A. canescens, the Lead- Plant of the United 

 States, is a beautiful little shrub from one to three 

 feet in height, covered with whitish down ; the 

 dense inflorescence is a fine, rich, blue-purple. The 

 presence of this species in the prairies and crevices of 

 rocks, &c, in Michigan and Wisconsin, was supposed 

 to indicate lead-ore, hence the name Lead-Plant. 



Ampelopsis. — The best-known member of this 

 genus of deciduous climbers is the Virginian Creeper, 

 A. quinquefolia, one of the best of all climbers for 

 rapidly covering unsightly walls, or for clothing 

 arbours or old trunks of trees with a mantle of rich 

 green. The bright crimson colour of the decaying 

 leaves is wonderfully attractive, particularly if the 



plants have been growing in an open sunny spot ; 

 in shady places the colouration is never so decided. 

 In company wuth Ivy on old trees, or amongst roots 

 on banks, &c, it makes a fine show. There are 

 several varieties, varying somewhat in size, hairi- 

 ness, and form of leaves. A. biplnnata is not so 

 hardy as the last-named, but its handsome twice- 

 pinnate (not digitate) leaves make it a welcome 

 addition to any collection of climbers ; it is a native 

 of the Southern United States, whereas the Virgi- 

 nian Creeper is a common creeper in the Northern 

 United States. The genus Ampelopsis is now 

 merged by most botanists into Vitis, but as the plants 

 above-mentioned are so well known under the names 

 here given, they are retained for convenience oi 

 reference in their present position. For other allied 

 climbers see Vitis. 



Amygdalus (Almonds). — Among the most orna- 

 mental of flowering trees during early spring, the Al- 

 monds undoubtedly occupy a high rank in the central 

 and southern portions of Britain. A. communis, the 

 common Almond, is readily propagated either by 

 seeds or by grafting on the Plum-stock ; the nu- 

 merous varieties must be increased by grafting or 

 budding. A. c. amara, the Bitter Almond, has large 

 white flowers, rose-coloured towards the base of 

 each petal ; A. c. dulcis has red flowers, which open 

 a little earlier than those of the Bitter Almond. 

 Amongst the best of the forms grown in gardens are 

 macrocarpa, with very large pink-tinted flowers, and 

 Jlore-pleno with double flowers. The Almond ripens its 

 fruit freely enough in the South of England, but is 

 rarely cultivated except for ornament ; the Almonds 

 of the shops come principally from the South of 

 Europe and the Levant. A. nana, a pretty little 

 species from Eastern Europe, &c, only grows about 

 a couple of feet in height ; it has small, oblong- 

 linear leaves, and . solitary rose-coloured flowers, 

 much less than half the size of those of most 

 forms of the common Almond. A. incana, a Cauca- 

 sian plant similar in size and habit, has red flowers, 

 and the under surface of the leaves clothed with a 

 hoary white tomentum. 



Andromeda. — The only species now retained in 

 the genus Andromeda is our native A. polifolia, a 

 pretty little evergreen, which thrives in a damp peat 

 border ; it is found in a wild state in peat bogs 

 in many countries throughout the northern hemi- 

 sphere, and has stalked, linear, leathery leaves, with 

 strongly recurved margins, and short drooping ra- 

 cemes of red flowers. For other plants frequently 

 found under the name of Andromeda in catalogues 

 and garden literature, see Cassandra, Cassiope, 

 Pieris, Zenobia, &c. 



