TREES AND SHRUBS. 



75 



under Com us, but as it is better known under the 

 name here given, that is retained for convenience. 

 It is only in the South-west that this wonderfully 

 handsome Himalayan shrub succeeds thoroughly in 

 the open air in Britain ; when laden with its large 

 red fruits it presents an aspect quite unlike that of 

 any other occupant of a place in English shrubberies. 



Berberis. — About a hundred different so-called 

 species of Berberis are described in books, but very 

 probably not more than half that number are really 

 distinct. They are widely distributed throughout 

 Europe, Asia, and America. Scarcely more than a 

 dozen are worthy of general cultivation, but amongst 

 these are some of the most useful as well as the most 

 beautiful of hardy ornamental shrubs. The genus 

 may be divided into two sections, the one with pin- 

 nate leaves — formerly classed under the generic name 

 Mahonia — the other with simple, usually clustered 

 leaves. 



SPECIES WITH PINNATE LEAVES. 



B. aquifolium, the best-known member of this 

 section, is a charming plant at all times ; its dark 

 green, leathery, evergreen foliage forms a fine setting 

 for the clustered racemes of yellow flowers, as well 

 as for the purplish glaucous fruits which succeed 

 them. It is one of the best shrubs for growing under 

 tall trees, and makes a fine cover for game in woods. 

 M. fascicularis is a taller, more shrubby species, a 

 profuse flowerer, and a desirable plant for any shrub- 

 bery border. B. Japonica has large handsome greyish 

 green, very rigid, spiny leaves, and generally un- 

 branched stems. B. Bealii and B. intermedia are 

 mere seminal variations, differing slightly in the 

 outline of the leaflets. B. nervosa is a dwarf grower, 

 suitable for rockery or for planting on a sunny bank, 

 and B. repens in general aspect resembles a reduced 

 form of B. aquifolium. All the foregoing — with the 

 exception of B. Japonica, wliich hails from China and 

 Japan — are North American. 



SPECIES WITH SIMPLE LEAVES. 



B. buxifolia, formerly generally known under the 

 name of B. clulcis, has large, solitary, long-stalked 

 flowers, and oval, dark green, Box-like leaves ; it is 

 a native of the southern parts of South America, 

 and grows about six or eight feet high under favour- 

 able conditions. The variety nana is a compact and 

 dense-growing dwarf form, hardly exceeding a foot 

 in height. B. Daricinii, with its orange-yellow 

 flowers, and small, glossy dark green, spiny-toothed 

 leaves, is also a Chilian plant, and one worthy to 

 commemorate the great naturalist whose name it 

 bears. A hybrid between this and the next-named 

 species (B. stenophylla) is intermediate in general 

 characters between the two, and not less handsome 



than B. Barwinii. B. empetrifolia is a dwarf grower, 

 with narrow, dark green leaves, with the margins 

 strongly re volute, and few-flowered clusters of slender 

 flowers not nearly so bright or showy as either of 

 those of the two last-named plants. B. Sinensis is 

 not unlike the common Barberry in leaf and flower 

 characters, but infinitely more graceful in habit, and 

 apparently quite as hardy. Either in fruit or flower 

 this is the best of the sub-section, of which the com- 

 mon Barberry may be looked upon as the type. B. 

 vulgaris is hardly showy enough to be much planted 

 for ornament, although when laden with its orange- 

 scarlet fruits few shrubs present a more beautiful 

 appearance ; some of the forms, however, are dis- 

 tinctly desirable, one with purple leaves being 

 among the most distinct and striking foliage shrubs ; 

 those with white, yellow, and scarlet fruits, too, are 

 both interesting and ornamental. 



All the Berberises are readily raised from seed, 

 and succeed under very varied conditions as regards 

 soil and situation. 



Betula {Birch). — There are about twenty-five spe- 

 cies of Birch, most of which inhabit North Temperate 

 and Arctic regions. No more graceful tree exists than 

 our native B. alba, w r ith its silvery bark and slender 

 branches. A considerable number of garden forms 

 are cultivated, and one or two geographical varieties, 

 the best of which are mentioned here. The variety 

 Balecarlica has beautifully-cut leaves, with the habit 

 of the common wild British Birch ; fastigiata, with 

 the leaves of B. alba, has an erect habit of growth, 

 the counterpart of that of the Lombardy Poplar; 

 foliis purpureis only differs in its distinctly purplish 

 leaves ; penclula is amongst the most beautiful of all 

 weeping trees ; the sub- variety Youngii is a form with 

 more decidedly pendulous branches, and populifolia, 

 with larger, more Poplar-like leaves, is the North 

 American representative of the British species. B. 

 lenta, B. lutea, B. nigra, and B. papyrifera are species 

 from the North-eastern United States, quite hardy 

 in this country, and thoroughly worth growing in an 

 English park ; not one of them, however, is nearly 

 so effective in the landscape as B. alba, if we partially 

 except the Red or River Birch, B. nigra, which in 

 winter is conspicuous enough by reason of its reddish 

 bark peeling off the branches and trunk — to which 

 it remains for a long time loosely attached — in long 

 strips or flakes. B. nana is a denizen of Arctic and 

 Alpine regions throughout the Northern Hemisphere ; 

 in Britain it only occurs from Northumberland 

 northwards. It is a pretty little bush, with small, 

 round, crenated leaves, and rarely attains a height 

 of three feet. Grafted as a standard on B. alba, it 

 makes a nice shrubbery plant ; on its own roots it 

 is best placed on the rockery. 



