TREES AND SHRUBS. 



79 



is a native of Western Asia. C. Canadensis, a North. 

 American species, is similar in habit, but has fewer 

 paler-coloured flowers ; and C. Chinensis has larger 

 rosy-pink flowers. All three are beautiful shrub- 

 bery plants, and the first-named, under favourable 

 conditions, sometimes attains a height of twenty or 

 thirty feet. 



Cistus. — The Rock Roses, or Gum Cistuses, are 

 amongst the ' most showy of flowering shrubs, and 

 although their flowers only last a single day, a 

 succession is produced in profusion for a considerable 

 period. It is only in the South of England that 

 most of the Cistuses can be called hardy. C. laari- 

 folius, the hardiest in the entire genus, has evergreen 

 three-nerved leaves and white flowers, with a yellow 

 blotch at the base of each petal. This species, too, 

 grows taller than most of the rest ; it attains a 

 height of six or eight feet. C. crispus has purple 

 flowers ; C. hirsutus is white, with a golden blotch ; 

 C. Monspeliensis, white ; and C. purpureas, reddish- 

 purple. C. ladaniferus has very large flowers, 

 white, with a claret-coloured blotch at the base of 

 each petal. 



The Clematis. — Of all the genera of climbers 

 suitable for general cultivation as ornamental plants 

 in the British Isles, one of the most useful and 

 popular, as well as perhaps the most beautiful, is the 

 genus Clematis, the Traveller's Joy, or the Virgin's 

 Bower. Clematises are found in all temperate 

 climates, and are rarer in tropical regions. Of the 

 hundred species known to science, the greater part 

 are woody climbers, and a goodly proportion of 

 these are handsome garden plants. The following 

 is a selection of the best of the hardy kinds : — 



C. tethusifolia, from Northern Asia, is by no means 

 remarkable, either for the colour or size of its flowers, 

 but the profusion in which they are produced, and 

 the beautifully-cut light green leaves, render it a 

 very taking plant. It probably hardly grows much 

 more than about six feet in height, so it is best to 

 plant it in the shrubbery border, and allow it to 

 grow naturally on some rustic support; the upper 

 portion of a Fir-tree properly fixed makes an excel- 

 lent one. The flowers are between bell-shaped and 

 cylindrical in form, about an inch long, and nearly 

 white in colour. 



C aromatica. — The native country of this is 

 unknown. It is probably of hybrid origin. The 

 flowers are deep violet-blue, and sweetly scented. 

 This hardly grows higher than six feet, and is of 

 much more formal habit than the last-named. 



C. Balearica is a South European evergreen species 

 which flowers in the winter and spring. In sunny 

 spots in the South and South-west of England (else- 



where in this country, although it grows freely, the 

 wood is rarely ripened sufficiently to flower), this is 

 one of the most distinct and beautiful of winter- 

 flowering shrubs. The leaves are dark green, 

 ternate, and the flowers, which measure about two 

 inches across, are greenish-white, copiously marked 

 on the inside with reddish dots. 



C. ccerulea, a beautiful large-flowered species, intro- 

 duced from Japan some fifty years ago, is still one of 

 the best. It is the parent of many garden forms, 

 single and double, none of which surpass in beauty 

 the type with its large pale violet flowers. 



C. cirrhosa, a South European species, is not un- 

 like C. Balearica in general aspect. It has, however, 

 somewhat smaller unspotted greenish-white flowers. 

 Like Balearica, too, it flowers in winter and early 

 spring. 



C. Flammula, the South European representative 

 of our native C. Yitalba, has dense panicles of small 

 white fragrant flowers, which are, moreover, sweetly 

 scented. It is one of the oldest of the exotic Clema- 

 tises in English gardens, and grows and blossoms 

 freely in most places. It is suitable for planting in 

 semi- wild spots, and may be trusted to take care of 

 itself amongst low-growing trees and shrubs. 



C. florida, a native of Japan, has been upwards of 

 a century an inmate of British gardens, and is the 

 parent of not a few handsome garden forms and 

 hybrids. It has large pale white flowers (borne on 

 the wood of the previous year), during the summer 

 months. A double form is more frequently met with 

 than the type. 



C. lanuginosa, introduced from China in 1851, has 

 contributed a large number of hybrids and seedling 

 forms. It has very large pale lilac-tinted flowers. 

 Many of the finest of the "show" Clematises, now 

 grown either for outdoor or conservatory decoration, 

 have been derived from this species. Its flowering 

 season is a prolonged one, and the blossoms are 

 developed on the young growing summer wood. 



C. montana is an Indian species, with pure white 

 flowers, produced in spring from the previous season's 

 wood. It is a charming plant for a high wall. 



C. Viorna, the Leather-flower of the United States, 

 has a somewhat bell-shaped flower, with very thick 

 and leathery purplish sepals. 



C. V. coccinea, a variety from Texas, that has only 

 recently been brought into public notice, has very 

 fleshy sepals, vermilion outside and yellow within. 

 If this should prove quite hardy — the writer has seen 

 it growing against a wall in the open air without any 

 protection for some years — it will be one of the most 

 distinct and beautiful of outdoor shrubby plants. 



C. virginiana, the common Virgin's Bower of the 

 United States, is a vigorous climber, with panicled 

 clusters of small whitish flowers. Like our British 



