TREES AND SHRUBS. 



143 



Garrya. — Of the eight species of this genus 

 known to botanists, only one, G. elliptica, a Cali- 

 fornian shrub, is worthy of mention here ; it is 

 a pretty evergreen, with long clustered catkins of 

 yellowish- green flowers, produced in spring. The 

 male plant is much more ornamental than the 

 female, which is rare in gardens. In the South of 

 England, G. elliptica thrives well in the open 

 shrubbery border, but in the Northern counties it 

 should be grown against a wall. It is readily propa- 

 gated from cuttings, and should be more generally 

 grown, as it is one of the most elegant of ornamental 

 evergreens. 



Genista. — Upwards of seventy species have been 

 described in this genus, all cf them restricted to 

 Europe, Northern Africa, and Western Asia. G. 

 Sinensis, a native of Sicily and Sardinia, grows 

 about ten or fifteen feet high, and has slender, 

 arching, almost leafless twigs, laden in June and 

 July with racemes of golden-yellow flowers. G. 

 Anglica, the Needle Furze of Britain, is a spiny 

 shrub a foot or two in height ; it is a pretty shrub, 

 well worthy of a place in the front of the shrub- 

 bery border. G. Anxantica, a South-west European 

 species, is not unlike our native G. tinctoria, or 

 Dyer's Greenweed ; it is a very floriferous dwarf - 

 growing plant. G. Hispanica, often met with in 

 nurseries under the name of TJlex Hispanicus, is a 

 spiny shrub, with terminal racemes ; it forms a 

 dense, compact mass a foot or two in height. G. 

 elata is simply a strong, tall- growing form of G. 

 tinctoria, being twice or thrice as tall as that species. 

 G. sagittalis and G. triangularis are prostrate shrubs 

 with winged branches — both being natives of South 

 Europe, and flowering in spring and summer. All 

 the species above-named are yellow-flowered ones, 

 and are readily raised from seeds, which ripen freely 

 in this country. 



Gleditschia. — Three species of this genus are in 

 cultivation, and are ornamental, deciduous, hardy 

 trees, with feathery leaves. G. monosperma, the 

 Water Locust of the North-eastern United States, 

 differs principally from G. triacanthos, the Honey 

 Locust of the same country, in its one-seeded pods. 

 Both are handsome trees, perfectly hardy, and of the 

 easiest cultivation. G. Sinensis, a Chinese species, 

 has stem and branches, perhaps, more formidably 

 armed with stout branched spines than either of the 

 two preceding. The flowers of all are greenish and 

 inconspicuous. 



Gordonia. — This genus comprises about ten 

 species of very ornamental flowering shrubs allied 

 to Camellia. G. Lasianthus, the Loblolly-Boy of 



Virginia, &c, and G. pubescens (also from North 

 America) have large, white, fragrant flowers, pro- 

 duced in July and August. It is probably only in 

 the South of England that they are hardy when un- 

 protected in the open shrubbery, but they are so 

 handsome as to merit a place on the wall in any 

 garden. 



Gymnoeladus Canadensis {The Kentucky 

 Coffee Tree), whether in a young or large state, is 

 very unlike any other tree cultivated in the open air 

 in Britain. It is quite hardy, and by no means 

 particular as to soil. If kept in a dwarf state, like 

 the Alianthus, it will produce very large foliage, and 

 form a striking clump on the lawn for summer 

 effect ; the dull bluish-green leaves are often three 

 feet long by nearly a couple of feet broad ; there are 

 several large, partial leaf-stalks, bearing from seven 

 to thirteen ovate stalked leaflets, the lowest pair with 

 but single leaflets. The large pod is from six to ten 

 inches long by a couple of inches broad ; the seeds — 

 over half an inch across — having been used by the 

 early settlers as a substitute for coffee, gave the 

 tree its commonly-accepted English name. In the 

 Eastern United States it attains a height of sixty or 

 eighty feet, wdth a trunk sometimes two feet in 

 diameter. 



Halesia. — About six species are known of this 

 genus of the Styrax family, one -half of which hail 

 from North-east America, and the other from China 

 or Japan. The common Snowdrop, or Silver-bell 

 Tree, M. tetraptera, is a beautiful spring-flowering 

 deciduous tree or shrub, with clusters of large, pure 

 white drooping flowers, somewhat resembling those 

 of the Snowdrop. When laden, in summer and 

 autumn, with its four-winged fruit, which are from 

 one to two inches in length, a good specimen of this 

 tree presents an elegant appearance. This species 

 was probably first cultivated in this country by 

 Bishop Compton, a distinguished prelate and eminent 

 patron of botany at the beginning of last century, 

 and in old-fashioned gardens fine trees may fre- 

 quently be met with. S. diptera principally differs 

 from H. tetraptera in its two- (not four-) winged 

 fruits, and S. parviflora is a Southern United States 

 species with smaller flowers. H. hispidce, formerly 

 known as Pterostyrax hispidce, a Japanese deciduous 

 shrub of recent introduction, has large heart-shaped 

 leaves, and drooping paniculate inflorescence of pure 

 white flowers. 



Halimodendron argenteum, a native of 

 Russian Asia, is the only member of this genus of 

 the Pea family. It is a pretty, deciduous shrub, 

 w T ith abruptly pinnate, silky leaves, composed of a 



