TREES AND SHRUBS. 



145 



numerous garden forms, with single and double 

 flowers, ranging in colour from white to yellow, 

 rose, purple, and violet, &c. It hardly attains a 

 greater height than about six feet, and flowers 

 abundantly towards the close of summer, and 

 during early autumn. It is a native of Syria, 

 whence it was introduced to this country at the close 

 of the sixteenth century. 



Hippophae. — In dry gravelly or sandy soils, H. 

 rkamnoides, the Sea Buckthorn of the British coasts, 

 is the only British member of the order Elceagnacece, 

 and forms a very ornamental shrub, or small tree. 

 Under suitable conditions it makes slender, almost 

 pendulous branches, clothed with narrow Willow- 

 like, silvery leaves, and if both sexes are present — ■ 

 male and female flowers are produced by different 

 individuals — a crop of small orange-red fruits 

 succeed the inconspicuous flowers. The Himalayan 

 form of the species, H. salicifolius, perhaps grows 

 rather taller than the type, and on that account is 

 somewhat preferable for some situations. 



Hydrangea. —Upwards of thirty species of 

 Hydrangea are known, and a large proportion of 

 these are, or have been, in cultivation. Not more 

 than three or four, however, are worthy of mention 

 here. H. hortensis, the common Chinese species, 

 which is so largely grown with such excellent effect 

 in the South-western countie , varies exceedingly ; in 

 some — and these are perhaps the most showy — all or 

 nearly all the flowers are quite sterile ; in others, 

 the ray-flowers only are barren, and the inner ones 

 fertile. Then, again, the colour ranges from pink, 

 white, or blue, according to the season, or the nature 

 of the soil in which they are grown ; and there are 

 also double varieties, besides others with silver and 

 golden variegated leaves. Given a tolerably shel- 

 tered place, and good rich soil, there is no reason 

 why H. hortensis should not be much more widely 

 grown as a border plant in the open air instead of 

 being restricted so much to pot-culture. H. pani- 

 culata, a Japanese species, has an elongated, pani- 

 culate (not flat or rounded) inflorescence ; it has dull 

 green, pubescent leaves, and, if planted in good loam, 

 and the older stems cut back annually, forms a fine 

 bush some three feet or so in height, and develops its 

 starry flowers in large panicles a foot or more in 

 length. This species is hardier than the last-named, 

 and is well worthy of general cultivation. H. petio- 

 laris (generally met with under the erroneous name 

 of Schizophragma hydrangeoides) is a climber, with 

 broadly - ovate, heart-shaped, serrated dark green 

 leaves, and slender branching stems, which attach 

 themselves to a wall, or similar support, and root 

 against it like Ivy. It has a very large flat inflores- 

 cence, the large outer white flowers being sterile, and 

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the small greenish inner ones fertile. H. qitercifolia 

 has large, ovate, sinuate leaves, not unlike those of 

 some of the large-leaved American Oaks in outline, 

 and large panicles of white flowers; this is a native 

 of the Southern United States, and except against a 

 wall, or in a sheltered position, is only hardy in the 

 Southern counties. 



Hypericum. — This genus, which gives its name 

 to the order Hypericacece, contains about 160 species, 

 and is found in most parts of the world. A large 

 proportion, however, are herbaceous plants, and, 

 therefore, out of place here. Of the shrubby species 

 the following are the best for general cultivation : 

 — H. Androscemum, the common Tutsan, a British 

 plant, is suitable for planting along woodland paths, 

 and in damp shady spots ; its yellow flowers are not 

 so large as those of some of its allies, but it is a 

 pretty plant, well worth a place in the shrubbery. 

 The South-east European, H. calycinum, frequently 

 called the Rose of Sharon, has the largest flowers 

 in the genus ; it is a creeping shrub, nearly ever- 

 green, admirably adapted for clothing banks with a 

 dense carpet of glossy dark green leaves, studded 

 with golden-yellow flowers three to four inches in 

 diameter. H. elatum, a North American species, 

 differs from H. Androscemum, which it somewhat 

 resembles, in its longer styles and rather larger 

 flowers. H. Hookerianum, or, as it is frequently 

 called, H. oblong if olium, is a Himalayan evergreen, 

 with large flowers, and glossy, dark green, oval 

 leaves. H. Kalmianum and H. prolificum are two 

 nearly-allied North American species, with narrow 

 leaves ; they are remarkable in having very 

 numerous stamens, only slightly united at the base 

 into five bundles. 



Idesia polycarpa is the only species of a genus 

 belonging to the order Bixinece, which is only repre- 

 sented in British shrubberies by the South American 

 Azaras, and the subject of this paragraph. It is a 

 deciduous, round-headed, small tree, with large 

 heart-shaped, acuminate, remotely serrulated, long- 

 stalked leaves, and drooping panicles of unisexual 

 flowers ; the male plant is the more showy, the small 

 flowers being orange-coloured ; the female flowers 

 are greenish, and are succeeded by large clusters of 

 small purplish-black fruits. It is a native of Japan, 

 and a somewhat recent introduction to this country. 



Ilex {Holly). — Of the 150 species of Holly 

 known to botanists, only some half a dozen or so 

 are worth growing, except in tree collections. The 

 genus is found in temperate and tropical regions of 

 both hemispheres, and a large proportion of the 

 species arc not hardy in Britain. Only the most 

 remarkable and desirable of those which are worthy 



