TREES AND SHRUBS. 



225 



them is inferior in quality to that yielded hy those 

 fed on the leaves of the White Mulberry. Both the 

 above species are probably natives of China and 

 Northern India, but as they are naturalised in many 

 countries, and have been largely cultivated from time 

 immemorial, it is difficult to ascertain with certainty 

 their exact homes. M. nigra is probably the hardier 

 of the two species, and forms low trees with large 

 spreading heads, bearing enormous crops of its very 

 pleasant fruits on almost any soil, or in almost any 

 situation in the South of England. M. rubra, the 

 Red Mulberry of the Northern United States, has 

 long, dark purple, sweet and edible fruits, and oval 

 heart-shaped, serrated leaves, rough above and downy 

 beneath ; in autumn these turn a fine red before 

 falling. In its native country it sometimes attains 

 a height of seventy feet, with a trunk two feet in 

 diameter ; the wood is yellowish, heavy, and exceed- 

 ingly durable, and is valuable for posts, fences, rails, 

 &c. Formerly it was to some extent employed for 

 shipbuilding. 



Myrica. — This genus, which is represented in 

 the British flora by the Sweet-Gale or Bog-Myrtle, 

 M. Gale, is the only one in the order Myricacece, and 

 is distributed throughout Europe, temperate and 

 tropical Asia, South Africa, and North America. 

 Practically there are only three species which are 

 hardy in this country, and these are low-growing, 

 interesting, deciduous shrubs. M. asplenifolia, or 

 Comptonia asplenifolia, is the most ornamental of the 

 three ; it makes a neat bush some two or three feet 

 in height, and is clothed with pretty, sweet-scented, 

 Fern-like leaves. M. cerifera, the Bay-berry, or Wax- 

 Myrtle, has oblong-lanceolate, shining, resinous 

 dotted leaves, which are either entire or wavy-toothed 

 towards the apex. This grows from three to eight 

 feet high, and, like the last, will grow in dry, poor 

 soils ; both are natives of North America. M. Gale 

 is found throughout the northern hemisphere, and 

 affects moors and boggy places. It is a twiggy shrub 

 two or three feet high, with fragrant, shortly-stalked, 

 wedge-shaped, serrated leaves ; the flowers appearing 

 before the leaves develop. In this country it is much 

 used in cottage practice, and a kind of beer prepared 

 from it is largely used in some districts during 

 harvest, &c. 



Myricaria. — Of the three or four species of this 

 genus, probably only one, If. Germanica, is cultivated 

 in this country. It is a pretty, deciduous shrub, from 

 four to eight feet or more high, with small Heath- 

 like leaves, and reddish flowers in terminal spikes. 

 It is a native of Central and Southern Europe, and 

 is almost a continuous bloomer. In dry soils it 

 thrives very well, and forms a beautiful feathery 

 87 



bush. The genus differs principally from Tamarisk 

 in the ten stamens being united into a short tube at 

 the base. 



!N"egundo. — The members of this genus only 

 number some four or five, and were formerly in- 

 cluded, and indeed are even now retained by some 

 authorities, in Acer, from which, however, they 

 differ in the absence of a disk in the dioecious 

 flowers, and in having pinnate leaves. N. aceroides, 

 the Box Elder or Ash-leaved Maple of North 

 America, is extensively planted in this country, and 

 elsewhere, as a shade or avenue tree. The type is 

 a small but handsome tree, with light green twigs, 

 and very delicate drooping clusters of small greenish 

 flowers, rather earlier than the leaves. In his 

 " Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts," Emerson 

 states that " in its saccharine properties it is almost 

 equal to the Sugar Maple, and excellent sugar has 

 been made from its sap." The most marked 

 varieties are : crispum, with variously cut and curled 

 leaves — this form, however, is not so vigorous a 

 grower as the type. Laciniatum is even more extreme 

 in leaf characters than the last, and like it, is not so 

 good a grower as the typical plant. Variegatum is 

 perhaps the most popular of variegated deciduous 

 trees or shrubs, and makes a fine object either 

 planted singly on the lawn, or in company with 

 dark-leaved deciduous or evergreen shrubs in the 

 pleasure-ground ; it is also very useful as a pot 

 plant for furnishing and general decorative purposes. 

 This variety " originated as a chance branch sport 

 in a nursery at Toulouse towards the close of the 

 first half of the present century, and for many years 

 seemed to have remained almost unknown, until, at a 

 horticultural exhibition at Toulouse, it was awarded 

 a gold medal given by the ex-Empress of the French." 

 A complete account of its history may be found in 

 the Gardener's Chronicle for 1861, p. 867. Violaceum 

 only differs from the type in having the young 

 shoots covered with a glaucous-violet bloom. The 

 various forms above-mentioned are easily propagated 

 by budding on the type, which may be raised in 

 quantity from either imported or home-grown seeds ; 

 they flourish in almost any soil or situation, and are 

 perfectly hardy in this country. 



N. cissifolium is a very pretty shrub, or small tree, 

 from Japan ; it has small, light green, trifoliolate 

 leaves. M. Californicum, from the Western United 

 States, principally differs from JV. aceroides by its 

 three to five smaller and narrower leaflets which 

 are coarsely toothed, but less distinctly lobed than 

 those of that species. 



ITuttallia. — This genus contains but a single 

 species, - N. cerasiformis, a pretty, free flowering, 



