TREES AND SHRUBS. 



353 



for it is this garden form, with all the flowers neuter, 

 a ad not the wild plant — in which only the outer 

 ones are barren — which is such a favourite in old- 

 fashioned gardens throughout the country. The 

 acid, bright red fruits serve as a substitute for 

 Cranberries in the United States, for the Guelder 

 '.lose is distributed over most countries of the 

 Northern Hemisphere. There is a curious, very 

 dwarf-growing form, which never exceeds a foot or a 

 foot and a half in height, and there is another with 

 yellow fruits. 



V. plicatum, from North China, has globular heads 

 of snowy-white flowers, much like those of the 

 Guelder Rose, but the plaited, oblong, serrated 

 leaves are very different from those of that species. 

 It is a wonderfully pretty shrub and forces fairly 

 well. 



V. prunifolium, the Black Haw of the North- 

 eastern United States, has oval obtuse, or slightly- 

 pointed, finely-serrated leaves, sessile cymes of small 

 flowers, and fruit similar to that of V. Lentago, but 

 rather smaller ; it is a tall shrub, or small tree, and 

 flowers in May and June. 



V. Tinus, the Laurustinus, is the only evergreen 

 species mentioned in these notes. Some of the 

 varieties — for the type is so generally grown, and so 

 well known, that it is useless describing it here — are 

 very desirable plants. Lucida has glossy dark green 

 leaves, and is a compact-growing floriferous form, 

 better adapted for forcing than the common Laurus- 

 tinus. Froebelii has light green leaves and white 

 flowers, without any tinge of red ; this, too, forces 

 better than the type. The species which fruit 

 freely are easily increased from seed; the Laurus- 

 tinus is readily raised from cuttings. The set with 

 barren flowers, such as V. plicatum, &c, may be 

 propagated by grafting on seedling stocks of the 

 Guelder Rose. 



Vitis ( Vine). — There are upwards of a couple of 

 hundred species of Vitis, but comparatively few of 

 these are in cultivation for decorative purposes. 

 The following are amongst the best. 



V. arborea, or V. bipinnata, from the Eastern 

 United States, is quite unlike any of the other 

 species mentioned in these notes ; it is nearly 

 glabrous, and has large, twice-pinnate, or ternate, 

 leaves, with cut-toothed leaflets. The inflorescence 

 is cymose, and the black berries are obovate in form. 



V. corclifolia, the Winter or Frost Grape, also 

 fi-om the United States, is remarkable for its 

 deliciously sweet-scented flowers ; the leaves are 

 thin, not glossy, heart-shaped, acuminate, sharply 

 and coarsely toothed, and the large loose compound 

 panicles are followed by small blue or black acid 

 berries, which ripen after frosts. 

 95 



V. heterophylla is a Japanese species, of which the 

 most desirable variety is humulifolia ; this has 

 cymose clusters of finely-coloured blue berries, 

 which when perfectly ripe assume a turquoise tint. 

 For mixing with autumn flowers in vases, &c, the 

 fruiting sprays of this small-leaved, slender-growing 

 plant are very effective. 



V. Labrusca, the Northern Fox-grape of North 

 America, has dark purple, or amber-coloured berries, 

 with a tough muscy pulp ; in some of the Continental 

 Vine-growing countries this species has been largely 

 used as a stock on which to graft the more tender 

 varieties, since the Phylloxera has created such 

 havoc in the vineyards where the Vines were grown 

 on their own roots ; V. Labrusca, and some other of 

 the North American Vines, being apparently better 

 fitted to withstand the attacks of that insect than 

 the varieties of V. vinifera. Some of the Vines 

 largely cultivated in the New World for their fruits 

 have originated from the species now under notice. 

 The branchlets and young leaves are very woolly, 

 the leaves continuing rusty- woolly throughout. 



V. lanata, a Himalayan Vine, has more or less 

 woolly leaves of large size ; before falling these 

 assume a bright scarlet colour. Planted so as to 

 climb amongst the branches of not too dense- 

 growing evergreens, this species produces splendid 

 foliage effects in autumn. 



V. tricuspidata, perhaps better known as Am- 

 pelopsis Veitchii, is a Japanese climber, with tri- 

 foliolate, or three-lobed or five-lobed leaves, which 

 assume in sunny spots the same beautiful autumnal 

 tints which characterise the Virginian Creeper in 

 autumn ; the young leaves — or rather the leaves 

 produced by young plants — are small ; when they 

 are thoroughly established and come to the flowering 

 stage, the foliage is much larger and coarser in 

 character. V. tricuspidata attaches itself firmly to 

 walls, &c, against which it is planted, and is one of 

 the best of rapid-growing climbers. 



V. vinifera is too well known to need description, 

 but the two following varieties are much less widely 

 known than they deserve to be. Laciniosa, or the 

 Parsley-leaved Vine, has elegantly-cut leaves ; it 

 fruits freely, too, and is well worth a place on a 

 warm sunny wall. The foliage of erubescens is like 

 that of the common Vine in outline, but in autumn 

 it assumes a rich claret-red colour. 



Wistaria. — Only about four or five species are 

 known, one of which is North American, and the 

 rest from China and Japan. W. Sinensis is deservedly 

 one of the most popular of early spring-flowering 

 climbers ; there are a white- flowered and a double 

 variety, but in the opinion of most people these do 

 not equal the ordinary purplish-lilac one in beauty. 



