CLIMBING PLANTS. 



373 



into dense axillary panicles. This should be planted 

 amongst tall deciduous shrubs, or amongst brush- 

 wood, in order for its pretty foliage to be seen to 

 best advantage. 



Hop {Hmnulus Lupulus). — Both the male and 

 female plants of the common wild Hop make beauti- 

 ful objects if allowed to roam at will among shrubs 

 and small trees. The female plant, especially, is very 

 attractive when laden with large cone-like catkins. 



Ipomaea. — In dry, sunny spots, amongst low 

 shrubs, &c, the Jalap Plant, Ipomcea purga, with its 

 large purplish rose-coloured flowers, and smooth 

 arrow-shaped or heart-shaped leaves, makes a very 

 attractive object. In all probability it is not the 

 cold of an English winter which proves fatal to this 

 Mexican tuberous-rooted perennial, but the excessive 

 wet. Care should, therefore, be taken to choose a 

 well-drained, dry, sunny spot for it. We have seen 

 it thriving beautifully among dwarf-growing Yews, 

 Laurels, &c, where it never received any shelter 

 beyond that afforded by the shrubs among which 

 it grew. I. pandurata, the Wild Potato-vine, or 

 Man of the Earth, of the United States, is a very 

 different and much stronger-growing plant than the 

 last-named. Like all the other members of its 

 family, it delights in a warm, sunny spot. The 

 leaves are mostly heart-shaped, pointed ; occasionally 

 some of them are contracted at the sides, so as to be 

 fiddle-shaped (hence the specific name). The flower- 

 stalks, which are larger than the leaf-stalks, bear 

 from one to five large white purple-tubed flowers. 



Lathyrus. — The cultivated Everlasting Pea 

 [Lathyrus sylvestris, var. platyphylla) is one of 

 the very best of hardy perennial climbers for a 

 sunny spot. L. rotundifolius, a native of South 

 Russia and Asia Minor, has brilliant rose-coloured 

 scentless flowers, and is, perhaps, the most beautiful 

 of the group. L. tuberosus is a dwarfer-growing 

 species than those above - mentioned, and there- 

 fore it should be planted amongst low - growing- 

 shrubs in a sunny spot ; it has crimson flowers, and 

 ~by the side of a low hedge it forms a very beauti- 

 ful sheet of colour. Care should be taken to 

 plant this beautiful species where its tubers would 

 not interfere with any other plants, as it is difficult 

 to eradicate when thoroughly established. In some 

 parts of the Continent this used to be, and is now, 

 cultivated for the sake of its edible tubers. 



Lonicera. — The beauty of the common widely 

 distributed native Honeysuckle (Z. Periclymenum) is 

 too well known to require comment. It thrives apace 

 if allowed an old trunk or the upper part of a Pine- 



tree, or some similar support, all to itself. The 

 garden varieties will be found described under 

 Tkees and Shrubs. L. sewpervirens, the Trumpet 

 Honeysuckle, is, unfortunately, not to be trusted, 

 except in favoured places in the South ; it has scent- 

 less scarlet flowers, and is perhaps the most brilliantly 

 coloured Honeysuckle in cultivation. 



Lyeium. — Amongst the Ly dams, or Box Thorns, 

 there are three species which are hardy scrambling 

 or hedge plants. 



L. bar bat urn is a climbing, deciduous, spiny shrub, 

 with flat, glabrous, acute lance- shaped leaves, and 

 purple yellow-throated flowers, succeeded by egg- 

 shaped yellow berries. Graceful in habit, and de- 

 cidedly ornamental, both in flower and fruit, it 

 seems somewhat strange that so pretty a plant 

 should not be more frequently met with. 



L. Chiuense has handsome purple flowers, with a 

 starry white centre, and orange-coloured fruits, 

 ripening in early autumn. This plant was at one 

 time believed to be that which furnished tea, and 

 the best-known English name for this species, and 

 others mentioned here, is still Tea-tree. 



L. Europceum — another South European species 

 — is a very rapid grower, with long slender shoots, 

 laden with violet flowers, and bright scarlet or 

 yellow fruit. It thrives in almost any soil or 

 situation, and is almost unequalled for forming an 

 elegant and effective summer covering for a rustic 

 arbour, or for covering a rustic archway in the wood- 

 land walk. If trained up the trunk of a dead tree it 

 will reach a considerable height, and its long shoots 

 hang like a screen on all sides to the ground. The 

 unripe fruits, that are lurid purple in colour, contrast 

 markedly with the bright scarlet or yellow ripe ones. 



Menispermum Canadense, the Moonseed of 

 Canada and the North-eastern United States, is a tall 

 climber, with three to seven-angled or lobed, light 

 green, deciduous leaves. In sunny spots it flowers 

 in June and July, and ripens its rather large 

 bunches of black bloom-covered fruits, somewhat 

 resembling small Grapes, in September. 



MuMenbeekia. — Some of the Australian mem- 

 bers of this curious genus of Polygonacece are elegant 

 climbers, distinct in habit and general aspect from 

 any others. M. complexa is a fast-growing evergreen 

 with slender wiry stems, and tiny roundish leaves ; 

 it is quite at home amongst shrubs, &c, and will 

 soon climb to a considerable height. 



Hoses. — The varieties best suited for arbours, 

 trees, or walls have already been mentioned in the 

 special articles upon this flower. 



