THE VIBURNUMS. 185 



THE VIBURNUMS. 



Few classes of hardy shrubs have been 

 neglected so completely as the Vibur- 

 nums. Save for a few well-known kinds 

 they are almost unknown to planters 

 and gardeners, spite of their hardiness 

 and the beauty of many kinds in leaf, 

 flower,and fruit. Even the common sorts 

 are more valued for forcing than for the 

 good use that may be made of them by 

 massing at the waterside, or in groups 

 large enough to secure the finest effect. 

 In America planters are alive to the value 

 of the many beautiful kinds so freely 

 scattered throughout Canada and the 

 States, and wide use is now made of the 

 best kinds in parks and pleasure grounds. 

 But, in addition to these western forms, 

 many good kinds have also come from 

 the far East, and recently Messrs. Veitch 

 have added to the number of Chinese 

 and Japanese Viburnums new plants un- 

 like any hitherto grown, while Messrs. 

 Gauntlett of Redruth have sent us beau- 

 tiful flowers of the fine Japanese kinds 

 grown in their nursery. 



The Viburnums consti- 



As Garden Shrubs. , r 



tute a large group or 

 about a hundred species and many va- 

 rieties, spread over the whole of the 

 northern temperate zone,embracing the 

 whole of North America from Alaska to 

 the tropics, all of Europe, and the north 

 of Africa, more rarely across Asia, till 

 they again become abundant in China, 

 Korea, and Japan, stretching even to the 

 mountains of Java. It is not strange that 

 plants with such a world-wide range 

 should offer kinds suited to almost every 

 condition of plant life. They are in the 

 main careless as to soil or aspect, but do 



best in moist and open spots, though 

 kinds may be found to do well in poor dry 

 soil, among rocks, or even beneath other 

 trees. As a class they thrive upon chalky 

 soils, growing with a vigour and luxuri- 

 ance which is very welcome where such 

 land prevails and many other shrubs fail. 

 Beside the well-known Snowball Trees 

 of Europe, China, and japan {J^iburnum 

 Opulus,-mcicrocephaln??i, ?a\(\plicatum) , 

 and the cherished winter clusters of the 

 Laurustinus, many other sorts are beau- 

 tiful in flower — dilaiatum, dentatum, 

 molle, pru?iifolium, rufidulum^ Sieboldi, 

 tomentosum, and others, being good in 

 this way . Many again are very bright and 

 pretty in their fruits of scarlet, blue, or 

 glossy black, often hanging long upon 

 the branches, and in two or three sorts 

 of use as food. Not a few are good in the 

 colour of their leaves in autumn, in fact 

 well nigh every kind has something to 

 recommend it as the seasons pass. There 

 is, no doubt, a strong likeness in many 

 kinds that would make anything like a 

 collection of varieties wearisome, but 

 these shrubs are so well adapted to all 

 sorts and conditions of ground that there 

 are few gardens but would gain by add- 

 ing some of them to the shrubbery, se- 

 lecting those best fitted to the spot and 

 the result in view. For the wild gar- 

 den, or grouped in open spaces upon a 

 boundary fence, where they may grow 

 and spread as freely as is their wont, few 

 hardy flowering and berried shrubs are 

 more useful, and less subject to disease 

 and insect pests. It is the aim of this 

 rapid review of the group to state briefly 

 the claims of each kind to beauty and 

 usefulness in British gardens, noting 



