RARE SHRUBS IN THE OPEN AIR, 



351 



compact grower with a very dark purple leaf, and bears white cymes at 

 the end of May. C. stolonifera flaviramea should be cut down every 

 spring, when the young wood will turn a bright yellow, like an osier, 

 in winter. Cornus mas elegantissima has tricoloured foliage — green, 

 white, and pink. C. candidissima grows to be a large bush ; our plant 

 is 8 feet by 5 feet ; it has a soft purple tone in autumn. C. brachypoda 

 flowers freely in June ; the lateral shoots seem always to master the 

 leader. The variegated form of this species is very bright and effective. 

 C. macrophylla flowers a month later than the last named, and though 

 somewhat like it can always be distinguished by the fact that its leaves 

 are opposite. G. florida is a beautiful tree with the finest flowers of any 

 of the family ; we have a pendulous form of it which, when older, should 

 make a very pretty plant. C. atrosanguinea, which is, I imagine, a variety 

 of 0. alba, has its wood of a deep red in winter, while the leaves of 

 C. Nuttallii go red and yellow in the fall. G. Kousa is a good thing 

 where climate and soil suit it, but though it lives with us it does not 

 thrive. G. Bretschneideri is from China, and C.'altemifolia has yellow 

 flowers in bud which turn to white as they open in June. 



Erythrina cristagalli is strictly a greenhouse plant, but it has lived 

 with us for twenty-two years in poor ground against the east wall of a 

 hothouse, being matted over in winter. In July its bright scarlet flowers, 

 like little cooked lobster's claws, are a sight as quaint as it is brilliant. 



Ribes Lobbii is a rare and fine species, having deep red flowers with 

 a white centre hanging down, something like a fuchsia. B. lacustre 

 has long currant-like racemes of pale yellow with dull red centre. 

 B. Spathianum is an elegant loose- growing shrub with small round 

 leaves. B. leptanthum has still smaller leaves and a very neat appearance, 

 but the white flower is inconspicuous. B. villosum (B. chilense) is the 

 only evergreen Bibes which I know, and, like B. mogollonicum, it is 

 mainly of botanical interest. B. speciosum (B. fuchsioides) has con- 

 spicuous rust-coloured thorns, which are effective in winter. The synonym 

 given above well indicates its red fuchsia-like flowers, which hang in rows 

 under the branches from May into July. B. prostratum is a weeping 

 form. B. alpinum foliis aureis is a compact, small-leaved plant, with a 

 soft golden tone. B. nigrum foliis aureis is showy but rather coarse, 

 and apt to revert to the type and to burn in hot summers. We have 

 also B. amictum and B. oxycanthoides. 



Of deciduous members of the Spindle-wood family we have Euonymns 

 verrucosus, which is chiefly noticeable for its curious bark ; E. latifolius, 

 which has large red seed cases, and looks well when grown on a standard ; 

 E. alatus, which is one of the most lovely plants for autumn colour, 

 every leaf turning rosy red ; E. nanus, which is pretty in flower, fruit, 

 and leaf, the last being, as its synonym (E. rosmarinus) imports, like that 

 of rosemary. We also possess the variety E. nanus Koopmanni, which 

 has larger leaves and less dwarf habit than the type. Of the varieties 

 of E. europaeus we have alb. var., with small, delicate silver leaves, 

 atropurpureus, of which the foliage is green till about July, and then 

 becomes dark purple, and aucubaefolms, with rather conspicuous yellow 

 splashes. We also have E. americanus and its variety E. americanus 

 pendulus, E. obovatus, E. Sieboldia7ius, E. Hamilton iamis, and 



