RARE SHRUBS IN THE OPEN AIR. 



353 



Lycium palli d urn has greyish foliage and dull white tubular flowers, 

 quite unlike the bloom of the common Lycium. 



Bhamnus Alatemus var. — I have seen charming large shrubs of this in 

 France, but with us it is barely hardy. The leaves are broadly margined 

 with white and it looks at a distance like a silver holly. B. hybrida 

 (B. sempervirens) bears clusters of brilliant red fruit. B. davurica has 

 yellowish flowers and rather remarkable light green foliage. B. grandi- 

 folia is a handsome deciduous shrub with big, ribbed, leathery leaves. 

 B. Erythroxylon bears its little black Cotoneaster-like berries close to the 

 stem in a fashion quite distinct from any other Rhamnus. B. libanotica 

 (Imeritiae) is a long, large-leaved evergreen from Asia Minor. 



Ononis rotundifolia is a charming hardy, low-growing plant, covered 

 with soft, pink, pea-like flowers in May until October ; it belongs to the 

 same family as the British 1 Rest-harrow ' ; it is short-lived but is easily 

 reproduced from seed. 0. spinosa is low-growing and rather weedy- 

 looking, but flowers freely late in July. We have also 0. fruticosa, which 

 grows bigger than, but of which the pink flowers are not quite so showy 

 as those of, 0. rotundifolia. 0. aragonensis and 0. Natrix, which we do 

 not possess, have yellow flowers. 



Dorycnium suff'ruticosum, a near ally of the same genus, is covered 

 with small white flowers in September ; its habitat is South Europe, but 

 it appears to be quite hardy. 



Forsythia europaea is a recently discovered plant which has no floral 

 merit beyond F. intermedia, F. suspensa, and F. viridissima, all of which 

 are well known and generally admired. The interesting thing from a 

 botanical point of view is that so close a relative of our old friends should 

 be found in a habitat so distant. Wherever a scarlet Ribes is planted 

 there should be one of the Forsythias in the vicinity, as they flower at the 

 same period, grow with about the same vigour, and furnish a perfect con- 

 trast of colour. 



Caryopteris MastacantJius. — This is valuable both for its glaucous, 

 aromatic foliage and its profuse heliotrope -coloured flowers, produced in 

 October, when flowering shrubs have a particular value. It belongs to the 

 same family as the sage and has a peculiar attraction for bees. 



The Daphnes find our soil rather heavy, but D. Laureola purpurea is to 

 be recommended for its deep-coloured, almost black, foliage, and D. altaica 

 (which we owe to the kindness of Messrs. Cutbush) for its brilliant little 

 white flowers, with which it is adorned at the end of May. D. Blagayana 

 is a hardy evergreen, with white flowers in April ; the curious feature 

 about it is that it requires stones to be laid on the branches for its 

 successful cultivation. 



Xanthoceras sorbifolia is a handsome Chinese shrub or small tree, 

 covered in May with ivory, white flowers having a red streak at the base : 

 its fruit is said to resemble that of a Horse Chestnut. 



Astragalus tragacantha is a papilionaceous, prickly, grey, slow-growing, 

 dwarf, evergreen plant with pretty pale violet, vetch-like flowers in early 

 June. 



NtUtallia cerasiformis is common enough and valuable for its white 

 flowers in early spring, but it is dioecious, and if the purple berries are 



