358 JOUENAL OF THE EOYAL HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



The Myricas are not so frequently seen as they deserve, for, though 

 they cannot be called brilliant flowering shrubs, their delicious fragrance 

 should always ensure them a place. The sweet gale, Myrica Gale, has a 

 profusion of golden brown flowers, borne in catkins before the foliage, 

 which emit quantities of aromatic pollen grains. It is a good shrub 

 for planting in a moist situation. Myrica carolinensis and M. cerifera 

 are also worthy of inclusion. Myrica (or Comptonia) asplenifolia has 

 extremely pretty finely-cut, sweetly-scented foliage. 



One of the handsomest of all early summer-flowering shrubs is 

 Exochorda grandiflora, a near relative of the Spiraeas, commonly known 

 as the pearl bush. It comes from China, and makes a bush ten feet or 

 more in height, and as far through. It requires a sunny position to well 

 ripen the wood, and as a single specimen or massed in quantity makes a 

 very showy display of pure white flowers. E. Albertii, a species from 

 Turkestan, seems decidedly less floriferous than its Chinese relative, and 

 I have never yet seen it flower freely. 



Chimonanthus fragrans is well known as the winter- sweet, and is 

 frequently seen on walls. It also makes a suitable plant for the 

 shrubbery, but to ensure a good display of blossoms, which appear before 

 the foliage, the summer growth must be well matured. C. fragrans 

 grandiflora is to my mind much the more desirable variety to grow. 



Several of the willows are decidedly ornamental in spring, with their 

 profusion of catkins, but the most attractive species with which I am 

 acquainted is Salix gracilistyla from Japan. It is perhaps most effective 

 when grafted on to a standard of good height so that the branches are 

 able to show their pendulous habit to advantage. The catkins are grey 

 on first appearing, and later become suffused with red, which gives them a 

 pleasing and unique appearance. 



A very beautiful shrub, also from Japan, but little known in this 

 country, is Symplocos crataegoides, which makes a bush about ten feet in 

 height, and early in June produces a wonderful profusion of pure white 

 flowers just as the leaves are appearing. They are sweetly scented, and 

 are succeeded in the autumn by large quantities of pale blue berries, which 

 render the plant very attractive. This uncommon shrub deserves to be 

 largely cultivated, as it is perfectly hardy and unlike anything else we 

 have. 



We may now pass to those deservedly admired plants the Magnolias, 

 several of which are well known for the large blossoms which they 

 produce early in the spring, and which, when not damaged by frost, 

 are among the foremost of flowering shrubs. The most desirable of 

 the small and medium growing kinds to cultivate are M. stellata, 

 with starry white flowers, and its rose-coloured variety ; M. conspicua, 

 large pure white ; M. Soulangeana, white flushed with rosy purple ; 

 M. parviflora, with pure white flowers and a profusion of showy red 

 anthers ; M. obovata, with deep purplish red flowers, which are seldom 

 injured by spring frosts, as they are produced later than the preceding 

 sorts. Among the larger growing kinds some of the most desirable are 

 M. grandiflora, a fine evergreen species with very large white flowers, 

 but in the colder districts requiring the protection of a wall ; M. tripetala, 

 with white flowers and very large foliage ; and M. macrophylla, one of the 



