OLEARIA 
325 
beauty of flower, and conditions of 
growth. Many come from a consider- 
able elevation and are able to withstand 
several degrees of frost, but even these 
little mountain shrubs are mostly too 
tender for the open air in this country, 
except on the south coast, and in the 
south-west of England and Ireland. 
The best-known kind, Haasti^ is hardy 
at the root almost anywhere, and an- 
other 3 or 4 species succeed fairly well 
upon sheltered walls, when given pro- 
tection in severe weather. A few kinds 
do well in pots and under glass, but 
others are harder to please, and none 
will bear coddling. They thrive best 
in light well-drained soils with some 
admixture of peat, and are averse to 
moving, and mostly dwindle in soils 
that are at all strongly charged with 
lime. The best-known and most beau- 
tiful kinds are named as follows : — 
O. angusttfolia. — Said to be only inferior to 
O. insignis. Its flowers are white with a violet 
disc, very fragrant, and with ray-florets wider 
and more prominent than in any other kind. 
The leaves are stiff, deeply toothed, and white 
beneath. 
O. argophylla. — An Australian species bear- 
ing the name of Musk-wood in Tasmania and 
New South Wales, and formerly known in 
gardens as Aster argophyllus. It makes a hand- 
some shrub when well established, with woolly 
leaves scented with musk, 6 inches in length 
and 2\ in breadth, toothed at the edges, and 
covered with a mealy down of silvery appear- 
ance. The small, star-like, creamy-white flow- 
ers appear as great hanging clusters, but are 
not very attractive. In Cornwall the plant 
has attained a height of 30 feet, and it is fairly 
hardy against walls in the warmer parts of 
Britain and even around London, growing 
again from the root when cut to the ground 
by frost. There are large plants of it under 
glass at Kew, and it is sometimes grown in 
this way in colder districts for the sake of its 
leaves, which scent the air after rain and keep 
their fragrance when dried. It is one of the 
most easily increased kinds, either by seed or 
cuttings^ and grows rapidly and to such a size 
in its own land, that the sweet-smelling wood 
is used in cabinet-work. 
O. chathamica. — This forms a neat bush and 
bears white Daisy-like flowers with a dark 
purplish, almost black, centre. 
O. Colensoi. — Stated in Kirk's " Forest Flora 
of New Zealand " to be " known as the Mutton- 
wood from the great strength and toughness 
of its branches, combined with its dense habit 
of growth. It forms scrub through which a 
passage can only beforced with a great amount 
of labour." It is reported to grow to a height 
of 40 feet in its own land. Though its foliage 
is handsome, the fact that its dark purple flow- 
ers are rayless, would reduce its value as a 
garden shrub. 
0. Cu7in'mghamii. — This is said by colonists 
to be very beautiful when in bloom, about 
Wellington, during August and September. 
It grows to a large size, lighting up the bush 
with its great heads of silvery-white flowers, 
somewhat like those of macrodonta but almost 
dazzling in their purity. 
O. dentata. — This has often been confound- 
ed with O. macrodonta but is quite distinct, 
the latter being a native of New Zealand, 
whereas this is from New South Wales. Its 
flowers are over an inch across and are borne 
in terminal racemes. The ray-florets are white 
tinted rose and curve upwards, thus forming 
a cup-shaped flower with a bright yellow 
centre. The leaves are very variable in shape, 
about 2 inches long, bluntly rounded, and 
crisped at the edges ; while, except on the 
upper side of the leaves, the whole plant is 
covered with rusty-brown tomentum. It is 
a tender species, having perished at Kew when 
seeminglyfully established against a warm wall, 
but it does well in the Isles of Scilly. In 
Australia a variety is said to exist in which 
the flowers are prettily shaded with blue, 
O. Forsteri. — A scarce shrub in this country 
though perhaps better known on the continent, 
where it has passed under several names, such 
as Oleariapaniculata ^LndiElceagnus crispa. The 
last name is due to the beautifully crisped 
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