THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
63 
Stale, although I had known of it as being found near W'al- 
!um Pond. 
This plant, variously known as hobble-bush and way- 
farer's bush^ is the most beautiful, on the whole, of its very 
lovely genus. It resembles a glorified Hydrangea. The 
broad cymes of small white, creamy flow-ers are surrounded 
by a circle of large, pure white neutral flow^ers. It will l>e 
remembered that Viburnum Opidits, from which is derived 
the snow-ball of our gardens, is, in its original state, the 
.same. By cultivation the whole cluster is changed into 
alx)rtive flowers, devoid of essential organs. Both species 
are more beautiful liefore such change occurs. 
A great charm of the hobble-bush, apart from the ex- 
quisite old lace of its flowers, is its foliage. The generous 
heart-shaped leaves are rusty wath a sort of tcwnentum, 
which, covering the fresh green of the blades, adds very 
much to their beauty. They are rugose-veiny and emerge 
from naked buds — things of infrequent occurrence in our 
inclement regions ; indeed, we are so used to scale-protected 
buds that w^e are surprised when we find any other. 
Howitt, in his "Book of the Seasons.'' thus addresses 
our shrub: 
"Wayfarer's tree! what ancient claim 
Hast thou to that right pleasant name? 
Whate'er it be, I love it well ; 
A name, methinks which surely fell 
From poet, in some evening dell. 
Wandering with Fancies sweet." 
The bush or small tree may rarely rise to a height of 
twenty feet, but where we have seen it most abundantly, in 
Xew Hampshire, in New Brunswick, or about Mount 
U'achusett, it was not nearly so tall. 
