182 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
William’s 
Temple 
the Osage orange ( Maclura aurantiaca ) ; the sassafras of the United 
States, the Daphnes, the sweet gales (Myrica), the “Dutchman’s 
pipes ” (Aristolochia) — all these make but a fraction of the things 
growing in these beds. To the west of them is an irregular avenue 
composed of Catalpa trees and of two species of Diospyros — the 
persimmon and the date plum. Across the avenue, and still farther 
west, is a collection of boxes (Buxus). 
We can now return to the south side of the mound, on which 
King William’s Temple stands. Here the gravel path bifurcates 
Ab t Ki an< ^ ma ^ es a c i rcu ^ the temple. This walk may 
be traversed first, for on each side of it are several 
interesting shrubs. Most prominent is a collection of 
ivies trained on poles and forming upright columns 
— a quaint and unusual method of cultivating this climber. Between 
the columns are small colonies of rare dwarf shrubs. On the north 
side of the temple a dwarf hedge of Penzance briars encloses a plot of 
ground devoted to rare heaths, rhododendrons, and other choice shrubs. 
Having made this circuit and returned to the southern base of 
the mound, its flanks may now be traversed. Turning to the east, 
a large group of privets and their allies is the first 
object ; then comes a similar group of the cornels 
(Cornus) ; and, bordering on the Pagoda Vista, a bed 
devoted to various members of the witch-hazel family. 
The witch-hazels (Hamamelis) are remarkable shrubs, several species of 
which bloom in January and February, producing a great quantity 
of yellow flowers, the parts of which are like narrow, crinkled strips 
of gold-leaf. Still continuing round the base of the mound, we come 
to a historically interesting plant ; it is a common mulberry, directly 
descended from Shakespeare’s tree at Stratford-on-Avon. Only 
recently acquired for Kew, it is as yet small. The white mulberry 
{Morns alba), interesting as the tree on whose leaves the silkworm 
feeds, is represented by several specimens, as is also the paper mul- 
berry, from whose inner bark the Japanese obtain a valuable paper. 
Across the gravel path running east and west is a lawn on which is 
growing the collection of honeysuckles (Lonicera). 
Returning across this gravel path to the northern base of the 
mound, one sees, nearly opposite a drinking fountain, an opening 
to a vista which lets us in to the Ericetum, or collection of heaths 
and their allies. To this beautiful family Kew owes much of its 
Witch- 
hazels and 
Mulberries 
