HARDY ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS. 429 
Azara. — Evergreen shrubs with graceful foliage, belong- 
ing to the Nat. Ord. Bixaceae. In the South they may be 
grown in the open garden, but in other parts they require 
the protection of an east, west, or south wall. A. microphylla 
is the best-known species. This has small dark green leaves, 
bears fragrant greenish flowers and orange-red berries. It 
makes a pretty wall plant. A. Gilliesii has holly-like foliage, 
reddish shoots, and bears bright yellow flowers. A. dentata 
is a rapid grower; flowers yellow. They are natives of Chili. 
Grow in sandy loam and train the branches to a wall. Plant 
in early autumn or in April. Increased by cuttings inserted 
in sandy loam in a cold frame in autumn. 
Bambusa (Bamboo). — Graceful-leaved woody-stemmed 
grasses, allied to and requiring the same cultural treatment 
as the Arundinarias, which see. The few species worthy of 
note here are : B. arundinacea, 50 to 60ft. high, leaves pale 
green; B. aurea, 6 to 10ft., foliage green and yellow; B. 
marmorea, 3 to 4ft., foliage green; B. tessellata, 3 to 4ft., 
green. 
Betula (Birch). — Of all, our native trees none can com- 
pare with the silvery-barked birch in the grace, beauty and 
elegance of its growth. Whether we see it in a small fore- 
court garden, in a suburban back garden, in the shrubberies, 
parks, woodlands, or on the common, its graceful drooping 
branches ever show the beauty of the tree to advantage. And 
what is true of the Common Birch (Betula alba) is equally 
true of the varieties, laciniata pendula, a cut-leaved weeping 
form; fastigata, a more or less erect grower; latifolia, a 
broad-leaved form; pendula Youngi, a graceful weeping kind, 
one of the best ; and purpurea, a purple-leaved sort. Birches 
should be planted in preference to the Common Lime in small 
gardens, and wherever possible a place should be found for 
the weeping form Youngi, the cut-leaved lacinata, and the 
purple-leaved purpurea. Birches will succeed in moist soils 
near water or in ordinary garden soil. Plant in autumn or 
winter. The common kind is increased by seed, the others 
by grafting on the former. Nat. Ord. Betulaceae. 
Buxus (Box). — Hardy evergreen trees or shrubs, belong- 
ing to the Euphorbia order (Euphorbiaceae). The best known 
species is the Common Box (B. sempervirens), a native of 
England, and to be seen growing wild in quantities on Box 
Hill, near Dorking, in Surrey. Of this there are numerous 
varieties, namely : Argentea, leaves variegated with silver ; 
aurea, leaves variegated with yellow ; marginata, leaves mar- 
gined with yellow; Handsworthii, leaves broad and deep- 
coloured ; myrtifolia, leaves small, oblong and narrow ; rosma- 
