PARK AND CEMETERY. 
GARDEN PLANTS— THEIR GEOGRAPHY, XXVIII. 
RUBIALES. 
THE SAMBUCUS, GARDENIA AND GALIUM 
ALLIANCE. 
The Monopetalous or Gamopetalous class of 
plants commences with this alliance. The petals 
are more or less coherent into tubular, vase like, or 
cup shaped flowers. Sometimes they vary from 
VIBURNUM TOMENTOSUM PLICATUM.— BY COURTESY OF 
MR. WILLARD P. PERRY. 
these characters, but the plants agree with their 
tribes in other particulars. 
The alliance is founded upon the old world genus 
Rubia a name applied by the older botanists to 
some of the American Galiums, but Lindley’s term 
‘Cinchonales” better expresses the geography and 
character of a majority of the tribes. 
Rubiales in this extended sense are a very.hand- 
some group of trees, shrubs, and occasionally herbs, 
principally occurring in the moist sub-tropical and 
tropical regions, where they often constitute i-30th 
of the vegetation. 
The North temperate regions have however 
shrubby and climbing representatives of the alli- 
ance of great beauty, but almost entirely lacking 
arborescent species; a few of the Sambucus and 
Viburnums attaining to 15 or 20 feet high. The 
herbs are often coarse weeds, yet a few have been 
selected for garden use. 
There are 27 tribes, 392 genera, and 4740 spec- 
ies in the alliance. 
Adoxa has but a single species known as the 
“moschatel” and found throughout the northern 
hemisphere. It is an insignificant plant with whit- 
ish flowers. 
Sambucus , MElderberries,” have 12 species and 
several varieties with a wide distribution in the 
cooler temperate regions and cool mountains of the 
tropics. They are rare in Africa and absent in the 
south of that continent so far as known. 
The European S. nigra has varied considerably 
in the form and variegation of its foliage. These 
variegated varieties stand our suns very well, but 
are rather coarse. Some varieties grow to a good 
size, and become as tree-like as anything in the 
tribe. A bush of S. Canadensis is figured in PARK 
AND Cemetery, p. 268, 1898. S. racemosa is the 
scarlet fruited, or rarely whit-e fruited elder, widely 
distributed both in the old and new world. In the 
Northwestern States it also becomes tree-like, S. 
glauca, and S. Mexicana are also often arborescent. 
S. Ebulus and its varieties and S. Chinensis, etc., 
are herbaceous. 
Viburnum is an extensive genus of 80 species 
and many varieties, cosmopolitan in one form or 
other in all temperate and sub-tropical regions. 
The sub tropical species are commonly evergreens, 
some of which such as V. tinus in its varieties, and 
V. suspensum endure beneath shade at southern 
points. At the north the native and exotic species 
VIBURNUM MACROCEPHALUM.— BY COURTESY OF 
MR. WILLARD P. PERRY. 
are deciduous. V. Lantana, cotinifolium, Opulus, 
Lentago, Sieboldii and others flower during May in 
most parts of the middle Atlantic States. V. cas- 
sinoides, tomentosum-plicatum, dentatum, macro- 
cephalum and others are somewhat later or from the 
end of May to June according to season and latitude. 
I find among my notes a form called V. “Nepa- 
lense” noted as flowering in July. It is probably 
