DECIDUOUS SHRUBS. 
4G3 
The Rothmagensis Lilac. S. rothmagensis. —This is probably 
the finest of all the lilacs. It is a cross between the S. vulgaris and 
S. persica , originated in Rouen, France, more than seventy years 
ago. In leaves, flowers, and graceful habit, it most resembles its 
Persian parent, but is more robust; and in the size of its panicles 
of flowers exceeds any of its relatives. These sometimes grow 
from ten to sixteen inches long, and bend the branches to the 
ground with their abundance. They are a little later than those of 
the common lilac. May and beginning of June. 
In making a collection of six lilacs only, in addition to the 
common purple, the following might be selected : S. alba, S. emodi, 
S. coerulea superba, S.josikea, S. rothmagensis, and S. persica alba. 
THE HONEYSUCKLE. Lonicera. 
The honeysuckle family is divided into 
two classes, viz : those of a twining character, 
or vines, and those of a shrubby character. 
The latter are here referred to. Fig. 158 
gives the characteristic form of a well grown 
honeysuckle bush from six to eight feet high 
and broad. Some varieties spread more in 
proportion to their height; all are noted for 
the small size and delicacy of their leaves, which cover the branches 
profusely. Their flowers are small, but very pretty and abundant. 
The Red Tartarian Honeysuckle. L. tartarica. —Old and 
common, it still takes a front rank among ornamental shrubs ; and 
were we to have but one shrub, or but one species of shrub, we 
would probably choose the honeysuckle. No shrub is earlier in 
leaf, and the delicacy of its foliage, its pure color, and graceful 
luxuriance of growth, would, without the flowers, make this species 
one of the most desirable; but with its delicate, perfumed, pink 
bloom in May, it becomes altogether a perfect shrub. When young 
its form is rather fastigiate, but in a few years it begins to spread 
outward, and at maturity, in rich open ground, it becomes a superb 
spreading mass, much broader than its height, with branches bend- 
Fig. 158. 
