DECIDUOUS SHRUBS. 
471 
almost exclusively with the pendant racemes of this variety mingled 
with green leaves. The form of the shrub, when young, is rather 
stiffly upright, but in time it spreads into a graceful little bush, from 
three to four feet in height and breadth. 
THE ALTHEA. Hibiscus syriacus. 
Fig. 161 shows the common form of the althea, 
which is usually quite fastigiate, broadest at the top, 
and often bare of leaves below; but it oftenest forms 
a head on a bundle of stems growing from the trunk 
near the ground, rather than with so tree-like a trunk 
as the illustration shows. It is one of the longest 
known and commonest of garden shrubs, and forms 
a good centre for a group of lower shrubs, and is 
useful in belts of shrubbery where its high top and showy blossoms 
may be seen over the tops of more graceful and lower shrubs in 
front. Blooming in August and September when most shrubs are 
done flowering, and with flowers of large size and many colors, it 
will always be found quite useful and showy in pleasure-grounds, 
though the flowers are of coarse texture, and not fragrant. They 
are from three to four inches in diameter, both single and double. 
Purple is the prevailing color, but nearly all the bright colors are 
represented by the finest varieties. The leaves appear later than 
those of most shrubs, but are of a pleasing green color. The althea 
has been considerably used for hedges, but its lateness in spring 
renders it less desirable than the privet and many other deciduous 
shrubs j and its inferiority to some of the evergreens for this pur¬ 
pose is manifest. The following are some of the best varieties : 
The Single and the Double White, Double Red, Double Blue, 
Pheasant-eyed, White-striped, the elega?itissima, and the Variegated- 
leaved. The latter is one of the finest of variegated-leaved shrubs. 
Some of the most showy varieties of the althea are not quite hardy 
in the coldest parts of our country, and to insure their greatest 
beauty in summer must be planted in sheltered situations, or pro¬ 
tected by mulching and bundling. 
Fig. i6 i . 
