i3 2 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
September, 1914 
sistent and not mind some frost.” They have come to hand duly 
labeled; but the name being in Latin, always unintelligible and 
often unpronounceable, has not interested the purchaser, who has 
soon forgotten it, and Time’s effacing fingers have not been slow 
to take care of the label. By and by such plants, which are grad¬ 
ually becoming established factors in California gardens, will 
doubtless acquire folk names, even if the botanic appellations are 
not popularized. 
A case in point is the beautiful Mexican bush with three-fin¬ 
gered leaves, Choisya tcrnata, which is now sometimes known as 
Mexican orange-flower, the white, fragrant blossoms resembling 
those of the orange, to which it is, in fact, related. Another is the 
curious Australian shrub, Callistemon lanceolatus. This bears 
every spring at the ends of its drooping branches cylindrical clus¬ 
ters of crimson flowers with bristling sta¬ 
mens which, standing out all around the 
branch, so exactly resemble a bottle-brush 
that bottle-brush the plant is called. The 
seed-vessels on this odd shrub resemble 
gray shoe-buttons and persist for years in 
an elongated band completely encircling 
the branch, each band separated from the 
other by a year’s growth of stem. More 
common than either of these are three or 
four species of the genus Pittosponun, 
universally mispronounced by nurserymen, 
who accent the penult, while correct usage 
favors the antepenult. One species — Pit- 
tosporum tobira —is from China, and the 
others are Australasian. As all are ever¬ 
green with leaves more or less simulating 
laurel, the Australians call them hedge- 
laurel, Queensland laurel, Brisbane laurel, 
etc. They are badly in need of some com¬ 
mon name in California, as an alternate 
to the cacophonous botanical one. Per¬ 
haps hedge-laurel would be worth adopt¬ 
ing, as at least two species— P. cugcnioides 
trailing habit of growth and the rich, glossy hue of the foliage, 
which seems as though varnished. Often its exquisite green is 
blotched with white or yellow, and a form entirely yellow is met 
with. The compelling beauty of pure foliage is never better 
shown than in this lovely plant as it flows over some bowlder- 
planted slope and rolls its billowy green in soft masses into house 
corners or against garden walls. 
Attractive for its foliage, too, but very different, is a native 
barberry — Berberis aquifolium — whose holly-like leafage in this 
hollyless land is a cheerful sight. In autumn the little shrub is 
adorned with strings of purple berries, somewhat like chicken 
grapes, which have suggested the popular name Oregon grape — 
Oregon, because of the plant's abundance in that State, where it 
has been adopted as the floral emblem of the Commonwealth. A 
species of viburnum that is grown to some 
extent in eastern greenhouses may also 
be mentioned, because it is perhaps the 
best known of California garden shrubs, 
where, besides posing for ornament, it is 
frequently put to utilitarian service as a 
hedge plant. Its ample cymes of small, 
pinkish white flowers are very attractive. 
In modern botanical parlance it is Vibur- 
11mm tinus, but in everyday speech it is 
called laurustinus. A plant of all-round 
virtue, beautiful in leaf, flower and fruit, 
it is especially serviceable because ever¬ 
green and winter blooming, besides lend¬ 
ing itself with the utmost complaisance to 
topiary work. Its native home is the 
Mediterranean region of Europe, where it 
sometimes forms extensive copses in the 
wild, and where it has been cherished from 
time immemorial. 
Among garden flowers few have more 
completely captured the popular fancy in 
Southern California than the poinsettia, 
which every one in the East knows as a 
Among the few native flowers cultivated in California 
gardens is the Matihja Poppy 
The Sierra Snow Plant, Sarcodes sanguinea, has 
found the climate amenable and thrives 
and undulatum — 
have been planted 
in California for 
hedges. Some of 
the species grow to 
the proportions of a 
tree, and their live¬ 
ly, handsome foli¬ 
age, fragrant flow¬ 
ers and drought-re- 
sistent character put 
them among the 
most desirable of 
woody plants for 
California gardens. 
When foliage ef¬ 
fect is desired, a 
shrub often planted 
is the New Zealand 
Coprosma Baueri, 
which has the ad¬ 
vantage of a pleas¬ 
ant-sounding name. 
The flowers are in¬ 
conspicuous and the 
features that com¬ 
mend it for culture 
are its graceful, 
greenhouse beauty. 
In California it 
grow T s in the open, 
almost rivaling the 
poppy in the affec¬ 
tion of the people, 
and one sees it 
everywhere in state¬ 
ly erectness against 
bungalow and villa 
walls. Its suscepti¬ 
bility to frost finds 
it on the anxious 
bench every winter, 
but the leaves fall 
more quickly than 
the floral parts, 
which in cold sea¬ 
sons are not infre¬ 
quently seen shiver¬ 
ing chillilv at the 
tops of leafless 
stocks. Prudent 
gardeners set it in 
the least exposed 
places, usually 
against south walls, 
or in sheltered bays, 
A lurf plant used where grass lawns are difficult to 
maintain, the Lippia repens 
