Part 27 (1/2)

ELaeOCARPUS CYANEUS.--Australia. An evergreen plant of shrubby growth, bearing whitish-blue flowers. Greenway.

ERCILLA (BRIDGESIA) VOLUBILIS.--Chili. A self-clinging evergreen climber, bearing inconspicuous flowers. Fairly common, but scarcely attractive.

HIBBERTIA DENTATA.--Australia. An evergreen climber, with foliage of deep bronze, bearing single bright-yellow flowers in April. Trewidden.

_H. Reidii_, also yellow-flowered. Tregothnan.

HYDRANGEA PETIOLARIS.--j.a.pan. A rampant-growing climber, bearing flat flower-heads, composed of blooms the minority of which are sterile. It clings naturally, and is displayed to best advantage when allowed to ascend a bare tree trunk. At Menabilly, Cornwall, a specimen planted twelve years ago has ascended the columnar trunk of a Turkey Oak to a height of almost 40 feet.

INGA PULCHERRIMA.--Mexico. An evergreen shrub, bearing bright-scarlet flowers in summer. A fine plant covering a large expanse of wall is at Greenway.

KENNEDYA NIGRICANS.--Australia. An evergreen climber, bearing violet-purple racemes of small pea-like blossoms. Greenway. _K. alba_ is also grown.

LAPAGERIA.--Chili. This handsome evergreen climber, producing long wax-like blossoms of white and rose, is well known under gla.s.s. In the south-west it does well in the open against a north wall, in peaty compost, often bearing its flowers as late as Christmas.

LASIANDRA (PLEROMA TIBOUCHINA) MACRANTHA.--Brazil. A beautiful evergreen shrub of climbing habit, bearing large violet flowers. It is usually cut down by frost, but breaks again strongly in the spring.

Trewidden and other gardens.

MANDEVILLA SUAVEOLENS.--Buenos Ayres. A lovely deciduous climber, bearing large, white, deliciously-fragrant flowers in August. It does well in several gardens in the south-west, in some of which it seeds freely.

MICHELIA (MAGNOLIA) FUSCATA.--China. An evergreen or sub-evergreen shrub (according to position), bearing dull-purple sweetly-scented flowers.

Tregothnan.

PHOENOCOMA PROLIFERA.--Cape of Good Hope.--An evergreen shrub, bearing large, terminal, crimson flower-heads. Trewidden.

PHYSIANTHUS ALBENS SYN. ARAUJIA ALBENS.--Brazil. An evergreen climber, bearing a profusion of white flowers, which later a.s.sume a reddish tinge. Common in the south-west. The finest specimen Mr. Fitzherbert has seen grew against a cliff-face in the public gardens at Torquay. It spread to a height and breadth of considerably over 20 feet, and one year bore over a dozen huge corrugated seed-pods, about the size of a cricket ball, but oval in shape. This strain killed the plant, but a young one has now taken its place.

PLUMBAGO CAPENSIS.--Cape of Good Hope. A climbing evergreen shrub, bearing large heads of pale-blue flowers; a favourite conservatory plant. It is grown in several gardens, and flowers well in the open. A fine example, which has been unprotected for five months, is growing in the same site as the Physianthus alluded to above.

PUERARIA THUNBERGIANA.--Khasia. An evergreen climber, with leaves 5 inches in diameter, bearing blue flowers. Fibre is obtained from the stems and starch from the roots. Tregothnan.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _PUERARIA THUNBERGIANA._]

RHODOCHITON VOLUBILE.--Mexico. A climber, bearing blood-red drooping flowers. This plant, in common with Lothospermum and Maurandya, all three of which are perennials, is almost invariably killed by the winter, but is easily raised from seed. Rosehill, Falmouth.

RHYNCHOSPERMUM (TRACHELOSPERMUM) JASMINOIDES.--Shanghai. An evergreen climber, hardy in the south-west, bearing countless starry-white flowers, most delicately perfumed in August. It is to be met with in the majority of gardens, and in one it has covered the house porch.

RUSCUS ANDROGYNUS SYN. SEMELE ANDROGYNA.--Canary Islands. An evergreen climber, valuable for its striking foliage. The leaves, or rather cladodes, are over a foot in length, and are furnished with from twelve to twenty pinnate sections of a glossy green. Penjerrick, Falmouth, where it has borne its inconspicuous greenish-white flowers.

SOLANUM WENDLANDI.--Costa Rica. An evergreen climber, bearing cl.u.s.ters of large lilac-blue flowers, 2 inches in diameter. The late Rev. H.

Ewbank, in whose garden at Ryde the finest specimen we have seen was growing, considered it the best of all the tender climbers amenable to open-air culture in the south-west.

SOLLYA HETEROPHYLLA.--Australia. Bluebell Creeper. An evergreen climber, bearing drooping blue flowers. Tregothnan.

STAUNTONIA (HOLBOELLIA) LATIFOLIA.--Himalayas. An evergreen climber, with oval leathery leaves, bearing in April cl.u.s.ters of greenish-white flowers, delightfully odorous. A very common plant in the south-west.

STREPTOSOLEN JAMESONI.--Columbia. A handsome evergreen shrub, in great request for clothing conservatory pillars, &c. It bears panicles of orange-red flowers, and when in full bloom has a brilliant effect. A plant about 7 feet in height is growing against the house at Trewidden.

SWAINSONIA ALBIFLORA.--Australia. An evergreen leguminous shrub, bearing white pea-like flowers, well known in greenhouses. It is grown in several gardens, and if cut down by sharp frosts breaks strongly again in the spring.