Viburnum

VIBURNUM ACERIFOLIUM.--Dockmackie. New England to Carolina, 1736. This

is one of the handsomest members of the family, being of slender growth

and compact and neat in habit. It grows to fully 4 feet in height, and

is well supplied with neatly three-lobed leaves, these in the autumn

turning to a deep crimson. The flowers, too, are highly ornamental,

being borne in fair sized clusters, and white or yellowish-white. It is

a very desirable and beautiful plant, quite hardy, and of free growth in

any fairly rich soil.



V. AWAFUKII.--Japan, 1842. This is another rare and beautiful plant, of

neat habit, and producing an abundance of showy white flowers, that are,

however, seldom produced in this country.



V. DAHURICUM.--Dahuria, 1785. This is a charming hardy species, which in

May and June is covered with numerous umbels of showy white flowers. It

forms a rather spreading bush of 6 feet or 8 feet high, with gray downy

branches, and neat foliage. The berries are oval-oblong, red at first,

but becoming black and faintly scented when fully ripe.



V. DENTATUM.--Arrowwood. A native of the United States, 1763. This can

be recommended as a distinct and beautiful shrub, with cymes of white

flowers that are produced in plenty. The leaves are dark green, smooth,

and shining, and strongly veined, while the bark is ash-coloured, and

the berries bright blue.



V. LANTANA.--Wayfaring Tree. Europe (Britain). This is a native species

of large bush, or almost tree growth, with rugose, oblong, serrulated

leaves, and large, flat cymes of white flowers appearing in May and

June. The whole tree is usually covered with a scaly tomentum, while the

fruit is a black flattened drupe.



V. LENTAGO.--Sheepberry and Sweet Viburnum. North America, 1761. This

resembles our native V. Lantana, with dense clusters of white blossoms

succeeded by black berries.



V. MACROCEPHALUM (_syn V. Fortunei_).--China, 1844. This is a Chinese

species, but one that cannot be depended on as hardy enough to withstand

our most severe winters. It has very large heads or panicles of white

neutral flowers. Against a sunny wall and in a cosy nook it may

occasionally be found doing fairly well, but it is not to be generally

recommended.



V. NUDUM.--American Withe Rod. Canada to Georgia, 1752. This is also

worthy of being included in a selection of these shrubs.



V. OPULUS.--Guelder Rose. A native shrub of great beauty, whether in

foliage, flower, or fruit. The leaves are variously lobed or deeply

toothed, large and handsome, and the flower heads of good size, flat,

and composed of a number of small flowers, the outer only being sterile.

Individually the flowers are dull and inconspicuous, but being produced

in amazing quantity, they have a very pleasing and effective appearance.

The great bunches of clear pinky berries render a fair-sized plant

particularly handsome and attractive, and for which alone, as also

beauty of autumnal foliage, the shrub is well worthy of extensive

culture. It grows fully 15 feet high, and may frequently be seen as much

through. V. Opulus sterilis (Snowball Tree) is one of the commonest

occupants of our shrubberies, and a decidedly ornamental-flowering

shrub. The large, almost globular flower heads hanging from every branch

tip, are too well-known to require description, and have made the shrub

one of the most popular in ornamental planting.



V. PAUCIFLORUM is a native of cold, moist woods from Labrador to Alaska,

and may best be described as a miniature V. Opulus. It rarely grows more

than 4 feet high, with small cymes of flowers, that are devoid of the

neutral flowers of that species.



V. PLICATUM, from Japan 1846, is another very beautiful and desirable

shrub, of rather dwarf, spreading growth, and having the leaves deeply

wrinkled, plaited, and serrated on the margins. The flowers resemble

those of the commonly cultivated species, but they are rather larger,

and of a purer white. It is a decidedly ornamental species of easy

growth in any good soil, and where not exposed to cold winds.



V. PRUNIFOLIUM, New England to Carolina, 1731, with Plum-like leaves,

and pretty white flowers, is another free-growing and beautiful North

American species.



V. PYRIFOLIUM.--Pear-leaved Viburnum. Pennsylvania to New Jersey, 1812.

This is a rarely-seen, but very ornamental species, with oval-shaped,

finely-toothed leaves, that are borne on short, slightly-winged stalks

about half-an-inch long. Flowers sweetly scented, white, and in broad

corymbs, the feathery appearance of the long, projecting stamens, each

tipped with a golden anther, adding considerably to the beauty of the

flowers.



V. RETICULATUM and V. LAEVIGATUM are rarely seen species, but of interest

botanically, if not for floral beauty.



V. TINUS.--Laurustinus. South Europe, 1596. So commonly cultivated a

shrub needs no description here, sufficient to say that the handsome

evergreen foliage and pretty pinky-white flowers assign to it a first

position amongst hardy ornamental flowering shrubs, V. Tinus strictum

has darker foliage than the species, is more upright, rather more hardy,

but not so profuse in the bearing of flowers. V. Tinus lucidum

(Glossy-leaved Laurustinus), of the several varieties of Laurustinus has

the largest foliage, finest flowers, and altogether is of the most

robust growth. It is, unfortunately, not very hardy, probably in that

respect not even equalling the parent plant. Usually it does not flower

freely, neither are the flowers produced so early as in the species, but

individually they are much larger. It is of tall growth, and rarely

forms the neat, dense bush, for which the common shrub is so admired. V.

Tinus rotundifolium has rounded leaves; and V. Tinus rotundifolium

variegatum has irregularly variegated leaves.