dy.

S. DISCOLOR ARIAEFOLIA (_syn S. ariaefolia_).--White Beam-leaved
Spiraea. North-west America, 1827. This forms a dense, erect shrub about
6 feet high, with elliptic-oblong leaves, and clothed beneath with a
whitish tomentum. The flowers are in large, terminal, slender-stalked
panicles, and white or yellowish-white. It is one of the handsomest
species in cultivation, the neat and yet not stiff habit, and pretty,
plume-like tufts of flowers making it a general favourite with the
cultivators of hardy shrubs. Flowers about mid-summer. In rich soils,
and where partially shaded from cold winds, it thrives best.

S. DOUGLASII.--Douglas's Spiraea. North-west America. This has long,
obovate-lanceolate leaves, that are white with down on the under
surface, and bears dense, oblong, terminal panicles of rosy flowers. S.
Douglasii Nobleana (Noble's Spiraea) is a variety of great beauty,
growing about a yard high, with large leaves often 4 inches long, and
looser panicles of purple-red flowers. Flowering in July. The variety
was introduced from California in 1859.

S. FISSA.--Split-leaved Spiraea. Mexico, 1839. A stout, erect-growing
shrub, about 8 feet high, with rather small leaves, angular, downy
branches, and long, loose, terminal panicles of small and greenish-white
flowers. The leaves are wedge-shaped at the base, and when young have
the lateral incisions split into a pair of unequal and very sharp teeth.
Flowering in May and June. In the south and west of England it thrives
best.

S. HYPERICIFOLIA (_syn S. flagellata_).--Asia Minor, 1640. A wiry twiggy
shrub, fully 4 feet high, with entire leaves, and small, white flowers
produced in umbels at the tips of the last year's shoots. It is a pretty
and desirable species.

S. JAPONICA (_syns S. callosa_ and _S. Fortunei_).--Japanese Spiraea.
China and Japan, 1859. This is a robust species about a yard high, with
large lanceolate leaves, and small, rosy-red flowers arranged in
corymbose heads. Flowering at mid-summer. There are several fine
varieties of this species, including S. japonica alba, a compact bush
about a foot high with white flowers; S. japonica rubra differs from the
type in having dark red flowers; S. japonica splendens, is a
free-flowering dwarf plant, with peach-coloured flowers and suitable for
forcing; and S. japonica superba, has dark rose-red flowers. S. Bumalda
is a closely allied form, if not a mere variety of S. japonica. It is of
dwarf habit, with