WHAT IS A SHRUB?

Evening Star, Issue 21748, 16 June 1934, Page 25

WHAT IS A SHRUB?

A GARDEN DEFINITION This is not by any means the first time that this question has been asked ; in fact, it is hoary with ago, but so far every attempt to define it has resulted in a vague description, which brought down to plain language amounts to “ something between a herbaceous plant and a tree.” Eden Philpotts. in ‘My Garden.* says:. 11 When asked what yon understand by a shrub, it is tfise to keep slightly vague as to definition. The . shrub retains its lateral shoots and they, become its branches; while a right tree discards its laterals, concentrates on trunk building, and pushes ever upward to the height of possible attainment. A syringa, though 20ft high, will behave like a shrub; a Japanese maple, though but 2ft high, will comport itself as a tree. Rut lot us ignore these accidents and continue to welcome everything for which we have respectable conditions and sufficient room. Your shrub ascends to arboreal size on quo hand and shrinks to dwarf dimensions on the other, for ' shrub ’ and ' scrub ’ are one. and there is no more joyous sight in Nature than prosperous scrub. Consider a heather-clad hill. or the maritime heights of the Riviera, where mvrtlo and mastic, similax and rosemary bask in silvery jungles under the sun. Noblest scrub of all is that spread beneath the mountain peaks of Himalaya and Tibet, when the eternal curtains of the mist part now and then to show miles of rhododendrons painting th'e earth crimson and ivory and rose-pink, with gems and high lights qi added brightness shining through. No Orient.nl loom will ever weave such tapestries as these, ‘ Shrubs.’ says our high priest. George Nicholson. ‘ do not generally receive the attention they deserve.’ and although we have bettered the situation since that day. there remains much to he desired.”