Ae.  Parviflora (syn Pavia macrostachya).—­Buckeye.  North America, 1820.  This is very distinct, and possesses feature which are shared by no other hardy tree or shrub in cultivation.  Rarely exceeding 12 feet in height, and with a spread of often as much as 20 feet, this shrub forms a perfect hemisphere of foliage, and which, when tipped with the pretty fragrant flowers, renders it one of the most effective and handsome.  The foliage is large, and resembles that of the common Horse Chestnut, while the pure white flowers, with their long projecting stamens and red-tipped anthers, are very pretty and imposing when at their best in July.  It succeeds well in rich, dampish loam, and as a shrub for standing alone in any conspicuous position it has, indeed, few equals.

Ae.  Pavia (syn Pavia rubra).—­Red Buckeye.  North America, 1711.  A small growing and slender-branched tree or shrub, which bears an abundance of brownish-scarlet flowers.  There are several good varieties, two of the best being Ae.  Pavia atrosanguinea, and Ae.  Pavia Whittleyana, with small, brilliant red flowers.

There are several other species, such as Ae.  Pavia humilis (syn Pavia humilis) of trailing habit; Ae. flava (syn Pavia flava) bearing pretty yellow flowers; Ae.  Pavia macrocarpa (syn Pavia macrocarpa) an open-headed and graceful tree; Ae. flava discolor (syn Pavia discolor); and Ae. chinensis; but they have not been found very amenable to cultivation, except in very favoured parts of the South of England and Ireland.

AILANTHUS.

AILANTHUS GLANDULOSA.—­Tree of Heaven.  China, 1751.  A handsome, fast-growing tree, with large pinnate leaves that are often fully three feet long, and terminal erect clusters of not very showy greenish-white flowers that exhale a rather disagreeable odour.  It is one of the most distinct and imposing of pinnate-leaved trees, and forms a neat specimen for the lawn or park.  Light loam or a gravelly subsoil suits it well.

AKEBIA.

AKEBIA QUINATA.—­Chinese Akebia.  China, 1845.  This, with its peculiarly-formed and curiously-coloured flowers, though usually treated as a cool greenhouse plant, is yet sufficiently hardy to grow and flower well in many of the southern and western English counties, where it has stood uninjured for many years.  It is a pretty twining evergreen, with the leaves placed on long slender petioles, and palmately divided into usually five leaflets.  The sweet-scented flowers, particularly so in the evening, are of a purplish-brown or scarlet-purple, and produced in axillary racemes of from ten to a dozen in each.  For covering trellis-work, using as a wall plant, or to clamber over some loose-growing specimen shrub, from which a slight protection will also be afforded, the Akebia is peculiarly suitable, and soon ascends to a height of 10 feet or 12 feet.  Any ordinary garden soil suits it, and propagation by cuttings is readily affected.