June 21, 1913 



HORTICULTURE 



921 



THE VIBURNUMS. 



(Exti-act from Arnold Arboretura Bulletins 

 Nos. 43 and 44.) 



At no other time in tiie year is tlie 

 Arboretum more interesting and at- 

 tractive tlian in the early days of 

 .June. The leaves of many trees have 

 now grown to their full size; those of 

 others are still in their vernal stages. 

 The conifers are now covered with the 

 tender green of their new shoots and 

 are more beautiful than at any other 

 time of the year. The Rhododendrons 

 are fast opening their flowers and 

 these will soon be followed by those of 

 the Laurel (Kalmia) ; many Azaleas 

 are blooming, and the flowers of 

 Viburnums, Cornels, and other native 

 shrubs add to the beauty of the plan- 

 tations. 



The Japanese and Chinese Tiburnum 

 tnnniitosnm is a large shrub with wide- 

 spreading horizontal branches along 

 the upper side of which the flat 

 flower-clusters are thickly placed 

 and are surrounded by a ring of 

 ])ure white sterile or ray flowers 

 which make the conspicuous part 

 of the inflorescence. The flowers 

 are followed in the late autumn by 

 brilliant fruits which, scarlet at first, 

 become black when fully ripe. The 

 leaves turn orange and scarlet in the 

 autumn. There is an interesting nar- 

 row-leaved form of this plant (var. 

 lanccolatum), discovered in Japan by 

 Professor Sargent. There are also two 

 "Snowball" forms of this plant devel- 

 oped in Japanese gardens and much 

 cultivated here and in Europe under 

 the name of Viburnum plicaUim. The 

 correct name of the more common of 

 these two plants is V. tomentosum. 

 var. dilatatum. This is the Japanese 

 Snowball usually cultivated in this 

 country. The other form (^'. tuincnto- 

 sum, var. dihitntum. I. rotundifoliumj, 

 appears to be a dwarfer plant. 



Vibur7ium tomentosum and the Co- 

 rean V. Carlesii are ornamental plants 

 of great beauty and value but, with 

 the exception of these two plants, none 

 of the eastern Asiatic species compare 

 in value as decorative plants with the 

 Viburnums of North America. To 

 these much of the late spring and 

 early summer beauty of the Arbore- 

 tum shrubberies is due, and the suc- 

 cessful cultivation here of these plants 

 is at last making their value known 

 and appreciated. Thirty years ago it 

 was practically impossible to buy an 

 American Viburnum in any nursery, 

 but now several of the species are 

 largely propagated in many North 

 American nurseries and have been used 

 in considerable quantities in many 

 American parks. 



About a dozen of the American Vi- 

 burnums are thoroughly established 

 in the Arboretum, the different species 

 flowering through a period of two 

 months. The earliest to flower and the 

 most difficult to establish here satisfac- 

 torily, V. alnifolium. often called V. 

 lantanoides, the Hobble Bush or 

 Moosewood of northern woods, has 

 been out of flower for several weeks. 

 The Black Haw, 1'. prunifoliiim is 

 a small shapely tree of the Middle 

 States where it is often extremely 

 common. The flowers are in convex 

 clusters and are followed by sweet 

 blue-black fruits. These and the 

 leaves, which late in the season turn 

 deep wine color, make this a particu- 

 larly attractive plant in the autumn 



Vlhunnoii Leiitago, sometimes known 



ROSE PINK PEARL. 



This rose is well named. When 

 fully opened its color is exquisite 

 pearly pink. It is one of W. A. 

 Manda's produclions, the parentage 

 being Meteor x Wichuraiana. The 

 flowers are of good size, very double 

 and solid and the buds before opening 



are crimson making a beautiful effect 

 when flowers and unopened buds are 

 seen together. The foliage is leathery 

 and glossy and almost evergreen. We 

 have mentioned this rose before as 

 worthy of being more generally 

 planted. It is a gem. 



as the Nannyberry, is now very con- 

 spicuous in many parts of the Arbore- 

 tum. Few more beautiful shrubs than 

 this common inhabitant of the road- 

 side and the wood-border of New Eng- 

 land can he found in any part of the 

 world. It is a shrub or small tree 

 sometimes twenty feet high with a 

 broad round head. The leaves are 

 large, thick and lustrous, and in the 

 autumn assume delicate shades of red 

 and orange; the flowers are creamy 

 white and are borne in large and abun- 

 dant convex clusters, and the large 

 blue-black fruits hang on drooping 

 stems and do not disappear from the 

 branches until the beginning of win- 

 ter. In the first week of June the 

 Arboretum owes much to this plant. 

 Another arborescent Viburnum, T'. 

 iiifi(h(Iiiw. from the southern states is 

 a plant of much beauty; it is the 

 largest of the American species and 

 sometimes grows in Louisiana and 

 Arkansas into a shapely tree thirty or 

 forty feet high with a tall stem and 

 spreading branches. The flower-clus- 

 ters are usually smaller than those of 

 r. Liiildfitj. but the leaves are larger 



and much more lustrous, and no other 

 Viburnum has such handsome foliage. 

 It is distinguished by the rusty red 

 felt which covers the winter-buds and 

 the edges of the leaf-stalks, and is 

 found on the lower surface of the 

 leaves. 



One of the handsomest American 

 Viburnums is T. puliesceiis. This is a 

 tall shrub with small pointed leaves 

 and small nearly flat clusters of white 

 flowers, which are produced in such 

 abundance that they almost entirely 

 cover the plant. This Viburnum grows 

 naturally on limestone soil although 

 limestone is not essential to it and is 

 therefore valuable in a large part of 

 the country where limestone prevents 

 the cultivation of many plants like 

 Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and other 

 members of the Heath Family. Tihur- 

 iniin acerifijliiim, sometimes called 

 Arrow-wood, is a common inhabitant 

 of the eastern part of the continent. 

 It is a small shrub with leaves which 

 i-esemble those of some Maples, small 

 clusters of white flowers raised on long 

 steam, and black fruits. This plant 

 is valuable as an undershrub for it 



