December 19, 1908 



HORTICULTURE 



829 



Notes From the Arnold Arboretum 



The chief attraction of the woods and shrubberies at 

 the Arnold Arboretum in their present wintry aspect is 

 the wealth of ornamental fruiting shrubs. Many kinds 

 and mam colors are there, bu1 the most conspicuous and 

 showy are the shrubs with red and scarlet berries, as by 

 their blight and glowing color they present a marked 

 contrast with the dull lints of the bare branches and 

 warm the wintry landscape. One of the best of them is 

 undoubtedly Berberis Thutibergi which keeps its scarlet 

 berries unchanged until next spring; it is now so well 

 known and appreciated, particularly as one of the best 

 shrubs for low ornamental hedges, that it needs no 

 further recommendation. Equally well known is the 

 common Barberry, Bcrberris vulgaris; though its berries 

 shrivel more or less, the color remains almost unchanged 

 during the whole winter. Similar are the Asiatic Ber- 

 beris Regeliana (B. Sieboldii ami B. Hakodate of some 

 gardens) and 11. amurensis with shorter and denser 

 racemes profusely produced; they are of more upright 

 habit and the latter grows into a higher shrub than the 

 common kind. The true B. Sieboldii is a low shrub 

 only a few feet high with brown branches and smaller 

 fruits remaining through the winter. 



A very conspicuous climbing shrub is Celastrus or- 

 biculatus with its* scarlet fruits borne profusely along 

 the branches; it is handsomer than the native C. scan- 

 dt ns which bears the fm its in clusters at the end of the 

 branchlets. Celastrus orbiculatus is very well adapted 

 for covering rocks and for climbing among low shrubs 

 which it adorns in fall and winter with its wealth of 

 conspicuous fruits. 



To the most showy shrubs belongs the High Cran- 

 berry-hush, Viburnum Opulus, with its drooping clus- 

 ters of large scarlet berries which though shriveled keep 

 their bright color through the whole winter and as the 

 shrub is tall and the clusters are borne at the end of the 

 branches, it attracts attention more than any other fruit- 

 ing shrub. 



Of the Mountain Ashes, Sorbus Americana, and its 

 larger fruited variety decora often confused with the 

 Asiatic 5. sambucifolia, have this year lost their fruits, 

 probably eaten by birds, though it usually stays during 

 the first part of the winter, but the European S. Aucu- 

 paria is still adorned with its drooping clusters of scar- 

 let fruits and so is S. Mdtsumurana, a Japanese species 

 with dense clusters of small light scarlet fruits ; the lat- 

 ter is still very little known in cultivation, and is to be 

 recommended not only for its handsome fruits, but also 

 for its graceful foliage and the large corymbs of white 

 flowers. ■ 



The closely related Red Chokeberry, Aronia arbuti- 

 folia (Sorbus or Pyrus nrbulifolia) is now also very 

 attractive with its bright red fruits and so is A. atropur- 

 purea with purple or dark purple, sometimes almost 

 blaclc fruits which ripen earlier than those of the first 

 species and begin to shrivel now. It is sometimes con- 



futed with .1. nigra which, however, drops its shining 

 black fruit soon after ripening m August. 



Among the most beautiful fruiting shrubs is Ilex ver- 

 ticillata and Ilex la vigata with their scarlet fruits usu- 

 ally home in great abundance along the blanches and 

 often produced sq profusely that the whole shrub appears 

 from a distance as a glowing red mass. The Japanese 

 /. si rrata with its varieties Sieboldii and argutidens is 

 similar but less showy, as its fruits are smaller. The 

 most beautiful is. however, the well known evergreen 

 Holly, /. apnea, the popular symbol of Christmas cheer. 

 All the Hollies are dioei ious and cannot be expected to 

 bear fruits, if not staminate are planted together with 

 the pistillate shrubs; the former may be planted in the 

 background. 



Several of the Hawthorns still hold their fruits, as 

 Crataegus Grus-galli and C. Fontanesiana with bright 

 red and C. Oxyacantha with darker red fruits. A very 

 handsome tree is C. cordata now loaded with clusters of 

 small bright scarlet fruits. Also the shrubby 0. mac- 

 racantha holds still its scarlet fruits though somewhat 

 shriveled. A very distinct species is G. Dawsoniuna 

 with orange yellow fruits. 



Some Roses as B. virginiana (B. lucida) and R. 

 humilis are very attractive with their numerous scarlet 

 hips and dark red branches and particularly handsome 

 i- /.'. multiftora with its panicles of pale red pea-sized 

 hips lasting all winter. 



The evergreen Euonymus radicans var. vegeta with its 

 drooping clusters of pinkish pods disclosing the orange 

 yellow seeds is very pretty; this is the hardiest variety 

 of the evergreen Euonymus and is easily distinguished 

 from the other forms by the broad roundish leaves. The 

 E. radicans var. Garrieri neither fruits as profusely nor 

 is it so hardy, but it is handsomer on account of its lus- 

 trous foliage. 



A very striking shrub is the Indian Currant, Sym- 

 phoricarpus orbiculatus, on account of the unusual crim- 

 son color of its fruits borne in dense clusters along the 

 arching branches. 



Of the shrubs with white fruits Symphoricarpus race- 

 mosus is the only one which keeps its fruits but little 

 changed during the early part of the winter. 



All the shrubs with conspicuous yellow fruits are va- 

 rieties of those with red fruits ; there are yellow fruited 

 forms of Ilex verticillata, of Crataegus Oxyacantha and 

 of others. 



The fruits of the Waxberry, Myrica carolinensis, show 

 a peculiar grayish white color which gives dense and 

 profusely fruiting masses of this shrub a somewhat 

 misty appearance. 



Also the fruits of some Privets as Ligustrum amur- 

 ense and L. Ibota have a pale grayish color on account 

 of the glaucous bloom which covers the originally black 

 fruits, while L. acuminatum (L. ciliatum and L. medi- 

 um of gardens) has almost and L. vulgare quite black 

 and glossy fruits. Other black fruited shrubs are 

 Rhamnus dakurica and 7?. cathartica, several species of 

 Smilax, Rhodotypus Rerrioides, and Panax sessiliflorum, 

 a tall shrub with dense heads of black fruits at the end 

 of the branches. In Ilex en nata and I. glabra the black 

 fruits are almost hidden by the evergreen foliage and 

 therefore of little account. 



