August 7, 1909 



HORTICULTURE 



167 



in profusion not only in western Oregon but throughout 

 the Cascade region in Washington. Two vetches the 

 L. maritimus and a larger species L. pobjphyllus are 

 common near the coast. As we speed along through 

 forest and meadow we reach Gearhart Park, a small 

 summer resort. Here we spend a most delightful time 

 in the woods. The great trees of the Sitka Spruce 

 (Piceae Sitchensw) only found along the sea coast and 

 said to be the largest tree in Oregon, sometimes reach 

 a height of 300 feet and a diameter of 20 feet. I saw 



In a Forest of Young Tideland Spruce (Picia Sitchtusis) Near the 



Sea Coast, Gearhart Park. Oregon; Common Brake 



and Salae in Foreground. 



none as large as this, but it was a virgin forest with its 

 Spruce, Hemlock, Cedar and Giant Brakes (Pteris 

 aquilina) along the railway. These were as high as I 

 could reach. Where little openings had been made for 

 farms our Eastern Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), the 

 little Linaria cymhalaria and Pansy (Viola tricolor) 

 were running wild. The Salal (Gaultheria Shallon) 

 with black rather sweetish fruit was common with small- 

 er specimens of Spruce and Hemlock. The Beach of the 

 Pacific was only a few miles away. Here a peculiar 

 stunted pine (Pvnus contorta) and a parent of the orig- 

 inal of our cultivated Strawberry (Fragaria calif ornica) 

 grew abundantly on the sand dunes and beach away from 

 the tides. 



One who has never seen this rugged vegetation of 

 herb, shrub, and tree, in such proftision is filled with 

 admiration at the lavishness of nature's greatness. He 

 wonders why some of these places in all of their prim- 

 itive beauty cannot be kept for the enjoyment of man. 



Notes from the Arnold Arboretum 



Since several years we cultivate at the Arboretum a 

 new India-rubber tree from China. The largest speci- 

 mens are now six to seven feet high and look healthy and 

 vigorous; they seem perfectly hardj^, as they have stood 

 uninjured during the last three or four winters. This 

 tree is Eucominia ulmoides, which was discovered by Dr. 

 Henry about 1887 in Central China in the province of 

 Hupeh and described as a new genus in 1891. It was 

 introduced into cultivation about 1895 by Maurice L. de 

 Vilmorin of Paris who had received seeds of it from 

 China and distributed it subsequently to several botani- 

 cal and horticultural establishments. Fortunately its 

 propagation proved to be eas)', as it grows readily from 

 cuttings, as well from half-ripened green-wood cuttinga 

 in summer, as also from ctittings of mature wood made 

 in autumn or early in spring. Moreover it was recently 

 reintroduced by E. H. Wilson who sent seeds to the 

 Arboretum which germinated freely and 3'ielded a large 

 number of young plants. 



Eucominia ulmoides has been for some time a puzzle 

 to botanists as to its systematic position and relation- 

 ship. In its general habit and appearance of its fruit it 

 suggests an afBnity to the Ulmaceae, though it has no 

 real relation to that family; it was at first tentatively 

 placed with the Euphorbiaceae, a family which includes 

 a number of India-rubber yielding species ; by other bot- 

 anists it had been referred to the Hamamelidaceae, while 

 at present it is generally conceded that its nearest rela- 

 tion is with the Trochodendraceae, a small family re- 

 lated to the Magnoliaceae and including also Cercidi' 

 pliyllum and Euptelea, both in cultivation at the Ar- 

 boretum. Eucommia ulmoides is a tree in appearance 

 much like an Elm-tree and reaching in its native cotm- 

 try a height of about thirty feet. The alternate leaves 

 are oblong or oblong-ovate in outline, sharply serrated 

 and long pointed and measure from three to six inches 

 in length. The flowers appear early in spring with the 

 leaves and are rather insignificant, the staminate ones 

 resembling those of Cercidiphyllum. The fruit looks 

 like an elongated fruit of the English Elm and is about 

 one and a half inches long. From this it appears that 

 the tree has hardly any particular ornamental qualities, 

 but from an economic point of view as a new source of 

 rubber, it may prove to be an exceedingly valuable in- 

 troduction. In China, however, where the tree is known 

 under the name "Tu-cliung" it is cultivated only for the 

 medical properties of the bark which is highly valued by 

 the Chinese; besides the fine threads of caoutchouc 

 which appear when pieces of the bark are broken and 

 carefully drawn apart are used for covering wounds. 

 Chemical investigations made in France and England 

 have shown that caoutchouc is present in every part of 

 the plant except in the wood, but particularly in the 

 bark and in the fruits and that it is of good quality. 

 Experiments on a larger scale, however, have not yet 

 been possible as the dried bark is only available in small 

 quantities and the cultivated plants are still too small 

 to yield sufficient material. Therefore the real com- 

 mercial value of the new rubber-tree remains still to be 

 demonstrated, but to all appearances E. ulm-oides will 

 have a future as a rubber producing tree, particularly as 

 it is the only rubber-tree known which is hardy so far 

 north. 



Ames, la. 



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