October 2, 1909 



HORTICULTURE 



465 l^EW 



Notes from the Arnold Arboretum 



Besides the genus Davidia described in the last issue 

 there have been recently introduced from China quite a 

 number of other genera of trees and shrubs entirely new 

 to cultivation. Our plants of these are of course still 

 small and only very few have flowered and fruited as 

 yet with us, but the herbarium specimens we have here 

 together with descriptions give us a fairly good idea 

 what they look like and whether they might be of horti- 

 cultural value. Of their hardiness, however, we know 

 but little ; this is a matter to be learned from experience. 



A remarkable and handsome genus is Emmenopterys 

 of which only one species, E. Hcnryi, is known. It is a 

 tree from thirty to forty feet high with opposite broadly 

 elliptic leaves from four to six inches long. The funnel- 

 form yellowish white fragrant flowers are about one inch 

 long and are disposed in large terminal clusters bearing 

 at the outside large white bracts about two inches long 

 and persisting till the fruits, oblong capsules, are ripe. 

 It belongs to the Eubiaceae and its hardiness is doubt- 

 ful. 



Paederia foetida belongs to the same family and is a 

 climbing shrub with opposite slender-stalked elliptic 

 leaves from three to four inches in length; they bear in 

 their axils loose panicles without the stalk from five to 

 seven inches long of tubular, white or pale pink flowers 

 about one-half inch long and followed by light brown 

 ovoid capsules. The liardiness is doubtful. 



Lcptodermis oblonc/a is another member of the same 

 family from North China and probably perfectly hardy 

 here. It forms a small shrub with opposite oblong leaves 

 not exceeding one inch in length and with slender tubu- 

 lar violet flowers little over one-half inch long and 

 borne in few-flowered clusters at the end of the branch- 

 lets. The fruit is a small capsule. 



Carricria cahjcina, a tree attaining fifty feet in 

 height, belongs to the Flacourtiaceae and is related to 

 Idesia which it also resembles in habit and in its hand- 

 some foliage. The alternate leaves borne on long and 

 slender stalks are ovate to oblong-ovate or sometimes 

 obovate in outline, from four to seven inches long, cre- 

 nately serrate and perfectly glabrous. The white flow- 

 ers appear in few-flowered racemes at the end of the 

 branchlets ; they are about three-quarter of an inch long 

 and may be compared in shape to those of a tubular- 

 flowered Clematis save that they are shorter and broader 

 and have five sepals. The fruit is a long-pointed slender 

 capsule from two to three inches long. It may probably 

 be fairly hardy with us. 



Another closely related new genus is Poliothyrsis with 

 only one species, P. chinensis, which also recalls Idesia 

 in foliage and habit. It is a tree attaining thirty feet 

 in height with alternate slender-stalked leaves ovate to 

 ovate-oblong in outline and long-pointed, slightly cre- 

 nate at the margin and from four to seven inches long. 

 The whitish flowers are small, only about one-third of 

 an inch in diameter, but as they are borne in large and 

 many-flowered panicles from four to six inches long, ap- 

 pearing with a few leaves at the base from axillary and 

 terminal buds toward the end of last year's branches, 

 they are quite conspicuous particularly in combination 

 with the handsome foliage. The fruit is a capsule about 

 three-quarters of an inch long. 



A third genus of the same family is Xylosma, of 

 which several species occur in China. They are small 



trees with ovate to oblong leaves from two to four inches QA| 

 long and crenate at the margin. The insignificant 

 flowers are borne in small axillary clusters and followed 

 by purplish black small berries. It is apparently of lit- 

 tle ornamental value. 



Rambles in the Black Hills 



The conformation of this region is much like the 

 Eockies though not on so grand a scale. Custer has an 

 elevation of about 5500 feet. The air is cool and brac- 

 ing. Here you find the Bull or ponderosa pine, and 

 also the Black Hills spruce, which is a variety of the 

 white spruce and much sought after for the prairies of 

 Nebraska. 



We find in the West that we must be careful where we 

 get our trees. White spruce from Maine and New 

 Hampshire cannot stand our dry climate. Those from 

 northern Minnesota and Wisconsin do better. But the 

 belt of them which swings down in the Black Hills suc- 

 ceed finely. I stayed two days on the ranch of J. V. 

 Vallenthime, a German who was formerly connected 

 with the Prussian forestry department. He collects 

 tons of evergreen seed for our forest service and others. 

 There will be few if any seeds this year. Only the pon- 

 derosa pine seems to be common to the Eockies and the 

 Black Hills. The Berberis repens or Oregon grape is 

 also found in both sections. This is often used for 

 making jams and jellies. 



PROBABLY A NEW IRIS 



I noticed a very hardy iris which grows on the dry 

 hills among the rocks and stones. I saw from the seed 

 pods that they had been flowering in July. Mr. Val- 

 lenthime says the blossom is of deep clear blue, charm- 

 ingly veined with other tints. It seems to belong to the 

 Siberian family, with tufted roots instead of rhizomes. 

 The flowers are said to be three inches across. As these 

 grow in exposed places where the mercury touches 40 

 below they must be very hardy. The foliage and seed 

 pods resemble the Siberian type. I secured both plants 

 and seeds and sent some also to B. H. Farr of Beading, 

 Pa., for him to test, as he is the best expert along that 

 line in America probably. I am really in hopes some- 

 thing will come of it, and we can probably cross it with 

 other sorts and so add to our great iris collection. By 

 the way a manual on the iris is now in preparation. 

 This was much needed as there was no work at reason- 

 able price within the reach of common people. 



Mr. Vallenthime has about two hundred acres, fifty of 

 which is fine fertile valley land. He now proposes to 

 raise millions of evergreens, mostly spruce for which 

 there is a great call and it is impossible to supply the 

 demand. His home is in the valley where you hear the 

 soothing lullaby of a stream of purest water which he 

 can use for irrigation if need be. The charming valley 

 is hemmed in by hills covered with evergreens and it is 

 a quiet and charming place and a very congenial home 

 for raising young conifers. 



Yorl- Neb. 



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