808 



H H T I C U L T U R E 



JuiK- 10. I',il6 



THE VEBY NBWEHT A.M> Ul ICKK^T MKTIIOII OK DRSTUOVINO WBKDS, 



UIIA88 AND OTUEK UKOWTU IN GAIU>KN WAI.KH, OUTTKRH. 



TENNIH COVRTH. IIIUVEWAYH, ETC. 



Thil fluid sbiolutelx (lellr..)ll nil »i«<la nnd oIIht irrowlb whiT«>»cr aypllMl. 

 • nil 1(11 «-mvi on tlir irrouiid pn-vMili the growlb of frt«h odm fur > year tod 

 ihuii tnreu n gn-nt dral ot (Imp nnd lalior, ai do culllnr, Ih^vIdb or biulInK awir 

 of (In* ui-iMlM 1h ri'iiulrrO 

 Wi- inritiuruclurc (Ijr ii( ruii^-pii[ line .if I>ISI .NKKC TA NTS nn (tie mnrkrt 



piNOLYPToi 



WEED KILLER ^'^ ^"^'^'^^^ ^^-' ^^^'^^^ ^- ^^^ ^^-' ^^^ Yor1( 



NEW COTONEASTERS. BERBERIS 

 AND AESCULUS. 

 Chinese Cotoneaiters. 

 Cotoiieastors are slirubs or rarely 

 small trees of the rose family, re- 

 lated to the apples, ijears and haw- 

 thorus. The genus has long been 

 known in Europe and eastern Siberia, 

 but it is only in recent years that it 

 has been discovered tliat the largest 

 number of species o{ these plants 

 grows in China. The first Chinese 

 species was known to botanists as 

 early as 1832; forty-five years passed 

 before another of these Chinese 

 plants was recognized, and it was 

 not until Henry and Wilson began 

 ■the systematic exploration of the 

 flora of central and western China 

 that any one suspected its richness 

 in these plants. Now forty-eight or 

 fifty Chinese species and well marked 

 varieties are recognized. Of those 

 with deciduous leaves twenty-four are 

 now well established in the Arbor- 

 •etum. Among them are some of the 

 handsomest shrubs in cultivation, 

 and lor this climate at least some of 

 the species are perhaps the most val- 

 uable shrubs introduced by Wilson. 

 For the embellisliment of northern 

 gardens Uie introduition and success- 

 ful cultivation of the Chinese Coton- 

 easters rank in importance with the 

 improvements made in Europe in re- 

 cent years in the garden lilacs, with 

 the forms of hybrid Pliiladelphus 

 made by l.«moine, and with the col- 

 lection of American Hawthorns dis- 

 covered and raised in the last sixteen 

 years through the activities of the Ar- 

 boretum. Some ot the Chinese Coton- 

 easters are low shrubs only a few 

 inches high and admirably suited for 

 the decoration of rock gardens; others 

 are large broad bushes eight or ten 

 feet high; and it is not possible to say 

 which of these plants is the best for 

 some of them are better suited for one 

 purpose and some for another. On 

 some species the leaves are small, 

 thick, dark green and very lustrous; 

 on others they are thin and of differ- 

 ent shades of green, and of different 

 sizes. On some of the species with 

 thick and lustrous leaves the foliage 

 -does not fall until the beginning or 



middle of winter; that of the larger- 

 leaved s|K>cies falls late in the au- 

 tumn, on some species assuming in 

 the fall brilliant shades of orange and 

 scarlet. On some species the flowers 

 are bright red, and white on others, 

 and the lustrous fruit whicli varies 

 greatly in size is black on some of 

 these plants and red on others. As 

 flowering plants the most beautiful in 

 the Arboretum are C. hupehensis, C. 

 racemiflora. var. soongarica, and C. 

 muUiUora, \ar. calocarpa. These threr- 

 plants have flowers comparatively 

 large for the genus, aliout half of an 

 inch in diameter, and bright red shin- 

 ing fruits. The first is a broad, tall 

 and shapely shrub with bright green 

 leaves which will be covered in a few 

 days with flowers which make the 

 plant as conspicuous as any Spiraea. 

 These are followed by small, scarlet 

 fruits which sre a good deal hidden 

 by the leaves. C. racemiflora, var. 

 soongarica, is also a large and vigor- 

 ous shrub; the flowers are a lit- 

 tle larger than those of C. hupehen- 

 sis, the leaves are dull blue-green in 

 color, and the fruit is larger and more 

 showy than that of the last species. 

 C, multiflora, var. calocarpa, is flower- 

 ing for the first time in the Arboretum. 

 It is a shrub with slender, gracefully 

 arching stems and blue-green leaves. 

 The arching of the stems makes the 

 flowers, which are borne in erect 

 clusters on short latera' branches, con- 

 spicuous and there is now in the Ar- 

 boretum no shrub in flower more 

 graceful in habit or more charming in 

 the arrangement of its flowers. The 

 fruit of this species, judging by speci- 

 mens collected in China, is abundant- 

 ly produced : it is scarlet and about 

 a quarter of an inch in diameter. Of 

 the large-growing species with thick 

 lustrous leaves attention is called to 

 C. divaricnta with red fruit and C. 

 nitens witli black fruit. These species 

 have small, globose red flowers which 

 are now open and are large, fast- 

 growing, hardy shrubs valuable 

 through the summer and autumn on 

 account ot their beautiful foliage. 

 None of the species are perhaps so at- 

 tractive in the autumn as C. fovea- 

 lata; this is one of the most vigorous 



of all the species with larger leaves 

 which late In the seasor turn brilliant 

 orange and scarlet. The flowers of 

 this plant are red and the fruit Is 

 iilack. The best of the dvvarf species 

 in this climate is C. horizontalit. 

 This is now the most generally known 

 of the Chinese Cotoneasters, aa It was 

 first raised in France forty years ago 

 and has been growing in the Arbor- 

 etum for more than a quarter of a 

 century. When growing naturally it 

 is a plant not more than two feet high, 

 with wide-spreading branches; It has 

 small, dark green, shining leaves, 

 minute red flowers and small bright 

 red fruit. Here the leaves fall in early 

 winter, but in regions of milder cli- 

 mate they remain on the branches 

 until a new crop appears in the spring. 

 This is an excellent plant for a large 

 rock garden, and in Europe it is often 

 trained to cover low walls, for which 

 purpose it is well suited, although the 

 branches do not naturally attach them- 

 selves to stone or orlck. C. horizon- 

 talis, var. pcrpasilla is a dwarf form 

 with rather smaller leaves and is 

 equally useful for the rock garden. 

 This variety, Mr. Wilson tells us, IB 

 the common Cotoneaster of the moor- 

 lands of western Hupeh. C. adpressa. 

 which is the dwarfest of these plants, 

 is distinguished from C. horizontalit 

 by its thinner and less lustrous leaves, 

 larger fruit which ripens several 

 weeks earlier, and by its creeping and 

 often rooting stems which form a 

 dense carpet closely appressed to the 

 ground. There are few shrubs better 

 suited for the rock garden. 



Berberls verruculosa. 



An evergreen Barberry discovered 

 by Wilson in western Szechuan, is 

 flowering freely for the flrst time in 

 the Arboretum. It is a small shrub 

 with slender, arching stems, thickly 

 covered with dark brown excrescences, 

 small oval leaves dark green and very 

 lustrous on the upper surface and pale 

 below, and small golden yellow flow- 

 ers which are solitary or produced in 

 few-flowered clusters. The berries are 

 black, oblong or bottle-shaped and cov- 

 ered with a glaucous bloom. On its 

 native mountains this barterry is said 



