364 



HOETICULTUKE 



September 9, 1916 



Some Important New or Little Known Trees and Shrubs 



{Continurd from fagc 31b) 



Malus. There are no more beauti- 

 ful small flowering trees in our parks 

 and gardens in the spring time than 

 the different crab-apples of North 

 America and Asia. Malus Arnoldiana 

 is a seedling that appeared from M. 

 floribunda a few years since, in the 

 Arnold Arboretum. It is shrubby in 

 habit, and the branches are densely 

 covered with large, showy, rosy pink 

 flowers during the third week in 

 May. M. glaucescens is a native Ameri- 

 can species first detected by myself 

 growing spontaneously in one of the 

 Rochester parks about sixteen years 

 since. It is now found distributed 

 from western New York to the Caro- 

 linas. It blooms during the later part 

 of May and flowers about a week 

 earlier than M. coronarius and the 

 fruit ripens about a week earlier. The 

 unopened flower buds are reddish pink 

 and before opening have a seemingly 

 inflated appearance; at this stage it is 

 remarkably beautiful. The expanded, 

 delightfully fragrant flowers are rosy 

 pink. Malus glaucescens is one of the 

 most beautiful North American small 

 trees when in bloom. M. Sargentii is 

 unique amongst crab-apples in its com- 

 pact, shrubby, spreading, intricately 

 branched habit and seldom exceeds 

 six feet in height. It blossoms about 

 the third week in May and the 

 branches are covered with the pure 

 white, large flowers, which looks very 

 effective in the foreground of orna- 

 mental plantations. In the autumn 

 the' red fruits are very interesting. 

 Although introduced from Japan by 

 Dr. Sargent twenty-four years since, 

 this crab-apple is still little known in 

 American gardens and parks. M. 

 Zumi is a small-sized tree with a some- 

 what thin branching habit and the 

 leaves on the strong vegetative shoots 

 are often deeply lobed. The flower 

 buds are faintly tinged pink but an 

 pure white when fully open. M. Zumi 

 is a beautiful object when in bloom, 

 covered with its large pure white blos- 

 soms. It was introduced by Dr. Sar- 

 gent from Japan, twenty-four years 

 since. 



Pkunus. Sargent's Cherr.v, Pruuus 

 Sargentii, is one of the most beautiful 

 of Japanese cherries. It was intro- 

 duced from Japan by Dr. Sargent 

 twenty-four years since but at that 

 time its botanical status was not un- 

 derstood. Mr. Wilson, studying Japan- 

 ese Cherries, in Japan in 1914, found 

 an avenue of this cherry, three miles 



By JOHN DUNBAR, Botanist, S. A. F. 



long, at Koganei near Tokio, and some 

 of these trees were sixty to seventy- 

 five feet tall. They were planted in 

 1735. The clusters of large, pink or 

 rose-colored blossoms are produced in 

 great abundance just before the leaves 

 begin to unfold. It has handsome am- 

 ple foliage and it should be widely 

 planted in American gardens and 

 parks. Our largest individuals are 

 about eighteen feet tall. Prunus mira 

 is a new species of peach found by 

 Mr. Wilson in western Szechuan near 

 Tachien-lu. Mr. Wilson regarded this 

 as a remarkable discovery, as previous 

 to this only one true species of peach 

 was known. It has the peculiarity of 

 having a perfectly smooth stone. The 

 leaves are much narrower than in the 

 common peach, deep glossy green and 

 perfectly smooth. We have an in- 

 dividual nine to ten feet tall and fif- 

 teen feet in spread of branches but I 

 am surprised and disappointed that it 

 has not produced a single flower and 

 the young wood passes the winter in 

 perfect condition. We sincerely hope 

 that it will flower next spring. This 

 tardiness in flowering seems surprising 

 as the common peach flowers so freely 

 in a small state. 



Aesculus. During recent years a 

 number of new species of buckeyes 

 have been discovered in different parts 

 of Texas, Missouri, Georgia and adja- 

 cent regions. All of them are excellent 

 garden plants. We will call special 

 attention to one form. Aesculus dis- 

 color var. mollis, (Aesculus Austrina), 



is a shrub or sometimes a small tree 

 and is distributed through southeast- 

 ern Missouri and from Georgia to 

 Texas. It flowered with us last spring 

 for the first time. The scarlet flowers 

 far surpass in brilliancy any of the 

 cultivated red-flowering Horsechest- 

 nuts that are cultivated in parks and 

 gardens. It is remarkable that it seems 

 to be quite hardy so far north of the 

 region of its natural geographical dis- 

 tribution. 



EvoDiA. The Evodias are entirely 

 new features in northern gardens. All 

 of the known Evodias, until these new 

 species were found in western China, 

 were warm greenhouse shrubs or small 

 trees. We have three species but E. 

 Danielii seems to be the hardiest and 

 is the only one that has flowered with 

 us; it has blossomed for several years. 

 It has opposite, large, handsome, com- 

 pound leaves, with seven to eleven 

 leaflets which have a strongly pun- 

 gent aromatic odor when bruised in 

 the hands. The terminal, compound, 

 corymbose, whitish flower clusters are 

 borne on the branches and branchlets 

 about the second w-eek in August. 



Crataegus. The discovery and 

 description of about one thousand 

 species of American hawthorns and 

 the raising from seed of most of them, 

 and their cultivation, is surely one of 

 the most extraordinary botanical and 

 horticultural features of modern 

 times, which has been accomplished at 

 the Arnold Arboretum. Twenty-five 

 years ago only fourteen species were 



.»4' ^M-^mmM^'J 



Planting a Raileoad Embankment 

 At Wayne Junction, Philadelphia. 



