ECONOMIC BOTANICAL EXPLORATIONS IN CHINA 127 



Aesculus chinensis, Xanthoceras sorbifolia, only planted in temple 

 compounds; they do not occur wild any longer within the vicinity 

 of that city, though apparently they formerly did so. 



In speaking about these fine trees found in temple courts, there 

 is one that impresses more than any other, and that is the white 

 barked pine, Pinus hungeana. For serene impressiveness there is 

 nothing to equal it. We have here the strange case of nature 

 having invented the white-washing process of the trunk and 

 branches so as to save the tree from being hurt by the strong sun 

 in winter as well as in summer. The moment a branch dies it 

 becomes black, and the contrast between dead and alive wood is 

 really remarkable to behold. \Yhile Dr. Augustine Henry and 

 Mr. E. H. Wilson found this pine wild only in Northwest Hupeh, 

 I found it in the mountains of Southeast Shansi, in Central Shansi, 

 and in South Kansu, and apparently it occurs in Honan also. 



Among conifers that resist drouth, alkali, and extremes of temper- 

 atures to a fair degree. North China has given us Thuja orientalis, 

 Juniperns chinensis, Pinus sinensis, and Pinus hungeana. China 

 is remarkably rich in ornamental shrubs, and it is especially due 

 to the very great successes of the well-known botanical collector, 

 Mr. E. H. Wilson, of the Arnold Arboretum, that the Western world 

 now has her gardens enriched by a few hundred of new species. 



Of the numerous flowering shrubs that exist in China, I intro- 

 duced Viburnum fragrans into the United States by sending scions 

 from plants near Peking, but if it had not been for the expert plant 

 propagator, Mr. Jackson T. Dawson of the Arnold Arboretum, who 

 saved this material, we would not have this interesting shrub now. 



Another interesting plant we introduced is the Rosa xanthina, a 

 hardy, yellow bush-rose, occurring in its semi-double form, culti- 

 vated in gardens in Peking and Tientsin, but the single form I 

 found wild in dry mountain gullies in the provinces of Shansi and 

 Shantung. As a factor in hybridization experiments, it is of unu- 

 sual value, and entirely new strains of hardy yellow roses may 

 possibly originate from it. 



One of the most remarkable discoveries I made was only a few 

 months ago when I found a real hickory in China. Prof. C. S. 

 Sargent, the eminent director of your beautiful Arnold Arboretum, 

 has named it as Carya cathayensis, and paid me the compliment of 



