24 
but are longer and produced in massive clusters sometimes two feet in 
length and so heavy that the slender branches can hardly support them; 
they are reddish purple, and there are forms with darker red flowers 
and with nearly white flowers. This Lilac, which has often been called 
Syringa rothomagensis, unfortunately through a misunderstanding of its 
origin, must be called S. chinensis if the oldest name is used for it. 
Among the twenty-three species of Syringa introduced by the Arbore- 
tum the most beautiful to many persons is S. pubescens, which was 
first raised in the Arboretum in 1883 from seeds sent by Dr. Bret- 
schneider from Peking. It is a tall shrub with erect stems, small 
leaves and broad clusters of small, pale mauve' flowers with a long 
slender corolla-tube. For its fragrance, which is more pungent and 
delightful than that of any other Lilac, Syringa pubescens should find 
a place in every northern garden. Plants in the United States have 
failed to produce seeds and as this species has proved unusually diffi- 
cult to increase by cuttings it has remained one of the rarest Lilacs 
in American gardens. It can be increased by grafting, and sooner or 
later fertile seeds will be found on some of the large plants growing 
in the Arboretum. Dr. Bretschneider sent to the Arboretum at the 
same time seeds of Syringa villosa, another excellent garden plant. 
It is a large round-topped bush from ten to twelve feet tall and wide, 
with large,' broad, elliptic to oblong leaves, bright green and dull on 
the upper surface and pale below, and broad or narrow clusters of 
flesh-colored or nearly white flowers which have the rather disagreeable 
odor of those of the Privet. It blooms freely every year, and the flow- 
ers do not open until those of most of the other Lilacs have faded. 
The hybrid Syringa Henryi was obtained by the French gardener 
Henry by crossing the Hungarian S. Josikaea with S. villosa. These 
are both late flowering species as is the hybrid between them. Plants 
of this hybrid are large, vigorous, perfectly hardy and grow rapidly. 
The leaves resemble those of S. villosa, but the flowers are violet- 
purple or reddish purple and arranged in clusters from twelve to fif- 
teen inches long and broad. The handsomest perhaps of this race, 
which has been named “Lutece, ” has deep violet-purple flowers and 
is one of the most beautiful of all Lilacs. “Eximia, ” another of these 
.hybrids, has not grown here to as large a size as “Lutece” but is one 
of the handsomest late flowering plants in the collection with reddish 
flowers which later become pink. 
The greatest show of Lilacs will be at the end of the present week, 
but some of the species, especially the group of Tree Lilacs from 
China and Japan, will not be in bloom for two or three weeks. 
The earliest of the Magnolias which flower after the leaves open, the 
American Magnolia Fraseri, is already in bloom, as are several of the 
Horse-chestnuts, including the American Ohio Buckeye, Aesculus gla- 
bra, and many American Hawthorns. Flowers still make some of the 
Amelanchiers and Plum-trees attractive, and probably the last two days 
of May and the first Sunday in June will see more flowers in the 
Arboretum than on any other days during the year. 
