7 
{Rex glabra) on Bussey Hill Road have not in any previous spring been 
as discolored as they are now. Many of the leaves are killed but the 
plants will recover, and the temporary injury should not be counted 
against this beautiful plant which is one of the best of the broad- 
leaved Evergreens which can be grown in this climate. It is a hand- 
somer plant than the black-fruited Evergreen Rex crenata from Japan. 
This Holly in both its broad and narrow-leaved forms grew well in the 
Arboretum during many years but has gradually been killed by cold, 
and the last survivor growing on Azalea Path now looks as if it could 
not survive. This Japanese Holly grows well and is a handsome plant 
in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, but the New England climate is 
too severe for it. 
Pieris (Andromeda) floribunda, judged by an experience of fifty years, 
is the only broad-leaved Evergreen to which nothing ever happens here. 
Borers do not weaken the stems, the leaves are never discolored, and 
the flower-buds formed in autumn and conspicuous during the winter 
are never injured by the lowest temperature which has been recorded 
in southern New England. It is a round-topped shrub of compact habit, 
occasionally eight or ten feet across and four or five feet high, with 
small pointed, dark green leaves and short terminal clusters of white 
flowers. A native of high altitudes on the southern Appalachian Moun- 
tains, this Pieris is rare and local in distribution as a wild plant, but 
for more than a century it has been esteemed in England and largely 
propagated by English nurserymen. Plants can now be found in sev- 
eral American nurseries. 
Prunus subhirtella will be in bloom when this bulletin reaches its 
Massachusetts readers, and when it is covered with its drooping pink 
flowers this, the Spring Cherry of the Japanese, is the most charm- 
ing plant which can be seen in the Arboretum at any time during the 
entire year. It has been described as the most floriferous and delight- 
ful of all the Japanese Cherries; and it is certainly the most satisfac- 
tory of them all in this country, for it is hardy, the flower-buds are 
rarely injured, and the flowers last in good condition longer than those 
of any other Cherry-tree. This tree or large bush is not known as a 
wild plant, and although it has been much planted in the gardens of 
western Japan it is rarely seen in those of Tokyo and Yokohama. For 
this reason perhaps it has not often been imported from Japan into 
the United States and Europe. Another reason for its rarity is the 
fact that although it bears every year abundant fruit, the seeds do 
not produce plants similar to the parent but always trees of its varie- 
ties, principally the var. ascendens which is a narrow tree fifty or sixty 
feet high with a tall trunk. This tree has the rather small drooping 
flowers of the better known Weeping Japanese Cherry (P. subhirtella 
pendula) which is not now uncommon in American gardens. For these 
reasons the typical Prunus subhirtella, a plant of the first class for 
the decoration of northern gardens, is still extremely rare in this coun- 
try. It can be increased from cuttings without much trouble but a 
better way to propagate it is by grafts on its own seedlings. If anyone 
wants to raise stock for this purpose seeds can be obtained from the 
Arboretum. 
