10 
walks. Few of our native trees grow so well in the immediate neigh- 
borhood of the seacoast. The seedlings of few trees have shown a 
greater tendency to variation, and many of the varieties of the Nor- 
way Maple have been largely propagated by European nurserymen. 
There are a dozen or more of the most distinct of these varieties in 
the Arboretum collection, and among them are some handsome plants. 
The variety columnare is one of the best of the trees with fastigiate 
branches although it is broader and less columnar than the form of 
the Sugar Maple with erect growing branches {Acer saccharum var. 
monumentale), or the fastigiate Red Maple (var. columnare). One of 
the handsomest of dwarf trees is the variety glohosum, a round- topped 
bush branching from the ground. The large and symmetrical specimen 
of this plant which had been growing since 1888 in the Arboretum was 
badly injured by the heavy snow and high winds of the severe winter 
of 1919-20. It has now made new branches and will soon be as hand- 
some as ever. Forms of this tree with deeply divided leaves are var. 
dissectum and var. cucullatum, the Eagle Claw Maple. These are 
small trees which are more curious than beautiful. The most popular 
of the varieties of the Norway Maple is the var. Schwedleri. Early 
in the season this tree has bright red leaves which before summer 
turn dark dull green. The color of the spring leaves attracts nursery- 
men, and this tree has been planted largely in the neighborhood of 
eastern cities. The dull unnatural color of the mature leaves makes 
this, however, an undesirable tree for general planting. More attract- 
ive is the variety Stollii with large three-lobed leaves, purple as they 
unfold but later dark green. This is one of the most distinct of all 
the forms of the Norway Maple in the Arboretum collection. 
Acer saccharum, the Sugar Maple and one of the great trees of east- 
ern North America, will also soon be in bloom. The flowers are paler 
in color than those of the Norway Maple, and arranged in gracefully 
drooping clusters do not make the tree as conspicuous in the spring. 
The individual flowers are more delicate, however, and better worth 
close inspection by the lovers of beautiful flowers. 
Amelanchiers. Shad Bushes, as Amelanchiers are often called be- 
cause they are supposed to bloom when the shad begin to ascend the 
rivers from the sea, add much to the beauty of the Arboretum in the 
month of May. Amelanchier is a genus in which North America has 
almost a monopoly; one small shrubby species grows on the mountains 
of central Europe, and there is another shrubby species in China and 
Japan. All the other species are natives of North America where 
Amelanchiers grow with many species from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
and from Newfoundland to the Gulf States. Some of the species are 
trees and others large or small shrubs; they flower in the spring be- 
fore the leaves appear or when they are partly grown, or, in the 
case of a few species, when the leaves are nearly fully grown, the 
period of flowering of the different species extending through several 
weeks. The species all have handsome flowers, with long delicate white 
petals, and small, dark blue, or nearly black pome-like fruit open at 
the top, with flesh which in most of the species is sweet and edible. 
It is these edible fruits which probably have earned for these plants 
