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medium size and faintly tinged with yellow. This shrub has been some- 
what neglected since species and hybrids with larger and showier flow- 
ers have found their way into gardens. This is unfortunate, for no 
other Syringa equals the old-fashioned Mock Orange in the delicate 
perfume of its flowers. Varieties of this plant with yellow leaves, with 
double flowers, and with narrow willow-like leaves can be seen in the 
Arboretum collection, but none of them have any particular decorative 
value. Among the American species which should And a place in all 
gardens are P. inodorus, P. pubescens, and P. microphyllus. The first 
is a native of the Appalachian Mountain region and grows to the height 
of six feet; it has arching branches and large, solitary, pure white, 
cup-shaped, scentless flowers. By some persons it is considered the 
most beautiful of all Syringas. P. pubescens, often called P. grandi- 
Jiorus or P. latifolius, is also a plant of the southern Appalachian region. 
It often grows to the height of twenty feet; the branches are stout 
and erect; the leaves are broad, and the slightly fragrant flowers are 
arranged in erect, from five- to ten-flowered racemes. This plant is 
more common in gardens than the last and when it is in bloom it makes 
a great show. P. microphyllus, which rarely grows more than three 
feet tall, has slender stems, and leaves and flowers smaller than those 
of any Philadelphus in cultivation. What the flowers lack in size, how- 
ever, is made up in fragrance which is stronger than that of any other 
Syringa and perfumes the air for a long distance. Unfortunately this 
shrub, which is one of the most attractive plants of the genus, is not 
always entirely hardy and was killed to the ground last winter in the 
Arboretum. 
The most distinct and perhaps the handsomest of the Asiatic species 
in the Arboretum is Philadelphus purpurascens, discovered by Wilson 
in western China. It is a large shrub with long arching stems from 
which rise numerous branchlets from four to six inches long and spread- 
ing at right angles; on these branchlets the flowers are borne on 
drooping stalks; they are an inch and a half long, with a bright purple 
calyx and pure white petals which do not spread as they do on most 
of the species but form a bell-shaped corolla and are exceedingly frag- 
rant. This is one of the handsomest of the shrubs brought from west- 
ern China to the Arboretum, Philadelphus Magdalenae is another 
Chinese species well worth cultivation. It is a tall broad shrub with 
arching stems, small dark green leaves and pure white fragrant flow- 
ers an inch and a quarter in diameter and arranged in drooping, leafy, 
many-flowered clusters from six to ten inches in length. Philadelphus 
pekinensis from northern China and Mongolia is a stout bush rather 
broader than high which every year produces great quantities of small 
flowers tinged with yellow. Another interesting garden plant, P. Fal- 
coneri, which is certainly Asiatic and probably Japanese, has narrow 
lanceolate leaves and fragrant flowers in from one- to six-flowered 
racemes, and is distinct in the shape of its leaves and in its long nar- 
row petals. The origin and history of this plant is not known. 
Hybrid Philadelphus. The first hybrid Philadelphus which attracted 
attention was raised in France before 1870 by a Monsieur Billard, and 
is sometimes called in gardens Souvenir de Billard, although the correct 
