BULLETIN NO. 2. 
One of the most interesting trees now in flower in the Arboretum is 
Cercidiphyllum japonicum. This is a native of Japan and of western 
China. In the forests of the northern island of Japan it grows to a 
larger size than any of the other deciduous-leaved trees of the Empire, 
often attaining a height of one hundred feet with a cluster of stems eight 
or ten feet in diameter. In very early spring the nearly round cordate 
leaves are a deep bronze color and before they fall in the autumn they 
turn to clear bright yellow. The flowers are inconspicuous, and the male 
and female flowers are produced on different individuals. They are fur- 
nished with a small calyx but are without petals and are nearly hidden 
by the half-grown leaves. The male flowers are composed of numerous 
stamens with long slender filaments and in the female flowers from four 
to six small carpels are found which later develop into dry pod-like fruits. 
Cercidiphyllum has proved a very hardy and generally satisfactory tree 
in eastern Massachusetts where it was introduced by the Arboretum 
about thirty years ago. A number of plants can be seen on the Meadow 
Road not far beyond the Administration Building. In the group on the 
right-hand side of the road there is a male tree now in flower. 
Another Japanese plant of the same family, Euptelea polyandra, is 
flowering in the Arboretum for the first time. This is a much smaller, 
less desirable and less hardy tree than Cercidiphyllum, although it is in- 
teresting as another representative of a small natural family of trees 
found only in eastern Asia. A number of individuals of Euptelea are 
growing on the right-hand side of Azalea Path. 
On the other side of this path are several individuals of another plant 
of the same family, Eucommia ulmoides. This is a hardy tree from 
central China to which a good deal of space has recently been given in 
the daily papers as the “Hardy Rubber-tree, * ' and a possible source of 
rubber in countries with cold climates. Eucommia has not yet flowered 
in the Arboretum and the leaves are only just unfolding. 
Some of the Plum-trees are now at their best and will soon be in full 
bloom. The first of the American species to flower, Prunus nigra , is a 
native of British America and through cultivation has become sparingly 
naturalized along the borders of the northeastern United States. This 
is a desirable ornamental tree as it produces in profusion every year its 
large flowers which in fading turn pink. The flowers of other American 
tree Plums will soon open. Among them are Prunus americana from 
the eastern United States, and Prunus kortulana and Prunus Munsoni- 
ana (the Wild Goose Plum) from the Mississippi valley. From these 
three species and from Prunus nigra most of the cultivated American 
Plums have been derived. Other American Plums now beginning to 
