BULLETIN NO. 9. 
The Chinquapin, Castanea pumila, is in flower about a week before the 
flowers of the northern Chestnut-tree appear. The Chinquapin is a na- 
tive of the coast region of the Atlantic States from New Jersey to Flor- 
ida. It is found also in the Gulf States and in the region west of the 
Mississippi River from southern Missouri to Texas. In the Atlantic 
States it is usually rather a low shrub spreading into thickets, but west 
of the Mississippi, especially in southern Arkansas and Texas, it grows 
into a large, round-headed tree, although it never becomes as large as the 
northern Chestnut-tree. A tree of this western form and a large group 
of the dwarf form originally from Virginia are established in the Arbore- 
tum and can be seen with the other Chestnuts on the right-hand side of 
the Valley Road just beyond the Hickory Group. The nuts of the Chin- 
quapin are produced freely in the Arboretum every year and, unlike 
those of the northern Chestnut-tree, they are cylindrical, not flattened, 
as only one nut is produced in a bur, and are bright and shining and of 
even better flavor than those of the common Chestnut. The silvery 
under surface of the leaves, which is covered with fine hairs, also distin- 
guishes the Chinquapin from the Chestnut-tree. 
The black-fruited Elder, Sambucus canadensis, is the last of the native 
shrubs which make a conspicuous show of flowers in the New England 
landscape. It is just coming into flower in the neighborhood of the small 
ponds at the end of the Meadow Road and in the Shrub Collection where 
there are also some interesting varieties of this handsome plant. Among 
them the most conspicuous now is perhaps the variety with finely divided 
leaflets, var. acutiloba. This plant was found growing wild a few years 
ago in one of the western states and has been propagated by Messrs. Ell- 
wanger & Barry, of Rochester, New York. Another variety, var. chlor- 
ocarpa, with yellow-green fruit, was found recently in southern New 
Hampshire. The variety maxima, which originated in a European gar- 
den, is a remarkable plant as it produces flower-clusters at least three 
times as large as those found on the wild plants and these are followed by 
such large and heavy bunches of fruit that the branches are hardly able 
to support them. The European Sambucus nigra and its variety with 
yellow leaves is also in flower, and the fruit of some of the early flower- 
ing species is already ripe. The bright red berries of Sambucus pubens 
from the northern part of this continent now make a fine show. There is 
in the collection a yellow-fruited form of this plant, var. leucocarpa, 
which although less beautiful is interesting. Interesting, too, although 
not so full of fruit this year as usual, is the Japanese form of the red- 
fruited Sambucus racemosa (var. Sieboldii) which is well established in 
the collection. 
The Arboretum is indebted for no small part of its early summer beauty 
to four shrubby species of native Viburnums which have been planted in 
large numbers through its border plantations. The first of these to 
flower, Viburnum dentatum, has already shed its flowers which during 
the summer will be followed by great clusters of bright blue fruits. This 
is a common roadside and meadow shrub in the northeastern part of the 
country and, like several of the other American Viburnums, it improves 
with good cultivation, growing larger and producing better foliage and 
handsomer flowers and fruit. The second of this group of four species, 
Viburnum cassinoides, is also out of flower. This is a native of swamps 
and of the northeastern part of the country where it sometimes grows 
