cultivated. The much more beautiful single-flowered plant grows on the 
mountains near Peking and appears to have been cultivated for the first 
time in the Arboretum to which seeds were sent from China in 1882. Al- 
though perfectly hardy P. triloba is not a particularly vigorous plant. It 
well deserves a place, however, in every garden for the charming color of 
the flowers. 
The Plum-trees in the group next to the Cherries and at the principal 
entrance to the Shrub Collection from the Meadow Road are beginning to 
open their flower-buds. The earliest is the Canada Plum ( Prunus nigra). 
This is the most northern of the American Plums, being distributed from 
Newfoundland to the shores of the Strait of Mackinaw and southward to 
the northern borders of the United States. It is a small tree with rough 
dark bark, rather erect, ridged, spiny branches, and flowers slightly 
tinged with pink and becoming rose-colored in fading. This is not one of 
the handsomest of the American Plum-trees, but it is valuable on account 
of its hardiness, the early appearance of the flowers, and the early ripen- 
ing of the fruit. Several selected forms are grown by pomologists. The 
flowers of P. nigra will soon be followed by those of the Chinese P. tri- 
flora. This is a common fruit tree in China and Japan, and from it or from 
some of its varieties the so-called Japanese plums, now so popular in the 
United States, have been derived. The plants in the Arboretum were 
obtained from seed brought in 1892 by Professor Sargent from Japan. 
With P. triflora will probably flower one of the Siberian Apricots, P. 
dasycarpa. In the Arboretum it has grown into a large shrub with wide- 
spreading branches. This plant is chiefly interesting on account of the 
dark purple or black color of the fruits which, however, have little value 
in comparison with those of the common Apricot. 
The Shad-bushes ( Amelanchier ) are just opening their flower-buds and 
it is a delightful time in the Arboretum when they are in bloom for they 
have been planted freely in the borders and along the margins of the 
woods, and some of these plants have grown to a large size. Two species 
are native in the Arboretum, A. canadensis , which grows in woodlands 
and often becomes a tree of considerable size; this species can always be 
recognized in early spring by the purple color of the unfolding leaves; 
and A. obovalis, which is an inhabitant of low moist soil and more 
shrubby in habit, with gray unfolding leaves covered with a thick felt. 
There are good sized trees of the former at the base of the wooded slope 
on the right hand side of the Forest Hill Road and in the rear of the 
Apple Group, and there is a large plant of A. obovalis on the border of 
the North Meadow. It is this species which has been generally planted 
in the Arboretum. 
Few of the forest trees of Europe really succeed in eastern North 
America, but in the half dozen exceptions to this rule the Norway Maple 
( Acer platanoides) must certainly be included. Just now this handsome 
tree is conspicuous from the clusters of bright yellow flowers which cover 
the leafless branches. More showy than the flowers of the native Sugar 
Maple they are less delicate in color, while the flower clusters lack the 
grace of the slender drooping racemes of the American tree, which make 
the flowering term of the Sugar Maple a term of peculiar charm. 
In the last issue of these Bulletins something was said of the value of 
the hybrid Forsythia intermedia as a garden plant. Another hybrid of 
the same origin, which was raised in Germany and is called F. intermedia 
spectabilis, is flowering in the Arboretum for the first time. The flowers 
are larger and of a deeper color than those of the parents with narrower 
but longer corolla lobes. This new hybrid promises to be a garden plant 
