it one of the most desirable of all the shrubs which are hardy here for 
the decoration of parks and gardens. This Privet has been much used as 
a hedge plant for which it is well suited. There are varieties with green- 
ish yellow fruit, with yellow leaves, and with erect branches. Of the 
Asiatic species Ligustrum ibota is perhaps now the best known of the 
hardy species here; it is a broad shrub sometimes ten feet high, with 
spreading slightly recurved branches, small, dark green leaves which 
turn purplish in the autumn, and short, nodding clusters of white flowers 
which are produced on short lateral branches and which are followed by 
clusters of small, purplish black fruit covered with a pale bloom and 
often persistent on the branches until spring. This is a handsome shrub 
but it has sometimes suffered from the cold of exceptionally severe win- 
ters. Equally handsome but of very different habit is its variety Regeli- 
anum; this is a much lower and denser shrub, with horizontally spread- 
ing branches which form a broad, flat-topped head, and larger leaves. 
As the two plants grow side by side in the Shrub Collection they appear 
very distinct, but seedlings of the variety are often identical with L. 
ibota. Another species, L. amurense from eastern Siberia, has also 
fruit covered with a bloom like that of L. ibota, but the branches termi- 
nate with larger flower-clusters, while the lateral flower-bearing 
branches are often longer than those of L. ibota. It is best distinguished, 
however, by its pyramidal habit, for it is a tall shrub with erect stems 
which form a narrow head. The Japanese L. acuminatum is a broad 
shrub with the largest flower-clusters near the ends of the stems and 
lustrous black fruit like that of L. vulgare. These Asiatic species are 
much confused in American nurseries and a number of plants are sold 
under the name of L. amurense which, on account of its hardiness, rapid 
growth, and erect stems, has been recommended as a hedge plant for 
regions which are too cold for the so-called California Privet; this is L. 
ovalifolium and is not a Californian but a Chinese plant. It has been 
much planted for hedges which in severe winters are often killed to the 
ground even in southern New England. 
The earliest of the Hawthorns, the European Crataegus nigra, and the 
New England C. Arnoldiana, were in bloom on the 10th of May, and the 
flowers of the latest blooming species in the collection, C. cordata, the 
so-called Washington Thorn, are not yet fully expanded. This native of 
the southern Appalachian region and of southern Missouri is a slender 
narrow tree sometimes thirty feet high, with small, shining, nearly tri- 
angular leaves, and small, dull white .flowers; its greatest beauty is in 
the autumn when the leaves, which do not fall until late, are bright 
orange and scarlet, and contrast beautifully with the small, bright 
scarlet, globose fruits which remain in good condition on the branches 
until spring. The only objection to this tree is the brittleness of the 
branches which are often split or broken by storms. 
Among the fifty species or forms of Viburnum found to be hardy in 
the Arboretum the first to flower, Viburnum alnifolium, the Hobble 
Bush or Moosewood, was in bloom during the first week in May, and 
the flowers of the latest in the collection to open, Viburnum Canbyi, 
will not be fully out for several days, so that the flowering time of the 
Viburnums here extends through two months. V. Canbyi is a broad, 
tall, round-topped shrub with large lustrous leaves, large flat clus- 
ters of flowers and bright blue fruit. It is a native of eastern Penn- 
sylvania and northern Delaware, and is nowhere common. It is one of 
