while the other form, the type of the species, will not be in flower for 
several weeks. In the Shrub Collection are three plants of var. j rraecox, 
differing in the size of the flower-clusters and in the size and shape of the 
ray flowers. The handsomest of these was raised from seeds collected 
by Professor Sargent in Hokkaido where it grows into a small tree some- 
times twenty or thirty feet tall. A variety of the American Hydrangea 
arborescens , known as grandiflora, is in bloom. This plant was found a 
few years ago growing wild in one of the western states and has been 
largely distributed in this country and Europe. It is a hardy, shapely 
shrub and produces large clusters of sterile white flowers in profusion. 
It blooms a few days before Hydrangea arbrrrescens itself which is grow- 
ing with it. Two other American species of Hydrangea, H. cinerea and 
H. radiata , will soon be in bloom; as a foliage plant the latter is the 
most beautiful of the American species for the leaves, which are dark 
blue-green on the upper surface, are silvery white below. 
Zenobia is a genus of the Heath Family, by some botanists treated as 
a section of Andromeda, composed of a single species which inhabits 
pine barrens from North Carolina to Florida, and is a deciduous-leaved 
shrub from two to four feet in height. The flowers, which are pure white 
and from one-third to one-half an inch long and broad, are produced in 
compact clusters arranged along leafless branches of the previous year 
and are perhaps more beautiful than those of any of the Andromeda-like 
plants. There are two forms, the type, Zenobia pulverulenta, with chalky 
white leaves covered with a dense white bloom, and the variety nitida 
with green leaves. Although natives of a region which produces few 
plants able to survive the cold of New England, these Zenobias are per- 
fectly hardy in the Arboretum and can now be seen in flower in the Shrub 
Collection and on the right-hand side of Hemlock Hill Road where there 
is a large group of them in which the green-leaved form is the most num- 
erous. Another deciduous-leaved plant of the same family, Pieris or 
Andromeda mariana, also produces its flowers on leafless branches of 
the previous year, but the flowers are smaller and the plant is less 
attractive in habit than the Zenobias. It is a native of the coast region 
from Rhode Island southward, and is very abundant on some parts of 
Long Island. There is a large group of this shrub now in flower on the 
right-hand side of the Meadow Road in front of the Horsechestnuts. 
The common Thyme ( Thymus vulgaris ), one of the old-fashioned fra- 
grant pot herbs and a native of southern Europe, is now not often seen 
in American gardens; it is a dwarf shrub growing in the Arboretum 
only a few inches high but spreading rapidly into broad mats which are 
now completely covered with short clusters of purplish blue two-lipped 
flowers. Masses of this plant can be seen in the Shrub Collection and 
on Azalea Path. 
Among the climbing Honeysuckles on the north trellis of the Shrub 
Collection Lonicera Heckrottii is exceptionally beautiful this year. This 
is believed to be a hybrid, probably of American origin, although its 
history cannot be traced, between the scarlet-flowered American Loni- 
cera sempervirens and L. italica supposed to be itself a natural hybrid 
between L. Caprifolium and L. etrusca, which, though growing natur- 
ally only near Lyons in France and near Trieste in Austria, is common 
in cultivation. The flowers of L. Heckrottii , although not fragrant, are 
very beautiful; the outer surface of the corolla is deep rose color and 
the inner surface is pale yellow, closed buds and open flowers occurring 
together in the same cluster and making a beautiful contrast of color. 
