BULLETIN NO. 33. 
Attention is called in this Bulletin to a number of plants which are 
beautiful in the autumn from the brilliant color of their leaves and 
which are not generally cultivated in New England. 
One of the most brilliant of all trees in autumn here is the Liquid- 
amber or Sweet Gum ( Liquidambar Styraciflua). This eastern Ameri- 
can tree grows as far north as southern Connecticut and in the south, 
especially in the maritime region of the southern Atlantic states, and 
in the lower Mississippi valley it is one of the commonest of the trees 
of the forests on the bottom-lands of rivers where it sometimes grows 
to the height of more than one hundred and fifty feet. It is a tree 
w r ith a tall straight trunk and short branches which form a narrow 
pyramidal head and are furnished for several years on their upper side 
with broad corky wings. The flowers and the fruit are not conspicu- 
ous, and the great beauty of this tree is found in its habit and in the 
leaves; these hang on long stalks and are generally rounded in outline 
with a square or slightly heart-shaped base and are deeply five- to 
seven-lobed, the lobes being acutely pointed. The leaver are thin and 
very lustrous on the upper surface and in autumn turn deep crimson. 
There is a species of Liquidamber in southwestern Asia which produces 
the Liquidamber of commerce, another in Central America, and two 
Chinese species. The two Chinese species are both growing in the 
Arboretum and there is a probability that one of these, L. formosana, 
will prove hardy here. This is the tree which produces much of the 
wood used for Chinese tea-boxes. There are several individuals of the 
American Liquidamber in the Arboretum, the two largest specimens 
being in the Witch Hazel group near the junction of the Meadow and 
Bussey Hill Roads. 
The Sour-wood or Sorrel-tree, Oxydendrum arboreum, is another 
American tree which is too rarely found in cultivation. It is the only 
representative of the genus which belongs to the Heath Family, and 
in favorable surroundings on the Appalachian Mountains sometimes be- 
comes fifty or sixty feet tall. It is, however, much smaller in culti- 
vation at the north and begins to flower when only a few feet high. 
This tree owes its common name to the acid juices of the leaves which 
protect them from insects and this adds to its value. It is valuable, 
too, because the white flowers, erect on the drooping branches of large 
clusters terminal on axillary branches of the year, do not appear until 
midsummer when few woody plants are in flower and because the leaves 
in autumn turn bright scarlet in striking contrast to the clusters of 
white, dry, pointed, capsular fruits. This southern tree is perfectly 
hardy in New England where it should be more generally planted. 
There is a group of the Sour-wood among the Laurels at the base of 
Hemlock Hill. 
Better known in this part of the country than the Liquidamber and 
the Sorrel-tree, the Flowering Dogwood ( Cornus florida) might well be 
planted more generally than it has been, for there is no more beauti- 
ful inhabitant of the woods of eastern North America. The inflores- 
cence, with its pure white floral bracts which appear before the leaves 
unfold, lights up the forests in early spring and in the autumn when 
