BULLETIN NO. 37. 
The remarkable mildness of the winter of 1912-13 will long be remem- 
bered by the lovers of plants in eastern Massachusetts. In the Arbor- 
etum the Silver Maple ( Acer saccharinum ) was in full bloom on Jan- 
uary 23d. The flowers of the Japanese Witch Hazel opened the follow- 
ing day; on January 23d Hamamelis vernalis was also in bloom, and on 
February 2d expanded flowers were found on the European Daphne 
Mezereum. 
The Japanese Witch Hazel is too little known here; it is a large, 
vigorous, and perfectly hardy shrub and there are two forms, one of 
them blooming a few days before the other. In ordinary seasons they 
blossom about the middle of February, and for weeks their slender 
branchlets are bright with the clear yellow of the petals of their num- 
erous flowers. These are uninjured by the severest cold to which they 
have ever been subjected here, a temperature of several degrees below 
zero making no impression on them. The Japanese Witch Hazel would 
be an excellent subject to plant in city yards and with the protection and 
warmth the plants would obtain from city buildings they would prob- 
ably flower in Boston in January every year. Although its flowers 
are smaller than those of the Japanese species, Hamamelis vernalis is 
an interesting plant with considerable decorative possibilities. It is a 
native of southern Missouri and, although the existence of a Witch 
Hazel in that part of the country has long been known, it has only 
recently been distinguished from the autumn flowering species of the 
northern states. This Missouri species flowered this winter in the 
Arboretum for the first time in cultivation and is still little known in 
gardens. 
In spite of the warmth of the early winter, which was followed by a 
few days of hard frost, the general absence of snow and the three 
cold nights in the first part of this month, few plants have suffered in 
the Arboretum and less damage has been done to doubtfully hardy 
species than usual. Many of the new Chinese plants introduced by the 
Arboretum and planted in exposed positions have now come through 
two winters — one exceptionally cold and one abnormally warm — without 
injury and there is, therefore, good reason to hope that several hun- 
dred new species of trees and shrubs raised from seed collected by 
Wilson can be added permanently to New England plantations. 
With the exception of some Willows and Alders the earliest exotic 
tree to bloom in the Arboretum this year is the Japanese Euptelea 
polyandra , a small tree with erect branches and pyramidal habit. The 
flowers open before the leaves and their beauty is found in the large, 
conspicuous, orange-red anthers hanging on long slender filaments. 
The flowers are unisexual but the pistils do not appear until some time 
after the anthers. Euptelea is a small genus confined to Japan and 
western China. A second species, Euptelea Franchetii, raised from 
Wilson’s seeds also promises to succeed in the Arboretum. The plants 
now in flower of the Japanese species are on the right-hand side of 
Azalea Path and should be examined by persons interested in rare and 
curious plants. 
