BULLETIN NO. 39. 
Many of the Crabapples promise an exceptionally good bloom this 
year and several of them will be in full flower next week. There is a 
large collection of these plants in the Arboretum, including several 
hybrids, for there are few genera in which natural hybrids among cul- 
tivated plants are more often found. 
The common Apple-tree of the orchard is usually believed to be a 
hybrid between the two European species, although the so-called Par- 
adise Apple, which is largely used in this country as stock in the 
propagation of dwarf Apple-trees, is probably a form of Malus pumila 
from eastern Europe, central Asia and the Himalayas. Another impor- 
tant hybrid largely grown commercially and known, at least in this 
country, as the Siberian Crab is believed to have been obtained by a 
cross between the common Apple-tree and the small-fruited Siberian 
Crabapple, M. baccata. Plants of this hybrid are fast-growing, very 
hardy, usually pyramidal small trees. The flowers are handsome but 
the trees are most ornamental in the autumn when the'y are covered 
with their brilliant scarlet or orange, often translucent fruits which 
are usually from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter. These 
hybrids are hardy in northern regions too cold for the common Apple- 
tree, and they are often grown as fruit trees. Their fruit is subacid 
but valuable when cooked and for preserves. The most curious form, 
perhaps, of Malus pumila in the collection is M. Niedzwetzkyana from 
Turkestan. This small tree, which is one of the first Apples in the 
collection to bloom, has dark purplish red flowers and fruit, even the 
flesh of the fruit being purple, purple leaves at least early in the 
season, and dark bark and twigs. That this tree is only an abnormal 
variety is shown by the fact that the leaves of seedlings raised in the 
Arboretum are more often green than red. 
One of the handsomest of all Crabapples, M. Jloribunda, is one of 
the earliest to flower. As it grows in this country it is a broad shrub 
with a trunk divided at the base into several large stems. The pink 
flowers, which are deep rose color in the bud, turn white before the 
petals fall and are produced in the greatest profusion. The dark green 
foliage is handsome, but the yellow or orange-colored fruits, which are 
not much larger than peas, make little show. The origin of this plant 
is uncertain. It was first sent to Europe from Japan, but it is not a 
native of that country and probably originally came from China, al- 
though it is not now known in China in a wild state. By some authors 
it is considered a hybrid between two of the species of northern China, 
although it bears but little resemblance to its supposed parents, and 
seedlings raised from this cultivated plant show comparatively little 
variation. The largest specimens of this Crabapple will be found in 
the neighborhood of the Administration Building. 
A plant which is evidently a hybrid of M. Jloribunda with one of the 
hybrids of M. baccata appeared spontaneously in the Arboretum several 
years ago and has been named M. Arnoldiana. It has much larger 
pink flowers and larger fruit than M. doribunda, and in flower it is 
one of the most beautiful of all Crabapples. Another early-flowering 
form is known as M. Scheideckeri , a supposed hybrid of M. Jloribunda, 
the other parent being probably M. spectabilis or M. prunifolia. This 
