BULLETIN NO. 50. 
The exceptionally wet and cloudy weather of October has lessened 
the beauty of the fading leaves of many trees and shrubs in the Ar- 
boretum this autumn. From some American plants the leaves have 
fallen with little change of color, on others the colors are dull, and on 
many plants which are usually brilliant the first of November the 
leaves are still green and will probably be destroyed by the first serious 
frost before assuming their usual autumn colors. There are, of course, 
many exceptions to this general statement. The clear yellow tints of 
the leaves of the Japanese Cercidiphyllum have never been more beau- 
tiful than during the past few weeks. From some of the trees the 
leaves have already fallen or are falling rapidly, on others they are 
yellow, and on others still green or only slightly turned. As this tree 
is better known in this country its value is more appreciated. First 
introduced into the United States by the Arboretum in 1878, Cercidi- 
phyllum has become thoroughly established in several collections in the 
neighborhood of Boston and has flowered and produced abundant crops 
of seeds here for several years. Cercidiphyllum is the largest tree of 
extratropical Asia, growing often to the height of one hundred feet or 
more and forming an enormous trunk composed of a number of second- 
ary stems. The trees are fastigiate in habit with erect branches and 
slender branchlets, and the flowers and fruit are inconspicuous. The 
leaves somewhat resemble those of the Redbud or Cercis in shape, 
whence the name Cercidiphyllum. As they expand in very early spring, 
they are a dark bronze-red in color, and during the summer are rather 
dull blue-green. There are a number of these trees on both sides of 
the Meadow Road just beyond the Administration Building. 
A plant of much beauty at this time owing to the dark wine color 
of its ripening leaves is the Japanese Stuartia pseudocamellia. This 
is a small slender tree common on the mountain slopes of central 
Japan, belonging to the family to which the Tea-plant and the Cam- 
ellia belong. The white, cup-shaped flowers resemble those of a single- 
flowered Camellia; they are smaller, however, than those of the two 
American Stuartias, S. pentagyna of the Appalachian Mountains and 
S. virginica of the southeastern states. These are both shrubs, and 
the flowers of the latter are larger and more beautiful than the flow- 
ers of the other Stuartias, but this handsome plant is not hardy in 
New England and is now rarely found in European gardens, although 
it was introduced into England more than a century ago and appears 
to be perfectly hardy in the neighborhood of London. Stuartia pen- 
tagyna is perfectly hardy here and is one of the most desirable of the 
summer-flowering shrubs which can be grown in this climate. It is a 
large, free-flowering shrub and there is a form with bright purple 
stamens which make the flowers more conspicuous than those of the 
common form with yellow stamens. There" is a good plant of the Jap- 
anese species on the upper side of Azalea Path, and there are plants 
of this and of Stuartia pentagyna in the Shrub Collection. 
The three species of the eastern American genus Aronia, or Choke- 
berry, are beautiful plants in the autumn. Some of the forms of 
Aronia nigra are the largest in this group, sometimes growing to the 
height of eight or ten feet. The shining black fruit of these plants, 
