BULLETIN NO. 53. 
The most conspicuous plants in flower this week are some of the 
Cherries of eastern Asia which can be seen in the general Cherry 
Group on the right-hand side of the road leading from the Forest Hills 
Gate. The first of these plants to flower this year is Prunus Sargentii 
of which there are several specimens in the collection. This is a large 
tree in the forests of northern Japan where it sometimes grows to the 
height of eighty feet and where it is valued as a timber tree. The 
large, single pink flowers open before the leaves appear and are pro- 
duced in profusion; these are followed by small fruits which at first 
when fully grown are bright red but become black when ripe. The 
leaves are large and of good color, and in the autumn turn to shades 
of orange and red. As may be seen in the Arboretum, the flowers 
are of a different color on different individuals, those of some trees 
being deep rose color and of others pale pink. This is one of the most 
desirable of the large, deciduous-leaved trees that have been brought 
into New England from Japan, and it seems destined to become a 
popular ornament in American parks and gardens. Young plants show 
a tendency to divide near the ground into several stems and to prevent 
this and to produce trees with tall straight trunks young plants should 
be planted close together in the nursery and carefully pruned. 
Two other Japanese Cherry trees are in flower, Prunus subhirtella 
and P. pendula ; these are smaller plants than P. Sargentii , and their 
flowers, which are smaller than those of that tree, are much alike in 
shape and color. The branches of the former, however, are upright 
while those of Prunus pendula are drooping. On both plants the 
flowers are produced in the greatest profusion and begin to open be- 
fore the leaves appear. Prunus pendula was taken up many years 
ago by American nurserymen and is now a favorite ornament in most 
American collections of trees, but P. subhirtella , which is perhaps a 
a more beautiful flowering plant, is still too rarely seen in this country. 
Two cherries from northern China are also in flower, Prunus tomen- 
tosa and the single-flowered form of P. triloba; the former is a large 
bush which along some of the Boston parkways has grown six or eight 
feet tall with a wide spread of branches. This Cherry covers itself 
with white flowers marked with red at the base of the petals, and 
followed in June by small slightly hairy fruits of good flavor. In the 
northwest this little Cherry appears to be hardy beyond the region 
where the European fruit-cherries can be successfully grown, and it 
is possible by long cultivation and the selection of promising seedlings 
it may in time be developed into a valuable food plant. This experi- 
ment is certainly worth trying on a large scale. Prunus triloba is 
better known in gardens in its double-flowered form but the single- 
flowered type is a more beautiful plant, and certainly the flowers on 
no other tree or shrub are of a purer pink color. First introduced 
into the Arboretum with Prunus tomentosa thirty years ago, it has 
never grown to a large size and, although perfectly hardy, it is not 
robust or long-lived. 
The Plums, which are next to the Cherries and near the junction of 
the Forest Hills and Meadow Roads, are fast opening their flowers. 
Prunus cerasifera > the Myrobalan Plum from the Caucasus, and Prunus 
trijlora, the only true Plum known in China, are already in flower 
and the buds of the Plum-tree which grows naturally along the Canadian 
