border, the so-called Canada Plum, P. nigra , is expanding its petals 
which, pure white at first, turn to rose color as the flowers fade. 
Several of the Chinese Magnolias are in flower in the neighborhood 
of the Administration Building. The most beautiful of them and of 
all the Magnolias which flower before the leaves appear and are hardy 
in this climate is the white-flowered Yulan, Magnolia conspicuo,. This 
tree was found by Wilson on the mountains of western China and is 
probably widely distributed through the western and central provinces, 
as it was one of the first Chinese trees introduced into Europe. A 
number of hybrids of this tree and the shrubby Magnolia lilijlora ( pur- 
purea ) were produced in France many years ago and are now well 
known garden plants. These hybrids differ in the size and color of 
their flowers, which on some plants are rose color and on others white 
streaked with rose color or pink. The handsomest, perhaps, of these 
hybrids and certainly the best known, Magnolia Soulangeana, is named 
for the French horticulturist who produced it, Soulange-Bodin. This 
and the other hybrids flower rather later than Magnolia conspicua 
and therefore more often escape the late frosts which frequently in 
this climate discolor the petals of these trees. 
The northern form of Magnolia kobus (var. borealis ) has flowered 
much more freely this year than ever before. For many years this 
tree in the neighborhood of Boston has produced only a few flowers 
here and there on the ends of its branches, and it is evident that, 
unlike the Chinese Magnolias which flower when only a few feet 
high, it requires age before it can show its real value as a flowering 
tree. The flowers are smaller than those of the Chinese Magnolias 
and their drooping petals make them less beautiful, perhaps, than the 
cup-shaped flowers of the Chinese plants, but, judging from the climate 
of the region where the northern Kobus grows, it may be expected to 
be hardy in the United States considerably further north than any 
other Asiatic Magnolia. 
The Shadbushes (Amelanchier) are fast coming into flower, and as 
these plants are common in the Arboretum this is a time when the 
lovers of delicate and beautiful flowers find much pleasure here. Two 
species grow naturally in the Arboretum, Amelanchier laevis and A. 
oblongifolia ; the former, which is a tree growing generally on rather 
dry banks, was long confounded by botanists with the true Amelanchier 
canadensis of Linnaeus. This is also a tree but of more southern and 
western range than Amelanchier laevis , differing from it in the soft pale 
down which covers the lower surface of the leaves. It is not a native 
of eastern Massacnusetts but is now established in the Arboretum. The 
second species which grows naturally in the great meadow where there 
is a large specimen, Amelanchier oblongifolia , is shrubby in habit and 
easily distinguished at this time by the gray color of the unfolding 
leaves. It is this species which has been largely planted through the 
Arboretum shrubberies and which in a few days will make a fine show 
here. Recent investigations have brought to light the existence in the 
eastern states of a considerable number of species of Amelanchier 
which were formerly unknown or were unrecognized by botanists, and 
these interesting plants have now been gathered in the bed on the grass 
path on the left-hand side of the Meadow Road entering from the 
Jamaica Plain Gate. Some of these plants are already in flower and 
the flowers of others will continue to open for two or three weeks. 
The severity of the winter is shown by its effect on the flower-buds 
of the Forsythias. On some plants the buds are entirely killed and on 
