uable plants for the garden shrubbery. There are three species, all 
widely distributed in the eastern part of the country, Aronia melano- 
carpa, A. atropurpurea and A. arbutifolia. They all have small white 
flowers with rose-colored anthers borne in erect compound clusters, 
showy fruits and handsome foliage. What is believed to be the type 
of A. melanocarpa is a shrub twelve or eighteen inches high, with stems 
spreading into a broad mat. There is a form of this species (var. 
elata ), however, which is much more common and grows into a shrub 
from six to ten feet tall, and another form (var. grandifolia) with 
broader leaves; this is also a tall shrub. The fruit of this species is 
black and lustrous, and drooping on long stems hangs on the plant 
during the winter. Aronia atropurpurea is also a tall shrub, in general 
habit and foliage like the var. elata. The fruit, however, is dark, vinous 
red and ripens and falls earlier. The leaves of these two species turn 
orange and red in the autumn before falling. Aronia arbutifolia is a 
tall, slender shrub of irregular habit, with flowers which open later than 
those of the other species, smaller leaves, covered with white down on 
the lower surface, and erect clusters of small, bright scarlet fruits which 
remain on the plants without change of color well into the winter. 
The brilliant fruit and the bright scarlet of the autumn leaves makes 
this late in the season one of the most beautiful of all our native shrubs. 
Less common in the north, perhaps, than the other species, Aronia ar- 
butifolia is a very common plant in all the southern states where it is 
very generally distributed, often growing in great abundance on the 
margins of small depressions in the Pine woods which in spring are filled 
with water. All the forms of Aronia are easily cultivated and are now 
in flower in the Shrub Collection. They have also been largely planted 
in the shrubberies along the Arboretum roads. 
Several of the Viburnums, notably Viburnum prunifolium, a small 
tree from the middle states, V. Wrightii from Japan, chiefly valuable 
for its scarlet fruits, V. Sieboldii from Japan, one of the largest of the 
Asiatic species with handsome foliage, large convex clusters of creamy 
white flowers, and large lustrous fruits which, at first scarlet, become 
black when fully grown. A more beautiful plant and the handsomest 
of the Asiatic species, V. tomentosum is also in flower. It is a large 
flat-topped shrub with wide-spreading branches, on the upper side of 
which the flower clusters are set; these are broad and flat, and they are 
surrounded by a ring of large, pure white sterile flowers which are the 
conspicuous part of the infloresence. There is an interesting narrow- 
leaved form of this plant, discovered in Japan by Professor Sargent, 
also in flower in the Collection. There are also two Snowball forms of 
this species developed in Japanese gardens and much cultivated here and 
in Europe under the name of Viburnum plicatum. The correct name 
of the more common of these two plants is Viburnum tomentosum , var. 
dilatatum. This is the Japanese Snowball cultivated in this country and 
it will not be in its best condition for another week. The other form, 
V. tomentosum , var. dilatatum , f. rotundifolium, which is a dwarfer 
plant, is already in flower. They can be seen in the general Viburnum 
Collection on the Bussey Hill Road just before it turns into the Valley 
Road near the Centre Street Gate. 
The Arboretum will be grateful for any publicity 
given these Bulletins. 
