31 
flowered, flat-topped clusters, terminal on short leafy branches of the 
year, and oval, brijfht scarlet fruit about a third of an inch lonp^. 
villosa is now in flower in the Shrub Collection and in some of the 
border plantations, and g:rowinp: with it in the Shrub Collection is a 
variety (var. laevift) which is already out of flower. This is a tall shrub 
with numerous slender, spreading stems and branches, narrower leaves, 
and handsomer and more abundant fruits. The leaves of these two 
plants assume in the autumn brilliant shades of orange and scarlet. 
Kolkwitzia amahilis. The specimen of this Chinese plant suffered 
during the winter in the low ground occupied by the general Shrub 
Collection, but on the southern slope of Bussey Hill where it is planted 
with the other new Chinese shrubs it has proved perfectly hardy and is 
now in flower. Kolkwitzia is related to Diervilla and Abelia, and the 
flowers are borne in pairs on long stems at the ends of short, lateral, 
leafy branchlets and are an inch long with a two-lobed oblique corolla 
deep rose color in the bud, becoming paler after opening, the inner 
surface of the three divisions of the lower lobe being white blotched 
with orange color at the base. As a flowering shrub this is one of 
the most beautiful and interesting of recent introductions from China, 
Sophora viciifolia. Shrubs with blue flowers hardy in this climate 
are rare, and none of them are as satisfactory as this Sophora which 
is a native of central and western China, where it is a common under- 
shrub in dry hot valleys. It has been growing in the Arboretum for 
several years; it is now about four feet high, and produces its small 
blue and white pea-shaped flowers every year in great profusion. It 
can be seen in flower on Hickory Path near Centre Street, and with the 
other Chinese shrubs on the southern slope of Bussey Hill. 
Philadelphus. Some of the plants of the large Arboretum collection 
of Philadelphus, or Mock Orange, are already in flower. The earliest 
to bloom is P. Schrenkii, var. Jackii, a plant discovered by Mr. Jack 
in Corea a few years ago. It is a dwarf shrub with erect stems and 
rather small flowers, and is chiefly valuable for its earliness. P. hir- 
sutus from the southern Appalachian Mountain region is also in flower. 
This is a small-flowered species, and in cultivation is a large, loose- 
growing shrub of unattractive habit, and compared with many of the 
plants of this group has little value as a garden plant. 
Neillia sinensis. This member of a genus of the Rose Family, 
closely related to the North American Ninebark (Pbysocarpus) and to 
the Spiraeas, is flowering for the fourth year in the Arboretum and 
by some enthusiastic visitors is considered the most beautiful of the 
shrubs brought here from China in recent years. It has very slender, 
rather pendulous branches, red-brown bark, which, like that of the 
Ninebark, separates freely into long, narrow shred-like scales, long- 
pointed, more or less deeply lobed leaves, and narrow clear pink, bell- 
shaped flowers nearly half an inch long, in spreading and slightly 
drooping, many-flowered racemes about three inches in length and ter- 
minal on short, slender leafy branchlets of the year. The pointed pod- 
like fruit, which is covered with long glandular hairs, is not more or- 
namental than that of the Ninebark. There are two other Chinese 
species now in the Arboretum but they have not yet flowered. The 
