38 
burg. It appears to be less commonly cultivated than the other Tree 
Lilacs. Judging by the climate of the region where it grows natur- 
ally, it will probably prove one of the best shrubs or small trees for 
the northern interior region of Canada and for the northern states of 
the Mississippi valley. S. pekinensis is usually the next of the three 
Tree Lilacs to bloom, although this year it is beginning to flower 
rather later than S. japonica. It is a native of northern China and is 
a shrub rather than a tree, although it sometimes grows in this coun- 
try thirty feet high, with numerous stout, spreading stems distinctly 
drooping at the ends and covered with light yellowish brown bark sep- 
arating into thin layers like that of some of the Birch-trees. The 
leaves are narrower than those of the other species, long-pointed, 
drooping on long stalks, and usually about three inches long and from 
half an inch to an inch wide. The flower-clusters, which are produced 
every year in immense numbers, are smaller than those of the other 
Tree Lilacs and are flat, very unsymmetrical, partly drooping and 
about flve or six inches long and broad. This fine plant has been grow- 
ing in the Arboretum since 1883 when it was raised from seeds sent 
here from Peking by the late Dr. Bretschneider. S. pekinensis has 
been somewhat distributed by American nurserymen and there are now 
large specimens in several Massachusetts gardens. The last of the 
three Tree Lilacs, S. japonica, is a native of the forests of northern 
Japan and a tree sometimes forty feet high with a tall stem sometimes 
a foot or more in diameter and covered with lustrous reddish brown 
bark like that of a Cherry-tree, and comparatively small, spreading 
and ascending branches which form a rather narrow round-topped 
head. The leaves are dark green, lustrous, four or five inches long 
and about two and a half inches wide, and the flower-clusters, which 
are erect and more symmetrical than those of the other Tree Lilacs, 
are from twelve to eighteen inches long and from twelve to fourteen 
inches wide. This tree was first cultivated in the Arboretum from 
seeds sent here from Sapporo in Hokkaido in 1876 by Mr. W. S. Clark, 
the first president of the Agricultural College at Sapporo. The seed- 
lings grow rapidly and in 1886 were fifteen or sixteen feet high. The 
Tree Lilacs are growing on the bank on the left-hand side of the Bussey 
Hill Road in the Lilac Collection, and one of the original seedlings of 
S. japonica which was planted in what was once a nursery can be seen 
on the left-hand side of the Forest Hills Road in front of the Crab- 
apple Collection. This is the year for the abundant bloom of the 
Japanese species and the plants are covered with flower-clusters. 
Salvia officinalis. This little aromatic shrub is now in bloom in the 
Shrub Collection. The flowers are bright purple, showy, about three- 
quarters of an inch long, and are arranged in erect, terminal, com- 
pound racemes six inches in length. This plant is a native of southern 
Europe and has been cultivated in Europe for centuries for medicinal 
and culinary purposes, and formerly was much used in making “sage 
tea.” Although rarely seen outside of the kitchen garden, it is well 
worth a place as a flowering plant in a collection of dwarf shrubs. 
Thymus Serphyllum. This is another fragrant plant of the same 
family as the Salvia, and is growing near it in the Shrub Collection 
where it forms a broad mat of light green leaves only a few inches 
high. In a few days this will be covered with innumerable small lilac- 
colored flowers. The “Mother of Thyme,” as this plant is sometimes 
