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number of handsome and interesting varieties in the Arboretum collec- 
tion. Some of the best of these are the variety alha with white flow- 
ers; the variety alba minor, a white-flowered plant of dwarfer habit; 
var. rubra, a dwarf compact variety with crimson flowers, and one 
of the earliest to flower and one of the handsomest of the set; var. 
tomentosa, a compact plant with gray-green foliage and red flowers; 
var. alba Serlei, a tall growing form with white flowers; yars. alba 
tenella and alba rigid a with white flowers, var. Alportii, a tall grow- 
ing form with crimson flowers, and var. hypnoides, a very compact, 
small-leaved plant producing only sparingly its small purple flowers. 
These plants can be seen in the Shrub Collection, and quantities of 
Heather have been planted on the sides of the Meadow Road. 
Cytisus nigricans. No plant now in bloom in the Shrub Collection 
is more beautiful than this little shrub which is a native of southern 
and southeastern Europe, and as it grows here is a compact round- 
topped bush from two to three feet high and broad. It differs from 
most of the other plants of this group in the fact that the flowers are 
borne in long racemes terminal on the branches. The pea-shaped 
flowers are bright yellow and are produced in the greatest profusion. 
This is one of the handsomest, and the hardiest here, of the yellow- 
flowered shrubs of the Pea Family, which are such a feature of the 
flora of southern Europe and which are so much cultivated in the gar- 
dens of regions where the climate is less severe than that of New 
England. 
Ceanothus. Of this important North American genus, which is best 
represented in California, only two species of the eastern part of the 
country and one Rocky Mountain species, C. Fendleri, are hardy in 
the Arboretum where the beautiful Pacific Coast species cannot live. 
The two northeastern species, often called New Jersey Tea, C. ameri- 
canus and C. ovatus, are shrubs two or three feet high and broad, 
with small white flowers in dense, oblong, terminal and axillary clus- 
ters produced on branches of the year. These two species vary chiefly 
in the shape of the leaves, but C. ovatus bloomed nearly a month ago, 
while C. americanus is just now covered with flowers. These plants 
are valuable for naturalizing on wood borders, and few shrubs make 
better returns in midsummer flowers than the New Jersey Tea which, 
however, appears to be rarely cultivated. A large number of hybrids 
between C. americanus and some of the California species have been 
raised in Europe and one of these hybrids, known as Gloire de Ver- 
sailles, with its large clusters of deep blue flowers is a popular plant 
there. Unfortunately these hybrids, with a single exception, are not 
hardy in this climate. The exception is a beautiful plant with pale rose- 
colored flowers which came many years ago to the Arboretum from 
the Lemoine Nursery at Nancy, France. It has not been possible to 
find the name or trace the origin of this plant. It is now in bloom in 
the Shrub Collection and on the lower side of Azalea Path. 
Ginkgo biloba. This is the only representative of a Family of trees 
which in Tertiary times was widely distributed over the northern hemi- 
sphere. To the shape of its deciduous leaves which resemble those of 
a Maidenhair Fern, the Ginkgo owes its popular name. Maidenhair-tree. 
The fruit, which is of the size and shape of an olive, has a fleshy cov- 
ering with a rancid and most disagreeable odor, but the kernel of 
