Complimentary 
NEW SERIES VOL. VII 
NO. 5 
ARNOLD ARBORETUM 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
BULLETIN 
OF 
POPULAR INFORMATION 
lAMAICA PLAIN. MASS. MAY 18, 1921 
Among the Oaks. A walk at this time through Oak Path from a 
point on the Meadow Road nearly opposite the Centre Street Gate to 
its junction with Azalea Path on the southern slope of Bussey Hill will 
be found interesting and instructive. This walk passes by the first 
Oaks which were planted in the Arboretum. Beautiful views toward 
the west, including the Juniper Collection and Hemlock Hill, can be 
obtained from it, and before it joins Azalea Path it will pass by some 
of the handsomest Azaleas in the Arboretum. 
Oaks have the reputation of growing slowly, and owing to this rep- 
utation are often neglected by planters. The Oaks which can be seen 
from Oak Path were planted in their present position from thirty to 
forty years ago when they were seedlings only a few inches high. 
The largest of them are taller with thicker trunks than other hard- 
wood trees like Hickories, Walnuts, Elms, Maples, etc., planted at 
about the same time. The tallest of the Oaks planted in the Arbore- 
tum are Pin Oaks {Quercus palustris), and the tree with the thickest 
trunk is a hybrid between the White and the Burr Oaks called Quercus 
Behhiana. 
The Arboretum is too far north to make possible here a very large 
collection of Oaks, and of the fifty-five species which are trees in the 
United States it has been found possible to grow here successfully only 
the following: Quercus borealis and its variety maxima, Q. Shumardii 
var. Schneckii, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. palustris, Q. georgiana, Q. velutina, 
Q. ilicifolia, Q. rubra, Q. marilandica, Q, Phellos, Q. macrocarpa, 
Q. lyrata, Q. stellata, Q. alba, Q. bicolor, Q. montana, and Q. Muehlen- 
bergii, only seventeen species. Among the species which are shrubs 
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