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did trees in the world it is known to all American tree lovers, at least 
in the northern and eastern states, v/here it has been growing for more 
than a hundred years, and noble specimens can be seen in Salem, Mas- 
sachusetts, and other seaboard towns. The red-flowered Horsechestnut- 
tree {Aesculus carnea), with flowers which vary on different trees from 
flesh color to red, is supposed to be a hybrid between A. hippocas- 
tanvm and one of the American red-flowered species, probably A. 
Pavia, which originated in Belgium many years ago. The handsomest 
of these hybrids, that is the one with the darkest red flowers, was raised 
in France and is known in nurseries as A. Briottii (A. carnea var. 
Briottii). There are smaall but well flowered specimens of this variety 
in the collection. Of the Am.erican species the first to bloom is the 
form of the Ohio Buckeye on which the leaves are composed of seven 
instead of five leaflets {A. glabra var. Buckleyi), a rare tree m.ost abund- 
ant in Jackson County, Missouri. The flowers on the typical A. glabra 
open a little later and are followed by those of the variety from south- 
ern Missouri and Arkansas (var. leu codermis) distinguished by its smooth 
pale bark. The largest trees in the Arboretum of the Ohio Buckeye are 
on the left hand side of the South Street Gate and are still covered 
with flowers. The yellow-flowered A. octandra of the southern Appa- 
lachian forests is now in bloom. This is the largest of the American 
species. Hybrids of this tree and A. Pavia first raised in Europe more 
than a hundred years ago, to which the general name of A. hybrida 
should be given, are conspicuous from their red and yellow flowers. A 
number of these hybrids are now flowering in the collection and show 
much variation in the size and habit of the plants, and in the size and 
color of their leaves and flowers. Many of these hybrids are good gar- 
den plants. A. georgiana, the common Buckeye of the southern Pied- 
mont region, which is sometimes a shrub and sometimes a slender tree 
up to thirty feet in height, with flowers in crowded clusters, red and yel- 
low on some plants, bright red on others and yellow on others, shows 
again its value as a garden plant here at the north. Even more beautiful 
are the scarlet flowers of another southern plant, A. discolor var. 
mollis, one of the handsomest of the American plants introduced into 
gardens by the Arboretum. A. arguta, a little Texas shrub of the 
Ohio Buckeye Group is covered this year with long narrow clusters of 
bright yellow flowers marked with rose color at the base of the petals. 
Symplocos paniculata is interesting as the only representative of a 
Family of plants which can be successfully grown in the Arboretum. 
It is a native of Japan and western China, and grows also on the Him- 
alayas. The Arboretum plants are of the Japanese form which was 
introduced into the Parsons Nursery at Flushing, Long Island, at least 
fifty years ago. Although a distinct and beautiful plant, it appears to 
be still very little known in gardens, and in England where it flowers 
freely it does not, it is said, produce fruit. In this country it is believed 
that it will not grow in soil impregnated with lime. In the Arboretum 
Symplocos paniculata is a shrub twelve or fifteen feet tall and broad, 
branched to the ground, with dark green leaves, axillary clusters of 
small white flowers which are followed in the autumn by beautiful blue 
fruits about a third of an inch in diameter. The unusual color of the 
fruit is the chief attraction of this shrub. The Arboretum plants are 
now covered with flowers. 
