31 
biense forms imported several years ago from Edinburgh and later from 
Paul of Cheshunt, England, have proved hardy and should receive more 
attention than they have in this country. In their slightly fragrant 
flowers with an often six- or seven-lobed corolla they show the For- 
tune! influence and in the size and color of the flowers resemble the 
well known R. Pink Pearl which is not hardy here. 
A hybrid to which the name R. Holmleanum will be given raised by 
Charles Sander at Holm Lea by crossing the Chinese R. discolor, which 
is closely related to R. Fortunei, with a Catawbiense Hybrid has flow- 
ered under glass for two years and will flower this year in the open 
ground in the Arboretum where it has not been injured by the past 
mild winter. This hybrid has pale pink flowers in large compact trusses, 
and if it does not prove permanently hardy here it will be a useful 
plant for the conservatory. At least three hardy dwarf Rhododendrons 
were obtained many years ago in England by crossing the European 
species with the dwarf species of the southern Appalachian Mountains. 
The handsomest of them is' perhaps Rhododendron myrtifolium, the 
hybrid between R. minus and R. hirsutum, a dwarf compact plant 
which is covered every year in June with small clusters of pale rose- 
colored flowers. The hybrid between R. ferrugineum and R. minus 
has recently been distinguished as R. laetevirens, the name Wilsonii 
under which it has been grown in English nurseries properly belonging 
to another plant. The third of these hybrids, R. arbutifolium, is be- 
lieved to be the result of crossing R. carolinianum with R. ferrugineum. 
The American parents are handsomer plants and better worth a place 
in the garden than these hybrids which have suffered from the influ- 
ence of the European species. There are in the Arboretum collection 
several plants of a hybrid between R. Metternichii and a hybrid Cataw- 
biense raised by Anthony Waterer at Knap Hill. These plants have 
large, dark green leaves which are larger than those of R. catawbiense 
and of many of its hybrids, and flowers which vary on different indi- 
viduals from pink to rose color. The plants are hardy and vigorous, 
but the flowers are not superior to those of some of the hardy forms 
of the Catawbiense Hybrids. R. Metternichii, which is a native of 
mountain slopes in central Japan, has flowered in one Massachusetts 
garden but has proved difficult to grow in the Arboretum. 
Sorbus Folgneri. Plants of the group of Sorbus with simple leaves 
have not been particularly successful in the Arboretum, especially the 
European species. There is not a specimen of the European White Beam 
{Sorbus Aria) in the collection and of the many varieties there is only the 
variety Decaisneana with larger leaves which has been growing here since 
1883, the original plant having been replaced several times by plants prop- 
agated from it. There is a large and healthy specimen of the English Ser- 
vice tree {Sorbus domestica) near the Forest Hills entrance but it has never 
flowered. Of Sorbus intermedia of central Europe there is a large speci- 
men in the mixed plantation near the summit of Peter’s Hill. The sec- 
tion of the genus Sorbus differing from the White Beam in its smaller 
flowers and fruits, to which the name Micromeles has been given, is rep- 
resented in the Arboretum by Sorbus alnifolia, a widely distributed tree 
