36 
Laburnom alpmum. The large plant of this Laburnum near the 
upper entrance to the Shrub Collection from the Forest Hills Road has 
this year been covered with its long racemes of clear yellow flowers 
and has shown, as it has for many years, the value of this shrub for 
northern gardens. Laburnum alpinum, which is a native of the elevated 
regions of southern Europe, is usually spoken of as the “Scotch Labur- 
num” probably because it is a favorite in the gardens of north Britain. 
In those of New England it is still extremely rare, although it is the 
handsomest large shrub with yellow flowers which is perfectly hardy 
here. It is hardier than Laburnum vulgare, or, as it is now called. 
Laburnum anagyroides, the small tree with shorter racemes of flowers 
which has been a good deal planted in the eastern states and which at 
the north is not always hardy, although occasionally good specimens 
are to be seen in the neighborhood of Boston. There are several gar- 
den forms of this Laburnum which have not, however, ever grown well 
in the Arboretum. A better plant for New England than Laburnum 
vulgare is its hybrid with L. alpinum, known as L. Watereri or L. 
Parksii. This is a hardy small tree and when in flower the handsom- 
est tree with yellow flowers which can be grown in this climate. It 
flowered well this year in the Arboretum two weeks ago but the flow- 
ers have now faded. 
A new Azalea. Several plants have been flowering during the past 
week of a handsome Azalea which is believed to be a hybrid between 
two American species. Rhododendron arboresrens and R. calendulaceum, 
to which the name R. Anneliesae (see A Monograph of Azaleas) has 
been given. These plants were raised accidentally at the Arboretum 
from seeds probably of R. calendulaceum sown in 1896. They have 
been growing with that species and are now plants from four to six feet 
tall, and are valuable because they flower later than most forms of R. 
calenduLaceu7n. From that species they chiefly differ in the more glab- 
rous under surface of the leaves, in their sparsely hairy branchlets, and 
in the long corolla-tube of the more fragrant flowers which in the type 
plant are pale pink marked with a large yellow blotch, hut in other indi- 
viduals are orange-red and clear yellow. In shape and color the leaves 
resemble those of R. arborescens, but differ from those of that species 
in the presence of hairs on the underside of the midrib; from R. arbor- 
escens, too, it differs in the color of the flowers and in the hair near 
the base of the style. 
Late Lilacs. Syringa Sweginzoivii, one of the last to bloom and for 
some persons the most attractive of the species of Lilac recently in- 
troduced from China, has been covered as usual with its narrow clus- 
ters of long-tubed fragrant flowers, w^hich flesh color in the bud become 
nearly white after opening. This species flowers freely as a small plant. 
Belonging to the group of species of which Syringa villosa is the best 
known and the most valuable, S. rejiexa and S. Sargentiana are bloom- 
ing sparingly this year. The two species are large, vigorous and hardy 
shrubs, with the large, dark green leaves of S. villosa. 
The Laurels {Kalmia latifolia) at the northern base of Hemlock Hill 
are now in bloom, and the last and greatest flower show of the Arbor- 
etum year is at its height. 
