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the trees of eastern North America grow to their greatest size. The 
Arboretum Sorrel-trees are planted among the Laurels {Kalmia) at the 
northern base of Hemlock Hill, and during the last two weeks have 
been covered with flowers. 
Koelreuteria paniculata. This Chinese tree, which has been in bloom 
during the last ten days, is when in flower the most conspicuous of all 
the summer flowering trees which are hardy in this climate. It is a 
round-headed tree rarely more than thirty feet high, with large, com- ' 
pound, dark green leaves and large erect clusters of golden yellow 
flowers which are followed by great clusters of bladder-like pale fruits. 
This tree, which is hardy in Massachusetts, has been a good deal planted 
in this country, especially in the gardens of the Middle States. The 
Koelreuteria often appears in American nursery catalogues under the 
name of “Japanese Lacquer-tree," although it is not a native of Japan 
and has not lacquer-producing sap. 
Maackia. Two species of this genus of the Pea Family were in 
flower during the last days of July. The better known of these trees, 
M. amurensis, is a native of eastern Siberia. It is a small tree with 
a slender trunk with smooth, lustrous, red-brown bark, small erect and 
spreading branches which form a rather flat-topped obconic head, and 
long, erect' narrow, terminal spikes of small white flowers. Botani- 
cally and geographically interesting, the chief value of this Maackia 
from the garden point of view is. found in the fact that its flowers 
open at a time when flowers can only be seen here on a few trees. 
A second species, Maackia hupehensis, discovered by Wilson in central 
China, has been covered with flowers which are pale yellow and borne 
in rather shorter spikes. In early spring the silver gray hairs which 
thickly cover the unfolding leaves make this little tree conspicuous and 
interesting. The bark of M. hupehensis is dull grayish green and less 
beautiful than the bark of the Siberian tree. 
Another eastern Asiatic tree of the Pea Family will bloom during the 
present month. This is the Sophora which, first sent to Europe from 
Japan where it had been cultivated perhaps for a thousand years, is 
called japonica, although it is not a Japanese tree but a native of 
northern China and Korea. Growing in Peking where this Sophora has 
been much planted, it is a large tree with a massive trunk often three 
feet in diameter covered with gray, deeply furrowed bark, and a round- 
topped head of large spreading branches, which seen from a little dis- 
tance looks like that of a great Oak. Such trees have not grown in 
Europe where the Sophora was brought from Japan some hundred and 
fifty years ago, or in the United States where it has never been much 
planted and where no remarkable specimens exist. The leaves and 
young branches are green, and the small, pea-shaped, creamy white 
flowers are produced in great numbers in narrow terminal clusters erect 
on the branches, and are followed by nearly round pods much con- 
stricted between the seeds, as are the fruits of the other species of 
the genus Sophora. What is probably the largest and handsomest spec- 
imen of this tree in eastern Massachusetts is growing in the Public 
Garden of Boston. The Arboretum collection contains a specimen of 
the form of this tree with long drooping branches (var. pendula) which 
rarely if ever flowers, the form with erect branches (var. pyramidaiis), 
