7 
which open before the leaves unfold and small compressed fruit cov- 
ered with hairs, with thin dry flesh splitting open at maturity. This 
shrub was discovered by Wilson in western China and is very similar 
and possibly identical with the more northern Prunus mongolica, which 
is not in the Arboretum collection. As far as it is possible to judge 
at this time Prunus dehiscens is inferior to the related Prunus triloba 
from northern China and Korea, and in its single-flowered form one of 
the most beautiful of all spring-flowering shrubs. 
Maddenia hypoleuca. To persons who care only for plants with 
showy flowers Maddenia will have little interest, but in the Arboretum 
the flowering of one of these, plants for the first time in America is 
considered a matter of some importance. Maddenia is a genus of shrubs 
or small trees found only on the Himalayas and in western China where 
Wilson discovered three of the five known species. Maddenia is related 
to the Choke or Rum Cherries but, unlike them, the flowers are with- 
out petals; they are borne in short clusters and consist of a green calyx 
tinged with red and divided at the apex into two rows of short narrow 
lobes, numerous stamens with slender filaments and bright yellow an- 
thers and longer than the short style; this in some flowers is rudimen- 
tary or entirely wanting, perfect and staminate flowers often appear- 
ing in the same cluster. The fruit, like that of the other species, is 
small, globose, black and cherry- like. Maddenia hypoleuca is in the 
collection of Chinese shrubs on the southern slope of Bussey Hill near 
Prunus dehiscens. 
Forsythias. It is three years since the Forsythias have bloomed as 
they are blooming this year, for last year and the year before many 
of the flower-buds of some of the species were killed in the Arboretum 
by severe winter cold. This year the flower-buds are uninjured and 
the flowers of many of the plants are now at their best. Those of 
the Servian F. europaea, however, will not open for a few days. 
Apart from the value of all the species as garden plants Forsythia is 
of special interest to gardeners for, like Syringa and Philadelphus, it 
is a genus whose species hybridize freely and produce new seedling 
forms which are often superior to the parents. The hybrid Forsythias 
are probably all natural, that is, they have probably all appeared with- 
out man’s assistance, and those which are now known appear to have 
been produced by the crossing of F. viridissima with F. suspensa or 
its variety, Fortunei. The general name of these plants is F'orsythia 
intermedia and there are several forms. Those in the Arboretum col- 
lection are planted at the rear of the large mass of Forsythias on the 
bank at the base of the Bussey Hill Road, below the Lilac Collection. 
The handsomest of them is F. intermedia spectabilis, and of all the 
Forsythias which have been grown in the Arboretum this is the most 
beautiful. The flowers are larger than those of its parents, and deep 
bright yellow. This plant was sent to the Arboretum from Germany 
several years ago. Other distinct and handsome forms of the hybrid 
are var. primulina and var. pallida; the former has pale primrose 
colored flowers and appeared as a seedling in the Arboretum a few 
