56 
Sophora japonica is in spite of its name a Chinese tree which has 
been cultivated in Japan for more than a thousand years, and as it 
first reached Europe from that counnry was long considered a native 
of Japan. It is a round-headed tree which in Peking, where it has 
been much planted, has grown to a large size and looks from a dis- 
tance like an Oak-tree. The leaves and branchlets are dark green, 
and the small, creamy white, pea-shaped flowers, which open here in 
August, are produced in great numbers in narrow, erect, terminal clus- 
ters. There are also in the collection the form with long pendent 
branches (var. pendula) which rarely flowers, and a young plant of the 
form with erect branches (var. pyramidalis). The form of this tree 
with flowers tinged with rose color (var. rosea) is not in the Arboretum. 
The Sophoras are on the right-hand side of the Bussey Hill Road, op- 
posite the upper end of the Lilac Group. Near them the Maackias are 
growing. They also belong to the Pea Family, and the better known 
Maackia amurensis is a native of eastern Siberia; it is a small tree 
with handsome smooth, reddish brown, shining bark, dull, deep green, 
pinnate leaves and short, narrow, erect spikes of small white flowers 
which open here soon after the middle of July. There is a form of 
this tree (var. Buergeri in northern Japan which differs from the Si- 
berian tree in the presence of soft down on the lower surface of the 
leaflets. The species discovered by Wilson in central China, M. hupeh- 
ensis, is growing well in the Arboretum but has not yet flowered. 
Oxydendrum arboreum, the Sorrel-tree or Sour Wood, is a native of 
the southern Appalachian mountain forests and the only tree of the 
Heath Family which can be grown in this climate, with the exception 
of the Laurel {Kalmia latifolia) and the Rose Bay {Rhododendron max- 
imum) which are shrubs at the north and only exceptionally trees in 
a few favored valleys of the southern mountains. The Sorrel-tree in 
its native forests grows fifty or sixty feet high, but at the north as it 
begins to flower abundantly when only a few feet tall, it is not prob- 
able that in this climate it will ever attain a considerable size. It is 
well worth growing, however, for its bright green shining leaves which 
have a pleasant acidulous flavor and in autumn turn bright scarlet, for 
its white Andromeda-like flowers erect on the branches of spreading 
or slightly drooping terminal clusters, and for its pale fruits which in 
the autumn are conspicuous among the brilliant leaves. There is a 
group of these plants among the Laurels at the northern base of Hem- 
lock Hill which will flower at the end of July or early in August. 
Koelreuteria paniculata. This Chinese tree will also flower before 
the end of July when it will be conspicuous from its large erect clus- 
ters of bright yellow flowers which stand well above the large, dark 
green, compound leaves and which are followed by large, bladder-like 
fruits. This is a small hardy tree which is now often planted in this 
country, especially in the middle states. 
These Bulletins will now be discontinued until the autumn. 
