7 
woods and swamps in this part of the country. Two of these species are 
native plants in the Arboretum, Amelanchier laevis and A. oblongifolia. 
The first is a tree of considerable size and an inhabitant of rich upland 
woods and dry banks. From the other species it may be distinguished 
by the red color of the young leaves. Until recently considered the 
A. canadensis of Linnaeus it has appeared under that name in nearly 
all American publications, but the true A. canadensis is now known to 
be a tree of the western and southern states where it is the only species 
and easily distinguished by the covering of soft pale hairs on the under 
surface of the leaves. Large wild plants of A. laevis are growing on 
the wooded bank in the rear of the Crabapple Collection on the Forest 
Hills Road. A. oblongifolia is a large shrub rather than a tree, al- 
though tree-like specimens sometimes occur, and is easily distinguished 
from A. laevis by the silvery color of the young leaves which at this 
season of the year are thickly covered with silky hairs. There is a 
large native specimen on the border of the meadow across the path 
from the Amelanchier Collection, and it is this species which has been 
most generally planted in the Arboretum and which may be seen along 
the borders of many New England swamps. There has always been 
much confusion about the American species of this genus, and it is 
only in late years that botanists are beginning to understand them. 
Reliance on the herbarium rather than on the living plants in their 
study, the inadequate descriptions of the authors who first described 
them, and the probable tendency of these plants to produce natural 
hybrids has until recently left them in what once appeared a hopeless 
state of confusion. The Arboretum has for many years been bringing 
together these plants in order to afford an opportunity for the critical 
study of the growing plants, and now in addition to the Asiatic and 
European species the following American species and some supposed 
hybrids are in flower in the collection, or will be in flower in a few 
days: Amelanchier alnifolia from the northwest coast, A. canadensis 
now nearly out of flower, A. laevis, A. oblongifolia, A. sanguinea, 
A. humilis, A. stolonifera, A. spicata, A. pumila, A. florida and A. 
Bartramiana (better known as A. oligocarpa). The last is the most 
northern of the eastern species and is a small shrub of cold swamps 
and bogs. Unlike the other species, the flowers are usually solitary or 
in few-flowered clusters. In cultivation it has been found to succeed 
better when it has been grafted on one of the strongly growing species 
than it does on its own roots. Practically unknown in cultivation, all 
these species are delightful garden plants, and the study of the collec- 
tion in the Arboretum at this time will be found valuable to any one 
interested in dwarf, hardy, early flowering shrubs. 
Early-flowering Viburnums. The two Viburnums which flower here 
first are among the most beautiful of all the plants in this genus which 
can be grown in New England. One is American and the other is a 
native of Korea. The American species, V. alnifolium, the Moosewood 
of northern woods, is one of the species on which the flower-clusters 
are surrounded by a ring of large pure white sterile flowers. It has 
broad, thick, heart-shaped leaves and showy fruit, and in the woods 
the straggling branches often take root and thus form thickets which 
