42 
Populus tomentosa, is a common tree in temple gardens in Peking, 
in which it grows to a very large size, and is one of the handsomest, 
perhaps the handsomest of all Poplar-trees. The peculiarity of this 
tree is that the leaves of young plants and of vigorous shoots are 
thickly covered below with a coat of white felt which is not found on 
the leaves of older trees. When it was first discovered it was believed 
on this account to be the Silver Poplar of Europe, and it was not 
until the mature leaves were seen by botanists that it was found to 
be a distinct species. As it grows in Peking Populus tomentosa is a 
tree fully eighty feet high with a tall massive trunk covered with 
dark, deeply furrowed bark, and a head of erect and spreading 
branches. The leaves are thicker than those of other Poplars, five or 
six inches long and four or five inches broad, dark and lustrous above 
and pale below, and are divided on the margins into broad rounded 
teeth; they hang on long flattened stalks and, fluttering in the slight- 
est breeze, make, as the blades come together, a noise like drops of 
rain in a heavy shower falling on a tin roof. Mr. S. Wells Williams, 
the distinguished Chinese scholar, noted on a specimen of a few leaves 
of this tree in the Gray Herbarium, that for this reason it is some- 
times called in China “the rain tree.” Populus tomentosa is a hardy 
tree in the Arboretum where it is growing at the rate of four or five 
feet a year, and there seems no reason why it should not grow to a 
large size here. Unfortunately it is one of the few Poplars which 
cannot be propagated by cuttings and can only be increased by graft- 
ing. It is probable, therefore, that it will never become a popular 
tree in this country unless a cheaper method of increasing it can be 
found. The third of these Poplars, 
Populus Simonii, is a smaller tree, with pale bark, small, slightly 
and gracefully drooping branches and small pale green leaves pointed 
at the ends and hanging on slender stalks. This appears to be the 
commonest of the Poplars of northeastern continental Asia; it is found 
from the valley of the Amoor River to China, where it is common in 
the north but exceedingly rare in the western provinces. This is a 
small, perfectly hardy tree which should be popular in the colder parts 
of the United States and Canada. Young plants are sometimes fas- 
tigiate in habit, with erect branches and smaller leaves, but this habit 
seems to disappear as the trees grow older. 
Rosa caudata. This is a Rose discovered by Wilson in western 
China. It is one of the Cinnamomae section of the genus, and is a 
tall vigorous shrub with stout arching stems covered not very thickly 
with stout spines, dark green foliage, and flowers about two inches in 
diameter, in wide, sometimes twenty-five-flowered clusters. The beauty 
of the flowers is increased by the white marking at the base of the 
pure pink petals. The fruit is orange-red, an inch long, gradually con- 
tracted above into a narrow neck crowned by the much enlarged calyx- 
lobes. This handsome Rose is flowering now for the third year in the 
Arboretum; it is perfectly hardy and an excellent addition to the 
Roses of its class. It can be seen in bloom now in the Shrub Collec- 
tion and with the other Roses in the special Chinese collection on 
Bussey Hill. 
Rosa setipoda. This is another member of the Cinnamomae, differ- 
ing chiefly from R. caudata in the more numerous spines on the stems, 
